Blog

Bob Scardamalia of RLS Demographics, Inc., longtime state demographic guru and current data consultant to the Empire Center, has issued a useful summary of the recently released U.S. Census numbers for for New York. Read More

That's the question the New York Times asks today in its online "Room for Debate" series. I'm up there with a contribution (answer: "maybe"). Harvard's Jack Donahue puts the right answer most succinctly: Some things government should do itself. Read More

Did someone say "mandate relief"? The Suffolk County Legislature is actually begging the state for another potentially costly collective bargaining mandate. Read More

New York State will spend at a rate of more than $250,000 per minute under its newly adopted budget for fiscal 2011-12, which begins today. Read More

Among the several hundred "teachers, public workers, renters, health care advocates and college students" who clogged the State Capitol in a last-ditch budget protest yesterday was Maria Pacheco, a Spanish teacher in Rotterdam-Mohonasen schools, who complained that cuts in state education aid will force her Albany area district to lay off 44 teachers. Read More

In a major victory for taxpayers, New York State's highest court has ruled unanimously that Buffalo teachers are not entitled to catch-up longevity pay step increases for the 38 months when their wages were frozen by the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority. Read More

Nassau County's Interim Finance Authority (NIFA) has imposed a wage freeze on county employees. The freeze, which will save at least $10 million this year, "is not only necessary but also a reasonable response to the county's fiscal distress," the authority said. Read More

The just-released official 2010 Census data for New York State indicate New York City is growing more slowly and Buffalo is shrinking even faster than had been suggested by previous estimates. Read More

New York State is among the easiest places in the country to qualify for the federal Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program, the Wall Street Journal reports today. Read More

Today's Post describes a public-private real-estate deal that perfectly encapsulates New York's housing policy. David Seifman writes that the city will lavish nearly $3 million on a Brooklyn developer, Tali Realty LLC, to turn the company's failed condo project into "affordable" housing. Read More

New York's public pension funds have a pronounced taste for risk, typically plunging 70 percent of their assets into equities ranging from traditional corporate stocks to more exotic "alternatives." Fund managers say it's the best way to hold down... Read More

New York City's Independent Budget Office just released its take on Mayor Bloomberg's budget. One data tidbit: the IBO's analysts say that though the city's recession job losses were less severe relative to losses in the rest of the country, Gotham's... Read More