Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan

Governor Cuomo has begun a statewide tour to promote a bill to give teachers and school administrators the power to go to court and ask a judge to confiscate the guns of a student and their family, if they suspect the student might try to harm themselves or others.

The New York State Senate is experiencing its worst gridlock in nine years, with the two major factions tied at 31 members each. No legislation is moving through the chamber, but there’s lots of finger-pointing.

On Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo will detail his proposals to help New Yorkers affected by changes to the federal tax law. But Republicans who rule the state Senate are cool to the ideas, including one that creates a payroll tax instead of a state income tax.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivers his budget Tuesday, and the news is not expected to be good.

Republicans in the State Senate say, despite the over $4 billion structural deficit, taxes need to be cut further and a property tax cap must be made permanent.

Monday was the first full day of session in the New York State legislature, and lawmakers have a lot to contend with, including a multi billion dollar budget deficit.

Add Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s name to the list of state politicians wary of holding a constitutional convention. Voters get to decide this November whether New York should hold the event.

The legislature is approaching its final week of the 2017 session, and agreements on outstanding issues, including mayoral control over the state’s largest school system, remain elusive.

Legislative leaders are dug in on remaining issues in the 2017 session and are accusing each other of unfairly linking unrelated items to renewal of mayoral control over New York City schools. Time is running out for scheduled meetings.

There are calls for a criminal investigation of some questionable stipend payments to some New York state senators. One of the senators who received those payments is giving it back, while another is calling the controversy a “witch hunt.”

Democrats in the state Senate remain hopeful that they will regain the numerical majority and control of the chamber after a special election is held later this month. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo dampened those expectations, in remarks made Wednesday in New York City.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is warning that the state might not be able to add more money for schools this year because of uncertainties in Washington over federal funding.

Many proposals in Washington right now including the changes to the Affordable Health Care Act, could mean multi billion dollar budget gaps for New York State. With the budget due this week, Governor Cuomo and legislative leaders think that at the very least, they may have to come back later in the year to revise the spending plan.

The New York State Senate and Assembly will release their one-house budgets early next week, as the March 31 deadline for a new spending plan draws near. They have already given some hints as to what the plans will include.

The leader of the Senate Republicans said he’s against Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to require local governments in each county to offer government consolidation plans to go before voters in November.

The leader of the Senate Republicans said he’s not happy with what he said is over $800 million in new taxes and fees tucked away in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s new state budget.

Some state lawmakers are rejecting Governor Cuomo’s proposal to extend a tax on millionaires. Cuomo spent Tuesday rolling out his spending plan to individual groups of lawmakers in private briefings, then at night, released details to the public.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has ended his six-city State of the State tour, speaking for nine hours total, according to his estimates, and traveling over 1,200 miles — with one emergency helicopter landing thrown in for good measure. But the departure from the traditional speech before lawmakers at the Capitol has its advantages and its drawbacks.