Blog

The 10 candidates for New York City Public Advocate, vacated by Attorney General Tish James and once held by current Mayor de Blasio, met this week for the first scheduled debate. Among the frontrunners for the position are recent candidate for Lt. Governor Jumaane Williams, Assemblyman Michael Blake, and former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. Most […]

In a surprise announcement, DEC commissioner Basil Seggos has said that he will stay on as commissioner of the New York Department of Environment Conservation. It was reported earlier, and confirmed by the commissioner himself as recently as the joint budget hearing on environmental conservation, that he would be stepping down and moving on from his […]

It was reported this week that Mayor de Blasio will name the city’s Sanitation Commissioner, Kathryn Garcia, as interim NYCHA Chair. The post is temporary and the announcement of the interim chair comes only a week after it was revealed that City Hall and federal officials had an agreement in place, with strict timelines to clean up […]

Several weeks ago, the legislature passed a wide ranging package of election reforms that were greeted with praise by reform groups, the Governor, the press and themselves. The bills, signed into law by the Governor are effective immediately, meaning the impact of this legislation will be felt by candidates having to begin the petition process as early as this month […]

City & State NY’s weekly Winners & Losers here. Who’s trending in the NYC Public Advocate race? City & State NY explores. Assemblyman Michael Blake running into some ethics issues, while running for public advocate. Some speculation that Steve Pigeon is cooperating with prosecutors to avoid jail time – making one thing certain – his new nickname is bound to be Steve […]

Joint Budget Hearing Schedule. The Board of Regents will hold its next meeting on February 11th and 12th. The Senate will hold a hearing on the Climate and Community Protection Act, February 12th. The legislature will hold a joint public hearing on Sexual Harassment on February 13th. JCOPE will meet Tuesday, February 29th. PSC will hold its next meeting on March 14th. The Senate […]

On Monday, the legislature passed the Child Victims Act, extending the statute of limitations for both criminal and civil cases for sexual offenses committed against a child and opening a one year look back window for filing legal claims. The bill passed on Monday would apply to both public and private institutions, where previous iterations of […]

The Senate and Assembly voted on a package of gun control bills which was hailed as the first significant action on gun control since the passage of the SAFE act in 2013. Among the measures passed was a bill to extend the allowable waiting period for gun purchases from 3 days to 30 days in cases were […]

This week the Governor announced additional appointments to his staff via press release. Those appointments include: Jill DesRosiers as Chief of Staff Major General Patrick A. Murphy as Commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Angela Fernandez as Commissioner of the Division of Human Rights Dale Bryk as Deputy Secretary for Energy and the Environment Johnathan Smith as Deputy Secretary for […]

Details emerged this week on the agreement to drop the federal lawsuit over NYCHA living conditions. In a joint press conference with HUD Secretary Ben Carson, Mayor de Blasio announced that an agreement was in place that created a framework for moving forward. As part of the settlement a federal monitor will be placed to oversee […]