And it will be horrible for those men and women to lose their incomes. Horrible. Especially during the holidays.
But should New York taxpayers, who are already getting walloped financially by a state that's billions in the red be on the hook for bailing out the horse racing industry? Is this one of the "can't fail" sectors?
There are many who say it is not.
The threat all week has been that the bankrupt Off Track Better Corp. will shutdown tonight if the New York State Senate doesn't vote on a bailout, like the Assembly did. But now a reprieve, and the OTB board will put off the closure till Tuesday, when the Senate reconvenes.
But the problems remain the same. There are questions of course about the ethics of gambling and of horse racing, but these don't seem to be the central issues here. The state's weak financial position, and the OTB Corp.'s own bankruptcy and ways of doing business are the main concerns.
We'll have the latest, at 11.
Also at 11, President Obama paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan today to visit the troops. The overnight flight was hush-hush, and he was on the ground only three hours. He was there not just to meet with troops but also to meet with President Karzai, who has complained rather loudly recently about U.S. military tactics in his country. Turns out and perhaps this is a metaphor for the U.S. actions in Afghanistan, now the longest war in American history at 9 years and counting weather prevented the two Presidents from meeting. So they talked on the phone. Something they could have done anywhere.
And our Nina Pineda tonight has the story of a local woman who bought a used car, with a clearance from the dealer that the "Carfax" was A-Ok. But the vehicle identification number the dealer used was for a car that didn't exist, and the car wasn't A-Ok. It was A-Stinkeroo. That's when the owner called Nina and got 7 On Your Side to resolve the dispute.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Lee Goldberg's weekend AccuWeather weather, and Scott Clark with the night's sports. I hope you can join Liz Cho and me, tonight at 11, right after 20/20.
BILL RITTER
