Morning Headlines

EDUCATION
City Fails to Claim $302M in Medicaid Aid for Special Needs Children (NYT)
Fernanda Santos reports: “State Health Department data from 2006 to 2010 show that education-related claims by the city were 60 percent lower last year than they were five years ago. And virtually all of the $302 million in Medicaid reimbursements the city did receive during that period were for administrative claims that, under the rules that took effect in September 2009, are no longer eligible for reimbursement.”

LABOR
Montefiore Nurses May Strike Jan. 10 (NYT)
Anemona Hartocollis reports: “In an unexpected move, nurses at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx said Wednesday that they would strike on Jan. 10 if they could not resolve issues involving staffing levels and salaries.The 10-day notice came after nurses and management said they believed they were close to an agreement on a new contract, and a day after two other major hospitals — Mount Sinai Medical Center and St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan — reached tentative deals with their nurses.”

TRANSPORTATION
N.J. Commuters Could Be Smacked with Hidden Fare Hike as Federal Tax Benefit is Reduced (The Star-Ledger)
Mike Frassinelli reports: “In what could amount to a hidden fare hike for more than 100,000 mass transit riders from New Jersey, the federal commuter tax benefit is being reduced from $230 to $125 a month beginning Sunday. A commuter earning $50,000 a year and spending $230 per month on transit would pay more than $400 extra in 2012 through the rollback.”

CRIME
Repected N.J. Educator Accused of Videotaping Boys in School Shower (The Star-Ledger)
The Star-Ledger staff report: “The Somerset County prosecutor announced [Patrick] Lott, an assistant principal at Bernardsville Middle School since 2009, is facing charges he secretly videotaped boys showering at Immaculata High School in Somerville, where he is a videographer. Lott, 54, was arrested last week, after videos of nude teenagers showering were found in his home, Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano said. According to the prosecutor, the videos showed teenagers in a boys’ communal shower area. Nine of the teenagers identified are under the age of 16.”

HEALTH
N.J. Receives $17M in Federal Funds for Ensuring Children’s Health Coverage (The Star-Ledger)
The Associated Press reports: “New Jersey's efforts to ensure more children have health coverage have earned it a nearly $17 million performance bonus from the U.S. Health Department. The federal government said today this is the third year New Jersey has earned the payment.”

CRIME
Tennessee Tourist Arrested for Bringing Gun to 9/11 Memorial (NY Post)
Jamie Schram, C.J. Sullivan and Dareh Gregorian report: “She remembered she had the gun on her,” a source said. She walked up to a security guard and said, “I have this gun. Where can I check it?” The guard told her that she was in luck because of “law enforcement day” — and led her to another area. When she got to that section, she asked another cop, “We have this gun — can we check it in here? We [my husband and I] are not law-enforcement.” That’s when she was arrested."

TRANSPORTATION
City: 65% of Yellow Cab Riders Don’t Buckle Up (NY Post)
Selim Algar and Amber Sutherland report: “About 65 percent of yellow-cab passengers don’t bother to buckle up, the Taxi and Limousine Commission said yesterday, announcing that it’s running ads on taxis’ backseat monitors to convince riders to use the safety devices. Statistics show that 90 percent of people use seat belts in private vehicles.”

WEATHER
December 2011 is NYC’s 3rd Warmest on Record (Weather Channel)
Chris Dolce reports: “Through the 27th, Boston, Mass., New York City and Hartford, Conn. are all seeing their 3rd warmest December on record. This comes off a November which was a top ten warmest for all of these locations.”

MEDIA
Newark’s WGBO to Expand With Times Square Tower Antenna (The Star-Ledger)
Eliot Caroom reports: “Tomorrow afternoon, Rhonda Hamilton, the only original DJ left at Newark’s jazz station WBGO, will start her show with the first song she remembers spinning 32 years ago. But it won’t sound the same, because at 1 p.m., WBGO will flick on a brand new antenna in Times Square, shooting crisp, clear jazz through the five boroughs and far-flung regions of the Garden State.”

CULTURE
Former First Lady of NYC Donna Hanover to Make Broadway Debut (NYT)
Patrick Healy reports: “As first lady of New York City during much of the 1990s, Donna Hanover – the former Mrs. Rudolph W. Giuliani – surely developed an opinion or two about the ferocity of the City Hall press corps. This spring, in an instance of art imitating life, she’ll have a chance to show what she thinks of the Fourth Estate when she makes her Broadway debut playing a presidential campaign reporter in the revival of “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man,” the producers announced on Wednesday.”

CULTURE
Steuben Glass Closes its Doors (NYT)
Guy Trebay reports: “Friday was the end for Steuben. After more than a century, the manufacturer of decorative lead crystal so emblematic of quality American craftsmanship that presidents gave them as official state gifts and generations of brides included Steuben in their registries, the company closed for good.”

POLITICS
Newt Gingrich Accuses Mayor Bloomberg of Buying NYC Mayor’s Seat (NY Post)
Rolando Pujol reports: “In hopes of righting his now-foundering campaign, Gingrich bashed Bloomberg’s deep pockets as he played up his own humble roots to a working class crowd in Mason City, Iowa. “We don’t come out of a background where we can buy a seat or buy, as Mayor Bloomberg did, buy the mayorship of New York,” Gingrich quipped, according to CBS News.”

OPINION
Editorial: Quinn’s Pork Barrel Polka (NY Post)
The New York Post editorial board kicks off this piece with news that Councilman Larry Seabrook -- currently under indictment for allegedly funneling city money to non-profits he controls -- received another $350,000 in member item money from Council Speaker Christine Quinn. They write: “Not only is the parceling out of taxpayer-funded bribes to lawmakers as a control device corrosive of democracy itself, the pork gives incumbent legislators near-insuper able advantages over electoral challengers.”