How NY state closed the projected $4.4 billion budget deficit

It wasn't as painful as some feared, but future shortfalls still loom.

• By Grace Segers
• April 2, 2018

Takeaways from the final 2018-19 state budget

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday evening announced a deal on a $168.3 billion state budget. Hours earlier, the spending plan had been in doubt, due to standoffs over such issues as state oversight of yeshivas and the early departure of state lawmakers for Passover, which began on Friday, and for Easter Sunday – which is also the start of the new fiscal year.

• By Jonathan Lentz
• March 31, 2018

Final budget deal close as lawmakers vote on first spending bills

State lawmakers eager to leave the Capitol before religious holidays this weekend inched closer to a budget deal on Thursday night, even as negotiations stalled on multiple fronts.

• By Grace Segers
• March 29, 2018

Cuomo and legislative leaders inch closer to budget deal

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders inched ever closer to finalizing a deal for the state budget this week, but the news that caught the attention of Albany observers – and even CNN – was the arrest of a veteran reporter, Daily News Albany Bureau Chief Ken Lovett.

• By Grace Segers
• March 28, 2018

Policy items dropping from state budget – for now

Some policy items are reportedly dropping out of the New York state budget talks, including the Child Victims Act, criminal justice reform and early voting.

• By Jonathan Lentz
• March 26, 2018

What to watch for in the final week of state budget talks

With the New York state budget deadline pending and several issues left unresolved, here are the things to watch as the spending plan is finalized this week.

• By Grace Segers
• March 25, 2018

Jared Kushner lied to NYC because he could get away with it

The Kushner Cos. filing of false paperwork on rent-regulated units and efforts to expel tenants is a failure of not just the companys integrity, but of state and local law. With the incentive structure of state rent regulations and a two-tiered legal system in which corporations get a slap on the wrist for ripping off the public while the poor go to jail for drug possession, actions like Kushner’s are inevitable.

• By Ben Adler
• March 25, 2018

School officials want an extra $1.6 billion. Cuomo offered $769 million.

New York's state budget is due soon, and funding for education remains unresolved. City & State spoke with state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia about the funding levels she would like to see for New York's schools and the governor's less generous proposal, as well as as what her department is doing to protect the rights of transgender students. 

• By Fernanda Nunes
• March 21, 2018

Cuomo, don’t cut child welfare funding

Gov. Andrew Cuomo would undo two decades of progress on child welfare funding by slashing New York City's resources.

• By Jennifer March and James Purcell
• March 19, 2018

New York keeps shortchanging poor students

New York's Foundation Aid formula has major shortcomings, which include using a decade of inconsistent local share calculations, arbitrary floors and ceilings, old demographic data and guaranteed increases regardless of changing demographics or enrollment. As a result of these distortions, excess aid is sent to wealthy districts and poorer districts get shortchanged. The state cannot afford to fully fund the warped formula, yet advocates are calling for a $2 billion increase in Foundation Aid in the coming year.

• By David Friedfel
• March 19, 2018

Armed school officers could turn the state Senate blue

The fate of state Sen. Simcha Felder's bill arming guards in schools could impact which party he caucuses with.

• By Jeff Coltin
• March 18, 2018

To combat racism, fund needy schools

State Foundation Aid is underfunded.

• By Philip Ramos
• March 18, 2018

DeFrancisco versus Molinaro: Who is winning the endorsement race?

The all-important county officials are lining up behind both GOP gubernatorial candidates.

• By Grace Segers
• March 15, 2018

Cuomo takes on guns, NYCHA and the Percoco verdict

Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined students walking out to protest gun violence. Afterward, he took questions from the press on the conviction of Joseph Percoco, his former senior aide.

• By Grace Segers
• March 14, 2018

Why the attacks against my Black History Education bill are racist

Fringe groups like the Working Families Party, Make NY True Blue and Indivisible feel intellectually superior to everyone and believe they determine who is a Democrat and who is not, and define who is black enough and what it means to be a public servant in communities of color. 

With this disconnected view, activists shamefully slammed my effort to pass the Black History Education bill during Black History Month. 


• By Jesse Hamilton
• March 3, 2018

It’s time for menstrual equity

The state Legislature should require free menstrual products in public schools, argue Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul and Jennifer Weiss-Wolf.

• By Kathy Hochul and Jennifer Weiss-Wolf
• February 27, 2018

A gun control coalition, 1199’s endorsement and still more Percoco

In this week’s headlines, Gov. Andrew Cuomo formed a coalition to combat gun violence and won a key – albeit expected – endorsement from 1199 SEIU, while the long-running corruption trial of his former top aide, Joe Percoco, kept on running.

• By Rebecca C. Lewis
• February 23, 2018

Updated: New York’s most prominent guns rights and gun control advocates

The latest mass shooting splits New York politicians.

• By Grace Segers
• February 21, 2018

Not just Trump: New Yorkers in the White House

For President's Day, we look at presidents from New York.

• By Grace Segers
• February 16, 2018

Talking transit with Trottenberg

• By Rebecca C. Lewis
• February 14, 2018