Jun 19, 2013 — As New York's legislative session wraps up this week, some of the major issues we've been hearing about for the last while remain unresolved, and it's looking like at least some of them aren't going to get resolved in this session.

Of course bills often come together and pass the legislature at the last moment, so what's going to happen in the next couple days is anyone's guess. But how is all of this happening? Turns out it's much more complicated, and less transparent, than what you might remember from Schoolhouse Rock.  Go to full article

Albany, NY, Jan 25, 2013 — Proponents and opponents of hydrofracking in New York state read Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget closely for clues about fracking's future in the state.

They didn't see much. A decision on whether fracking will be allowed is expected after a health study is complete in February.

The agency overseeing the review, and in charge of permitting should fracking get the go-ahead, is New York's Department of Environmental Conservation. And it's in for a cut of five and a half percent in Cuomo's new budget.  Go to full article

Albany, NY, Dec 10, 2012 — The newly formed coalition in the Senate is facing some heat from African American leaders, who says blacks and Hispanics have been left out.  Go to full article

Albany, NY, Sep 03, 2012 — Local governments in New York continue to flounder, but there are signs that the state's finances are improving as Governor Cuomo and his budget director Robert Megna announced last week that the state finally got an upgrade in an assessment from a major rating agency.

Standard & Poor's changed the state's outlook from "stable" to "positive". Megna says he hopes that lays the groundwork for an improvement in the state's credit rating, which has been ranked as weak for decades: "This outlook revision is professional evidence from an outside observer that New York is once again on the right track."  Go to full article

Tupper Lake, NY, Jun 07, 2011 — Yesterday the New York Times ran a front-page investigative story about the way New York state cares for people with developmental disabilities.

A major focus of the article was the Sunmount Developmental Center in Tupper Lake, which cares for some of the state's highest risk and most demanding special-needs clients.

Reporter Danny Hakim wrote that "patterns of abuse appear embedded in the culture of Sunmount." He pointed to four episodes last year where a supervisor was accused of physical and psychological abuse.

Adirondack reporter Brian Mann spoke with Martha Foley about the article and its impact on the debate over Sunmount's future  Go to full article

Albany, NY, Apr 15, 2010 — New York State's budget is now two weeks late. Lawmakers are scheduled to return to session Monday, but the governor and legislative leaders appear no closer to an agreement on a new spending plan than when they broke for vacation a few days before the April 1 deadline.

They're still billions of dollars apart in figuring out how to close the $9.2 billion deficit. And as Karen DeWitt reports, there was renewed finger-pointing as they left Albany yesterday.  Go to full article

Albany, NY, Apr 13, 2010 — State workers won't get raises, and construction projects are still idle, but New York lawmakers didn't have much choice but to adopt Gov. Paterson's stripped-down budget extension yesterday. The alternative was a government shutdown. The governor wants to keep the pressure on lawmakers to pass a new budget soon. "You just can't keep hesitating or dithering or just ignoring the fact that the state is in dire financial straits," he said. Karen DeWitt has the story.  Go to full article

Feb 16, 2010 — State officials are considering a plan that could shut down two of the most cherished historic sites in the North Country. John Brown's farm, just outside of Lake Placid, and the Crown Point State Historic Site in the Champlain Valley would stay closed in the spring. According to two reports published yesterday, the move is part of Governor David Paterson's sweeping statewide budget cutting plan. Brian Mann has details.  Go to full article

Albany, NY, Jan 01, 2010 — Yesterday, NCPR's David Sommerstein and Brian Mann helped Martha Foley sort through the top North Country stories of 2009. The economy topped the list. That was predictable, even as long as a year ago. But politics was number two, and no one could have predicted what a dramatic and ongoing story that would have been for the region.

Similarly, in Albany, observers expected a bad year economically. But who knew how bad the political scene would look by the end of the year: with the "coup" in the state Senate, the governor's plunging popularity, gridlock over the budget, and the conviction of longtime Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno on corruption charges?

Martha Foley and Albany correspondent Karen DeWitt look back, and ahead:  Go to full article