State homeland security chief victim of hit-and-run driver
State Homeland Security Chief Michael Balboni, a former GOP senator from Nassau County, thanked Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings and city Police Chief James Tuffey for police’s quick response in an accident...
View ArticleMorning briefing
The State University of New York is asking for a $9 billion state investment in its infrastructure in the next five years, its largest and most ambitious capital plan yet. Some lawmakers want the...
View ArticleMorning briefing
Patient advocates blamed the state yesterday for the problem of growing medical-malpractice costs, saying government has failed to rein in costs associated with medical-malpractice insurance and...
View ArticleMorning briefing
Assembly Democrats are calling for a delay in the Thruway Authority’s toll increase of 10 percent next month until an audit by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is completed. Assembly Republicans held...
View ArticleMorning briefing
Counties want the state to take over the cost of providing special-education services to 3- and 4-year-olds, a $432 million annual expense for counties. Upstate tracks are pushing the state to let them...
View ArticleMorning briefing
The GOP-led Senate will consider pay raises for lawmakers and judges and other issues when it meets in Albany tomorrow, but action on a host of other pressing items remains uncertain because the...
View ArticleGroup says gov acting like Uncle Scrooge
Unlike his predecessor, George Pataki, Gov. Eliot Spitzer did not issue clemency to anyone incarcerated under the Rockefeller-era drug laws this year, the Drug Policy Alliance said in a statement this...
View ArticleState wants to crack down on predators’ Internet use
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and the leaders of the Assembly and Senate are advancing legislation to protect people, particularly children, from predators on the Internet. In particular, they are...
View ArticleMentally ill prisoners to get “humane” treatment
Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed a bill today that will limit the use of solitary confinement for prisoners with serious mental illness. Under the legislation, the state Department of Correctional Services...
View ArticleMore changes in drug laws urged
Despite reforms enacted in 2004 and 2005, more people were sent to state prison in each of the last three years for non-violent drug offenses than in 2004, according to a report released today....
View ArticleMore open government (not)
 Another sign of not-so-open government at the Capitol today: Harry Corbitt, Gov. Paterson’s choice to be the new State Police superintendent, had concluded testimony before a Senate committee this...
View ArticleImproving child safety on the agenda
Gov. David Paterson announced today that the state would provide $1.17 million in grants to help communities improve child safety. The money will enable more thorough investigations and prosecutions of...
View ArticleInvestigation agency marks 50th year
A state agency that was in danger of being closed down last year is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The Commission of Investigation, which released its 2007 annual report today, said it issued six...
View ArticleInfamous drug laws turn 35
Six committees of the Assembly are holding a daylong hearing in New York City today on the 35th anniversary of the Rockefeller-era drug laws. As of Jan. 1, 13,425 drug offenders were in state prison —...
View ArticleLawmaker wants NYPD to use camera for firearm
GNS reporter Dan Osburn reports that a New York City senator plans to introduce legislation for city police to use high-tech device that will record what happens when a firearm is used. Here are...
View ArticleUsing noose to intimidate now a felony
Painting, drawing or otherwise placing or displaying a noose is now a felony under New York law—punishable by up to four years in prison. Gov. David Paterson signed the legislation that was proposed...
View ArticleCop impersonation, domestic violence on Senate agenda
  A day after a Long Island man pretending to be a police officer handcuffed and kidnapped a woman, the Senate passed legislation that would pump up penalties for impersonating a police officer....
View ArticleState settles with “BODIES” exhibitor
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced a settlement this morning with Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions Inc. in response to accusations that its “BODIES†exhibits use corpses of Chinese...
View ArticleArticle 11
  Teens who live in states where marijuana is legal for medical use have not seen a spike in usage of the drug by young people, despite fears that would occur, a newly updated analsyis released...
View ArticleBill would modernize hate-crimes law
  A bill that would increase penalties for people convicted of hate crimes has passed both houses of the Legislature — the Senate last night and the Assembly March 3 — and will be sent to Gov. David...
View ArticleState worker got paid for private work on state time
  The affirmative action and equal employment-opportunity officer for the New York Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance was fired Monday following state Inspector General Joseph Fisch’s...
View ArticleTask force season in Albany
  A few new state task forces will begin their work in the coming weeks, joining a number of ongoing ones in Albany:      —The Task Force on Flame Retardant Safety holds its first...
View ArticleNo bail hearing for ex-lawmaker
Gannett News Service intern Heather Senison attended a court appearance today by a former state assemblyman from Plattsburgh charged with felonies this week. This is her report:   A former state...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The week of all Spitzer, all the time
This has been quite a week for the Spitzer family. Silda Wall Spitzer, the wife of New York’s infamous ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer, made the news yesterday for joining a New York hedge fund. Eliot...
View ArticleNY expanding community “reentry” services for inmates
The state Department of Correctional Services announced that it recently opened a second specialized unit at Orleans Correctional Facility in Albion to help male inmates prepare for “reentry” into the...
View ArticleNY inspector general: investigator “shamelessly” broke laws
This was written by Heather Senison of Gannett News Service: A state investigator violated suspects’ Miranda rights, ingested the narcotic Fentanyl while on duty and ran an unsafe undercover...
View ArticleDNA database expansion draws concerns
The proposed expansion of the state’s criminal DNA database has raised the concerns of the New York Civil Liberties Union that the bolstering of the 14-year-old network goes too far. Gov. David...
View ArticleNYCLU raises questions with DNA database expansion
The New York Civil Liberties Union is raising concerns about the state’s proposed expansion of the DNA database. “There is an emerging body of research and empirical findings that raise important...
View ArticleBrodsky seeks investigation of Google
Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, Westchester County, today asked Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to launch a criminal investigation of the search-enging giant Google for the apparent violation...
View ArticleDemocrats hit back after microstamping failure
The bill that would have required manufacturers to ID bullet casings — known as “microstamping” — was pulled from consideration on Tuesday after it became clear Democrats couldn’t muster enough votes...
View Article
