After days of intense negotiation, Governor Andrew Cuomo, state Education Commissioner John King and New York State United Teachers President Richard C. Iannuzzi announced Fri., Feb. 16, the state and NYSUT reached agreement on a new statewide teacher evaluation system. The accord makes the state “a national leader” on the issue, Cuomo said. The agreement provides guidance to local districts for the implementation of a process that makes good on the state’s promise to put in place a teacher evaluation system as a condition of its $700 million federal Race to the Top award. Under the plan, teachers will be graded on a scale of 0 to 100 points; 60 percent of the score is based on teacher performance, measured through classroom observation, parent, and student feedback via evaluator or professional development activities. The remaining 40 percent will be awarded based on student performance on state and local exams. Watch the Governor’s press conference online.
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Tags: Andrew Cuomo, education, teacher evaluations
The Albany Business Review reports that Hudson has the highest self-employment rate in the state and ranks 83rd nationally, with 9.96 percent of the town working population self-employed, according to a study funded by a company owned by the magazine’s parent company. In comparison, in Albany 5.5 percent of workers are self-employed, and Glens Falls has 8.75 percent to rank third in New York. Nationally the average is 6.5 percent. Hudson has a higher rate then San Francisco. The California city had the highest rate in the nation for cities with over 500,000 workers. The figures are as of 2010. Read the full story in The Albany Business Review.
Tags: employment, jobs, self-employement
Jim Planck writes in The Daily Mail about a report just released by Transmission Developers, Inc. of Albany, the developers of the Champlain Hudson Power Express, the 333-mile power line project proposed to run from Canada to the greater New York City area. The project is currently in the review process. CHPE will run both underground and underwater for its entire length, utilizing railroads rights-of-way where no water body is available, according to Planck. It is being designed to deliver 1,000 megawatts of hydro- and wind-produced electricity, and has been in the works for more than three years. If approved by the state Public Service Commission, the construction period could run from 2013-2016, bringing the work through the Columbia-Greene corridor in 2014 or 2015. The commissioned study, performed by Boston-based London Economics International, estimates the project has the potential to create anywhere from 300 to 600 construction jobs. Read the full article in The Daily Mail.
Tags: Champlain-Hudson Power Express, Hudson River, Inc., Transmission Developers
The Times-Union’s Casey Seiler writes about a large lawsuit New York’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is bringing against several of the nation’s largest banks. The suit charges that the creation and use of a nationwide Mortgage Electronic Registry System has resulted in “a wide range of deceptive and fraudulent foreclosure filings in New York state and federal courts, harming homeowners and undermining the integrity of the judicial foreclosure process.” In broad terms, the suit alleges that the banks used MERS as a front for millions of home loans so that they could easily securitize those mortgages. The AG further alleges that MERS has fraudulently identified itself as the plaintiff in foreclosure actions without the documentation to claim ownership of the loans in question. MERS has been the target of numerous legal actions, including ongoing actions by Massachusetts and Delaware. Unlike many of those suits, this one alleges fraudulent practices as opposed to questioning MERS’ business practices, or its very existence as structured. Suits questioning the company on that basis have encountered resistance from many state courts, most recently in Idaho. The lawsuit was filed in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn on Friday. It seeks “a declaration that the alleged practices violate the law,” as well as injunctive relief, damages for harmed homeowners, and civil penalties” The AG released a statement identifying Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo as defendants and “MERS certifying officers” accused of having “repeatedly submitted court documents containing false and misleading information that made it appear that the foreclosing party had the authority to bring a case when in fact it may not have.” The paper reports that the suit was in development long before Schneiderman was tapped by President Barack Obama to co-chair a special task force to investigate the mortgage securities industry. Read about the lawsuit in the Times Union.
Tags: Eric Schneiderman, foreclosures, MERS
The New York World set out to answer two basic questions: How exactly do districts get gerrymandered – that is, have their boundaries manipulated to benefit a political party or group? And where is this happening in New York? The result is “Redistricting and You,” an interactive guide to gerrymandering, produced with ProPublica and the Center for Urban Research. The page allows viewers to overlay the map of current New York state Senate districts and the proposed 2012 lines, just released. The guide also defines redistricting tactics — “cracking,” “kidnapping,” “diluting,” “dividing,” “decoying” — and shows where those tactics are allegedly being employed.
Tags: gerrymandering, LATFOR
Amy Halloran writes in Metroland about two rallies in support of independent farmers and locally grown/raised food, scheduled to take place in Albany. The first, sponsored by Food & Water Watch, will take place Wed., Feb. 8, at the Capitol and will appeal to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to support a fair Farm Bill. The Farm Bill is due for reauthorization by Congress this year. Food & Water Watch, according to the article, supports a variety of measures intended to level the playing field between independent small farmers and large agri-business. The American Farmland Trust of New York organized the No Farms, No Food rally for Wed., Feb. 15, to urge state legislators to support measures that back farms, farmers and local food production. Those measures include: Farmland-protection programs; restoration of funds for the New York Farm Viability Institute; increased funding for the New York State Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program; and funding for incentives to increase use of SNAP (food stamp benefits) at farmers markets. Read the full story in Metroland.
Tags: farm bill, farmers markets, Federal Farm Bill, Food and Water Watch, GIPSA, Sen Kirsten Gillibrand, SNAP
Rick Karlin in Capitol Confidential reports that just 127 donors gave $16.8 million to state politicians, according to the New York Public Interest Research Group. Gov. Andrew Cuomo got more money then any other politicians, and unions, real estate and finance interests, beverage bottlers, and, this year, same-sex marriage supporters, topped the lobbies with the most to give in Albany. Read the full story in Capitol Confidential, the Albany Times-Union’s political blog.
Donors
Tags: political donations
Joseph Spector in the Politics on the Hudson blog reports that Senate Democrats sued in state court Tuesday challenging the creation of a new Senate seat by the task force drawing district lines. The plaintiffs, who include Senate Democrats and citizens, allege that Republicans violated the state constitution when they created a 63rd district to bolster their narrow hold on the chamber. Republicans hold a slim 32-29 seat majority in the state Senate with one vacancy. The new seat covers all of Greene County, parts of Ulster, Albany, and Montgomery counties. The lawsuit will complicate matters for the state Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, which is trying to finalize 213 legislative lines. New Yorkers are still waiting to see the boundaries for the 27 seats in the U.S. House of Representative. Read Politics on the Hudson for more on the suit over the 63rd.
Tags: 63rd District, LATFOR, state democrats
A bill to expand the state’s DNA database passed the state Senate on Tuesday but Democrats, who control the Assembly, have expressed concern about whether the law will do enough to help the wrongfully convicted. Law enforcement groups as well as legislators from both parties agree with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to take DNA samples from people convicted of any crime. But Democrats in the Assembly want defense attorneys to have greater access to the DNA database, and they want the state to adopt other criminal justice reforms. Governor Andrew Cuomo appears to support the bill, S5560A, sponsored by Republican Sen. Steve Saland (R-Poughkeepsie), who represents much of Columbia County in Albany. Senator James L. Seward (R/C/I – Oneonta), who represents Greene County also supported the bill. It passed in the Senate by a 50 to 10 vote, and Cuomo released a statement Tuesday, calling it “an important step in protecting New Yorkers and modernizing the state’s criminal justice system.” Barry C. Scheck, a founder of the Innocence Project, said that if supporters of DNA expansion were serious about preventing wrongful convictions, they should promote measures like requiring videotaping of interrogations or changing the way lineups are done. Read about the DNA database bill in the Times Union.
Tags: criminal records, DNA evidence, James Seward, Steve Saland
Most gamblers do not send out press releases announcing their bets. Politicians around Super Bowl time are another matter. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick both announced on Tue., Jan. 31, that they are betting on the Super Bowl between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. They are betting quantities of specialty foods unique to their states, greek yogurt, bagels, and cheesecake from New York, clam chowder, pie and chips from Boston. Both leaders have also pledged that if their team succeeds, they will divert their illegal winnings to a local food bank. New York Senator Chuck Schumer, also sent out a press release announcing his gambling, a Super Bowl bet with New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen with local beers, including one from Troy’s Brown’s Brewing Co., in the bet. Cuomo is also considering allowing casino gambling in New York.
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, Deval Patrick, gambling
Cara Matthews in Politics on the Hudson reports that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver will introduce legislation Monday to increase the state’s minimum wage to $8.50 an hour next year, and tie it to inflation. Currently, New York’s minimum wage is $7.25, the same as the federal minimum wage. “New York’s minimum wage is more than $3 less than what it would be if it had kept pace with inflation in the past four decades, according to the National Employment Law Project Action Fund,” Matthews reports. Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos’ spokesman Scott Reif said Sunday that, “Senate Republicans will continue to promote policies that encourage job growth and make New York a more business-friendly state, just as we did last year partnering with Governor Cuomo.” Read the full story in Politics on the Hudson.
Tags: Dean Skelos, minimum wage, Sheldon Silver
Ivan Lajara at The Daily Freeman thinks it is no joke that LAFTOR is the acronym for the New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment. Their “proposals are laughable” according to Lajara’s headline in the paper, over a story about the redistricting proposals released Thu., Jan. 26. Common Cause/NY Executive Director Susan Lerner said, “These maps appear to continue the long tradition of partisan gerrymandering we’ve come to expect. There are major demographic changes that are simply not reflected on these maps.” Governor Andrew Cuomo has vowed to veto any redistricting that is not created by an independent body. This plan was created by the the legislators themselves, so, as almost everyone is pointing out, they have drawn the lines to ensure their own re-election. Republican-leaning districts, now lean more. Democrat-heavy districts are heavier. They have created a new 63rd Senate seat, pairing Greene County with Albany and other points north in Senate District 46. Lajara quotes an AP news account and says, “The story continues, ‘The added Senate district would include part of Ulster County (including the city of Kingston), all of Greene County and parts of Albany, Schenectady and Montgomery counties.’ So imagine my surprise when a total of zero public meetings were scheduled in the area.”
Local effects
• Ulster County may be in the worst situation in the entire state. The proposal cuts the county into four Senate Districts, up from two. The people of Ulster County will have almost no representation in the Senate, as those four politicians will care little about its collective well-being, and not even cater much to the few voters they will have there, focusing on their majorities elsewhere.
• Greene County would see much change. Republican James Seward would, under the plan, not be Greene County’s senator anymore, but would retain a very safe seat to the west. The new seat includes all of Greene and Montgomery counties, and most of Albany and Schenectady counties, and several towns in Ulster County to the south. In the Assembly Greene is being split into two separate districts. Assemblyman Pete Lopez would continue to represent Ashland, Windham, Durham, Greenville, New Baltimore, Coxsackie, and Cairo in the proposed 102 District which now also includes Coeymans, Westerlo, and Rensselaerville in Albany County, all of Schoharie County, and towns in Otsego, Herkimer, and Oneida counties in what will continue to be a very safe district for him. The southern half of Greene County — Athens, Catskill, Hunter, Jewett, Lexington, Halcott, and Prattsville — would be in the proposed 101st Assembly District, which also includes much of eastern Delaware County, four Ulster County towns, and two Orange County towns, and Germantown and Clermont in Columbia County. 
• In Columbia County, the Senate District used to be dominated by Dutchess County, as Poughkeepsie Steve Saland currently represents the area in Albany. In this proposal, Columbia County moves to Senate District 43, paired with all of Rensselaer County and parts of Washington and Saratoga counties to the north. In the Assembly, most of Columbia County is represented by the 106th District including Stuyvesant, Stockport, Hudson, Greenport, Ghent, Claverack, Livingston, Taghkanic, Copake, Ancram, and Gallatin. Millbrook in Dutchess County, interestingly, is no longer in the district, and the candidates (Republican Richard Wager and Democrat Didi Barrett) trying to replace Marc Molinaro for the 103rd Assembly, which is similar to the proposed 106th, live in Millbrook. So while they may fight for the seat in March, they may be in 105th District election in the fall. As mentioned before, Germantown and Clermont join the proposed 101st District, stretching across southern Greene County to parts of Delaware, and Ulster and Orange counties. The rest of Columbia County — Kinderhook, Chatham, Hillsdale, Austerlitz, Canaan, and New Lebanon — join most of Rensselaer County and two Washington County towns in the proposed 107th district, which is similar to the area Republican Steve McLaughlin represents, though without any of the Greene County towns it used to include. 
Public hearings
No public hearings between Albany and New York City. The closest public hearing to our area is this Mon., Jan. 30 at 10:30 a.m. in the Legislative Office Building, Second Floor in the Hearing Room. (See the complete list of all public hearings after the link below.)
Tags: Didi Barrett, elections, James Seward, LAFTOR, Marc Molinaro, New York State legislators, Pete Lopez, redistricting, Richard Wager, Steve Saland
LATFOR will release a map with the state’s new district lines for assembly and senate districts Thu., Jan. 26, with Greene County rumoured to be split into a new, 63rd Senate district with some other Albany County, and northern areas. The maps were due Wed., Jan. 25. According to the Times-Union, the delay was caused by an ongoing discussion about a constitutional amendment that would allow for a more independent redistricting process. Governor Andrew Cuomo campaigned on the promise of a more independent process. The paper reports that several parties — Cuomo, Assembly Democrats, and Senate Republicans — are hoping to pair the release with first-passage of the constitutional amendment required to change the process. Read about the release of new district maps in the Times-Union.
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, LATFOR, redistricting
Eric Schneiderman, from Wikipedia.
Tags: banks, Barack Obama, Eric Scheiderman, mortgage fraud
Michael Winerip argues that Obama’s “Race To The Top” initiative creates a lot of paperwork and bureaucracy in the schools for a minimal investment from the Federal government. Writing in The New York Times education blog, he questions whether the Federal government’s education reform program will produce any dividends in the schools. The article describes the efforts of one school administrator in Long Island to create an assessment system for music and band teachers that will comply with the new standards. Paul R. Infante, the director of fine and applied arts for the Commack School District on Long Island, tells Winerip implementing an arbitrary system will, “take so much time away from instruction to focus on the assessment.” He also says he can’t tell whether the state will be rigorous in its oversight, or do just enough to satisfy federal regulations. He feels certain about one thing: “A considerable amount of time will be spent creating a significant amount of mandated paperwork.” The article also traces the chronology of the current dispute between the state and the teachers’ unions over teacher assessments. Read Winerip’s critique of Race To The Top in the New York Times.
Tags: NYSUT, Race to the Top, teachers union
John Mason writes in the Register Star about about the Regents Reform Agenda, a plan financed through a federal grant awarded from the Race to the Top initiative. New York is one of 47 or 48 states that are moving to adopt national standards, including higher benchmarks in math and English Language Arts. Questar III administrators visited the Taconic Hills School Board last week to discuss the reform plan. Questar Superintendent James Baldwin described a four-part plan to improve the schools. The program calls for the adoption of the higher standards which it calls Common Core Standards. The second element is the incorporation of improved data systems, which will track students from kindergarten through 12th grade. The third focuses on teacher certification, making sure teachers are qualified to teach their subject area. The fourth element is a push to improve low achieving schools and hold them accountable if they fail. The state has had an accountability system in place for over a decade, but Baldwin said a lack of enforcement allowed low-performing schools to fall through the cracks. “Schools have been failing to meet the targets established for them,” Baldwin said, “the state has not responded by closing them or forcing them to reconfigure. There will be much greater scrutiny.” Questar III is the local Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or BOCES, and oversees the 23 school districts in Columbia, Greene and Rensselaer counties for the state Education Department. Read about the BOCES school reform initiative in the Register Star.
Tags: BOCES, schools, Taconic Hills School Board
Jimmy Vielkind in the Albany Times-Union reports that State Senate Republicans have a cash advantage of nearly five to one as they try to hold their slight majority later this year. The Senate Republican Campaign Committee has $4,914,003.82, compared with $305,556.71 for the Democrats. The New York Public Research Interest Group combined those central campaign committees with the accounts of individual candidates, subtracted debt, and pegged the GOP edge at $15,041,583.91 to $3,226,155.62. Read the full story in the Albany Times-Union.
Tags: campaign cash, elections, New York Public Research Interest Group
An anti-high-impact hydraulic fracturing protest drew over 500 opponents of the controversial gas drilling method to Albany today, according to the Times Union. Protestors gathered this morning in the Well of the Legislative Office Building chanting “no fracking way.” Rebecca Melnitsky describes some notable moments in the Times-Union’s Capitol Confidential blog. They include: Julia Walsh and Claire Sandberg from Frack Action, who brought a gallon of greenish-water from hydrofracked Dimock, Pennsylvania; protestors pointing out that Bulgaria has banned hydrofracking; farmers in the rally holding locally made bread as everyone marched to the legislative offices; and Josh Fox, the director of the anti-fracking documentary “Gasland,” who told protestors that every time he comes to Albany, “there’s more of you and the weather is worse.” Read the full story in the Albany Times-Union.
Tags: high-impact hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracking, Natural Gas
Paul Davies criticizes Gov. Andrew Cuomo for embracing casino gambling in an opinion column in The New York Times. Davies is a journalist and a fellow at the Institute for American Values, a socially conservative think tank. Davies writes that, if New York follows the blueprint of other states that have allowed casinos, then they’ll be located in rural and working-class towns and cities that cater mainly to low rollers, not James Bond-type jet-setters. He calls state run casinos, “a regressive tax that extracts wealth from the very citizens who can least afford it.” Davies also points to studies that show that, while casinos may create some jobs and generate revenue, they also produce little to no economic spinoff and in fact divert spending away from surrounding businesses like restaurants, movie theaters, and live entertainment. Read Davies Op-ed in The New York Times.
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, casinos
The New York State Rifle and Pistol Association hopes Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to end the Combined Ballistic Identification System (CoBIS) passes the state legislature. The program inventories spent shell casings at an estimated cost of nearly $44 million since March, 2001, and the gun lobby, NYSRPA, says no crimes have been solved because of the information collected. Dick Nelson, in the Register-Star, reports, “records show that it only documented 1,150 matches of ballistic evidence between multiple crime scenes out of nearly 168,000 bullets and casings which were entered nationwide.” The state legislature is currently considering A-1131/S-459 bills.
Tags: Combined Ballistic Identification System, guns, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association
There’s another major rally against high-impact hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in Albany Mon., Jan. 23 at 11 a.m. at The Well at the Legislative Office Building. Actress Debra Winger is the celebrity du jour, and Josh Fox, the director of the Oscar-nominated “Gasland” film about the subject, will be there too, as will as all sorts of regional and national organizartons such as Catskill Mountainkeeper, Riverkeeper, New York Public Interest Research Group, the Sierra Club, and others.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed an amendment to the state constitution to legalize casino gambling “regulated by the state.” The Times-Union posted a copy of the bill on its Capitol Confidential blog. Read about the proposed law at Capitol Confidential.
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, casinos, gambling
The Albany Times-Union reports that Andrew Cuomo has amassed $14.4 million in campaign contributions and has posted a list of the Governor’s biggest donors on its Capitol Confidential page. NYPIRG also posts the complete list of Cuomo donors. Read Capitol Confidential for the full story.
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, campaign funds
New York Governor’s budget proposal address at The Egg in Albany at 2 p.m., Tue., Jan. 17 was streamed live (see video below) on the WGXC Newsroom through http://www.governor.ny.gov/. Funding for towns in Greene and Columbia counties remain flat in the governor’s proposal. See chart below. While the funding for each local town remains the same, Cuomo does propose some mandate relief and taking some Medicare costs away from the towns. “Governor Cuomo has put in his Executive Budget strong measures to relieve local governments of burdensome mandates,” Albany County Executive Dan McCoy said in a press release quoted in the Albany Times-Union. “His changes to the Medicaid program and pension reform promise real, long-lasting relief for property taxpayers. Our state will benefit from the Governor’s leadership on mandate relief, and I commend him for putting forward a plan that puts the people first and makes the right decisions to get our state back on the right track.” Listen a a :30 clip of Gov. Cuomo introducing the budget here. PLAY CLIP
Aid for Municipalities
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, state budget
Glenn Blain The NY Daily News reports that Education Secretary Arne Duncan warned New York that the state could lose close to $1 billion in federal school funding if it makes no progress on a system to grade teachers, a higher figure than previously reported ($300 million more). The money includes $700 million in federal Race to the Top money. Now the feds have tacked on $100 million in School Improvement Grants and nearly $200 million in teacher incentive funds. According to the Daily News, Albany is also piling on as Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatens to link state school funds to the adoption of new teacher evaluations. The battle pits the Governor against the teachers unions and Democrats in the State Assembly. Cuomo accused the Assembly of protecting the teachers union at the expense of the students, when they adopted a 2010 law. The law makes it possible for each school district and teachers union to negotiate new teacher evaluations. Negotiations with the United Federation of Teachers broke down in December. The 2012 state budget currently calls for a 4% boost in total school aid. Read the full story in The NY Daily News.
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, NYSUT, teacher evaluation
Jim Planck in The Daily Mail reports that New York schools are in for significant changes to the annual state assessment tests. There will more questions on both the English Language Arts (ELA) and the math tests and more time will be set aside for them. The tests will now be administered over a three-day period and the districts are now mandated to set aside nintey minutes for each session. The new tests also feature “field test” questions that don’t count, and are only there to help the state get a better feel for designing future tests. The ELA tests will also be scored differently. Writing mechanics such as spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and usage, will now count, though specific details of how much they will factor in to scores will be in a forthcoming document from the State’s Education Dept. Read about new school assessment tests in The Daily Mail. The ELA tests will be given from April 17-19, and the math ones from April 25-27. The changes are bound to play into an ongoing debate about how much time students and schools devote to standardized assessment tests. Read the Gotham Schools blog on testing for more information on the issue.
Tags: assessment tests, education, New York State Education Department, schools, testing
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) holds public hearings next week on proposed amendments to air quality, including a 2 p.m. Wednesday meeting in the DEC’s Public Assembly Room 129A, at 625 Broadway in Albany. The DEC is considering changes rules regulating diesel fuel emissions, sludge incineration, and lead in the air. Read the WGXC Newsroom for the full press release from the DEC. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: air quality, DEC
The Department of Health and Human Services issued a report sharply critical of the state agency overseeing the delivery of services to the developmentally disabled, The New York Times reports.. Last year The New York Times ran a series of articles about abuse, neglect and financial mismanagement in the state’s system of caring for developmentally disabled people. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration undertook a reform effort intended to address decades of mismanagement in the system. Danny Hakim of The Times says today’s report questions its efforts to reform the Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons With Disabilities. The commission is supposed to oversee much larger state agencies that care for the developmentally disabled and the mentally ill. The report found the Commission lacks independence from the governor’s office, failed to account for how it is spending public money and has broken several requirements of federal law. Read the article in The New York Times
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, developmentally disabled, Health and Human Services
Rick Karlin in The Times-Union’s Capitol Confidential blog reports that both sides of the high-impact hydraulic fracturing gas drilling debate descended on Albany to submit boxes of comments and letter to the Department of Environmental Conservation in time for the Wed., Jan. 11 public comment period deadline. On Tuesday, opponents and proponents of the controversial form of natural gas drilling held dueling press conferences at the Capitol. The DEC will review the comments as part of their effort to decide if New York should allow hydro-fracking. Read the full story in Capitol Confidential.
Tags: DEC, environment, gas drilling, high-impact hydraulic fracturing, Natural Gas
Fernanda Santos in The New York Times reports that New York is one of three states the federal government has added to a watch list because it has not complied with goals it set when applying for financial assistance through the federal “Race to the Top” funding program. U.S. Education secretary Arne Duncan said that despite “significant progress,” New York had “hit a roadblock” in recent months, failing to track student records across school districts and failing to adopt a new system to evaluate the work of teachers and principals. “In the short term, I call on the State Department of Education, local school districts and the union leadership to expedite their negotiations on a teacher evaluation system to prevent the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a press release. “Over the long term, we need to overhaul the system and change the law on the books. The Assembly-led legislation in 2010 protected the teachers union at the expense of the students and instituted a system that was destined to fail.” Read the full story in The New York Times.
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, education, Race to the Top, school funding, schools
Jimmy Vielkind in Capitol Confidential reports that Gov. Andrew Cuomo called five special elections for March 20, coinciding with village elections, including one that will choose who represents most of Columbia County in Albany. Last November, Assemblymen Marc Molinaro ran and won the Dutchess County Executive seat, leaving the 103rd District without representation. So far, Pat Manning, a Republican who held the seat before losing to Molinaro in the 2006 primary, has announced he is running. Read the full story in Capitol Confidential.
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, elections, Marc Molinaro, Pat Manning
Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos says the State Senate and its Republican majority will pass the Iran Divestment Act of 2012 during a session Monday, Jan. 9. “The Senate’s swift action shows how important it is that we stand together to condemn tyrannical governments like Iran which sponsor terrorism, have attempted to acquire nuclear weapons and threaten U.S. allies like Israel, as Iran has repeatedly done,” Skelos said in a press release. “I applaud [Democrat Assembly] Speaker [Sheldon] Silver for taking the lead on this effort and moving it forward in the Assembly.” The Iran Divestment Act of 2012 (S5917A) was modeled after similar legislation in California and, “conceived with help from the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York,” according to Skelos’ press release, would prohibit companies that provide goods, services or credit worth $20 million or more to Iran’s energy industry from entering into or renewing state and local government contracts. The legislation directs the Office of General Services to create a list of people, corporations and other organizations with investments of more than $20 million in the Iranian energy sector. Those on the list would be excluded from bidding on government contracts. The bill also requires individuals or entities to certify they are not on the list when they submit bids to state and local agencies.
Tags: Dean Skelos, divestment, Iran
Michael DeMasi in The Albany Business Review reports Trader Joe’s will open a 13,000-square-foot store at 79 Wolf Road in Colonie, just north of Albany off the interstate. It will be the closest location of the popular specialty grocery chain to the WGXC listening area. Read the full story in the Albany Business Review.
Tags: food, grocery stores, Trader Joe's
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s State of the State Address was streamed live at governor.ny.gov and on the WGXC Newsroom, on Wed., Jan. 4 at 1:30 p.m. live from Albany’s Empire State Plaza Convention Center. WGXC’s Sam Sebren spoke with many of the protesters outside the center, who were mostly upset about the possibility of high-impact hydraulic fracturing gas drilling starting soon in New York. Click here to play a collage of interviews with protesters Wednesday in Albany. PLAY CLIP 27:00
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, high-impact hydraulic fracturing, local audio, State of the State Address
The Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) posted its “State of the Schools 2012″ address, a riposte to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s annual “State of the State” speech. Nikki Jones, the organization’s Communications Director, says the state’s poorest districts are the most vulnerable to cuts in the state’s education budget and describes conditions in some schools as appalling. “When Albany slashes school funding, as it has for three years in row, wealthier districts are so much better equipped to protect schools that poor districts,” Jones says. “What we are now seeing in poor districts is appalling: crowded classrooms; greatly reduced class offerings and the elimination of tutoring and other programs. These are severe impacts that must be addressed.” She also challenged the Governor’s continued emphasis on testing. “Judging school based primarily on test scores in two subjects has resulted in teaching to the test, narrowing of the curriculum and a dumbing down of public education,” Jones said.
Tags: education, education budgets, state education, testing
James M. Odato reports in his column in the Albany Times-Union that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo hired Alexander Cochran, a former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development aide to then-HUD secretary Cuomo, to run New York’s office in Washington, D.C. “The unannounced appointment of lobbyist Alexander Cochran, who has been an advocate for clients at four Democratic National Conventions, may indicate that Cuomo wants to improve his nationwide political network in case his interests expand beyond Albany,” Odato writes. Read the full story in the Albany Times-Union.
Tags: Alexander Cochran, Andrew Cuomo
New York state’s legislature passed news laws that go into effect in 2012, including middle-class tax cuts, a two-percent tax cap for municipalities, and others. About 4.4 million taxpayers will receive a total of $690 million in personal income tax relief, from that measure. The tax-cap law imposes a cap on the growth of school district and local government property taxes of two percent or the Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is lower. Other laws that go into effect Jan. 1, 2012:
• ORALLY ADMINISTERED CHEMOTHERAPY COVERAGE: Health insurance plans in New York State are now required to cover orally administered chemotherapy treatments. The law (Chapter 559, L.2011, Sen. Lanza) corrects a discrepancy and ensures that chemotherapy treatment, no matter how administered, is covered by insurance companies.
• ROADWAY SAFETY: Drivers are now required to exercise additional caution when approaching, overtaking, or passing any hazard vehicle. Current law requires drivers to move over to adjacent lanes when approaching or passing an emergency vehicle on the side of the road, but not for other hazard vehicles.
• MERCURY: A new law will strengthen DEC’s authority to ban products that contain mercury (Chapter 20, L. 2011, Sen. Grisanti).
• FISHING: A new law will further reduce the number of commercial fishing licenses and permits issued by DEC to ensure the economic viability of the commercial and consumer fishing industry (Chapter 383, L.2011, Sen. Johnson).
• DEFIBRILLATORS: A requirement that dental health facilities possess automatic external defibrillators on their premises (Chapter 65, L.2011, Sen. Golden).
• PIPES: A ban on the sale of hookahs, water pipes, and shisha to minors (Chapter 131, L.2011, Sen. Golden). “Shisha” is any product made primarily of tobacco smoked or intended to be smoked in a hookah or water pipe.
• FIRING FIRE COMMISSIONERS: An authorization for the removal of fire commissioners for dereliction of duties including having an excessive number of unexcused absences from regularly scheduled meetings (Chapter 462, L.2011, Sen. Lavalle).
• BEAR GALLBLADDERS: A new law (Chapter 468, L.2011, Sen. Grisanti) bans the possession and sale of bear gallbladder and bile, a valuable commodity used in some forms of ancient medicine. In New York, black bears have been illegally killed for their gallbladders and bile. New York is one of only five states that currently place no restrictions on the trade in bear gallbladders and bile. The loophole complicates law enforcement, encourages poaching, and puts bears at risk.
• PHOSPHORUS: A new law (Chapter 205, L.2010, Sen. Hassell-Thompson) will ban the sale of household dishwasher detergents that contain phosphorus, which is harmful to lakes, rivers and other water sources. A ban on phosphorus dish detergents used by commercial establishments will not take effect until July 1, 2013. The new law also places new limitations on the use of lawn fertilizers that contain phosphorous.
• CAR SALES: A new law (Chapter 548, L.2011, Sen. Dilan) requires motor vehicle manufacturers and distributors to get the consent of franchised motor vehicle dealers to participate in sales promotion programs that include an expense for the dealer.
Tags: new laws
Jimmy Vielkind in Captiol Confidential reports that the Empire State Plaza skating rink in Albany will open to the public at 11 a.m. Saturday, after being closed for over three years. Skate rental and hot chocolate will be free on New Year’s Eve. The rink is open until 8 p.m., and at 2 p.m. Saturday the Albany Figure Skating Club conducts figure skating demonstrations, and its members will be around all day to offer lessons, and will be open through March. Read the full story in Capitol Confidential.
Tags: ice skating
Here’s a quick forecast of the coming year in New York state politics, courtesy AM New York’s 2012 forecast. The legislative redistricting process is bound to set off some sparks. State lawmakers must redraw legislative boundaries based on new population data, but Cuomo has threatened to veto their maps because he wants an independent redistricting panel to do it. All 150 seats in the state Assembly and 62 seats in the state Senate are on the line in the Nov. 6 election. Whether the state will hold special elections before then to fill empty seats remains an open questions. Democrats in Columbia and Dutchess county say they’re currently interviewing candidates to fill the Assembly seat for New York’s 103rd district, which includes most of Columbia County. The seat was vacated Marc Molinaro, who takes up his new post as Dutchess County Executive in 2012. Their could be a special election in the district, or the seat could remain vacant through the forthcoming legislative session, and the seat could be eliminated in redistricting.
William Magee, D-Nelson, who represents the 111th District in Albany, in the Utica Observer-Dispatch, has a guest column where he discusses two bills for farmers that did not get passed in the last legislative session. Magee hopes they will gain favor in 2012. One bill would authorize the creation of farm breweries for the manufacture of beer, A.7449-A. Another would enhance farmers’ ability to market their products directly to consumers by encouraging the development of retail farm operations, such as roadside stands and on-farm markets, A.6282.
Tags: agriculture, beer, breweries, farm stands, farms, William Magee
On The Air
WGXC is on 90.7-FM now, at full-power, 3300 watts. We cover all parts of Greene County except parts of the mountaintop, and all of Columbia County except for a bit of Western Columbia County south of Germantown. WGXC also covers a large part of southern Albany County. We have heard reports that the signal is getting from Delaware County to Great Barrington, from Selkirk to Saugerties, from Pine Plains to the I-90 extension.
Local weather/webcams
National Weather Service, Albany
Hawthorne Valley Farm Weather Page
When the computer is turned on, the Hawthorne Valley Farm Weather Page reports weather information in Harlemville. Check dates and times to see whether reports are live or from when the computer was turned off.
Greene County webcams:
Catskill webcam: Thomas Cole House Claude Mirror
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