State

The New York State Child Care Availability Task Force was established 18 months ago to dive into what officials call the child care "crisis" afflicting the state. After just a couple of months of pandemic, however, words like "devastation" and "decimation" are being used. Here are their interim findings and recommendations.

Memorial Day weekend begins with it beaches opening up and other tentative steps to restart the economy. In his daily coronavirus briefing, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the reopenings can be done safely if people follow the rules.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has about 10 days before he has to make some big decisions about New York state’s estimated $14 billion budget deficit.

Parts of New York state are gradually reopening, with western New York authorized on Monday to join five other regions of the state and begin the first of a four-phase process. The Capital Region will be allowed to begin reopening on Tuesday. 

Several upstate regions of New York are poised to begin reopening Friday. Among them is central New York after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday that it can now join the areas that are starting the first phase of a reopening.

The New York State legislature on Wednesday took one of its first official actions since passing a state budget over a month ago. They held a public hearing — remotely — on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on small businesses, and how the federal government has responded.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is urging Congress to include money in its next federal aid package to help state governments that are financially decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is extending a one-year lookback window for victims of childhood sexual abuse to file lawsuits for an additional five months, to mid-January.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has extended a ban on evictions through Aug. 20 to protect renters in New York who have lost their jobs or been furloughed due to the coronavirus shutdown. 

New York’s Democratic presidential primary is back on now that a judge has thrown out a decision by the state Board of Elections to cancel the election. The board had acted after Bernie Sanders dropped out, leaving Joe Biden as the only candidate on the ballot.

The number of COVID-19 deaths in New York is steadily going down, and 230 were reported on Monday. But New York state is now adding 1,700 more deaths at nursing homes in the past few weeks that are believed to be from the disease.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that some Upstate New York regions may be able to have a limited reopening of some businesses when the current shutdown order expires May 15, but it will come with many caveats. 

New York City subways will be shutting down each night for disinfecting and cleaning starting May 6 and a plan to greatly ramp up contact tracing is beginning, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced at his daily coronavirus briefing Thursday, which included guest appearances by the present and former New York City mayors.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo offered more details on what needs to be in place before portions of New York State can begin to reopen. But the governor said a partial reopening, for now, likely won’t include major attractions like the State Fair.

A new poll from Siena College finds Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s approval ratings are at a record high of 77% and that New Yorkers, by a three-to-one margin, trust Cuomo over President Trump to get them through the pandemic.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced that the state will send absentee ballot applications to all eligible state voters for the June 23 primary to give them the option of voting by mail if they don’t feel comfortable going to the polls in person on that date.