Here’s the latest disgrace out of Albany: Ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who had to resign after it was revealed that he just couldn’t keep his hands off the pretty young things he liked to hire, has been fined $330,000 by the state Legislative Ethics Commission for his harassment of one young woman after another.

“Disgrace?” you ask. “What disgrace? Sounds like justice to me.”

New York is the only state in which Mixed Martial Arts is banned, and the controversy surrounding the sport is ongoing in Albany.

In response to a bill that would legalize MMA, 35 Assembly Democrats wrote a letter to Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), a longtime opponent of MMA, asking him to hold the line in opposition.

Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott honored 11 teachers from around the city this week as winners of the first “Big Apple Awards” to recognize excellence in education, but none from Queens made the cut. Each winner will receive a $3,500 grant for use in the classroom and will serve as a “Big Apple Ambassador,” advising the city Department of Education.

by Lloyd Carroll

Last year, approximately 21 million people were trafficked worldwide.

While the number is staggering, the process of human trafficking is full of misconceptions.

Three Jackson Heights residents have been included in the recently released Trans 100, a first-time list of people across the country who have made positive contributions to the transgendered community through activism or other efforts.

The three are Ida Hammer, Cristina Herrera and Pauline Park.

It is impossible to express your love for the woman who raised you and made you who you are today through one day of recognition and a gift. Nonetheless, we should all put a little thought into a thank you — even though mom will probably say that it’s not necessary — and here are just a few ideas.

Major League Soccer’s proposal to build a stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park has re-emerged this week, jangling a borough that has spent the better part of three months focused elsewhere.

The league once again contends it’s weeks away from finalizing a deal with the city, as it did last fall. This time, the league may have found an oil-rich owner for the proposed franchise: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a billionaire member of the Abu Dhabi royal family and deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.

From 1975 to 1979 the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia.

Its leader, Pol Pot, envisioned a preindustrial society centered around small rural villages. He vacated the cities and forced everyone to move to the countryside where they were born. Artists, intellectuals, urbanites and anyone with even a hint of opposition were the first of the two million people out of a country with a population of eight million executed.

Don’t go to this show looking for works that just please the eye. Some are pretty or entertaining, yes, but all have a complex theory or analyze a social issue that goes beyond the aesthetics. Grab the curator’s essay and study the plaques.

‘Better Homes’ calls up images of women in pearls with their fine china as seen on the glossy pages of the iconic magazine Better Homes and Gardens. The SculptureCenter’s current exhibit by the similar name plays with this idea.

The Center for the Women of New York will honor Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan (D-Sunnyside) as its “Woman of Distinction” during its 26th Annual Luncheon on Saturday, April 17 at Douglaston Manor, 63-20 Commonwealth Blvd. in Douglaston.

At the annual fundraising event, which will begin at noon, the organization celebrates men and women in leadership who are committed to women’s rights and who have made major contributions.

Borough President Helen Marshall called for $15 million in funding, a greater focus in minority and women-owned business enterprises and union labor in her approval of the United States Tennis Association’s plans to expand its National Tennis Center within Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

The recommendation ends the Queens-level portion of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, after six community boards and the Borough Board heard presentations and input from residents about the plan.

Baseball fans are far more concerned with the health of the players on their favorite teams coming out of spring training than they are with their March win-loss records. Given that criterion, you can’t blame Yankees and Mets fans if they are not brimming with excitement about the start of the 2013 season this Monday.

Comparisons of the 2013 Yankees with the infamous 1965 Bronx Bombers team, when nearly all of the big names — such as Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Elston Howard, Bobby Richardson and Tony Kubek —seemingly all got old overnight together, started right after Derek Jeter broke his ankle during the 2012 playoffs. It picked up in intensity after Alex Rodriguez underwent hip surgery last fall. It now appears that A-Rod will not play until after the All-Star Game at the earliest. Then again, many think he may never play again.

The American Cancer Society is launching a borough-wide cancer prevention study aimed at identifying the lifestyle factors that cause the disease.

The group hosted a recruitment drive at Queens College last Friday, urging students and community leaders to promote cancer research by participating in the study, Cancer Prevention Study-3.

A bill to allow mixed martial arts events to be held in New York may finally be headed for approval after years in limbo.

The full contact sport that includes elements of boxing, judo, jiu-jitsu and other martial arts is banned in New York, but is legal in nearly every other state in the country and has a growing fan base. The sport’s top promotion company, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, regularly holds sold-out events in arenas across the country and the world, including in Britain, Canada and Brazil.

Flushing native Steve Chubin spent his childhood playing on the basketball courts of Queens parks with his neighborhood friends. He went on to play for Forest Hills High School’s varsity basketball team before capturing the all-time scoring record at the University of Rhode Island. Now Chubin will join 15 former student-athletes and coaches to be inducted into the Atlantic 10 Conference’s Inaugural Men’s Basketball Legends on March 16 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Over the past few weeks, the soda debate has been growing. Just a week after a judge blocked Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to ban soft drinks larger than 16 ounces was rejected, Harvard University released a study that connects sugary drinks to thousands of deaths a year.

With all of these statistics and studies, it can be difficult to determine if soda is the public hazard city officials have made it out to be or if there are other factors to consider.