At around 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, the MTA first reported service disruptions due to damaged power cables near the Howard Beach A Train station. Shortly thereafter, the agency confirmed on its website that the disruption was due to a security breach by thieves stealing valuable copper wiring (currently just under $3/pound) used to supply power to the station. According to the MTA, this stranded train cars in the Rockaway Park yard, disrupting service to both the A and S trains servicing southern Queens and Rockaway.

Limited shuttle service was implemented between 88th Street and Broad Channel and between Broad Channel and Rockaway Boulevard in Queens. The MTA directed commuters to existing bus service along Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevards. Commuters faced at least 30-minute delays on the heavily-utilized Q53 bus between Woodside and Rockaway Park. Buses also reportedly blocked lanes of traffic at bus stations, extending travel times for motorists and causing bumper-to-bumper gridlock in the borough.

“Families in southern Queens and Rockaway have some of the longest commute times in the entire city. On a normal day, our roads, trains and buses are stretched to capacity. Outages like this have devastating consequences for families simply trying to commute to work or school,” said Goldfeder. “I am alarmed by reported security breaches along the A train and the failure to put in place effective alternative travel plans for our families. I demand a full investigation by the MTA to ensure that this never happens again.”

Schumer noted that children under the age of 18 are particularly vulnerable to identity thieves because their credit accounts are often unmonitored, and their credit account is particularly attractive to thieves because they have a clean credit history.  Because children’s credit reports are rarely monitored, the theft of a child’s identity could go undetected for years and it’s often not until a child is ready to open a line of credit at the bank or set up a joint credit card with a parent that the theft is discovered.

Schumer’s bill, which he plans to introduce next week, would automatically freeze the credit of children under 18 until the credit agency confirms that a parent is the one requesting the action and wishes to un-freeze the credit of their minor. Schumer says that this legislation is critical because it will give the parents of millions of children across the city and state greater peace of mind and better protections for their children, especially when it comes to ensuring their financial lives do not begin in a deep credit hole.

Schumer said that “we need to make sure our youngest New Yorkers are protected from predatory identity thieves looking to steal their personal data and sink their credit before they even enter high school or college. The reality is many of these victims do not even realize their identity has been stolen until it is too late—and at which point it could take years to build back up. With over two million minors in New York City, it’s clear something needs to be done to protect their identities and their credit from thieves. That is why my legislation would automatically keep a child’s credit under lock and key until their family is ready for them to start building credit.”

Currently some states, including New York, have systems in place that allow parents to voluntarily “freeze” their child’s credit in order to thwart identity thieves. Schumer said his legislation would go one step further by automatically locking access to children’s credit accounts.

“Parents should be concerned about things like whether or not their child misses the school bus each day, not whether or not that child’s financial future is being taken for a ride by a fraudulent thief who might have gained access to a child’s personal information via a school, the doctor’s office or at a summer camp,” Schumer added.

After a brutal winter that is still taking its toll on city drivers in the form of potholes, the de Blasio administration has announced that it has committed an additional $242 million to road repaving during the next two fiscal years.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and city Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg last week announced an accelerated and expanded resurfacing program that will improve road conditions in every borough.

The funding will help repave more than 1,200 lane-miles of roadway from July 2015 through June 2016—more than any year since 1991—and 1,300 lane-miles in Fiscal Year 2017.

“This is money well spent,” de Blasio said. “These especially cold winters have been hard on New York City’s streets, and we need to invest big to get them back in good repair. The commitment we’re making is the biggest in 25 years, and it’s something every New Yorker who walks, drives or bikes will see and feel firsthand.”

DOT, Trottenberg said, is close to reaching its targeted 1,000 lane-miles resurfaced in the current fiscal year, and has repaired over 327,000 potholes since mid-December.

Every borough will see additional miles of roadway repaved this year, de Blasio said, with new thoroughfares added to the roster thanks to the new funding, including the FDR in Manhattan, Kings Highway in Brooklyn, Hillside Avenue in Queens, Clove Road on Staten Island, and Westchester Avenue in the Bronx.

“With this funding, the men and women of the DOT will be resurfacing more streets than we have in over twenty years and they are up for the task,” Trottenberg said.

The new funding will increase the percentage of roadways in a state of good repair to nearly 80 percent from the current 71 percent—the highest such rating since 1999. De Blasio noted that the repairs also help to further the Vision Zero initiative.

“This accelerated and expanded road resurfacing program is great news for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians in Queens and throughout the city,” said Queens Borough President Melinda Katz. “Mother Nature may have been rough on us this winter, but this additional $242 million in funding for road repaving shows the city is willing to make the smart investments that our roadways need.”

According to the administration, the 1,200 lane-mile commitment represents a 20 percent increase from projections earlier this year. The new funding is expected to enable DOT to reach 1,300 miles in FY2017.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (l.) with USMC Capt. Jason Haag and his military dog, Axel. Photo Courtesy of Sen. Schumer’s Office.

Upon retirement, military dogs should be made available to be easily adopted by their service handlers, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said this week as he pushed for a provision that’s currently part of the Senate’s National Defense Authorization Act.

The provision allows the secretary of the military department to make a military animal available for adoption after retirement. It would allow non-combat military dogs to be easily adopted by their handler. The only exception to this rule is if the secretary determines that adoption of the dog by the former handler would not be in the best interest of the dog. With more than one former handler seeking adoption of the dog, the secretary would provide for the adoption of the dog by the former handler whose adoption would best serve the interests of the animal.

Schumer noted that the NDAA provision will help former military handlers more easily adopt their military working dogs. He later explained on Monday that service dogs and their handlers share special bonds, and often times, military handlers want to adopt their dogs after retirement. Schumer noted that this legislation would make that process possible.

“After all we know about treating debilitating post war conditions, like [post-traumatic stress disorder] and other health afflictions, it makes absolute sense to keep service members joined with their service dogs,” Schumer said. “To know that, after all these years, this unresolved issue stands in the way of our veterans and their beloved four-legged friends is unfair and misguided. The federal government has always stood strong with veterans, supporting them and giving veterans the resources to return home and lead productive lives. That’s exactly why Congress should support this cause, because our veterans say it helps; it’s good for them. Here we have a commonsense policy that is good for the animals that give it their all for America—and for the American heroes who love these dogs so dearly.”

The de Blasio administration this week announced that 64 more schools—11 in Queens—will become Progressive Redesign Opportunity Schools for Excellence for the 2015-16 academic year, “allowing them to suspend Department and union rules to innovate new ways to reach students.”

Currently in its first year, the PROSE Program includes 62 elementary, middle, and high schools. By the fall, according to the administration, it will be ahead of schedule and nearly two-thirds of the way towards its target of spurring innovation at 200 schools.

The PROSE program, made possible through new contracts with the United Federation of Teachers and Council of School Supervisors and Administrators unions, created an opportunity to experiment at the school level in ways traditionally blocked by Department or union rules, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina. Schools are using the PROSE program to adopt education practices, such as lengthening school days, combining subjects to deepen students’ understanding of relationships between science and math, and replacing student-teacher ratios with more flexible ones that allow for advanced lecture-style classes that prepare students for college and small-group breakout sessions to help struggling students.

“PROSE schools give teachers and administrators the flexibility they need to make their schools successful,” said City Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights), chairman of the Education Committee and retired public school teacher. “Teachers and administrators work together to tailor a program for each individual school. Involving the education practitioners in each school is ultimately what has led to success in these PROSE schools. I am very pleased to see this program expand.”

In Queens, these schools will be added to the PROSE roster for the next academic year: Forest Elementary School, Bard High School Early College Queens, Voyages Preparatory High School, Business Technology Early College High School, Goldie Maple Academy, EPIC High School North, Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School, Institute for Health Professions at Cambria Heights, Benjamin Franklin High School for Finance and Information Technology, The Young Women’s Leadership School of Astoria, and Hunter’s Point Community Middle School.

An area elected official this week announced that he has sponsored a bill in the state Legislature that would bar the Department of Motor Vehicles from selling drivers’ personal information to third parties without express consent.

Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Howard Beach) indicated that Assembly bill A2509 amends provisions of state vehicle and traffic law to require the DMV to obtain consent before sharing the information—name, address and date of birth—with third parties, including insurers, towing companies and law firms.

Under current law, Goldfeder noted, the DMV is permitted to regularly sell drivers’ personal information to third parties. According to reports, the DMV made $60 million last year on the practice. The Goldfeder-sponsored bill would provide exceptions relating to auto manufacturer safety recalls and similar notices.

“You should not have to sell away your personal information just to get a driver’s license,” Goldfeder said. “Every driver should be allowed to decide when and how their information will be used by the state. By requiring drivers’ consent to share DMV records, this bill will provide families with some peace of mind in knowing that their personal information is safe.”