Apr 11, 2013 — Government reform groups say they are pleased that Governor Cuomo has now proposed step one in his plan to clean up corruption in state government, after the high-profile arrests of two state lawmakers.  Go to full article

Apr 09, 2013 — New York State Sen. Betty Little says other colleges could learn a lot from Paul Smith's when it comes to fostering a veteran-friendly atmosphere.

The Republican from Queensbury visited Paul Smith's College on Wednesday, April 3, to meet with members of the Veterans Club to learn more about what the college is doing right. About a dozen students who served in Iraq and Afghanistan gathered in one of the college's kitchen classrooms for an informal discussion with the senator, who has two sons who serve in the military.  Go to full article

Apr 09, 2013 — New York state's comptroller kicked off a week long forum at SUNY's Rockefeller Institute to examine the plight of economically stressed local governments and school districts across the New York.

Tom DiNapoli says the "new normal" for schools and local governments around the state is prolonged fiscal stress. He says a combination of rising health care and pension costs, reduced state aide, and the two-year-old property tax cap have put the squeeze on municipalities.  Go to full article

Apr 08, 2013 — Governor Cuomo is on a statewide tour to promote the newly-passed state budget, saying it shows that New York is functional again. But in the wake of two recent corruption and bribery arrests of state legislators, not everyone is completely convinced.  Go to full article

Apr 05, 2013 — A bill in the Vermont Senate would allow migrant farm workers access to driver's licenses.

Vermont is home to approximately 1500 migrant workers - many of whom don't have legal status. They live and work on dairy farms throughout the state.

And as a study commissioned by the legislature last year found out, it's hard for migrant workers to get to the doctor and the grocery store without a driver's license.  Go to full article

Apr 04, 2013 — Two days after a New York state Senator was arrested for trying to bribe his way onto the New York City mayoral ballot, a state Assemblyman has been accused of accepting payments to sponsor legislation that would benefit developers of an adult day care center in the Bronx.

The charges bring the number now to over 30 state legislators accused or convicted of varying degrees of wrongdoing in the past decade.  Go to full article

Albany, NY, Apr 01, 2013 — The state Budget was finished three days early, but lawmakers still found things to squabble about, including the timing of the voting sessions during a week where the holidays of two major religions converge.  Go to full article

Mar 29, 2013 — The state legislature has passed a $141.3 billion state budget. Final passage occurred one week past lawmakers' s self imposed deadline, but three days before the spending plan was due to be finished.  Go to full article

Mar 27, 2013 — The new state budget that lawmakers are enacting this week contains a tax package that includes both tax breaks and tax increases.

The spending plan comes just two months after Gov. Andrew Cuomo said there would not be any new taxes in the budget.  Go to full article

Mar 26, 2013 — State leaders are on track to finish the budget on time, even before the March 31 deadline.

Lawmakers finally agreed to and printed all of the remaining pieces of legislation late Sunday, four days after they had announced that they'd reached a deal.

They plan their final votes later in the week.  Go to full article