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Now that the state Public Employees Federation (PEF) has rejected a proposed contract, Governor Andrew Cuomo is moving forward with 3,500 layoffs.  Or, then again, . Tin the Albany Times Union suggests there is an 80 percent likelihood t Read More

The Local 100 Transport Workers Union (most of them work at the MTA) will join the "Occupy Wall Street" protest today at 4:00 in Zuccotti Park downtown. There's a bit of an irony in the location. The park is named for John Zuccotti. Zuccotti is . Read More

Yesterday, the Public Employees Federation (PEF) voted down -- by a wide margin - the contract their leadership negotiated with Gov. Cuomo. The Governor's staff was quick to place the blame on the union. But as in today's New York Post, PEF - lik Read More

To the consternation of the New York's largest state employee union, Gov. Cuomo has cleared the way for an increase in the share of health insurance premiums paid by retired state workers. Read More

The New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and its lobbying partner, the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), are holding news conferences around t Read More

S&P has just put out a report (no link) on the amount of money that state governments have promised to current and future retirees in “other post-employment benefits” (OPEB), mostly health. Read More

State comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office that shadow the MTA's future. On the five-year, $26.3 billion capital plan, DiNapoli notes: The MTA has ... proposed borrowing $14.8 billion--the largest amount in its history. ... Debt service Read More

As expected, President Obama's calls for a return to pre-2001 income tax rates and new limits on itemized deductions for filers with incomes starting as low as $200,000 -- essentially the same thing the president proposed two years ago. [caption Read More

The city's independent budget office (IBO) has just put out on public-school spending and demographics. , school spending is up 2 percent cumulatively over the last three years, even after accounting for about 5 percent inflation as well as for dive Read More

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels The bridge runs over an interstate (I-64) that crosses the Ohio River between Indiana and Kentucky. It normally carries 80,000 co Read More

An in today's The New York Times highlights the state Senate's failure to pass a bill creating the health insurance exchanges required under the new federal health law. It seems that some of the same people who normally criticize the Legisl Read More

Fitch Ratings, the smallest of the big three credit agencies, has cut the rating on the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)'s $14.3 billion in debt that is backed by transportation revenues. Fitch dropped the rating from A+ to A. Read More