Failla had halted the release of disciplinary records last week after the unions sued to block Mayor Bill de Blasio from taking advantage of a recent change in state law to start posting misconduct complaints on a government website.
Failla had also barred the NYCLU from publicly releasing records it obtained from the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board because she suspected the organization had been “acting in concert” with city government.
In revising her decision Tuesday, Failla said it was impossible for her to reach back and prevent the release of records that the NYCLU received before the unions filed their lawsuit on July 15. She faulted the unions for not suing sooner.
Scores of disciplinary records have already reached public view since the repeal last month of a law that had kept them secret for decades.
— Associated Press
OHIO
House sets vote to remove speaker
The Ohio House plans to vote Thursday on the removal of the disgraced House speaker arrested last week in connection with a $60 million federal bribery probe, after Republicans on Tuesday took a secret vote on the matter prompted by Larry Householder’s refusal to resign.
The remaining members of Householder’s leadership team jointly exercised their authority to call the session.
The meeting follows the release of a July 21 federal affidavit identifying Householder and four associates as part of an alleged pay-to-play scheme involving millions of dollars of corporate money secretly funneled to them for personal and political use in exchange for passing legislation to bail out two FirstEnergy nuclear plants.
The calls for Householder’s resignation have crescendoed in recent days, with even fellow Republican Gov. Mike DeWine calling for him to step down.
— Associated Press
CALIFORNIA
Indian tribe reclaims some ancestral lands
A Native American tribe has reclaimed a small part of ancestral lands on California’s scenic Big Sur coast that were lost to Spanish colonial settlement nearly 250 years ago.
The Esselen Tribe of Monterey County closed escrow on 1,199 acres about five miles inland from the ocean that was part of a $4.5 million deal involving the state and the Western Rivers Conservancy, the Mercury News reported Monday.
It marks the first restoration of any lands to the tribe, which lost 90 percent of its approximately 1,000 members to disease and other causes by the early 1800s.
The land lies on the north side of the Little Sur River, where endangered steelhead fish spawn.
Known as Rancho Aguila, the property was put up for sale by the family of Axel Adler, a Swedish immigrant who bought it in the 1950s and died in 2004.
— Associated Press