NEW THIS MORNING

NEW THIS MORNING: * Support for independent redistricting among New York state voters has risen to 52 percent, 64 percent of voters support casino gambling, and voters split 44 percent for and 45 percent against hydrofracking, a new Quinnipiac University poll finds: http://bit.ly/tYQRnn * The deal on expanding taxi access in New York City was a win for nearly everyone but especially so for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who helped his case with the city's minority voters and even in Iowa, the Daily News reports: http://nydn.us/tyd50N * A whistleblower who was fired from her job as an advocate for disabled residents testified in court about over-drugging of patients in state-funded homes for the disabled, the Times Union notes: http://bit.ly/vf0dWe * New York-area college students were already migrating toward computer science classes before Cornell University won a competition to build an applied sciences campus in New York City, the Wall Street Journal finds: http://on.wsj.com/tB76P6 * Republican and Conservative Party leaders promised that Democrats, whose likely candidate is Councilman Lew Fidler, will face a tough fight holding onto the seat of disgraced State Sen. Carl Kruger, the Post reports: http://nyp.st/sJeVDR     * An African-American baby doll found hanging in a noose near an African American employee in the city's Parks headquarters in the Bronx is being investigated as a hate crime, the Journal reports: http://on.wsj.com/vpJSRW