Jewish & World News

New York - It's business as usual at Pedro Espada's scandal-plagued Bronx health-care centers. The state senator, soon to be out of office, is still drawing his $287,000-a-year salary and perks likely to total tens of thousands more, a source said.

Albany - Pedro Espada is threatening to deprive Democrats of the 32nd vote they'll need to pass any more emergency budget extender bills. For ten weeks these are the bills that have kept the government running one week at a time.

New York - Democratic activists descended on the Mamaroneck home of besieged Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Saturday in an open challenge to get him out of office. 

New York - The race to unseat State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. got a bit more crowded as Jose Gustavo Rivera, a political aide who has worked for Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand and Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, announced his candidacy Tuesday.

New York - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has again sued state Sen. Pedro Espada, claiming he and his son are violating state labor laws and shortchanging workers through a sham job training program. The suit said the senator and Pedro G. Espada created a for-profit management company to siphon money from their nonprofit health centers in the Bronx. Cuomo said company workers are mislabeled as trainees, who get little training and are paid less than the law requires, some about $1.70 an hour. The state minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Cuomo said Wednesday that at least 100 workers have been victimized since 2005. Espada agreed to appear on CBS 2HD's community affairs program, "Eye on New York," in order to respond not only to Cuomo charging him with making his Soundview Health Clinic his personal piggy bank, but to raids by the IRS and FBI of the site, and subpoenas filed by Cuomo seeking records of the people he put on the state payroll who are his relatives o...

This is probably not what embattled Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada (D-Bronx) had in mind when he put the words "PLEASE WALK IN" on the door to his Capitol office.

When state Sen. Pedro Espada agreed for an interview on CBS 2's community affairs program, "Eye on New York," we knew it would be interesting. But what we didn't know was just how contentious it would get. 

New York - "This is a witch hunt by the prince of darkness himself," said New York State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. about State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The Democrat who represents the 33rd District is accused of stealing more than $14 million from his not-for-profit, according to a lawsuit filed by Cuomo.

Investigators raided the office of Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. early Wednesday morning to remove documents and campaign-related material as part of several ongoing investigations into the Bronx Democrat. 

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a civil complaint against Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada, CBS 2 HD has learned.  Cuomo is trying to remove Espada as head of his Bronx health clinic for allegedly using the firm as his personal piggy bank, reportedly pulling out over $10 million over the past several years. It was just a year ago that the Bronx Democrat put on an orange ski hat to hide from CBS 2's Marcia Kramer when the political reporter caught him outside the $700,000 home in Mamaroneck where he has lived since the 90s.  Espada laughed in her face when she asked him why he wasn't living in his Bronx district.  But he probably isn't laughing now. Cuomo is suing Espada, accusing the fellow Democrat of siphoning $14 million from his government-funded Bronx clinic.  Nineteen current and former officials of Espada's Comprehensive Community Development Corp. -- known locally as Soundview -- are also named in the lawsuit.  Cuomo says Espada d...

State Senator Pedro Espada Jr., the Bronx politician who staged a coup last summer and seized the Democratic majority leader’s seat in Albany, will have some challengers of his own to fend off.

Can you imagine trying to live off a salary of less than $2 an hour? Embattled Bronx Sen. Pedro Espada is again under investigation. This time he's accused of luring impoverished members of his community to work as janitors at his health clinics, and paying them way below minimum wage. Oh the hypocrisy. Espada went to an upstate duck farm recently to take up the cause of migrant workers and demand they get fair pay and good treatment. "What you're doing here is absolutely criminal," Espada said. Pity that he apparently doesn't feel the same way about people working as janitors at Soundview Health Clinics, which Espada owns. CBS 2 HD has learned that a company he controls that provides custodial services at Soundview was apparently running a sham internship program where workers received no training and were paid dramatically below minimum wage. CBS 2 HD: "How much were you paid?" Carlos Gonzalez: "I was paid $150." That's ...

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office served the son of embattled Democratic Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada and two other employees of Espada’s for-profit company with subpoenas today designed to force them to testify before investigators next week. The subpoenas, for Pedro G. Espada and the others, are part “of the overall investigation of the Bronx-based Espada, the Soundview HealthCare Network, and Espada Management, that was made public last week,’’ said a source close to the investigation. “Espada claims to be cooperating but there are problems every step of the way,’’ the source continued. Dozens of subpoenas have been issued in the nine-month long probe and the three new ones were described as focusing on possible state Labor Law violations. Cuomo contended in court papers last week designed to force the elder Espada to provide subpoenaed documents that investigators had found “extensive evidence” of wrongdoing including the bilking of the not-for-profit Soundview ...