Karen DeWitt

Members of the legislature’s Black and Hispanic caucus and their allies made a last minute push for a bill to decriminalize the public possession of small amounts of marijuana, saying current laws unfairly target young black and Latino men.

With just over a week left in the legislative session, Governor Cuomo released his bill to extend public financing of political campaigns to statewide races.  But he still faces resistance from some factions in the legislature.

Women’s groups are putting pressure on the State Senate’s ruling coalition to take up Governor Cuomo’s Women’s Equality Act, which includes  an abortion rights provision.

Governor Andrew Cuomo released a bill to authorize three new gambling casinos in upstate New York, if the legislature agrees to his plan and overs approve it in the fall.

Governor Cuomo is finally releasing legislation for his 10-point women’s agenda. It includes a provision to codify the  abortion rights in the federal Roe v Wade decision into New York law. The governor says he’s been offered “no assurances” that it will pass the legislature.

Anti cancer groups are seeking to ban the sale of fruit and chocolate flavored cigars in New York State that they say target children.

Governor Cuomo has been traveling the state, promoting his plan to create tax free business zones at college campuses.  He’s also running ads, paid for by the State Democratic Party. Now, one of the state’s largest unions is countering that effort with its own message.

Hundreds gathered at the State Capitol Wednesday to rally for public financing of political campaigns. The measure remains in limbo in the State Senate and Governor Cuomo faces questions on whether he is working hard enough for the proposal to pass.

The steady drum beat of scandal after scandal in the New York State legislature has led many to wonder whether lawmakers can focus on passing any major bills by the end of the session, which is fast approaching. The legislature returns Wednesday and has just four work weeks to act on items ranging from campaign finance reform to abortion rights to economic development plans.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, who still has not issued a decision on whether hydro fracking should be allowed in New York,  is backing further away from the controversial gas drilling process in his economic development plans for the future. 

The Legislative Ethics Commission released a report on the sexual harassment allegations against Assemblyman Vito Lopez. It finds Lopez violated the public officers law and engaged in “willful and prolonged mistreatment” of his female staff.

Governor Cuomo outlined his proposal for a new local government restructuring board to help financially distressed communities deal with long-term budget problems.

Lawmakers in Albany tried to carry on business in the wake of one of the worst scandals in recent decades that has overshadowed most other news coming out of the Capitol. Much of this week’s legislative session has been canceled, but politicians who were in town insisted that their agendas are not being derailed.

Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday outlined the details of his plan to site three gambling casinos in upstate New York.

Nine more names of State Senators and others potentially involved in corruption were made public Wednesday, when a judge ordered prosecutors in the case of convicted ex- Senator Shirley Huntley to make public the names of  her colleagues that she had secretly recorded.

Former Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson turned himself in to federal authorities Monday after being accused in a nine-count indictment of embezzling nearly half-a-million dollars from mortgage foreclosure accounts and then trying to cover it up.

Anti-corruption proposals are proliferating in Albany, following two high profile bribery scandals.  Some of them focus on the long neglected state Board of Elections, which hasn’t even had an investigator on staff in over a year.

At the State Capitol, lawmakers are scrambling to put forward plans to react to the latest twin corruption scandals involving bribery charges against a State Senator and Assemblyman.  

New York State lawmakers returned to work after a two week spring break. It’s their first meeting since two lawmakers have been charged with bribery in corruption scandals.

Governor Cuomo and the state’s district attorneys are pushing for laws to make it easier to prosecute bribery and public corruption cases, in the wake of recent scandals in Albany.

Two days after a 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.

State Senator Malcolm Smith, a former Senate Majority Leader, has been arrested and indicted in a far-reaching bribery and corruption scandal.

The state legislature  finished voting just before midnight Thursday on the state budget. Final passage is occurring one week past lawmakers’ s self imposed deadline, but three days before  the spending plan was due to be finished.

The state budget is on track to be finished on time and before the March 31 deadline now that all of the spending bills were finally printed shortly before midnight on Monday.

The New York State Senate held a rare Sunday session at the Capitol, in an attempt to get the state budget finished on time in the midst of major religious holidays.

Governor Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders say they have an agreement on a new state budget.  The closed-door agreement announced Wednesday night puts Albany on track to pass the third straight on-time budget. 

A new poll finds Governor Cuomo is paying a political price with Republicans in New York for enacting the nation's strictest gun control laws.

Legislative leaders, after three separate meetings with the governor said they were “hopeful” that a final agreement could come before the weekend.  But Governor Cuomo late in the day said talks are “inconclusive”, and he expects negotiations to continue over Saturday and Sunday.

A new Siena College poll finds a slight drop in Governor Cuomo’s popularity for the third month in a row. 

Second amendment rights advocates, who have held rallies in Albany recently, are not the only group upset with portions of the state’s recently enacted gun law.  Some people with mental illnesses believe the law unfairly stigmatizes them.