Governor Hochul and state lawmakers this year approved a costly giveaway for public employee unions that retroactively hiked pension benefits. Now the bill is arriving. Read More
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Former Governor Andrew Cuomo and his political critics have something in common: They're both trying to drag Minnesota Governor Tim Walz into Cuomo's nursing home scandal. Cuomo’s attempt to hide behind Wal Read More
The start of a new school year finds New York’s public education system in a well-funded state of confusion and contradiction: flush with cash amid falling test scores and declining enrollment, spending more than ever as state-level bureaucrats plan to weaken graduation standards—but still can’t tell parents how their students performed in last spring’s assessments. Read More
Approaching the fifth Labor Day weekend since the COVID-19 outbreak of 2020, most regions of New York have yet to recover the private-sector jobs lost in the wake of pandemic lockdowns—and the Empire State trails far be Read More
For the fourth time in six years, the president of New York's largest health-care union, George Gresham of 1199SEIU, has won the top spot on the "Labor Power 100" list from Cit Read More
The authors of a report on New York's pandemic response are barred from discussing their findings with media under a provision of their contract with Governor Hochul's office, records obtained by the Empire Center conf Read More
New York's per capita Medicaid spending jumped 14 percent in 2023, moving it further ahead of the rest of the country, recently released nationwide data show. In the federal fiscal year that ended last September, New York spent $95.6 billion on Me Read More
A new report from New York’s electric grid operator highlights the uncertainty around the state’s plan to power most of the economy using wind turbines and solar panels. Read More
just announced that the state will hold a “Future Energy Economy Summit” next month, at which “global experts [will] discuss the role of next generation clean energy technologies and strategies to accelerate renewa Read More
Setting high educational performance standards linked to content-rich curriculum and tying teacher preparation and professional development to those standards are the keys to boosting achievement levels for all public-schoo Read More
The spectacular breakup of a wind turbine off the coast of New England is highlighting a huge risk embedded in New York State’s strategy for achieving its green energy “Net Zero” targets. Read More
Editor's note: This post is the first adapted for the Empire Center by its new adjunct fellow, Roger Caiazza, who has a long and deep private industry background in environmental regulatory analysis and compliance. His frequently Read More