Governor Andrew Cuomo will deliver his State of the State address at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Traditionally, governors use the address to lay out their agendas for the year. The official announcement didn't mention what topics Cuomo will address....

As we wait for the results of the Iowa caucuses, let me lament the failure of the best candidate in the Republican field, Jon Huntsman, to capture voters' attention.
I wouldn't vote for Huntsman; he's way too conservative. But he's a rational...

Governor Andrew Cuomo, unhappy with progress that school districts have made on developing new teacher evaluations, will create an education reform commission. The commission will be charged with coming up with recommendations to hold...

And on to New Hampshire....
For everybody but mainstream Republicans, this is a lot of fun, yes? A Romney-Santorum tie in Iowa? You couldn't ask for a more entertaining campaign season.
I thought a few weeks ago that one by one, the most...

In New York, some communities have made creative use of zoning laws to ban hydraulic fracturing.
In the broader sense, these communities - the Southern Tier town of Dryden is a prominent one - have enacted zoning laws that ban heavy industry...

In his State of the State address, Governor Andrew Cuomo laid out an economic agenda that calls for a convention center in Manhattan, another round of competitive economic development awards, and casino gaming. Rochester was not mentioned in the speech.

"This is not about chips and cars," I thought I heard the governor say.
Darn right, I muttered at the radio, and it should be.
I heard him wrong, though. He said "chips and cards." As in poker chips and playing cards. To create more jobs in New...

Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposal for an all-crimes DNA database, which he made in yesterday's State of the State address, isn't getting the attention it deserves.
Cuomo wants legislation that will require anyone convicted of a felony or...

I don't believe for a minute that Elaine Spaull gave up the City Council vice-presidency willingly. It's not in her nature to go gently into that good night.
Council voted this week to give the vice presidency to longtime Council member Dana...

It's been apparent for weeks that if Mitt Romney is the Republicans' presidential nominee, he'll base his campaign on his presumed expertise at creating jobs and Barack Obama's presumed failure. And Paul Krugman's column in this morning's...

Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan was among the gaggle of conservative media types fawning over Rick Santorum's speech about his grandfather earlier this week. Santorum, thanking supporters in Iowa, described his grandfather's...

Are students' test scores a reliable way to measure a teacher's performance? That question has divided teachers, administrators, parents, and politicians over the last decade.
But a new study out of Harvard University, reported by PBS, may...

The state Department of Environmental Conservation's draft environmental statement and draft regulations on high-volume hydraulic fracturing have been out since September. And on Wednesday, the public comment period for both comes to a...

The good news-media news over the weekend was that Bill Moyers is returning to public television.
According to the New York Times, a new Moyers program - "Moyers & Company" - will debut later this month. It'll be similar to his previous...

It's hard to believe, but Mitt Romney really did say "I like being able to fire people." (You can watch him, in full context, here.)
It hasn't taken long for Romney's opponents to shout about the statement, and the Obama campaign will certainly...

A well-known brewery in the Cooperstown area says that fracking may force it to relocate or fold.
Brewery Ommegang lays out its case in a friend of the court brief, which it submitted in support of a Town of Middlefield zoning law. That law...

There's little doubt in my mind that Mitt Romney will end up being the Republican nominee. I think the people who don't like him because he's too corporate, too Mormon, too bland, too... whatever will eventually see him as the only "real"...

Another education funding showdown is unfolding between New York and the federal government, the New York Times is reporting.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said yesterday that despite significant progress, New York has hit a "roadblock"...

Mitt Romney's win in New Hampshire yesterday was no surprise. And I'm not sure that any of the other candidates' totals were a surprise, either. New Hampshire, like Iowa, is a very different state, and the results pretty much reflected its...

 
Today's the day: at 5 p.m., the state's Department of Environmental Conservation is closing off comments for its draft regulations and environmental statement on high-volume hydraulic fracturing. Next, the DEC staff will spend months...