In a just-completed radio interview, Governor Andrew Cuomo talked a little more about his State of the State announcement last week concerning a proposed new convention center at Aqueduct Raceway in Queens. But Cuomo’s answers raised a few other questions. Read More
Little-noticed in the continued over Gov. Cuomo's proposed gambling-conventioneering complex in Queens is the mass-transit part of it. Genting, the company that Cuomo favors, has produced a fact sheet on its "New York Convention and Exhibition Ce Read More
In addition to , Speaker Sheldon Silver this week that the Assembly will seek to reduce state taxes on the working poor. Specifically, Silver said: Under our plan, working families who earn less than $30,000 annually will see their inco Read More
Governor Andrew Cuomo floated quite a few dubious ideas in his State of the State address yesterday, a couple of which are the subject of my Newsday column today—but the most dubious proposal of all came from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in his own brief remarks before the governor spoke. Read More
Why is New York City comptroller John Liu trivializing government by inserting it into a petty dispute between entertainment giants? Yesterday, Liu put out a showing that he's ready to fight for New Yorkers who face a grave crisis: "nearly 2 mill Read More
Trying to rein in runaway Medicaid spending is an historic annual event in New York. Governor Cuomo's Medicaid Redesign Team was assigned the most recent task of both reducing spending and increasing the quality of care. Read More
Interrupting a relentless stream of negative stories about natural gas hydrofracking in the Northeast, The New York Times notices that gas exploration in neighboring Pennsylvania has touched off a boom in New York’s once-languishing Southern Tier. Read More
The Governor's Spending and Government Efficiency (SAGE) Commission issued an overdue presentation to the Governor on December 15, 2011. Tucked away on , is one proposal the Governor needs to embrace with open Read More
Using public pension funds to help finance infrastructure projects like the Tappan Zee Bridge would be “a bad idea, harmful both to the state’s government employees and its taxpayers,” Professor Edward Zelinsky of Cardozo Law School writes in a provocative op-ed in today’s New York Post. Read More
New York’s state revenues are disproportionately generated in New York City and its suburbs, resulting in a net transfer of income to upstate, according to a report issued today by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government. Read More
In a landmark case revolving around key provisions of New York’s Freedom of Information Law, the Empire Center is asking the state’s highest court to review lower-court rulings that would enable the New York City Police Pension Fund — and, potentially, the state’s other public pension systems, as well — to keep secret the names of retired employees receiving taxpayer-guaranteed pension benefits. Read More
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli appeared at the New School in Manhattan last night to present what his office billed as “A Vision for the Future of Retirement Security in New York. Read More