Month: August 2014

This fall, the Empire Center for Public Policy released its first evaluation of websites for the state’s 500 largest counties, municipalities, and school districts — and gave 85 percent of them failing grades. In the Enterprise coverage area, three were evaluated: The county of Albany and the town of Guilderland both got Fs while the Guilderland Central School District earned a C. Read More

A new batch of state lawmakers have filed paperwork that will allow them to collect both their salary and retirement payments starting in 2015 despite remaining in office. A total of 12 state lawmakers have filed documents signaling their retireme Read More

Critics, though, say this kind of tax-credit program is a bad idea. “It’s an organized stick-up, inspired by the film industry,” said E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center for Public Policy. “We end up subsidizing a favored industry, and we will end up paying them to make their music here.” Read More

New York got a double dose of bad news Tuesday, as it dropped to fourth place among most populated states amid signs the alarming trend of people moving out is accelerating once again. The population exodus “is back almost to matching a level of 2007,” E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center said. “Our economy hasn’t gotten any better relative to the other places people are going.” Read More