Morning Headlines | Selected by the WNYC News Hub

Must-reads headlines from around the city, curated by the WNYC Newsroom.

HEALTH
NY Healthcare Pays $24B a Year for ‘Preventable’ Illnesses to Minorities: State Official (NYP)
Carl Campanile reports: “New York’s health-care system is paying a staggering $24 billion a year to help cover sky-high hospital and emergency costs for “preventable” illnesses suffered by minority patients, The Post has learned. State Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav Shah said the minority communities are not at fault — he blames a shortage of doctors and a lack of preventive care in their neighborhoods. The maladies and diseases include asthma, diabetes, obesity, HIV, depression, high blood pressure and other heart-related ailments.”

EDUCATION
To Earn Classroom Certification, More Teaching and Less Testing (NYT)
Al Baker reports: “New York and up to 25 other states are moving toward changing the way they grant licenses to teachers, de-emphasizing tests and written essays in favor of a more demanding approach that requires aspiring teachers to prove themselves through lesson plans, homework assignments and videotaped instruction sessions.”

EDUCATION
City’s $80M Student Data System to Be Replaced by State Portal (DNAinfo)
Jill Colvin and Amy Zimmer report: “After spending more than $80 million on a controversial online student achievement database, the NYC Department of Education's portal is about to become obsolete as the state rolls out its own nearly-identical system as part of a federal education grant, DNAinfo.com New York has learned. The city is quietly making the transition from its $81 million data system — known as ARIS, or “Achievement Reporting and Innovation System" — to a new statewide database being developed with federal education funding, according to officials and city and state documents.”

POLITICS
With Adviser’s Departure, Bloomberg Will Lose a Fierce Protector (NYT)
Michael Grynbaum reports: “[O]ne of New York’s unlikeliest power couples is splitting up. Mr. Loeser (pronounced LOW-zer, as he is quick to point out) plans to start a communications company, where he will advise corporate clients. And Mr. Bloomberg, whose term is up at the end of 2013, will have to confront his final, legacy-conscious months in office without his brainy press secretary.”

POLICE
Biker’s Broken Jaw by Cop Nets Her $225,000 (NYDN)
John Marzulli reports: “The city has paid $225,000 to a young woman whose jaw was broken by an NYPD cop after she called him a "rookie" when he prepared to arrest her for riding her bike on the sidewalk, the Daily News has learned. The settlement came last week as a jury was about to be empaneled in Jessica Williams’ civil suit charging Officer Desmond Nichols for using excessive force in the 2008 incident.”

HEALTH
Mayor Bloomberg Pushes Breastfeeding by Having Hospitals Hide Formula (NYP)
Mary Kay Linge reports: “Starting Sept. 3, the city will keep tabs on the number of bottles that participating hospitals stock and use — the most restrictive pro-breast-milk program in the nation. Under the city Health Department’s voluntary Latch On NYC initiative, 27 of the city’s 40 hospitals have also agreed to give up swag bags sporting formula-company logos, toss out formula-branded tchotchkes like lanyards and mugs, and document a medical reason for every bottle that a newborn receives.”

CRIME
Cop Clueless in ‘Kidnap’ (NYP)
Larry Celona and Josh Saul report: “Hakeem Clark, 30, allegedly told detectives his roommate relative, Detective Ondre Johnson, was completely unaware that Clark and an accomplice had kidnapped a 25-year-old suspected forger early Friday and stashed him in the garage of the Rochdale house where Johnson lives, the sources said.”

POLITICS
Feds Question Meeks Over Millions Steered to Queens Nonprofit (NYP)
Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein report: “The US Attorney’s Office recently issued a subpoena to the Greater Jamaica Development Corp. seeking information on federal funding secured by Meeks, a government source told The Post. Fred Winters, a spokesman for Greater Jamaica, confirmed that the organization had received a subpoena and said it was not the target of the federal investigation. He refused to say who was.”

REAL ESTATE
MTA gave Apple Unfair Edge for Grand Central Shop, State Audit Says (NYP)
James Covert reports: “A fresh audit by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says the MTA last May allowed the California-based tech giant to set a daunting hurdle for rival bidders to clear in a tight, 30-day window — namely, that they be willing to front $5 million in cash.”

HEALTH
NY Health-Care Pays $24B a Year for 'Preventable' Illnesses to Minorities (NYPost)
Carl Campanile reports: “It’s a financial and human disaster. New York’s health-care system is paying a staggering $24 billion a year to help cover sky-high hospital and emergency costs for “preventable” illnesses suffered by minority patients, The Post has learned. State Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav Shah said the minority communities are not at fault — he blames a shortage of doctors and a lack of preventive care in their neighborhoods. The maladies and diseases include asthma, diabetes, obesity, HIV, depression, high blood pressure and other heart-related ailments.”

HOUSING
NYCHA’s $14.8M Ghost Town (NYDN)
Linda Kinstler and Greg B. Smith report: “Thirteen years ago the New York City Housing Authority got a big pile of taxpayer money to fix up the deteriorating Prospect Plaza houses in Ocean Hill, Brooklyn. It never happened. NYCHA moved all 1,500 residents into apartments scattered around the city in 2000 with the promise that they’d all be back in new and improved versions of their familiar locales by 2005.”