Queens students stand out
in court reporting contest
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
Two Queens court
reporting students at Plaza
College were among the
fastest transcribers during
a recent speed competition.
As a part of their Court
Reporting & Captioning
week, Plaza College hosted
the 2019 National Court
Reporters Association
(NCRA) Student Speed
Contest on Feb. 13.
During the competition,
more than 100 students who
are training to be court
stenographers showcased
their court reporting skills
by rapidly and accurately
transcribing dictation. In
order to win, participants
had to qualify with the
fastest times and a minimum
96 percent accuracy.
Two of this year’s 12
winners included Paula
Mullen of Maspeth and
Alexandra Bourekas of
Oakland Gardens.
“We are the guardians
of the record. Our role
is crucial because we
record and preserve the
accurate accounts of trials,
depositions, grand juries
and other crucial aspects
of the legal system which
are essential to ensuring
the fair administration
of justice,” said Plaza
College Court Reporting
Program Chair and Vice
President of the NYS Court
Reporters Association
Karen Santucci. “We are
extremely proud of the
professionals who graduate
this program and go on to
not only work in the courts
but also perform closed
captioning and provide
services for the hearing
impaired. Our students
are well prepared for these
crucially important wellpaying
jobs in which they
can build their careers.”
Plaza College is
currently the only college
in New York City to offer a
court reporting program,
with 200 students enrolled.
According to the Bureau
of Labor Statistics, court
reporting jobs will grow 3
percent nationwide by the
year 2026.
While automation and
Artificial Intelligence
technologies are taking over
more workplace functions in
the American legal system,
the human record keepers
outperform the machines
in important ways, beating
them in accuracy, speed,
and reliability.
“Keeping a record
is extremely important
because if something goes
wrong in the trial you
need to have a record of
that. An accurate record
is important to life and
society as we know it and it
is beneficial for the future,”
said Bianna Lewiss, Plaza
College NCRA Student
Speed Competition Winners
and Court Reporting
Student. “In big ways it
changes lives and in little
ways it changes lives.”
To learn more about
Plaza College’s court
reporting program, visit
plazacollege.edu.
Reach reporter Emily
Davenport by e-mail at
edavenport@qns.com or by
phone at (718) 224-5863 ext.
236.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is amending the 2020 budget to include reforms that could bring commuters one
step closer to seeing congestion pricing enacted. Photo via Flickr Creative Commons/John Winder
Cuomo eyes MTA fi x
Governor amends budget to reform transit authority
BY MARK HALLUM
Claiming the MTA’s
misfortune goes back
“decades,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo
announced new amendments
to the 2020 executive budget
to keep better tallies on how
the agency spends its money
among other items.
Cuomo plans to set up
an expert panel to not only
provide spending oversight,
but also set congestion pricing
rates, reform the MTA board
and overhaul the agency’s
“archaic” bureaucracy.
“The MTA’s dysfunction is
no secret, and for decades it
has been suffering due to a lack
of investment, accountability,
and creative thinking,”
Cuomo said. “Today we are
adding specific measures to
the Executive Budget that
will continue our efforts at
achieving real reforms. The
MTA desperately needs money,
but it also needs a structure
that is rooted in accountability
and new ideas that will ensure
the agency is finally operating
as it should be and as New
Yorkers demand.”
The proposed MTA
oversight committee would be
comprised of six individuals
with backgrounds in auditing,
corporate restructuring and
risk management among
other things. A restructuring
plan would be required under
a different amendment.
Another of the amendments
would establish a pricing
structure for the different
vehicles entering Manhattan
at different times, and the
funds levied from those tolls
would go into a lockbox.
Makor capital projects
would incorporate the design
and construction stages of
a build effort into a single
contract, which Cuomo
claimed would cut back
on bureaucracy.
Riders Alliance spokesman
Danny Pearlstein said that
while he agreed the MTA has
been subject to a generation
of disinvestment, it is still
incumbent upon sitting officials
to raise funds to address
infrastructure issues and only
then can reforms be viable.
“The governor needs to
focus laser-like on passing
congestion pricing,” Pearlstein
said. “The governor and the
legislature is responsible for
funding the MTA, full-stop.”
Pearlstein added that the
most important consideration
should be that while
deliberations been the Cuomo
and the legislature take place,
riders are “suffering” under
delays and service cuts.
At a Feb. 1 press
conference, however, state
officials gathered at JFK
AirTrain concourse of the
Jamaica Terminal to call for
more clarity on the Cuomo’s
congestion pricing proposal,
refusing to vote in favor or
against the plan without being
presented with more details.
“We showed up at the
budget hearing this year fully
expecting to hear some details
about what this congestion
pricing plan would do, how
much would people get
charged, how much revenue
does the MTA actually expect
and how much congestion will
we be relieved of?” state Sen.
John Liu said following the
Jan. 30 hearing. “I certainly
went expecting the MTA
just to tell us, I didn’t think
we’d have to be there for
five hours asking the MTA
question after question after
question and getting no
answers whatsoever.”
Cuomo, however, issued
an ultimatum telling the
legislature that it had two
choices: pass congestion
pricing or riders would face
a 30 percent toll increase,
something which has already
been met with intense
resistance across the five
boroughs in recent months.
“Congestion pricing is
the only logical and realistic
option to fund the MTA’s
capital needs and one person
must have the authority
to make decisions, hire
and fire, and reorganize,”
Cuomo said Feb. 7. “Let the
Legislature cast their vote on
the real choice – congestion
pricing or 30% fare and toll
increases. It’s A or B, because
there is no C. If the public
understands the critical
choice their elected officials
are making, congestion
pricing will prevail.”
Photo via Wikipedia Commons/PCBUSMED
TIMESLEDGER,6 FEB. 22-28, 2019 TIMESLEDGER.COM
/TIMESLEDGER.COM
/plazacollege.edu
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