Newsday Logo

260px The February 21, 2012 front page of Newsday
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Tabloid
Owner	Cablevision
Publisher	Fred Groser
Editor	Debbie Henley
Founded	1940
Headquarters	235 Pinelawn Road Melville, New York 11747  United States
Circulation	397,973 weekdays 383,295 Saturdays 495,416 Sundays in 2012[1]
ISSN	0278-5587
OCLC number	5371847
Official website	Newsday.com

Melville, NY headquarters

Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. As of 2009, its weekday circulation of 377,500 was the 11th-highest in the United States, and the highest among suburban newspapers.^[2]

The newspaper's headquarters are in Melville, New York, in Suffolk County.

History[link]

Founded by Alicia Patterson, with backing from her husband, Harry Guggenheim, the paper was first published on September 3, 1940 from Hempstead. After Patterson's death in 1963, Guggenheim became publisher and editor.

In 1967, Guggenheim turned over the publisher position to Bill Moyers and continued as president and editor-in-chief. But Guggenheim was disappointed by the liberal drift of the newspaper under Moyers, criticizing what he called the "left-wing" coverage of Vietnam War protests.^[3][4] The two split over the 1968 presidential election, with Guggenheim signing an editorial supporting Richard Nixon, when Moyers supported Hubert Humphrey.^[5]

Guggenheim sold his majority share to the then-conservative Times-Mirror Company over the attempt of newspaper employees to block the sale, even though Moyers offered $10 million more than the Times-Mirror purchase price; Moyers resigned a few days later.^[3][6][7] Guggenheim, who died a year later, disinherited Moyers from his will.^[8]

Newsday launched a separate Queens edition in 1977, followed by a New York City edition. In June 2000, Times Mirror merged with the Tribune Company, partnering Newsday with the New York City television station WPIX (Channel 11), also owned by Tribune. Chicago, Illinois, real estate magnate Samuel Zell purchased Tribune in 2007.^[2]

News Corporation, headed by CEO Rupert Murdoch, attempted to purchase Newsday for $580 million in April 2008.^[9] This was soon followed by a matching bid from New York Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman^[10] and a $680 million bid from Cablevision.^[11] In May 2008, News Corporation withdrew its bid,^[12] and on May 12, 2008, Newsday reported that Cablevision would purchase the paper for $650 million.^[13] The sale was completed July 29, 2008.^[14]

Editorial style[link]

Despite having a tabloid format, Newsday is not known for being sensationalistic, as are other local daily tabloids, such as the New York Daily News and the New York Post.^[15][16]

In 2004, the alternative weekly newspaper Long Island Press wrote that Newsday has used its clout to influence local politics in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.^[17]

Bill Moyers briefly served as publisher.^[18] During the tenure of publisher Robert M. Johnson in the 1980s, Newsday made a major push into New York City. The paper's roster of columnists and critics included Jimmy Breslin, Barbara Garson, Normand Poirier, Murray Kempton, Gail Collins, Pete Hamill, Sydney Schanberg, Jim Dwyer, sportswriter Mike Lupica, music critic Tim Page, and television critic Marvin Kitman. Newsday featured both the advice columnists Ann Landers and Dear Abby for several years. Its features section has included television reporters Verne Gay and Diane Werts, reality TV columnist Frank Lovece, and film critics John Anderson, Rafer Guzman, Gene Seymour, and Jan Stuart. Newsday carries the syndicated columnist Froma Harrop.

Newsday's use of graphics has sometimes attracted national attention, particularly of the c.-1970 work of such longtime in-house illustrators as Gary Viskupic, Tony D'Adamo, and Ned Levine. Pulitzer Prize winner Walt Handelsman's editorial political cartoons animation are a nationally syndicated feature of Newsday. In the 1980s, a new design director, Robert Eisner, guided the transition into digital design and color printing.

Newsday created and sponsored a "Long Island at the Crossroads" advisory board in 1978, to recommend regional goals, supervise local government, and liaison with state and Federal officials.^[19][20][21] It lasted approximately a decade.

On March 21, 2011, Newsday remade its front page, scrapping the masthead and font used since the 1960s.^[22]

Circulation[link]

In 2008, Newsday was ranked 10th in terms of newspaper circulation in the United States.^[2]

A circulation scandal in 2004 revealed that the paper's daily and Sunday circulation had been inflated by 16.9% and 14.5%, respectively, in the auditing period September 30, 2002 to September 30, 2003.^[23] The Audit Bureau of Circulation adjusted average weekday circulation to 481,816 from 579,599; average Saturday circulation to 392,649 from 416,830; and average Sunday circulation to 574,081 from 671,820, and instituted twice-yearly audits.^[23]

On October 28, 2009, Newsday changed its web site to a paid-subscriber only model. Newsday.com would open its front page, classified ads, movie listings, and school closings to all site visitors, but access beyond this content would require a weekly fee — US$5 as of 2010. This fee would be waived for subscribers of the print edition of the paper, as well as for subscribers to parent-company Cablevision's Internet service.^[24] Through its first three months only 35 non-Optimum, non-Newsday subscribers signed up for the paid web site.^[25]

Awards[link]

Pulitzer Prize[link]

As of 2008, Newsday has won 19 Pulitzer Prizes and has been a finalist for 18 additional:^[26] If no individual is listed, award is for Newsday staff.

• 2008: Public Service (Finalist) — Jennifer Barrios, Sophia Chang, Michael R. Ebert, Reid J. Epstein, Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, Eden Laikin, Herbert Lowe, Joseph Mallia, Jennifer Maloney, Luis Perez and Karla Schuster
• 2007: Editorial Cartooning (Winner) — Walt Handelsman
• 2005: International Reporting (Winner) — Dele Olojede
• 2005: Explanatory Reporting (Finalist)
• 2004: Breaking News Reporting (Finalist)
• 2002: Criticism (Winner) — Justin Davidson
• 1999: Criticism (Finalist) — Justin Davidson
• 1999: Editorial Writing (Finalist) — Lawrence C. Levy
• 1998: Beat Reporting (Finalist) — Laurie Garrett
• 1997: Spot News Reporting (Winner)
• 1996: Explanatory Journalism (Winner) — Laurie Garrett
• 1996: Beat Reporting (Winner) — Bob Keeler
• 1996: International Reporting (Finalist) — Laurie Garrett
• 1995: Investigative Reporting (Winner) — Brian Donovan and Stephanie Saul
• 1995: Commentary (Winner) — Jim Dwyer
• 1994: Explanatory Journalism (Finalist)
• 1993: International Reporting (Winner) — Roy Gutman
• 1992: Spot News Reporting (Winner)
• 1992: International Reporting (Winner) — Patrick J. Sloyan
• 1991: Spot News Reporting (Finalist)
• 1991: Spot News Photography (Finalist)
• 1990: Specialized Reporting (Finalist) - Jim Dwyer
• 1989: Investigative Reporting (Finalist) — Penny Loeb
• 1986: Feature Writing (Finalist) — Irene Virag
• 1985: International Reporting (Winner) — Josh Friedman, Dennis Bell, and Ozier Muhammad
• 1985: Commentary (Winner) — Murray Kempton
• 1984: Local General or Spot News Reporting (Winner)
• 1984: International Reporting (Finalist) — Morris Thompson
• 1984: Criticism (Finalist) — Dan Cryer
• 1982: International Reporting (Finalist) — Bob Wyrick
• 1982: Criticism (Finalist) — Marvin Kitman
• 1980: Local Investigative Specialized Reporting (Finalist) — Carole E. Agus, Andrew V. Fetherston Jr. and Frederick J. Tuccillo
• 1974: Public Service (Winner)
• 1974: Criticism (Winner) — Emily Genauer, Newsday Syndicate
• 1970: Public Service (Winner)
• 1970: Editorial Cartooning (Winner) — Thomas F. Darcy
• 1954: Public Service (Winner)

In popular culture[link]

• In the 1985 comedy/thriller Compromising Positions, the lead character, played by Susan Sarandon, is a former Newsday journalist who is trying reestablish her career by selling a freelance story to the publication.
• On the 1996-2005 CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, the fictional character Ray Barone (played by Ray Romano) is employed by Newsday as a sportswriter.
• The lead female character in the "Crocodile" Dundee movies worked at Newsday.
• The episode "The Homer They Fall" in season eight of The Simpsons quotes Newsday in referencing boxing as "The cruelest sport".

References[link]

External links[link]

• Newsday.com
• amNY.com

Gary Carter
Carter on the field prior to Game 1 of the 2008 Golden Baseball League Championship Series.
Catcher
Born: (1954-04-08)April 8, 1954 Culver City, California
Died: February 16, 2012(2012-02-16) (aged 57) Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 16, 1974 for the Montreal Expos
Last MLB appearance
September 27, 1992 for the Montreal Expos
Career statistics
Batting average	.262
Home runs	324
Runs batted in	1,225
Teams
Montreal Expos (1974–1984) New York Mets (1985–1989) San Francisco Giants (1990) Los Angeles Dodgers (1991) Montreal Expos (1992)
Career highlights and awards
11× All-Star (1975, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988) World Series champion (1986) 3× Gold Glove Award winner (1980, 1981, 1982) 5× Silver Slugger Award winner (1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986) 2× MLB All-Star Game MVP (1981, 1984) 1989 Roberto Clemente Award Montreal Expos #8 retired
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	2003
Vote	78.02%

Gary Edmund Carter (April 8, 1954 – February 16, 2012^[1]) was an American professional baseball catcher whose 21-year career was spent primarily with the Montreal Expos and New York Mets. Nicknamed "Kid" for his youthful exuberance, Carter was named an All-Star 11 times, and was a member of one World Series championship team.

Known throughout his career for his hard hitting as well has his excellent defense behind the plate, Carter made a major contribution to the Mets' World Series championship in 1986, including a 12th-inning single against the Houston Astros that won Game 5 of the NLCS and a 10th-inning single against the Boston Red Sox to start the fabled comeback rally in Game 6 of the World Series. He is one of only three people ever to be named captain of the Mets, and he had his number retired by the Expos.^[2]

After retiring from baseball, Carter coached baseball at the college and minor-league level. He was inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.

Early life[link]

Carter was born in Culver City, California in 1954 to Jim Carter, an aircraft worker, and his wife, Inge. When Gary was 12, Inge died of leukemia. He attended high school at Sunny Hills High School, in Fullerton, CA, where he played football as a quarterback and baseball as an infielder. After receiving more than 100 scholarships for athletics,^[3] Carter signed a letter of intent to play football at University of California, Los Angeles, but instead signed with the Montreal Expos after they drafted him in the 1972 Major League Baseball Draft.^[3][4]

Montreal Expos[link]

Carter was drafted by the Montreal Expos as a shortstop in the third round of the 1972 Major League Baseball Draft. Carter got his nickname "Kid"^[5] during his first spring training camp with the Expos in 1974.

Rookie season[link]

The Expos converted Carter to a catcher in the minor leagues.^[6] In 1974, he hit 23 home runs and drove in 83 runs for the Expos' triple-A affiliate, the Memphis Blues. Following a September call-up, Carter made his major league debut in Jarry Park in Montreal in the second game of a double header against the New York Mets on September 16. Despite going 0–4 in that game, his finished the season batting .407 (11-27). He hit his first major league home run on September 28 against Steve Carlton in a 3–1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.^[7]

Carter split time between right field and catching his rookie season (1975), and was selected for the National League All-Star team as a right fielder. He did not get an at bat, but appeared as a defensive replacement for Pete Rose in the ninth inning, and caught Rod Carew's fly ball for the final out of the NL's 6–3 victory.^[8] He hit .270 with 17 home runs and 68 runs batted in, and finished second to San Francisco Giants pitcher John Montefusco for the National League Rookie of the Year award and receiving The Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award.

Expos catcher[link]

Carter again split time in the outfield and behind the plate in 1976 while a broken finger limited him to 91 games. He batted .219 with six home runs and 38 RBIs. In 1977, young stars Warren Cromartie, Ellis Valentine and Andre Dawson became full-time outfielders. By June, starting catcher Barry Foote was traded, opening up a reqular starting position for Carter behind the plate. He responded with 31 home runs and 84 RBIs. In 1980, Carter clubbed 29 home runs, drove in 101 runs, and earned the first of his three consecutive Gold Glove Awards. He finished second to third baseman Mike Schmidt in NL MVP balloting, whose Phillies took the National League East by one game over the Expos.

Carter caught Charlie Lea's no-hitter on May 10, 1981,^[9] during the first half of the strike shortened season. The season resumed on Sunday, August 9, 1981 with the All-Star Game. Carter was elected to start his first All Star Game over perennial NL starting catcher Johnny Bench who had moved to play first base that year, and responded with two home runs and being named the game's MVP. Carter was the fifth and most recent player to hit two home runs in an All-Star Game.

MLB split the 1981 season into two halves, with the first-place teams from each half in each division meeting in a best-of-five divisional playoff series. The four survivors moved on to two best-of-five League Championship Series. The Expos won the NL East's second half with a 30–23 record. In his first post season, Carter batted .421, hit two home runs and drove in six in the Expos' three games to two victory over the Phillies in the division series. Carter's average improved to .438 in the 1981 National League Championship Series, with no home runs or RBIs, and his Expos lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.

[edit] 1984 season

Carter hit a home run in the 1984 Major League Baseball All-Star Game to give the NL a 2–1 lead that they would not relinquish, earning him his second All-Star game MVP award. Carter's league leading 106 RBIs, 159 games played, .294 batting average, 175 hits and 290 total bases were personal highs. The 1984 Expos finished fifth in the NL East, and the rebuilding Expos traded Carter at the end of the season to the Mets for Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham and Floyd Youmans.

New York Mets[link]

In his first game as a Met on April 9, 1985, he hit a tenth inning home run off Neil Allen to give the Mets a 6–5 Opening Day victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets and Cardinals rivaled for the National League East championship, with Carter and first baseman Keith Hernandez leading the Mets. The season came down to the wire as the Mets won 98 games that season, however, they lost the division to a Cardinals team that won 101 games. Carter hit a career high 32 home runs and drove in 100 runs his first season in New York. The Mets had three players finish in the top ten in NL MVP balloting that season (Dwight Gooden 4th, Carter 6th and Hernandez 8th).

A rivalry also developed between the Mets and Carter's former team, the Expos. On July 30 while facing the Expos at Shea, Montreal pitcher Bill Gullickson threw a pitch over Carter's head. Gooden did the same to Gullickson in the bottom of the inning. The Los Angeles Times speculated that Carter caught the ball as if he knew where the pitch was going to end up.^[10]

1986 World Series Champions[link]

In 1986, Carter's Mets won 108 games and took the National League East by 21.5 games over the Phillies. Carter suffered a postseason slump in the NLCS, batting .148. However, he hit a walk-off RBI single to win Game 5. Carter also had two hits in the next game which the Mets won in 16 innnings.^[11]

The Mets won the 1986 World Series in seven games over the Boston Red Sox. Carter batted .276 with nine RBIs in his first World Series, and hit two home runs over Fenway Park's Green Monster in Game Four. He is the only player to hit two home runs in an All-Star Game (1981) and two home runs in a World Series game. Carter started a two-out rally in the tenth inning of Game Six, scoring the first of three Mets runs that inning on a single by Ray Knight. He also hit an eighth-inning sacrifice fly that tied the game.^[12] Carter finished third on the NL MVP ballot in 1986.^[11]

300 career home runs[link]

Carter batted .235 in 1987, and ended the season with 291 career home runs. He had 299 home runs by May 16 1988 after a fast start, then slumped until August 11 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field when he hit his 300th. During his home run drought, Carter was named co-captain of the team with Hernandez, who had been named captain the previous season.

Carter ended 1988 with 11 home runs and 46 RBIs—his lowest totals since 1976. He ended the season with 10,360 career putouts as a catcher, breaking Detroit Tigers catcher Bill Freehan's career mark (9941). The Mets won 100 games that season, taking the NL East by fifteen games, however the heavily favored Mets lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1988 National League Championship Series. Carter batted .183 in fifty games for the Mets in 1989. In November the Mets released Carter after five seasons, hitting 89 home runs and driving in 349 runs.

Return to Montreal[link]

After leaving the Mets, Carter platooned with catcher Terry Kennedy on the San Francisco Giants in 1990, batting .254 with nine home runs. He found himself again in a pennant race in 1991 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who finished one game behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League West.

At the end of the season, Carter returned to Montreal for his final season off waivers from the Dodgers. Carter was still nicknamed "Kid" by teammates despite his age. In his last at-bat, he hit a double over the head of Chicago Cub right-fielder Andre Dawson, the only other person to go into the Hall of Fame as an Expo.^[13] The Expos went 87-75 and finished second behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League East.

Carter had a .991 fielding percentage as a catcher and 11,785 career putouts. He ranks sixth all-time in career home runs by a catcher with 298.

Post-playing career[link]

After his retirement as a player, Carter served as an analyst for Florida Marlins television broadcasts from 1993 to 1996. He also appeared in the movie The Last Home Run (1998) which was filmed in 1996.^[14]

Hall of Fame[link]

Gary Carter's number 8 was retired by the Montreal Expos in 2003.

Carter was inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 2001.^[15] In 2003, Carter was elected into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame along with Kirk McCaskill, and his number eight was retired by the Expos and is tacitly recognized on the facade of Nationals Park in Washington, D.C..

In his sixth year on the ballot, Gary Carter was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame along with Eddie Murray on January 7, 2003. Carter had originally requested to have the plaque as half an Expo and half a Met, and though the media took it as one of his jokes, there was legitimate debate as to with which team he would be associated.^[16] Carter himself had expressed a preference to be inducted as an Expo during his final season; however, given the uncertainty of the Expo franchise, and Carter's having worked for the Mets organization since retiring as a player, winning his only World Series title with the Mets, and becoming a media celebrity during his stint in New York, Carter was unsure.The final decision rested with the Hall of Fame, and Hall president Dale Petroskey declared that Carter's achievements with the Expos over twelve season had earned his induction, whereas his play during his five seasons with the Mets by itself would not have.^[17] Mets fans pointed to the induction of Reggie Jackson with a New York Yankees cap, despite playing the majority of his career with the Oakland A's as precedent, but Carter ultimately was inducted with the Expos cap. At the induction ceremony, Carter spoke a few words of French, thanking fans in Montreal for the great honor and pleasure of playing in that city, though he also took great care to note the Mets' 1986 championship as the highlight of his career.

After the Expos moved to Washington, D.C. following the 2004 season, a banner displaying Carter's number along with those of Andre Dawson, Tim Raines and Rusty Staub was hung from the rafters at the Bell Centre, home of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens. While the Mets have not retired number eight, it has remained unused since Carter's election to the Hall of Fame.

Coaching[link]

Carter was named Gulf Coast League Manager of the Year his first season managing the Gulf Coast Mets in 2005. A year later, he was promoted to the A-level St. Lucie Mets, and guided his team to the 2006 Florida State League championship, again earning Manager of the Year honors. In recent years, Carter has been criticized, most notably by former co-captain Keith Hernandez, for twice openly campaigning for the Mets' managerial position while it was still occupied by incumbents Art Howe in 2004, and in 2008 Willie Randolph.

In 2008, he managed the Orange County Flyers of the Golden Baseball League, and again guided his team to the GBL Championship and was named Manager of the Year. For the following season Carter was named manager of the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.^[18] The Ducks won the 2009 second half Liberty Division title, however, they were defeated by the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in the Liberty Division playoffs.^[19] The next season Carter was named head baseball coach for the NCAA Division II Palm Beach Atlantic University Sailfish.

Personal life[link]

Carter attended Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, California. He was married to his wife, Sandy, from 1975 until his death in 2012. They had three children.

His daughter Kimmy is the head softball coach at Palm Beach Atlantic^[20], and was a softball catcher for Florida State from 1999-2002.^[21]

Carter was an active philanthropist. Through The Gary Carter Foundation, of which Carter was the president, Carter and his staff support 8 Title I schools in Palm Beach County whose students live in poverty. Typically, these schools have 90% or more students eligible for free or reduced lunches. The Foundation seeks to "better the physical, mental and spiritual well being of children." To accomplish this, they advocate "school literacy by encouraging use of the Reading Counts Program, a program that exists in the Palm Beach County School District". Since its inception, The Gary Carter Foundation has placed over $622,000 toward charitable purposes, including $366,000 to local elementary schools for their reading programs.^{[citation needed]}

Illness and death[link]

In May 2011, Carter was diagnosed with four malignant tumors in his brain after complaining of headaches and forgetfulness. Doctors confirmed that he had a grade IV primary brain tumor glioblastoma multiforme, an extremely aggressive cancer. Doctors said that it was inoperable and Carter would undergo other treatment methods to shrink his tumor.^[22][23] On January 20, 2012, daughter Kimmy posted on her blog that an MRI had revealed additional tumors on her father's brain. Even as he battled an aggressive form of brain cancer, Carter did not miss Opening Day for the college baseball team he coached.^[24]

Carter died on February 16, 2012, having lost his battle with brain cancer. He was 57 years old.^[25]

On February 25, 2012, the Mets announced that they were adding a memorial patch to their uniforms for the entire 2012 season in honor of Carter. The patch features a black home plate with the number 8 and "KID" inscribed on it. ^[26] For the Mets' opening day on April 5, 2012, the Carter family unveiled a similar patch design on the center field wall of Citi Field (the wall design differs in that it has a thin white border around the black plate).

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Baseball portal

• Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
• List of Major League Baseball retired numbers
• List of top 300 Major League Baseball home run hitters
• List of major league players with 2,000 hits
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
• List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
• DHL Hometown Heroes

References[link]

External links[link]

• Gary Carter at the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
• The Official Website of the Gary Carter Foundation
• Ultimate Mets Database: Gary Carter

Jacinta Tynan is an Australian news presenter and journalist.

Tynan is currently a news presenter on Sky News Australia, where she has been since 2005.

She started her career as a snow reporter for Thredbo before working as a reporter / weather presenter with Win TV, Canberra.

Prior to joining Sky News Australia she worked at ABC Television, where she reported and presented for ABC News and the 7:30 Report. She was also the anchorwoman for the ABC's International satellite TV service, the Australia Network (formerly known as ABC Asia Pacific). Tynan was a reporter for ABC News in Darwin and was a relief presenter for Australia Television News. She reported for Today Tonight on the Seven Network, then worked as a producer for APTN and Access Hollywood in London.

She has a Bachelor of Communications from Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, majoring in broadcast journalism. During her studies she was a broadcaster with on-campus community radio station 2MCE-FM.

Jacinta also studied acting at the Vancouver Film School in Canada and has written and starred in two short films, one of which was selected as a Tropfest semi-finalist in 2001.

She also acted in The Vagina Monologues at Sydney's Ensemble Theatre and starred in Closer for the Darlinghurst Theatre Company.

Tynan is one of six children. Neither she nor any of her three sisters are married. In an interview on Today Tonight on 6 August 2007 she revealed that she has a fear of getting married, because her parents had a bad marriage.

She is the grand-niece of John O'Grady (Nino Culotta) who wrote the best-selling They're a Weird Mob.

Tynan is ambassador and a mentor for the Sister2Sister teenage mentor program with the Life Changing Experiences Foundation.

Jacinta and her partner Liam Timms have two sons, Jasper Jerome Pep Timms, who was born in October 2009 after Tynan went into labour while presenting the news on Sky News Australia and Otis Liam Francis Timms, who was born in May 2011.

References[link]

• Sky News Australia
• Brisbane Times: birth of son Jasper

This Australian journalist biography article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg in 2007
108th Mayor of New York City[1]
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2002
Preceded by	Rudy Giuliani
Personal details
Born	Michael Rubens Bloomberg (1942-02-14) February 14, 1942 (age 70) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Democratic Party (until 2001) Republican Party (2001–2007) Independent (2007–present)
Domestic partner	Diana Taylor
Residence	Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Johns Hopkins University (BS) Harvard University (MBA)
Occupation	Businessman, politician, philanthropist
Religion	Reform Judaism[2]
Net worth	US$22 billion (2012)[3]
Signature
Website	Official NYC Mayoral website MikeBloomberg.com

Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician who is currently Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $22 billion in 2012, he is also the 11th-richest person in the United States.^[3] He is the founder and 88% owner of Bloomberg L.P., a financial data-services firm.^[4][5][6]

A Democrat before seeking elective office, Bloomberg switched his registration in 2001 and ran for mayor as a Republican, winning the election that year and a second term in 2005. Bloomberg left the Republican Party over policy and philosophical disagreements with national party leadership in 2007 and ran for his third term in 2009 as an independent candidate on the Republican ballot line. He was frequently mentioned as a possible independent candidate for the 2008 presidential election, which fueled further speculation when he left the Republican Party.^[7] There was also speculation that he would run as a vice-presidential candidate.^[8] Bloomberg did not, however, seek the presidency nor was he selected as a running mate by any of the presidential candidates.

In the fall of 2008, Bloomberg successfully campaigned for an amendment to New York City's term-limits law, in order to allow him to run for a third term in 2009. Bloomberg won the election on November 3, 2009.^[9]

Early life[link]

He was born at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston on February 14, 1942.^[10] His family was Jewish. His father, William Henry Bloomberg (1906–1963), was a real estate agent, and the son of Alexander "Elick" Bloomberg, an immigrant. His mother, Charlotte Rubens Bloomberg, was born on January 2, 1909, in New Jersey, the daughter of a Russian-born immigrant and a New Jersey–born mother. She died, aged 102, on June 19, 2011.^[11]

The family lived in Allston, Massachusetts, until Michael Bloomberg was two years old; they then moved to Brookline, Massachusetts, for the next two years, finally settling in Medford, a Boston suburb, where he lived until after he graduated from college.^[12] Bloomberg is also an Eagle Scout.^[13][14]

Bloomberg attended Johns Hopkins University, where he joined Phi Kappa Psi, worked as a parking lot attendant to pay his tuition, and graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering.^[15] Later he received his Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.^[16]

Business career[link]

In 1973, Bloomberg became a general partner at Salomon Brothers, a bulge-bracket, Wall Street investment bank, where he headed equity trading, and later, systems development. In 1981, Salomon Brothers was bought, and Bloomberg was fired from the investment bank and given a $10 million severance package.^[17] Using this money, Bloomberg went on to set up a company named Innovative Market Systems. His business plan was based on the realization that Wall Street (and the financial community generally) was willing to pay for high quality business information delivered as quickly as possible and in as many usable forms as technically possible (such as graphs of highly specific trends).^[18]

In 1982, Merrill Lynch became the new company's first customer, installing 22 of the company's Market Master terminals and investing $30 million in the company. The company was renamed Bloomberg L.P. in 1986. By 1987, it had installed 5,000 terminals. Within a few years, ancillary products including Bloomberg Tradebook (a trading platform), the Bloomberg Messaging Service, and the Bloomberg newswire were launched. As of 2009, the company had more than 250,000 terminals worldwide. His company also has a radio network which currently has its flagship station as 1130 WBBR-AM in New York City. He left the position of CEO to pursue a political career as the mayor of New York. Bloomberg was replaced as CEO by Lex Fenwick. The company is now led by president Daniel Doctoroff, a former deputy mayor under Bloomberg.

As the mayor of New York, Bloomberg declines to receive a city salary, accepting remuneration of $1.00 annually for his services. He maintains a public listing in the New York City phone directory, residing not in Gracie Mansion – the official mayor's mansion – but instead at his own home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, at 17 East 79th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues. He owns additional homes in London, Bermuda and Vail.^[19]

Bloomberg says that he frequently rides the New York City Subway, particularly in the commute from his 79th Street home to his office at City Hall. An August 2007 story in The New York Times asserted that he was often seen chauffeured by two New York Police Department-owned SUVs to an express train station to avoid having to change from the local to the express trains on the Lexington Avenue line.^[20]

Bloomberg wrote an autobiography, with help from a ghost writer, called Bloomberg by Bloomberg (1997, ISBN 0-471-15545-4).

Wealth[link]

In March 2009, Forbes reported Bloomberg's wealth at $16 billion, a gain of $4.5 billion over the previous year, enjoying the world's biggest increase in wealth in 2009.^[21] At that time, there were only four fortunes in the U.S. that were larger (although the Wal-Mart family fortune is split among four people). He moved from 142nd to 17th in the Forbes list of the world's billionaires in only two years (March 2007 – March 2009).^[22][23] In March 2011, his total wealth had increased to $19.5 billion, ranking 12th in the Forbes 400 and 30th in the world.^[3] As of 2012, Forbes ranks his fortune at $22 billion.^[3]

Philanthropy[link]

Bloomberg's personal net worth, in addition to aiding his political career, has allowed him to engage in substantial philanthropic endeavors, including the donation of over $300 million to Johns Hopkins University,^[24] where he served as the chairman of the board from 1996 to 2002.

According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Bloomberg, through his Bloomberg Family Foundation, donated and/or pledged $138 million in 2004, $144 million in 2005, $165 million in 2006, and $205 million in 2007, making him the seventh-largest individual contributor to philanthropy in the U.S. for 2007.^[25] 2006 recipients include the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; World Lung Foundation and the World Health Organization. In 2008, Bloomberg's website announced a combined donation of $500 million with Bill Gates to help governments in developing countries with tobacco control.^[26]

According to The New York Times,^[27] Bloomberg has been an “anonymous donor” to the Carnegie Corporation each year for the last several years, with gifts ranging from $5 to $20 million. The Carnegie Corporation has distributed this contribution to hundreds of New York City organizations^[28] ranging from the Dance Theatre of Harlem to Gilda's Club, a non-profit organization that provides support to people and families living with cancer.

In 1996, Bloomberg endowed the William Henry Bloomberg Professorship at Harvard with a $3 million gift in honor of his father, who died in 1963, saying, "throughout his life, he recognized the importance of reaching out to the nonprofit sector to help better the welfare of the entire community."^[29] Bloomberg also endowed his hometown synagogue, Temple Shalom, which was renamed for his parents as the William and Charlotte Bloomberg Jewish Community Center of Medford.^[2][30]

Bloomberg reports giving $254 million in 2009 to almost 1,400 nonprofit organizations, saying, "I am a big believer in giving it all away and have always said that the best financial planning ends with bouncing the check to the undertaker."^[31]

On July 21, 2011, Bloomberg announced that he would donate $50 million to Sierra Club's “Beyond Coal” campaign, the grassroots organization’s efforts to close older coal plants and prevent new ones from being built. The gift, spread out over four years, will come from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Awards and honors[link]

At the 2007 commencement exercises for Tufts University, Bloomberg delivered the commencement address. He was awarded an honorary degree in Public Service from the university. Likewise, Bloomberg delivered the 2007 commencement address at Bard College, where he was also awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.^[32] In February 2003, he received the "Award for Distinguished Leadership in Global Capital Markets" from the Yale School of Management. Bloomberg was named the 39th most influential person in the world in the 2007 Time 100.^[33] In September 2007, Vanity Fair ranked him #9 in its "Vanity Fair 100: The 2007 New Establishment."^[34]

In May 2008, Bloomberg was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Pennsylvania, where he delivered the commencement speech to the class of 2008.^[35] Bloomberg also delivered the commencement address to the class of 2008 at Barnard College, located in New York City, after receiving the Barnard Medal of Distinction, the College's highest honor.^[36]

It was announced on January 14, 2011, that Bloomberg had been selected as the speaker for Princeton University's 2011 baccalaureate service.^[37]

Bloomberg was also awarded a tribute award at the 2007 Gotham Awards, a New York-based celebrator of independent film. On November 19, 2008, Bloomberg received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York." Additionally, he was awarded an honorary doctorate at Fordham University's 2009 commencement ceremonies.^[38]

In 2009, Bloomberg received a Healthy Communities Leadership Award from Leadership for Healthy Communities – a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation national program – for his policies and programs that increase access to healthful foods and physical activity options in the city.^[39] For instance, to increase access to grocery stores in underserved areas, the Bloomberg administration developed a program called FRESH that offers zoning and financial incentives to developers, grocery store operators and land owners.^[40] His administration also created a Healthy Bodega initiative, which provides healthful food samples and promotional support to grocers in lower-income areas to encourage them to carry one-percent milk and fruits and vegetables.^[41] Under Bloomberg's leadership, the city also: passed a Green Carts bill,^[42] which supports mobile produce vendors in lower-income areas; expanded farmers' markets using the city's Health Bucks program which provides coupons to eligible individuals to buy produce at farmers' markets in lower-income areas;^[43] and committed $111 million in capital funding for playground improvements.^[44] New York also was one of the first cities in the nation to help patrons make more informed decisions about their food choices by requiring fast-food and chain restaurants to label their menus with calorie information.^[45]

Harassment controversies[link]

Bloomberg has previously been accused of sexually harassing women under his employment, which he has denied.^[46][47] In 1997, a former Bloomberg L.P. employee who became pregnant while employed filed a lawsuit accusing Bloomberg of saying, "Kill it!" and "Great, No. 16," which may have been a reference to the number of pregnant women in the company.^[46] In December 2008, Conde Nast Portfolio published a story – "Mayor Bloomberg's Delicate Condition" – which reported that in September 2007 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a class-action lawsuit against Bloomberg's company on behalf of three women who worked on the business side, plus a group of women who worked at Bloomberg's company between 2002 and the present. The article said the plaintiffs "now total 72, out of about 500 women who took maternity leave during that time, a high percentage, according to the agency".^[48]

Elections[link]

2001 election[link]

In 2001, the incumbent mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, was ineligible for re-election, as the city limited the mayoralty to two consecutive terms. Several well-known New York City politicians aspired to succeed him. Bloomberg, a lifelong member of the Democratic Party, decided to run for mayor as a member of the Republican Party ticket.

Voting in the primary began on the morning of September 11, 2001. The primary was postponed later that day. In the rescheduled primary, Bloomberg defeated Herman Badillo, a former Congressman, to become the Republican nominee. Meanwhile, the Democratic primary did not produce a first-round winner. After a runoff, the Democratic nomination went to New York City Public Advocate Mark J. Green.

In the general election, Bloomberg received Giuliani's endorsement. He also had a huge spending advantage. Although New York City's campaign finance law restricts the amount of contributions which a candidate can accept, Bloomberg chose not to use public campaign funds and therefore his campaign was not subject to these restrictions. He spent $73 million of his own money on his campaign, outspending Green by five to one.^[49] One of the major themes of his campaign was that, with the city's economy suffering from the effects of the World Trade Center attacks, it needed a mayor with business experience.

In addition to serving as the Republican nominee, Bloomberg had the ballot line of the controversial Independence Party, in which "Social Therapy" leaders Fred Newman and Lenora Fulani exert strong influence. Some say that endorsement was important, as Bloomberg's votes on that line exceeded his margin of victory over Green. (Under New York's fusion rules, a candidate can run on more than one party's line and combine all the votes received on all lines. Green, the Democrat, also had the ballot line of the Working Families Party. He also created an independent line called Students First whose votes were combined with those on the Independence line). Another factor was the vote in Staten Island, which has traditionally been far friendlier to Republicans than the rest of the city. Bloomberg handily beat Green in that borough, taking 75 percent of the vote there. Overall, Bloomberg won 50 percent to 48 percent.

Bloomberg's election marked the first time in New York City history that two different Republicans had been elected mayor consecutively. New York City has not been won by a Republican in a presidential election since Calvin Coolidge won in 1924. Bloomberg is considered a social liberal, who is pro-choice, in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage and an advocate for stricter gun control laws.

Despite the fact that 68 percent of New York City's registered voters are Democrats, Bloomberg decided the city should host the 2004 Republican National Convention. The Convention drew thousands of protesters, many of them local residents angry over the Iraq war and other issues. The Police Department arrested approximately 1,800 protesters, but according to The New York Times, more than 90 percent of the cases were later dismissed or dropped for lack of evidence.

2005 election[link]

Bloomberg was re-elected mayor in November 2005 by a margin of 20 percent, the widest margin ever for a Republican mayor of New York.^[50]

Bloomberg spent over $1 million on his campaign by late October 2005 and was projected to exceed the record of $74 million he spent on the previous election. In late 2004 or early 2005, Bloomberg gave the Independence Party of New York $250,000 to fund a phone bank seeking to recruit volunteers for his re-election campaign.^[51]

Bloomberg visiting with Grand Rabbi Moshe Leib Rabinovich of the Munkacs Hasidic sect in Brooklyn, 2004

Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer won the Democratic nomination to oppose Bloomberg in the general election. Thomas Ognibene sought to run against Bloomberg in the Republican Party's primary election.^[52] Bloomberg's campaign successfully challenged enough of the signatures Ognibene had submitted to the Board of Elections to prevent Ognibene from appearing on ballots for the Republican primary.^[52] Instead, Ognibene ran only on the Conservative Party ticket.^[53] Ognibene accused Bloomberg of betraying Republican Party ideals, a feeling echoed by others.^{[54][55][56][57][58]}

Bloomberg opposed the confirmation of John Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States.^[59] Though a Republican at the time, Bloomberg is a staunch supporter of abortion rights and did not believe that Roberts was committed to maintaining Roe v. Wade.^[59]

In addition to receiving Republican support, Bloomberg obtained the endorsements of several prominent Democrats: former Democratic Mayor Ed Koch; former Democratic governor Hugh Carey; former Democratic City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, and his son, Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr.; former Democratic Congressman Floyd Flake (who had previously endorsed Bloomberg in 2001), and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.^[60]

2009 election[link]

On October 2, 2008, Bloomberg announced that he would seek to extend the city's term limits law and run for a third mayoral term in 2009, arguing that a leader of his field is needed during the Wall Street financial crisis. "Handling this financial crisis while strengthening essential services ... is a challenge I want to take on," Bloomberg told at a news conference. "So should the City Council vote to amend term limits, I plan to ask New Yorkers to look at my record of independent leadership and then decide if I have earned another term".^[61] On October 23, 2008, the City Council voted 29–22 in favor of extending the term limit to three consecutive four-year terms, thus allowing Bloomberg to run for office again.^[62] After two days of public hearings, Bloomberg signed the bill into law on November 3.^[63]

Bloomberg's opponent was Democratic and Working Families Party nominee Bill Thompson, who had been New York City Comptroller for the past eight years and before that President of the New York City Board of Education.^[64] Bloomberg defeated Thompson by a vote of 50.6 percent to 46.0 percent.^[65]

After the release of Independence Party campaign filings in January 2010, it was reported that Bloomberg had made two $600,000 contributions from his personal account to the Independence Party on October 30 and November 2, 2009.^[66] The Independence Party then paid $750,000 of that money to Republican Party political operative John Haggerty Jr.^[67]

This prompted to an investigation beginning in February 2010 by the office of New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. into possible improprieties.^[68] The Independence Party later questioned how Haggerty spent the money, which was to go to poll-watchers.^[69] Former New York State Senator Martin Connor contended that because the Bloomberg donations were made to an Independence Party housekeeping account rather than to an account meant for current campaigns, this was a violation of campaign finance laws.^[70] Haggerty also spent money from a separate $200,000 donation from Bloomberg on office space.^[71]

Mayoralty[link]

Bloomberg attending the opening night of the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival

Bloomberg assumed office as the 108th Mayor of New York City on January 1, 2002. He won re-election in 2005. As mayor, Bloomberg initially struggled to gain high approval levels from the public; however, he subsequently developed and maintained high approval ratings.

Bloomberg's re-election means the Republicans have won the previous four mayoral elections (although Bloomberg's decision to leave the Republican Party and be declared an independent on June 19, 2007, resulted in the Republican Party's losing the mayor's seat prior to the expiration of his second term). Bloomberg joins Rudy Giuliani and Fiorello La Guardia as re-elected Republican mayors in this mostly Democratic city. (John Lindsay was also elected mayor of New York twice while a registered Republican; however, Lindsay did not receive the Republican Party nomination during his 1969 campaign for re-election but ran successfully on the Liberal ticket and joined the Democratic Party during his second term.)

Bloomberg has said that he wants public education reform to be the legacy of his first term and addressing poverty to be the legacy of his second.^[72] Some have alleged that he made certain decisions regarding the closure of seventeen day-care centers across the city for political reasons.^[73] According to the National Assessment of Educational Performance, fourth-grade reading scores from 2002 through 2009 rose nationally by 11 points. However, on May 10, 2010, The New York Times reported: