Blog

New York City will track the whereabouts of its 379 building inspectors with GPS technology installed, not in their city-issued vehicles, but in their cell phones. Read More

The financial and corporate sectors' highest rollers during the boom-and-bubble period have also been hit hardest by the recession.  A on the front page of today's Wall Street Journal reviews how the downturn is affecting the incomes of th Read More

Jay Walder, Gov. Paterson's pick to head the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, took questions from Democratic senators today ahead of their Thursday vote on his nomination. Of interest: Walder's views on private-public partnerships and whethe Read More

The MTA's continued funding woes aren't just hurting mass transit riders and downstate taxpayers. They're hurting New York's ability to keep its bridges and tunnels in reasonable repair. Bond analysts at Fitch may downgrade the debt backing the Tr Read More

Gov. Paterson's pick to run the MTA, Jay Walder, took questions from state senators yesterday on Long Island ahead of his confirmation vote next Thursday. Senators will hold a second hearing (in Harlem) next Tuesday. Here's hoping that they do a b Read More

As schools open, the number of school districts at impasse with teacher unions has increased by 12 percent since a year ago, according to the Public Employment Relations Board. Also noteworthy--although not emphasized by PERB--nearly one out of three school districts has yet to negotiate a new contract with its teachers. Read More

Tax-funded contributions to the New York State Employee Retirement System (ERS) will have to jump by 61 percent between 2010 and 2011, .  Contributions for members of the Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS)--already higher to begin with--will r Read More

The New York Times has about city and state or "moderate-income housing." The head of New York State's Housing Finance Agency, Priscilla Almodovar, said one aspect of the plan will involve using the state's credit to guarantee mortgages fo Read More

Should physicians, who are licensed by the state of New York, be required to take a civil service exam in order to work for the state of New York? A state judge thinks so, but that's unlikely to be the last word on the controversy. Read More

In a , the Washington Post reports that "the biggest" of the nation's too-big-to-fail "banks are even bigger" today, with three big banks alone owning more than 30 percent of the nation's deposits, and four big banks issuing "one of every t Read More

Oneida County employees participating in a proposed cash buyout program would have a strong incentive to get their co-workers to join them: their payments will increase if more employees participate. Read More

The chairman of Britain's Financial Services Authority (similar to our SEC), Lord Turner, yesterday floated the idea of a global tax on financial transactions to shrink "a swollen financial sector," the FT . Turner admits that "the probl Read More