She’s Got The Ledes That Kill

Understatement of the day:

To the average person, 50 may seem like an excessive number of bullets fired by police officer.

It’s Not Like You Would Expect Them To Take It With Them To The Bathroom

The Post answers what was in (or near) Scranton — a toilet:

A simple pit stop by the side of the highway led to the theft of an priceless painting by Spanish master Francisco de Goya while it was being transported to New York from Ohio for an exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum.

The 1778 masterpiece, “Children With a Cart,” was snatched when the professional art movers took a break on the side of the highway en route to the Big Apple and left their vehicle — and the nearly 5-foot-by-3-foot painting — unattended, said FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams.

When they returned to their vehicle, the movers discovered it had been broken into and the painting had been swiped, she said.

It was the only artwork they were transporting — and that makes investigators believe the thieves didn’t just chance upon the masterpiece.

By the way, the Post’s headline — “When You Gotta Goya You Gotta Goya” — is not half bad!

But Excuse Me Officer, Don’t You Know Who My Second Cousin’s Ex-Brother-In-Law Is? He’s On The Force, Of Course!

Is the Civilian Complaint Review Board actually defending people who abuse PBA cards? It sounds that way:

Eleven officers have improperly confiscated police union “courtesy” cards shown to them by relatives and friends of other officers throughout the last 18 months, the Civilian Complaint Review Board announced yesterday.

In a letter to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, CCRB chair Franklin Stone recommended that the NYPD better inform officers about the cards, which are often shown by civilians to get special treatment or immunity from tickets and/or arrest.

“Most, if not all, of these cases involved the improper seizure of union cards by police officers who misunderstood the law relating to these cards,” the Nov. 9 letter read. “Simply put, officers often do not have legal justification to seize police union cards — private property — from individuals who lawfully possess them.”

And apparently people complaining about a lack of special treatment is endemic:

In a separate letter to Kelly — dated yesterday — [New York Civil Liberties Union associate legal director Christopher] Dunn and NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman echoed the CCRB’s concerns and called for an investigation into conduct by NYPD Officer John McNeeley, who was pulled over for speeding in Kansas last month and showed the officer his driver’s license and NYPD ID.

“About 5 minutes later, he brought back a summons to me and thanked me for my cooperation,” McNeeley wrote in a letter to the court obtained by the NYCLU. “I then tried to ask him why a cop would write another cop a ticket? He would not answer. I have stopped many people and the minute they pull out their Law Enforcement ID card I say ‘Sir or Mam [sic] have a nice day’ No questions asked. . . . You see it’s called professional courtesy.”

Nice to know that both the CCRB and the Civil Liberties Union (while ostentatiously “sounding an alarm”) are standing up for your right to get out of paying tickets. Very heartening!

I Guess I Suffered A Siginificant Lapse Of Judgment . . . And Did I Add That I’m Quite Penitent?

I guess if you’re going to get fined, the race better be competitive*:

An East Bronx public school principal has been fined $10,000 for endorsing a Democratic candidate in a letter sent home with students the Friday before the election. The Department of Education is also investigating the school’s parent coordinator, who apparently used her city government e-mail address to solicit campaign volunteers for the same candidate, who is running for re-election to the state Senate.

As The New York Sun first reported yesterday, the principal of Public School 71, Lance Cooper, issued a letter praising City Council Member James Vacca and state Senator Jeffrey Klein. The letter encouraged parents to “endorse these Community Leaders when they need our support as a way of saying thank you for always being there for P.S. 71!”

Mr. Klein, a Democrat who represents portions of Bronx and Westchester counties, faces the Bronx Republican chairman, Joseph Savino, in today’s election. Mr. Vacca, a first-term council member, is not up for election this year.

After authenticating Mr. Cooper’s letter yesterday, education department officials consulted with the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board. The Board determined that Mr. Cooper’s letter violated the Chancellor’s Regulations, which forbids school employees from endorsing a candidate while at work, or in contact with students. Mayor Bloomberg was briefed on the matter, an education department spokesman, David Cantor, said.

In addition to the fine, which will go to the city’s general fund, Mr. Cantor said a letter would be placed in the principal’s personnel file “denoting the unacceptable action that he took.” He added that Mr. Cooper seemed “quite penitent,” and “acknowledged, as soon as we contacted him, if not earlier, that he suffered a significant lapse of judgment.”

But why bother also endorsing someone not even running?

*Competitive? Depends who you ask.

This Just In: Something Perhaps Happened

A novel way to report the news:

North- and southbound traffic on the Steinway Street Bridge over the Grand Central Parkway was to resume on or before yesterday, October 31, the city Department of Transportation announced.