Blog

A bill rushed to passage by both houses of the Legislature last week would gut local control of police discipline by deeming it a subject of collective bargaining throughout the state. The bill can be seen as a fresh test of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's commitment to "transform" a state dominated by public employee unions. Read More

The growth prospects for New York’s metropolitan areas between 2013 and 2020 range from dismal upstate to mediocre downstate, according to a study issued by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Read More

Two late-breaking bills stand out among more than a half-dozen pension sweeteners passed by New York’s state Legislature during the final days of the 2014 session. One would restore a benefit cut by Gov. Cuomo's Tier 6 reform, and the other would vastly expand pension credit for time served in the military. Read More

Another month, another not-so-hot jobs report for New York State. Private sector employment statewide grew by 1.4 percent during the 12 months ended in May, trailing the national average gain of 2.1 percent during the same period. Read More

Both houses of the New York State Legislature have now approved a bill expanding the share of public pension funds that can be invested in complex, high-risk alternative assets such as private equity and hedge funds. Read More

New York’s public pension funds will have the green light to significantly increase their asset allocations to “alternative investments,” such as private equity and hedge funds, under a bill that looks greased for passage in both houses of the state Legislature. Read More

The Thruway Authority still hasn't revealed its plan for financing the new Tappan Zee bridge, but a state revolving loan fund for clean water projects will help prime the pump. Read More

New York's economy grew more slowly than those of all but four other states in 2013, the latest federal data show. The real GDP numbers are consistent with job-creation data, which also show the Empire State to be lagging well behind the U.S. as a whole. Read More

An abandoned service area on the Taconic State Parkway in Dutchess County has been reopened, at taxpayer expense, as a government-run "Taste NY" store and farmers' market. Read More

"How to Build a $3.4 Billion Bridge in Record Time" is the title of a scheduled discussion featuring Howard P. Milstein, chairman of the state Thruway Authority, at an upcoming Crain's NY forum on infrastructure issues. In fact, work on the New NY Bridge is still in the pile-driving stages, and no one can say whether even the first of the two spans will be completed on schedule in two years, much less whether the whole thing will come in on budget. Read More

Employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) make a good buck, and six-figure cash compensation in 2013 was by no means limited to the white-collar higher-ups, according to 2013 payroll records posted at SeeThroughNY today. Read More

Governor Andrew Cuomo, who already signed into law one increase in New York’s statewide minimum wage, has agreed to support raising the minimum another notch and giving localities the discretion to go even higher — all reportedly as a condition for receiving the endorsement of the labor union-dominated Working Families Party (WFP). Read More