NEW THIS MORNING

NEW THIS MORNING: * Negotiations are under way at the staff level for a constitutional amendment creating a 10-member independent redistricting panel, with the Legislature retaining some power to tweak its maps, the Times Union reports: http://bit.ly/wZ8AdR * Jenny Hou wrote online that New York is a "cruel city" after being charged with fraud as John Liu's campaign treasurer, while her mother told a Chinese-language newspaper that both Liu's work and Hou's sacrifice are "for the Chinese community," the Post writes: http://nyp.st/z9ojwH * New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie increased his criticism of the NYPD for secretly monitoring Muslims in his state, saying 9/11 showed the need to share information and mocking Commissioner Ray Kelly as "all knowing, all seeing," the AP reports: http://bit.ly/xYE3y4 * Beth Israel Medical Center admitted to fraudulently raising fees for Medicare patients through a process called "turbocharging" and agreed to pay the federal government $13 million in damages, the New York Times writes: http://nyti.ms/wNTmic * Of the 50 hospitals cited by Consumer Reports as having the worst patient safety records nationwide, 30 are in the New York City metro area and the Bronx's city-run Jacobi Medical Center is the worst, The News writes: http://nydn.us/z3wqRi * The Bloomberg administration is stepping up anti-smoking efforts targeted at Asians, who have continued smoking at the same rate they did in 2002 despite declines for most other New Yorkers, the Times notes: http://nyti.ms/zbDp2D