Some new GOP talent
Republicans may not exactly have a deep bench, but there is some young talent coming up. That seemed to be the message today when Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney met behind closed doors with...
View ArticleGold star for Kolb
Two weeks ago, Gov. Paterson gave the four legislative leaders what sounded like a pretty simple assignment: give him a list of issues they wanted resolved before the end of the legislative session....
View ArticleMore bad news on state budget
Just what the state needs: another dose of bad financial news. Comptroller Tom DiNapoli reported today that tax collections last month were 44 precent less than a year earlier, and about $239 million...
View ArticleVoters pass most school budgets
Voters in more than 97 percent of school districts approved their budgets yesterday, a record number, according to counts from the state School Boards Association and New York State United Teachers....
View ArticleHappy birthday gov
Happy 55th birthday, David Paterson. The state’s first African American and first legally blind governor surely didn’t expect to be where he is today when he turned, say, 50 (when he was a state...
View ArticleMore budget blues from Paterson
_ State tax revenues are likely to fall short of projections this year by $3 billion, meaning more cuts will have to be made in state spending, Gov. David Paterson said today. “There will be further...
View ArticleNew grants for energy research
Cornell University will get $27.5 million in federal and state money over five years to do research on materials for high-storage batteries and other energy-storage devices, state officials announced...
View ArticlePaterson plan to change bottle bill blasted
With an expansion of the state’s nickel container-deposit law to water bottles slated to take effect in nine days, state policy is still in flux, with four different bills being considered by the...
View ArticleFirefighters get OK to drive trucks in parades
Memorial-Day-parade organizers can breathe a sigh of relief: Gov. David Paterson today signed a bill allowing people without commercial licenses to drive fire trucks under special circumstances –...
View ArticleNo outright rejection of ethics plan – yet
The good news for Gov. Paterson is that legislative leaders today didn’t dismiss out of his hand his proposal to establish a new independent ethics-watchdog panel that would also have authority over...
View ArticleAnother first for New York
Gov. Paterson and minority lawmakers today reveled in President Obama’s nomination of Bronx native Sonia Sotomayor to be a Supreme Court justice. If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first...
View ArticleExtension likely for energy bill
Gov. David Paterson and legislative leaders agreed today to temporarily extend a key energy-subsidy program for businesses, but couldn’t come up with a consensus on how to permanently reform it. The...
View ArticleCuomo bill hits snag
Andrew Cuomo’s bill on government consolidation hit a snag today when three senators refused to back it in a committee meeting. Cuomo’s proposal, likely to be voted on by both houses of the...
View ArticleJune is tax time
June is normally the time when thoughts of many people turn to proms, the end of school, summer vacations, pennant races and barbeques. But this year, New Yorkers may have to focus on their wallets a...
View ArticleNot even agreeing to disagree
How dysfunctional and combative is the Senate? “You couldn’t get two-thirds of them to agree on what was even if there was only one clock in the room,’’ E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center, a...
View ArticlePension fund plunges 26 percent
The value of assets held by the state pension fund plunged 26 percent last year, to $109.9 billion, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said today. The drop will mean higher contributions from taxpayers will be...
View ArticleBigger pension hit could drive up city taxes 10 percent
The anticipated increase in taxpayer subsidies to the state pension system will mean an average property-tax increase of 10 percent or more by 2011 in most cities, the head of the state Conference of...
View ArticleDems split over farmworker-pay bill
Democrats in both the Senate and Assembly appear likely to split over a measure to require farmers to pay their workers overtime. The Senate Labor Committee is expected to approve the measure this...
View ArticleAssembly OKs local-government-consolidation bill
The Assembly this evening approved a bill to make it easier to consolidate local governments. The vote was 118-26. It now goes to the Senate, where action is expected later this week. The adoption is...
View ArticlePrison guards fight layoffs
Hundreds of correction officers traveled to the Capitol today to urge lawmakers to reject a plan by Gov. David Paterson to cut about 2,000 of their jobs. Instead, officials of their union said, the...
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