For years, the Plainview water district -- like many other special districts across Long Island -- has offered free dental insurance that paid for the braces for children of employees as well as for part-time commissioners as part of its benefits pac Read More
Expect a lot of talk in Albany this election year about how New York's sky-high property taxes are sucking the lifeblood out of our economy, turning the Empire State into the Vampire State. But don't take any of it seriously until some brave polit Read More
Lise Bang-Jensen, longtime Capitol journalist and former co-host of public television’s “Inside Albany” program, has joined the Empire Center for Public Policy as a senior policy analyst. Read More
Dr. Vatsal Thakkar, a psychiatrist at New York University Medical Center, and his wife, a clinical psychologist, make a total of about $150,000 a year. Even so, the couple had to move farther up the West Side from West 72nd Street to find a larger ap Read More
Sen. Hillary Clinton is running for president, in part, on a platform that calls for more government health care. So let's ask a question that may hit a little too close to home: Why does New York spend more on Medicaid—a health-care program for the poor—than every other state but still have a larger portion of its population walking around without health insurance than states that spend far less? Read More
ALBANY — Gov. Eliot Spitzer may propose a ceiling on annual property tax increases, an idea he has rejected before and one that has often met resistance among fellow Democrats. The proposal’s backers see it as a way of containing the property Read More
ALBANY, N.Y. - Gov. Eliot Spitzer took steps Wednesday toward a long-sought cap on local school spending and property taxes, using universities to create a high-tech economy, and leading Albany to hard spending choices so the state isn’t "paralyzed Read More
Gov. Spitzer's second annual State of the State message yesterday featured what may ultimately stand out as his Nixon-goes-to-China moment. Annoying a powerful ally - and embracing a concept he had rejected during the 2006 gubernatorial campaign - Spitzer said he would form a special commission to recommend a "fair and effective cap" on school taxes in New York. Read More