The comprehensive immigration reform bill that U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is co-sponsoring would put millions of immigrants on the path to citizenship and would specifically benefit the Asians here, he said.

“We have a great Asian community and I am a great fan of immigration because it adds to the greatness of New York and the greatness of our country,” Schumer said during a phone press conference Friday.

More than 40 percent of the state’s population lives here in New York City, and when you count the other downstate counties, the number soars above 60 percent. Put simply, this is where the people are.

So why does Gov. Cuomo want to see new casinos built upstate only? And why would he continue to deny Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct Race Track the full table gaming he would allow upstate?

The homecare workers at the First Chinese Presbyterian Church Home Attendant Corporation in Lower Manhattan will keep their healthcare benefits now that the FCPC and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the union representing the workers, have negotiated a settlement.

“I’m so glad and I’m so proud of 1199,” said Maximina Delgado, a caregiver at FCPC for 14 years. “This is for our health. If we don’t have medical insurance, we can’t work for the clients. If we don’t have medical insurance, how can we see the doctors? We don’t make a lot of money. At any moment we can get sick. Our job is very serious and very dangerous. There can be an accident at any moment.”

The New York City Water Board voted on Friday, as expected, to increase water rates by 5.6 percent for the new fiscal year, which begins on July 1.

The average annual water bill for a single-family home will increase from $939 per year to $991. The average increase for a unit in a multifamily dwelling will go up from $610 to $644.

The bill mandating that companies in the city with more than 15 employees eventually provide paid sick leave is awaiting a promised mayoral veto — and an expected override of that veto by the City Council.

The bill passed last Wednesday 45-3, more than enough to nullify the veto promised by Mayor Bloomberg, if members stick to their positions.

From his office on Bell Boulevard and 73rd Avenue, City Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens) says he can hear his frustrated constituents at the former Q75 bus stop swearing, yelling, and literally crying out for someone to restore the cancelled bus route.

The Q75, which ran from Oakland Gardens to the F train stations in Jamaica, was eliminated along with 32 other bus routes, 570 bus stops and two subway lines on June 27, 2010, a $93 million service reduction.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn,Queens) came to the May meeting of the Lindenwood Alliance, in the Fairfield Arms Co-op, to meet some of his new constituents.

Jeffries told the audience that he was concerned with resolving any issues that residents had with the Federal Emergency Management Agency regarding Hurricane Sandy.

Ten blocks west of Resorts World Casino New York City, a billboard over Rockaway Boulevard advertised casino table games less than two hours away in New Jersey.

To anyone with even the slightest knowledge of marketing, the ad seems to make sense — targeting gamers leaving Resorts World perhaps disappointed that New York City’s first casino lacks real roulette wheels and craps tables.

The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation has reached an agreement with a Long Island real estate developer on a project that is slated to bring “a big-box retail store” and a 500-space parking garage to 168th Street.

The Blumenfeld Development Group has worked on numerous projects in the city, including the transformation of the old Bulova Watch Co. complex on Astoria Boulevard in East Elmhurst into a corporate office center.

The United States Tennis Association, three Queens elected officials and some parks advocates this week lauded a deal with the city that would have the nonprofit “replace” land it wants so it can expand its National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

The accord reached between the nonprofit and city represents a unique bargain: according to a press release sent by the USTA, it replaces the 0.68 acre of parkland needed for its expansion with 1.56 acres of what looks like, is used as and mapped as existing parkland already within Flushing Meadows.

Elected officials, members of the public and Queens Library employees gathered Tuesday on the steps of the Flushing Library to decry a $29.6 million fiscal buzzsaw in the mayor’s proposed budget looming over the institution.

The gathering starts what has become something of an annual cut-then-rescue ritual inspired every year by Mayor Bloomberg’s budget. Inevitably, hizzoner puts out dollar figures that cause lawmakers to use terms like “unacceptable” and “draconian.”

Hunters Point South continues to rapidly change.

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development released a request for proposals on April 30 seeking a developer to move forward on Phase II of the project, located in the most southwestern corner of Long Island City.

Developers looking to build housing facilities as tall as 30 stories on a desolate peninsula might be giving their prospective tenants a gateway to the rest of the city.

A proposal to develop 1,701 apartments and condos at the barren seven-acre Hallets Point waterfront site in Astoria might include private shuttle service for residents to and from the 30th Avenue N and Q line station, according to lobbyist Sean Crowley, brother of Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Queens, Bronx).

The reviews are in, and critics of Mayor Bloomberg’s final executive budget are saying they have seen this show before.

And, as per usual, there is likely to be a rousing closing dance number when City Council members restore funding for the same fire companies, after-school programs, senior centers and libraries that have been proposed for cuts by the mayor for years.

Twist It Top It Frozen Yogurt is serving yogurt and smiles at its new shop at 103-09 Metropolitan Ave. in Forest Hills.

Owners Angelo Gurino Sr., center, Joe Russo and Angelo Gurino Jr., center right, celebrated the grand opening of their second frozen yogurt shop with family members, celebrity Curtis Sliwa, center left, Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach), far right, and CB 6 District Manager Frank Gulluscio, far left, on April 27.