Covering the politics, policies and people of New York State government.
I have been writing columns for many years. One such column was meant to be statewide in New York and the other a local Berkshires column. We are talking so many years that I really don’t remember when it all started. I am now, incredibly, 81 years old. I have […]
Earlier today at the Convention Center in Albany, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado was the keynote speaker at the fourteenth annual Stand Up For Recovery Day. This was the first in-person Albany lobbying and advocacy day that Friends Of Recovery – New York have hosted since the pandemic. Stand Up For […]
Echoing through the Million Dollar Staircase in the State Capitol on Tuesday, passers-by heard only one thing; “WHAT DO WE WANT? TREATMENT NOT JAIL! WHEN DO WE WANT IT? NOW!” The rallying cries expressed passionate support for a bill introduced by Sen. Jessica Ramos; the Treatment Not Jail Bill […]
Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled a $227 billion budget proposal on Wednesday that she says follows through on her pledge to not raise income taxes in the 2024 fiscal year. All-funds spending is $227 billion, an increase of $5.4 billion over the current budget. State operating funds are projected to be $125.2 […]
Below is Gov. Kathy Hochul’s first State of the State Address as an elected governor, delivered before the full Legislature on January 10, 2022 in the Assembly Chamber in the New York State Capitol, Albany: My fellow elected officials, it is an honor to be back in this Chamber finally […]
Now that the holidays are over, we have a new year looking us right in the eye. We know that there are some awful prospects on the horizon so now is the time for my predictions. As usual, some of these predictions are what I’d like to see happen, some […]
The New York state Cannabis Control Board has approved the first 36 Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary licenses out of 900 applications so far. Twenty-eight of these licenses were awarded to a person previously convicted of a marijuana-related infraction and eight went to by nonprofits with a focus on helping former […]
New York state continues to move toward a cleaner and greener future with new legislation signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul that will make it easier for New Yorkers living in certain communities to make the switch to electric vehicles. The Electric Vehicle Rights Act (S.8518A/A.6165) amends New York […]
