This year’s report cards on proposed school spending shows that districts would increase spending by an average of 2.35 percent, and the average tax levy would go up 1.89 percent. Both figures are well below what they were in recent years, according to New York State United Teachers, the state’s largest teachers… Read More →
The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee is urging Republicans to keep state GOP chairman Joseph Mondello, who is under fire for the party’s losses with some calling for his ouster. Democrats say they like Mondello’s ability to lose state races, including the recent loss of an open congressional seat in the… Read More →
Gov. David Paterson today indicated he plans to reach out to legislative leaders on some “new ideas I have” on trying to reach an agreement to bail out the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Paterson wouldn’t disclose the details of his latest pitch, but talked optimistically about trying to get a deal… Read More →
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced today that $263 million was recovered by the state in 2008 through Medicaid fraud cases, the most in recent years. The office’s Medicaid Control Fraud Unit got about 150 convictions in 2008, the most in five years. The payments to the state surpasses the $113.8… Read More →
Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, wondered today whether Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, is critical of Republicans over the MTA gridlock because he misses them not being in the majority. “When you’re frustrated sometimes you lash out at those who you love the most and who you, deep… Read More →
After failing to get the property-tax rebate checks restored in the 2009-10 state budget, Senate Republicans have started an online petition—www.iwantmystarcheck.com—to push Democrats in control of state government to restore the checks, which average about $385 a household. Said Sen. Joseph Robach, R-Greece, Monroe County: “”At a time when families… Read More →
Legislator George Oros, R-Cortlandt, today announced he was not seeking re-election in November, potentially bruising an already battered Republican presence on the Westchester County Board of Legislators. There are currently four Republicans on the 17-member board. But don’t count the former county board chairman out of politics just yet. In… Read More →
The Assembly continues to chip away this evening on a package of bills to combat gun violence. The legislation would help police investigate illegal firearms, prohibit felons from buying guns, require child-proof devices on guns, and banning advanced firearms and ammunition used to kill police officers, according to the… Read More →
Sen. Joseph Robach, R-Greece, Monroe County, is lashing out at Senate Democrats, whom he said blocked a bill he is sponsoring to protect domestic-violence victims from housing-related discrimination yesterday and shot down an amendment today to do the same thing. The debate was “abruptly cut off during floor deliberations… Read More →
Advocates for redevelopment of contaminated land known as brownfields in New York today called on the state to release $6.7 million that has been set aside for 14 projects. Gov. David Paterson and the leaders of the Assembly and Senate must sign a memorandum of understanding to release the money, according… Read More →
