Hillary Clinton’s endorsement of a Medicare “buy-in” for older Americans who are under 65 raises the question of whether it would actually be a good deal for the people it is supposed to help. Read More
Category: Blog
A study by researchers in the state Health Deparments, just published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, documents widespread use of prescription opioids in New York. Read More
Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli just issued a set of fiscal reform proposals designed to address the continuing lack of accountability and transparency in key areas of New York's budget. While by no means representing a fiscal panacea, they are solid ideas, deserving of broad public and legislative support. Read More
Albany’s practice of doling out millions in “bullet aid” to certain school districts at the behest of favored legislators has become a familiar ritual of pork-barrel politics. But a little-noticed provision of this year’s budget directs $30 million to a single nursing home in the Bronx, which is unusual even by the standards of New York State government. Read More
New York's 2 percent local property tax levy cap has passed another important legal test, prevailing in the state's mid-level appeals court over a constitutional challenge from the state's largest teachers' union. Read More
Governor Cuomo’s $15 minimum wage plan will cost the state’s Medicaid program more than $100 million over the next two years, according to figures in a budget analysis released Wednesday by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Read More
Whether they know it or not, New York State taxpayers are locked in a high-stakes partnership with a billionaire whose high-tech business empire has been "fueled by his voracious appetite for risk and unyielding confidence." Read More
"Southern Tier Soaring" is the slogan Governor Andrew Cuomo has assigned to his job-creation program for the most economically troubled region of upstate New York. Better make that "Southern Tier Sinking (Further)." Read More