Free Republic

New York lawmakers are now officially the highest paid state legislators in the land after they awarded themselves a massive pay raise. Members of both houses, 63 senators and 150 Assembly members, are getting a pay boost of $32,000 for a new base salary of $142,000, under a bill Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a day before her inauguration Sunday.

This is a problem that Congress should have handled long before now, but since they didn’t, it’s showing up at the state level. The issue at hand is whether or not a business – in this case a nursing home in New York State – can be sued because someone died of COVID on the premises or contracted it there and then passed on elsewhere. The plaintiff in the case is Vivian Zayas, whose mother died of COVID last summer after staying for a time at the Our Lady of Consolation nursing home. Standing against her are multiple hospital industry...

Another item on Joe Biden’s to-do list for his first one hundred days in office is the establishment of 100 federal vaccination sites, or “pods,” around the country. That plan understandably had governors and mayors of large cities pretty excited, given how hard it’s been to make significant progress toward herd immunity. It’s a plan that drew bipartisan interest, too. The state Department of Health in Oklahoma, not exactly a blue state by any measure, was ready to sign up for federal pods in three of their largest cities. But as details of the plan emerged, they quickly backed off....

I go to a camp by Saranac Lake every year. Make the 9 hour drive from Maryland to the camp. With Cuomo's latest Order, my state is now restricted. Anyone in upstate New York see any enforcement of Cuomo's Executive Order? Half my family has bailed out of our family vacation, while I'm still holding out hope.

Wyoming County is picturesque rolling hills country dotted with apple orchards and maple groves located in the western part of the state. Both the state of Wyoming and Wyoming County are predominantly white 92% with similar per capita income. Where they differ significantly is in their ability to vote within a Republican Primary Election. Although the State of Wyoming has a population 10 times the size of Wyoming County, only a fraction of a percentage of Wyoming republicans are chosen to vote for the delegates that pick the presidential nominee. Wyoming County, NY had a 40% voter turnout in 2016....

[This story is an oldie but goodie and takes place in New York State} There are plenty of stories of dogs performing acts of heroism, saving their guardians from house fires, wild animals and other dangers. But the story of Shana, a wolf and German Shepherd mix and her rescue of Eve and Norman Fertig one fall night, stands out as one of the most remarkable acts of loyalty and heroic bravery of a dog, ever. Back in 2006, the Fertigs, both 81 years old, were tending to the injured animals in their forested animal sanctuary in Alden, New York...

In January, the New York State Legislature passed the Orwellian-sounding "SAFE" (Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement) Act. The act was debated in closed session without committee hearings, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed it into law within an hour of its passage -- after waiving the required three-day public comment period. Cuomo bragged that New York now has the "toughest assault weapons ban" in the country but claimed that the law respects the Second Amendment and preserves the rights of "hunters and sportsmen." The former is true; the latter is a bald-faced lie. Even if you do not live in New...

ALBANY — Aides to New York’s first African-American governor wanted a police entourage that looked more like their boss, so they made an unusual request to the State Police: Replace at least 10 white troopers assigned to protect Gov. David A. Paterson with black or Latino officers. The request prompted an extraordinary battle between the Paterson administration and leaders of the State Police shortly after Mr. Paterson, a Democrat, took office in 2008, according to court testimony, e-mails and interviews. Preston L. Felton, at the time the acting superintendent of the State Police and the first African-American to lead the...

NY Gov. Paterson's Race Track Deal Gets Sleazier, Is a "Perp Walk" in His Future While most of the rumors about NY Governor Paterson have involved his actions in the boudoir his real problem involve the real action, the horse track. He is being investigated for the awarding of a state contract for video lottery machines at the Aqueduct Race track. Some Paterson aides have signaled they may quit over what some call his "corrupt decision" to give the lucrative Aqueduct gaming contract to a questionable consortium that includes the Rev. Floyd Flake of Queens, whose political support the poll-challenged...

Is the Governor Paterson Scandal a Horse of a Different Color? During yesterday's big game, the internet news community was agog with something other than football. The big rumor was that the NY Times was going to publish the Governor David Paterson scandal today, and the Governor was going to be forced to resign. That didn't happen but there is a scandal beginning to unravel regarding political influence, campaign contributions and horse racing. Yesterdays rumors involved a small item from Business insider. Business Insider is reporting Elizabeth Benjamin at The Daily News describes the report as "much worse" than the...

NY Governor David Paterson took office when his predecessor Elliot Spitzer, spent thousands of dollars in bed with his black socks and hookers. New York State might be heading for a second straight Governor who got hit with an illegal use use of groin penalty. Multiple sources have reported that the rumor mill is buzzing about a “big, damaging” New York Times “bombshell” story that supposedly features some ruinous dirt about the personal life of Governor David Paterson. Unlike the hatchet job on John McCain, this one may very well be true.

If it was up to Harold Ford Jr. NY State would be changing its name from the Empire State to the carpet-bagger State. The former Tennessee Congressman is threatening to mount a primary challenge against NY Senator Kristen Kirsten Gillibrand who was named to fill the seat of another carpet-bagger, Hillary Clinton. Ford, who lost his bid to be Senator from Tennessee in 2006 claims he has been a resident of New York State for the past three years is still registered to vote in Tennessee and voted in Memphis in the 2008 Election when he was supposedly a NY...

NY State is trying to do its best to surpass Illinois in Scandals. According to Bloomberg News NY State Attorney General and President Obama's choice for the next NY Governor, Andrew Cuomo took campaign contributions from law firms defending clients who the AG's office was investigating for wrong-doing. Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP, a New York law firm led by David Boies, gave Cuomo $35,000 this year, records show. The firm represents former American International Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Maurice “Hank” Greenberg in a civil fraud case the attorney general is pursuing. Lawyers defending Dell Inc., Deutsche Bank AG...

New York State is famous for so many things; Niagara Falls, The Empire State Building, Erie Canal and Montauk Point just to name a few. But for many of us who live in the Empire State the most famous part of our home State is the oppressive tax burden. A new study shows that from 2000 to 2008, New York experienced the nation's largest loss of residents to other states—a net domestic migration outflow of over 1.5 million, or 8 percent of its population at the start of the decade. Households moving out of New York State had average incomes...

Reported during Your World that Steven Rattner would step down and be replaced by a member of the Auto Task Force. No print story currently available at site.

The Obama administration, has taken away GM's ability to choose what cars to produce, Chrysler's choice of how to spend its marketing dollars, Chrysler's hedge funds ability to retain their contractual rights. They have the congress trying to take away your right to make your own medical decisions, threatened California for exercising its right to deal with unionized state works, and of course they are threatening our right to select which radio stations we can listen to. Do you detect a pattern? Congressman Steve Israel was set to throw his hat into the Democratic senate nomination ring against Kirsten Gillibrand...

Supporters of Caroline Kennedy point to her record in the NYC Department of Education as proof that she has the experience to be Senator from NY. But on close examination, that argument doesn't really work. During her 22 month tenure as fundraiser for the NYC School System Ms Kennedy rarely showed up to her workspace and did little to raise funds, she was a figurehead whose job it was to ad "star power" to the efforts of others:

Dear Governor Patterson: The rumor is that you are going to submit to the will of the national democratic party and appoint Carolyn Kennedy as NY State Senator. My recommendation sir, is that you reject the party's pressure and embrace the Politics of Change DO NOT APPOINT CAROLINE KENNEDY AS the Senator from NY, Pick ME, Yidwithlid. I'm very serious my qualifications are just as strong as Ms. Kennedy, If not Stronger, In fact some would say that I am just as unqualified to be Senator as Caroline Kennedy:

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Fugitive Ralph "Bucky" Phillips, suspected of killing one state trooper and wounding two others, may have spent 11 days hiding out in a western Pennsylvania home last month, slipping back into New York at least once to steal 41 guns from a gun shop, authorities said Wednesday. As New York State Police searched the woods of Chautauqua County for Phillips at the end of August, he was staying - at least some of the time - at the home of Todd Allen Nelson in Ludlow, Pa., Pennsylvania state police said Wednesday. Nelson, 30, was arrested Aug....

A 33,000 pound boulder memorializing revolutionary war hero Colonol Marinus Willett will be moved to the corner of Willett and State Streets as part of the 200th anniversary celebration of the park. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union) The memorial plaque on a 33,000 pound boulder honoring Colonel Marinus Willett, a revolutionary war hero and former Mayor of New York. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union) 16-ton memorial, which has been hit by cars, will move to less-trafficked corner of Washington Park He was famous for his deadly swordplay and hand-to-hand combat in the Revolutionary and French and Indian wars. Advertisement...