Mario Cuomo, a giant in NY, liberal politics, dies
By DAVID KLEPPER and MICHAEL HILL Mario Cuomo had a loud and liberal voice that inspired a generation of politicians to turn to public service, and a story of humble…
Local governments
Police commissioner : Turning backs on mayor inappropriate
By JONATHAN LEMIRE and MIKE BALSAMO New York City’s police commissioner says it was “very inappropriate” for officers to turn their backs on the mayor in a sign of disrespect…
Battered NY mayor calls for temporary protest halt
By JONATHAN LEMIRE As the New York Police Department mourns two of its own, Mayor Bill de Blasio pleaded for a pause in protests and rancor amid a widening rift…
NY police union leader well known for his bite
By COLLEEN LONG Patrick Lynch was hollering. Standing outside a Brooklyn hospital after the bodies of two slain police officers were taken away, the head of the nation’s largest police…
Pope in blistering critique of Vatican bureaucrats
Pope Francis issued a blistering critique Monday of the Vatican bureaucracy that serves him, denouncing how some people lust for power at all costs, live hypocritical double lives and suffer…
Cops’ killer angry at chokehold death
By COLLEEN LONG and JENNIFER PELTZ A gunman who announced online that he was planning to shoot two “pigs” in retaliation for the police chokehold death of Eric Garner ambushed…
Reformers target traffic courts in Ferguson
By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER In the aftermath of Michael Brown’s death, legal activists suggested that some of the raw anger that erupted in suburban St. Louis had its roots in…
California protesters march for 4th straight night
KRISTIN J. BENDER Hundreds of protesters angered at the killing of unarmed black men by white police officers marched through downtown Berkeley streets for a fourth straight night, briefly blocking…