Category: Media Coverage

Cattaraugus County’s population continued to drop in the first half of this decade, losing 3.03 percent of its residents and leaving it in 55th place among 62 counties in terms of population growth. The 2010 census showed Cattaraugus County with 80,317 residents. As of Dec. 31, 2015, it had dropped to 77,885, a loss of 2,432. From 2010 to 2015, 2,789 people left the county, or 3.47 percent of the population, a report by the Empire Center for Public Policy in Albany shows. At the same time, there was a natural increase in the population of 524, or 0.65 percent. Read More

The Public Authorities Control Board delayed its decision to approve a $485 million grant for Buffalo's Riverbend until May 25th. Read More

The Empire Center found city school-custodian engineers were the highest-paid group of city employees in 2014, earning an average of $109,467. And their union contract made it impossible to fire them unless they were jailed. Some custodians did stellar work — but many schools looked like dumps. Read More

Former Daily News editorial writer and columnist Bill Hammond has a new gig as director of health policy at the Empire Center for Public Policy, a well-regarded Albany-based conservative think tank. Read More

Not everyone is happy with the DEC’s decision to deny the Constitution Pipeline water-quality permit. E. J. McMahon, president and founder of the Empire Center, said the decision will hurt the already struggling Southern Tier. Read More

Let's talk about pork. The State and Municipal Facilities Program was created in 2013 to support capital expenses for school districts and local governments. Every year since, the list of eligible expense Read More

The ABCs of New York City school funding make no sense — as enrollment has gone down, staffing has gone up, according to a government watchdog. While the number of students fell by 8.6 percent between 2000-2001 and 2014-2015, staffing levels rose by 3.2 percent, the Empire Center for Public Policy reported Tuesday. Read More

Some Long Island Rail Road employees make more than $300,000 a year, according to a newly released report. The report conducted by the Empire Center for Public Policy says that 136 employees made more than $200,000 last year. That number is up from the 130 employees who topped the $200,000 mark in 2014. They include an engineer and a track foreman. Read More