Update - so near yet so far away!!
My lawyer had an approval from April 26, 2001 RIR case at NY. He however, had a meeting with NY SESA guys a couple of weeks ago, and they have informed him that it could take the rest of the year to finish the last 3 days of April. NY SESA lost a lot of officers, and with the increased load of 245(i) they are overwhelmed. They are asking congress for money to add more resources to take care of this workload.
My case was mailed on 05/11/01 - RIR, is still at NY SESA. So near, yet so far away!!