Even enrollment at Saranac Lake Central School has declined 22 percent in the past decade, and the number of students enrolled in public schools statewide is the lowest recorded in 30 years, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders welcomed Democratic rival Mike Bloomberg into the thick of the presidential primary with a slew of attacks on the former New York City mayor’s moderate record. Read More
In the face of a projected $6 billion deficit, Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to shift millions of dollars in salaries from the government payroll to the capital budget — thus giving the appearance he’s lowering operating costs, critics charge. Read More
Spending on an increasingly popular New York Medicaid program that lets the elderly and disabled hire people, including their own relatives, to care for them at home soared 85 percent between 2017 and 2018. Read More
The nonprofit group submitted the proposals to a Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team at the Albany Capital Center on Friday. Cuomo appointed the Redesign Team on February 4 to save $2.5 billion by April 1, making up for a massive shortfall in the state budget. Read More
Virginia legislation that would allow collective bargaining in the public sector and introduce binding arbitration to settle disputes could damage police accountability by removing authority from elected officials, according to critics. Read More
The idea of a "wealth tax" has come up now repeatedly on the national level, with Democratic presidential candidates like Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren calling for an additional tax on the ultra-millionaires and billionaires. Read More
The New York State Division of the Budget surprised the public this past November with an announcement the State faced a $6.1 billion deficit to close for the 2021 budget due by April 1, 2020. The DOB disclosed in its Mid-Year Update that Medicaid costs were exploding -- dramatically more than anticipated -- in both the budget adopted in April 2019 for the current year (fiscal year 2020), as well as for the next one (FY 2021). The budget agency said the situation demanded immediate cuts to both Medicaid and the overall budget. Read More