Editorials from around New York

Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from New York’s newspapers:

The Middletown Times Herald-Record on efforts to remove PCBs from the Hudson River.

Dec. 27

Fans of a clean Hudson River - and that should include everyone - will be happy with the news that the New York Department of Environmental Conservation is pressing for more testing and more work to clean up cancer-causing chemicals dumped near Troy for decades. Even better, the DEC wants federal officials to look down the river, as far as New York City, to determine if the chemicals have migrated into areas that were not part of the original study or dredging operation.

So why is the cheering muted?

This state request comes at a time when the dedication of the Environmental Protection Agency to actually protecting the environment is very much in question. The person nominated to lead the agency has spent his adult career fighting its efforts. As he goes through the process to determine if he is qualified for this important job, our senators from New York need to press him on the specifics of the Hudson cleanup.

New Yorkers also need to come to terms with the delay that inexplicably brought this request so long after the barges that had been dredging the Hudson had departed.

The settlement reached long ago between the EPA and General Electric, the company responsible for dumping cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls in the river for so long, was inadequate.

GE had to be dragged into the limited amount of work it eventually agreed to do and there was no way to decide if this would remove all that should be.

This was clear last year when the barges were about to leave. Some tried to get Gov. Cuomo to use his influence both with the Obama administration and General Electric to keep the equipment on site, to expand dredging to the Champlain Canal and to not allow the contractors to leave before there was firm and irrefutable evidence that the Hudson was in fact clean again, that there was no danger to those who swam in it, no danger from eating the fish that call the river home.

The governor ignored those pleas. At the time he was busy courting GE to get it to move its headquarters from Connecticut to New York. He boasted that he had gone after GE with all he had and “left a lot of love on the table.”

In the end, that love turned out to be unrequited. GE is moving to Massachusetts and the equipment that might be able to efficiently give the Hudson the attention it deserves has gone to other locations.

So while it is encouraging that the state officials now say that the job was incomplete, we have to hope that this does not turn out to be too little, too late. DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos says “It’s simple. DEC is calling on the EPA to finish the job and hold GE accountable for cleaning up the Hudson River. If EPA won’t do the job and protect New Yorkers and the environment, DEC is ready to step in and lead.”

Now, we need to know if the governor is going to stick with this new attitude and make sure that all of the necessary work gets done.

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Online: https://bit.ly/2ihE04J

The Plattsburgh Press-Republican on gift card expiration dates and fees.

Dec. 28

For many holiday shoppers, gift cards are a welcome relief. For many recipients, the cards are an even bigger bonanza: no more sweaters that don’t fit, games that are no fun and decorations that don’t match anything.

The biggest gripe about gift cards is that they can be perceived as “impersonal,” but impersonal beats unusable by a mile.

But, recently, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli issued a warning for everybody who has received a gift card for Christmas and now contemplates how and, most importantly, when to redeem it: Scour the print on the gift card to learn whether it has an expiration date and associated fees.

DiNapoli notes that, while some merchants have done away with inactivity fees on their gift cards, many have not. You may unwittingly be under a deadline to redeem the card.

Failure to be prompt may result in you having to pay a late fee or even miss your chance entirely to collect on the card.

Often, the comptroller says, cards specify that they must be redeemed within a year, or else an inactivity fee will be assessed or the card may even no longer be usable.

This may seem out of sync with common sense, but many cards expire before they are spent. In that case, money from unused gift cards is turned over the State Comptroller’s Office as abandoned property after five years of no action.

In the fiscal year 2015-16, a staggering $11 million from gift cards was handed over to New York state’s Abandoned Property Fund.

It’s hard to imagine that any recipient of a card would rather have the state wind up with the money than find a way to spend it himself or herself.

The Federal Credit Card Act of 2009 prohibited inactivity fees on many cards sold after Aug. 22, 2010, unless the card has gone unredeemed for at least 12 months.

But, because of that law, all terms, conditions and limitations must be printed directly on the cards, and the cards are not allowed to expire within the first five years after purchase.

Still, gift cards may have terms that decrease their value, including service fees when the card is purchased; dormancy fees if the gift card is not used within a certain period of time; fees to call and check the balance remaining on the card; and replacement fees for lost or stolen gift cards.

DiNapoli’s office is currently holding more than $14.5 billion in unclaimed funds from uncashed checks, bank accounts, stocks and more. To find out if you are owed money, visit www.osc.state.ny.us.

Meanwhile, go out and redeem those gift cards. Better that you have the merchandise or money than sharing it with 17 million other New Yorkers.

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Online: https://bit.ly/2i7QzPV

The New York Post on the Obama administration’s relations with Israel.

Dec. 27

What did the president know and when did he know it? It’s a question that became famous during the Watergate scandal - and it applies equally well to the U.S. abstention that allowed an anti-Israel resolution to pass the UN Security Council.

The Obama administration continues to insist it was completely hands-off on the resolution, which declared all Israeli activity past the pre-1967 borders - including Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem - illegal.

Of course, the official most vehement in pushing that line is Ben Rhodes, the White House spinmeister who admitted telling tall tales on the Iran nuclear deal.

But Israel says it has “ironclad” information from Arab sources that Team Obama was deeply involved in crafting and pushing the resolution.

Moreover, Egyptian media late Tuesday released a transcript of a meeting in which Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Adviser Susan Rice told Palestinian officials the U.S. would cooperate with them, support a UN resolution and present proposals for a final-status solution if the Palestinians agreed.

And last month, Kerry visited New Zealand - which took over sponsorship of the resolution, along with Venezuela, when Egypt withdrew - to discuss the need for a measure negating the “serious threat” to a two-state solution from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to local media reports at the time.

Little wonder, then, that an angry Netanyahu openly accused Team Obama of having “initiated it, stood behind it, coordinated on the wording and demanded that it be passed.” We suspect he’s got the evidence to prove it.

Little wonder, too, that Israel is making moves, however symbolic and temporary, to express its outrage, such as curbing diplomatic ties with some countries that backed the resolution.

“Israel is a country with a national pride,” said Netanyahu, “and we do not turn the other cheek.”

Kerry today will deliver what’s billed as a “major address” outlining a “comprehensive vision” on how the conflict “should be resolved.” It’s a tall order, particularly since the resolution now gives Palestinians even less reason to negotiate a peace deal in good faith.

The truth is President Obama never truly had Israel’s back, and his personal differences with Netanyahu made matters worse.

But what a cowardly way to end this sordid affair: with Obama refusing even to own up to his dangerous betrayal of a loyal ally - and seeking to tie his successor’s hands in the process.

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Online: https://nyp.st/2ioXPED

The New York Daily News on President-elect Donald Trump’s foundation.

Dec. 28

With unseemly haste President-elect Donald Trump says he’ll close down the Trump Foundation, the tax-exempt fund that he swears has done nothing but steer millions of dollars to charity but must now be destroyed lest “good work … be associated with a possible conflict of interest.”

Trump’s sudden conversion to ethics-in-government gospel might be credible if the Trump Foundation were not under investigation by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who ordered a halt to fundraising in October after confirming it had never registered to solicit money in New York.

Whoops. Schneiderman says the foundation “cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete.”

The Trump Foundation offers ample fodder. While Trump donated $5.3 million in its first two decades, it has since depended solely on other people’s contributions, totaling $9.3 million - including donations from Trump business associates.

The IRS has already brought warranted scrutiny to the charity’s spending, which included a $25,000 contribution to a group backing Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as she weighed whether to join legal action against Trump University on behalf of wronged students. Trump paid a $2,500 penalty for spending philanthropic funds on politics.

And who brought the Trump U case? None other than Schneiderman, who helped score a $25 million settlement and should not now for a moment relent in his duty to uphold the law.

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Online: https://nydn.us/2ieuQUl

The Rome Sentinel on police agencies being targeted by computer hackers.

Dec. 22

Usually we think of law enforcement as the ones who prevent or solve crimes.

Not as the victim.

But that’s just what happened recently in Carroll County, Arkansas, where the Texarkana Gazette reports that the sheriff’s office was held hostage by overseas computer hackers and forced to pay a ransom to regain access to vital files and records.

It all started when someone at the sheriff’s office inadvertently opened an infected email or perhaps clicked on the wrong online link. A virus then infected the office’s computer system and quickly encrypted all the files, rendering them inaccessible.

The hackers sent a ransom demand - $2,440, in the digital currency Bitcoin - to release the files.

The sheriff’s office contacted the FBI, hoping the feds could track down the culprits. But the FBI told the department to just pay up.

According to the FBI, more than 20,000 government agencies and private businesses had their computer systems attacked and held for

ransom last year. It’s a growing trend. And it’s almost impossible to catch the perpetrators since they are almost always located in foreign countries.

The sheriff’s office paid the ransom, and the hackers told them how to get their files back.

As of mid-December, Carroll County Chief Deputy George Frye told the Gazette that the system was almost entirely back up and running.

Computers and the internet have made life easier for us. But they have also left us vulnerable.

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Online: https://bit.ly/2htnqO4