New York State

Long Island accountant Marvin Schaffer was arrested for scalping U.S. Open tickets near the will-call booth at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Stadium on Aug. 31.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has spent $600 million in overtime pay from January 2008 and December 2009, with 144 MTA employees doubling their annual income through overtime pay, according to an audit released Aug. 5 by the Office of the New York State Comptroller.

New York Governor David A. Paterson deceived investigators for the state ethics commission when he testified that he had intended to pay for free tickets he obtained to the 2009 World Series, according to a report released Thursday by an independent counsel investigating the matter.

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance is cracking down on bagel shops slicing bagels for their customers, counting the sliced bagel as a “prepared food” and thus subject to a food tax.

New York is one of nine states, along with the District of Columbia, to have secured federal education funding through its placement in the nation-wide Race to the Top program which pitted various states against each other for a share of $3.4 billion in school aid, $700 million in New York’s case.

British supermodel Naomi Campbell, known as much for her beauty as her scandalous behavior, can now add an IRS lien to her list of troubles.

A series of audits conducted by the state comptroller’s office has revealed at least $150 million worth of waste, fraud and abuse in the state’s Medicaid reimbursement system due to what Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli called “pervasive problems with its billing system and policies.”

Property owners who fail to file the annual Real Property Income and Expense (RPIE) forms with the New York City Department of Taxation and Finance by Sept. 1 will face penalties of up to 3 percent of the actual assessed value of their properties.

An audit by the Buffalo City comptroller revealed that the city of Buffalo spent nearly $2 million in taxpayer funds to pay for the health insurance premiums for 152 deceased employees.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), IRS and Pace University Small Business Development Center (SBDC) will sponsor a Health Care Forum for small business owners on Aug. 25 to be held at Pace University in New York.