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On last night’s program, former State Comptroller Carl McCall said New Yorkers need to tell their state senators to get back to work. Watch the video above.

Tonight's program includes former Schools Chancellor Harold Levy and the Political Rundown with Curtis Sliwa and Gerson Borrero.

The New York Times

Javier Hernandez reports: “Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was set to lose control of the New York City school system at midnight Tuesday, but despite dire predictions of chaos from the mayor and others, it appeared that the nation’s largest school district would continue to operate largely as usual.”

NY1 is reporting this morning that the appointments to the reconstituted Board of Education are as follows (spot the three deputy mayors):

Manhattan: Jimmy Yan
Bronx: Dolores Fernandez
Brooklyn: Carlo Scissura
Queens: Dennis Walcott
Staten Island: Edward Burke
Mayoral appointees: Ed Skyler and Patricia Harris

Medina & Gebeloff look at how money is being spent by the city’s Department of Education.

Danny Hakim explains why there is so much fear and loathing in the State Senate: “Senate Republicans know the state’s voters, demographically speaking, are moving away from them. The electorate is growing more diverse in New York City and its suburbs, a trend that is likely to favor the Democrats, while the upstate region, a Republican base, has suffered a population drain. At the same time, the Republican caucus is all white and almost entirely male, with half its members 62 or older.
Republicans privately acknowledge that they face an uphill battle in regaining control of the Senate in the election next year. They are claiming that they should lead the Senate for the next year and a half. But they are also trying to take steps now — during what may turn out to be a fleeting moment of power — to undo the worst of what life in the minority party means in Albany.”

Confressore & Peters explain: “The latest attempt to break the State Senate’s three-week-old stalemate began with a quest for caffeine.”

Kirk Semple notes: “Spurred by a broad coalition of religious, labor and immigrant groups, the City Council overwhelmingly passed a resolution on Tuesday to add two of the most important Muslim holy days to the public schools’ holiday calendar. But the vote, which was nonbinding, put the Council in conflict with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has the final say to designate the days off and has said he is resolutely opposed to the idea.”

Charlie Bagli reports: “New York’s highest court has agreed to hear a case challenging the state’s use of eminent domain on behalf of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. The decision by the top court, the Court of Appeals, to hear arguments in October came as something of a surprise to the project’s developer, Bruce C. Ratner, who had expected a clear path after a lower court rejected the case in a unanimous decision in May. The Court of Appeals’ involvement, announced on Monday, is the latest hurdle to Mr. Ratner’s plans to build a $772 million basketball arena, the centerpiece of the project. The developer and his bankers intend to sell about $650 million in bonds for the arena in late September.”

New York Post

Tom Namako writes: “The MTA is blowing nearly $600,000 over five years on medical-exam perks for its top officials -- a move critics say is a waste of the cash-strapped agency's money. Only 78 of 700 managers last year making more than $80,500 used the rider-funded program that provides the physical exams, the agency said.”

David Seifman writes: “An undercover investigation of street food carts has uncovered massive fraud, with $200 city vending permits fetching as much as $15,000 in a thriving black market, officials said yesterday. The officials also disclosed that the food-safety inspection system at the city Health Department was so faulty that vendors and brokers were able to routinely bypass it through trickery.”

Seifman also reports: “The city is receiving $29.1 million in federal stimulus funds to support criminal-justice services -- including $1 million for a new financial-crimes task force, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday.”

And the Post endorses Curtis Sliwa for Public Advocate – because he’s vowing to do away with the office.

New York Daily News

Michael Saul writes: “Rep. Carolyn Maloney has decided to take on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in the 2010 Democratic primary, refusing to bow to party leaders who want her to stay out, the Daily News has learned.”

Newsday

Dan Janison focuses on how Frank Padavan’s stroll into the Senate chambers created political chaos.

And the edit-heads wag their fingers at yesterday’s parliamentary circus.

Village Voice

Tom Robbins looks at the “Hidden Agenda” of the “Senate Coup Plotters”: “Despite its often clumsy and muddled performance during its short-lived reign, the Senate's new Democratic majority became a target of fear and loathing for the state's traditional powerbrokers. That's because on the occasions that they did get their act together, the Democrats showed what a progressive coalition might achieve.”

New York Observer

Azi Paybarah notes that some City Council members weren’t on board with a resolution honoring Michael Jackson.

Until tomorrow.

Bob Hardt