Chautauqua County leaders are voicing their support for Gov. Kathy Hochul's plan to develop and construct an advanced nuclear plant upstate and our recommending the NRG power plant in the City of Dunkirk as a prime site, executive PJ Wendel, Sen. George Borrello and Assemblyman Andrew Molitor said Tuesday.

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) will help identify a site and host community for the project upstate, Hochul said. The project would generate 1,600 jobs during construction and 1,200 permanent jobs.

This month after more than a decade of relentless advocacy, the New York state Senate joined the state Assembly in passing the Medical Aid in Dying Act, which authorizes medically assisted suicide for individuals in end of life situations.

Advocates like Corinne Carey, Compassion & Choices' senior campaign director for New York and New Jersey, have been pushing the legislation for years largely by communicating the stories of individuals who they argue suffered needlessly, dying in pain after being diagnosed with a terminal illness and leaving their loved ones to share their stories.

In May, the U.S. veteran unemployment rate was 3.8%, up from 3.7% the previous month and up from 2.9% in 2024. While veterans usually have a lower unemployment rate then the general population, the rise in unemployment is a concern.

One place many veterans find a home after service is in the New York State Police, among the largest employers of military and veterans in New York state.

New York will develop and construct an advanced nuclear plant upstate to help power a new generation of prosperity in the age of semiconductor manufacturing and artificial intelligence, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Monday morning at the Niagara Power Project in Niagara County.

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) will help identify a site and host community for the project upstate, Hochul said, adding that New York state is looking for private partners for the project, will help finance the plant and buy power it generates.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition that would have stopped a retrial of the defendants in the "Buffalo Billion" corruption case.

The petition, filed on behalf of defendants Louis Ciminelli, a Buffalo developer, Steven Aiello and Joseph Gerardi, executives with Syracuse-based COR Development, and Alain Kaloyeros, former head of SUNY Polytechnic Institute, argued that a retrial defied the double jeopardy clause.

More than 427,000 people took part in early voting for this year's primary elections in New York state, according to state Board of Elections numbers released Monday.

As of Monday, 427,440 state residents voted early between June 14 and June 22 when early voting was available, which is more than the 78,000 who voted early in 2023, the last year of off-year elections when turnout is usually lower.

Candidates for mayor crisscrossed the city Sunday, making last-minute pitches to voters on the final day of early voting, a day that also saw foreign policy take center stage on the campaign trail following U.S. military strikes in Iran.

The attack, reportedly targeting Iranian nuclear sites, prompted swift reaction from the Democratic mayoral hopefuls, including former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

A new poll released a day before primary day has Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani overtaking former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the final round of ranked-choice voting in the Democratic mayoral primary election.

The Emerson College, PIX11 and The Hill poll shows a neck-and-neck race between Cuomo and Mamdani during the first round of ranked-choice voting, with Cuomo holding a narrow lead at 35% and Mamdani close behind at 32%.

Sunday marked the final day of early voting ahead of Primary Day on Tuesday.

New York state has a closed primary system, which means residents can only vote this time if they are registered in a political party that has a contested primary.

With the hottest weather so far this year arriving, and voters heading to the polls for primary elections on Tuesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Saturday signed new legislation into law which allows voters to get refreshments, including water, while waiting in line at polling locations.

Under the previous law, New York State Election Law Section 17-140, people who provided items of small value to voters at polling sites, like food or water, could have faced criminal penalties.

Following President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. conducted strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran, New York leaders in Albany and Capitol Hill all responded to the strikes with mixed messages.

"Iran cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons," Republican Rep. Mike Lawler said in part. "I fully supported Israel’s move to strike Iran, and fully support the deployment of US air assets to finish the job."

It was a legislative session which drained the patience of even some of Albany’s seasoned participants and observers in a six-month grind that came to a close this week.

“It’s been a long session,” Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt said in his closing remarks as the Senate wrapped up last week. “I’ve been here 11 years and I feel like that’s just today.”

New Yorkers without U.S. citizenship who serve in the military and their families are receiving support from state agencies for the first time as they navigate the process to become naturalized citizens.

The most recent $252 billion state budget included half a million dollars for a new program to connect foreign-born soldiers in the state and their families to pro-bono legal assistance to streamline their path to citizenship.

It’s been quite a few days in the world of politics. At least once this week, national and New York state politics appeared to collide as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took New York City mayoral candidate Brad Lander into custody.

Joining Capital Tonight for the "Insiders" segment on Friday are two Republican veterans of the political trenches: Columnist and political consultant Bill O’Reilly, a partner at The November Team; and strategist and political consultant Dave Catalfamo, president at Capital Public Strategies.

CORNWALL, N.Y. — With hot and humid temperatures forecast in New York next week, some state officials are looking forward to new legislation aimed at protecting students and teachers.

State Sen. James Skoufis, of the Hudson Valley, said he has been advocating for climate-controlled classrooms for more than seven years.

With the June 24 primary almost upon us, could Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani pull off an upset over Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic race for mayor? Could City Comptroller Brad Lander capitalize on his arrest by federal immigration officials and make a last-minute push?

Gerson Borrero is a journalist, radio host and political commentator who appears weekly on NY1’s “Inside City Hall.” He’s also the former editor-at-large of City & State and former editor-in-chief of El Diario/La Prensa, the largest Spanish-language newspaper in New York City. He joined Errol to discuss various angles of the primary. Borrero shared his analysis of the slate of candidates, the influence of the Working Families Party, and the potential impact of alliances between candidates.

Cornell University will reduce its workforce and review its operations and programs to find ways to cut costs and address its "profound financial challenges" as a result of the federal government's slashing and freezing of funding since the Trump administration took office earlier this year, the university announced Friday.

"The spring semester was unlike anything ever seen in higher education, with hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research contracts at Cornell terminated or frozen, and serious threats to future research funding, federal financial aid, medical reimbursement, and research cost recovery, along with an anticipated tax on our endowment income, and rapidly escalating legal expenses," university officials said in a letter to the Cornell community. "These acute funding challenges come as Cornell has experienced a marked and unsustainable increase in expenses due to inflation, the expansion of our workforce, and other cost pressures. We have been using institutional resources to try to plug these funding holes in the short term, but these interim measures are not sustainable. We must immediately address our significant financial shortfalls by reducing costs and enacting permanent change to our operational model. This will require financial austerity in all areas of the university, as we comprehensively review and restructure university operations and programs, and it will require the participation and support of everyone at Cornell, as we seek the optimal ways to reduce costs while maintaining, to the maximum extent possible, the strength of our academic community."

Quirino, a Guatemalan immigrant, spent more than a decade working long days caring for hundreds of cows on a dairy farm in upstate New York. Now, he worries about the day that ends amid a rollercoaster of immigration policy changes.

“During the first [Trump] administration, it felt like there was an uptick in the people who were being detained and people being deported, but it was about one or two months and then it seemed like things started to slow down,” Quirino said in an interview this week through an interpreter from the Worker’s Center of Central New York.

As the sirens blared, Jules Shalhov couldn’t believe what was flying over him: a rocket was flying overhead, set to land somewhere in Israel, as he raced into his bomb shelter.

“A home got hit in Ramat Gan. Which is like 10 minutes away from where I live,” he said.

New Yorkers should prepare for the hottest weather of the year thus far – a stretch of "blistering" heat that will intensify starting Sunday and peak during the coming week with temperatures that could feel like up to 105 degrees, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.

Hochul on Friday updated what is a scorching weather forecast for across New York state that she said is not likely to break until Thursday.

BOSTON — A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from withholding billions of dollars in transportation funds from states that don't agree to participate in some immigration enforcement actions.

Twenty states sued after they said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened to cut off funding to states that refused to comply with President Donald Trump's immigration agenda. U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. barred federal transportation officials from carrying out that threat before the lawsuit is fully resolved.

A new Marist University poll shows former Gov. Andrew Cuomo holding his lead in the Democratic primary for mayor, but the race is tightening. Could Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani have enough time to close the gap? Meanwhile, the shocking arrest of mayoral hopeful and City Comptroller Brad Lander at an immigration court made headlines this week. Will the high-profile incident give his campaign a boost? NY1’s investigative reporter Courtney Gross, political reporter Bobby Cuza and statehouse reporter Bernadette Hogan break down a high-action week on the campaign trail.

After that, the race for city comptroller heats up. Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and Brooklyn Councilman Justin Brannan share progressive values but differ in political style. Will a Bernie Sanders endorsement give Brannan the boost he needs to overtake Levine? The "Off Topic" team weighs in.

After a final week of the legislative session marked by frustration among progressive lawmakers and advocates that not enough was being done to counter the Trump Administration on immigration, some New York state lawmakers want another chance.

State Sens. Jabari Brisport and Julia Salazar are among the lawmakers on X calling for a special session to pass the New York for All Act.

The Citizens Budget Commission of New York (CBCNY), a state budget watchdog group, is concerned that the $254 billion state spending plan that passed in May spends too much money and does too little to prepare the state for possible federal budget cuts, or a downturn in the economy.

The group this week issued its analysis of the budget, highlighting five ways in which the state is inadequately preparing for risk, including by further eroding the state’s fiscal foundation.

There have been bipartisan calls to turn down heated political rhetoric in the aftermath of the shootings of two Minnesota state politicians and their spouses over the weekend.

Unfortunately, there are signs that those calls are not being heeded.

The number of private sector jobs in New York increased by 7,500, or 0.1%, in May, according to preliminary seasonally adjusted figures released Wednesday by the state Department of Labor.

These put the total number of private sector jobs in the state to 8,471,200 in May. The number of private sector jobs in the U.S. also increased 0.1% over the same period of time, the department said.

The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) replaced the superintendent of the Mid-State Correctional Facility last month, it confirmed Thursday, days after news broke that he is among those named in a federal lawsuit alleging systematic issues at the jail that led to an inmate's death.

DOCCS promoted Thomas Delmar, former first deputy superintendent at Auburn Correctional Facility, to replace Bryan Hilton as Mid-State superintendent on May 12, it said in a statement.

When it comes to mayoral primaries, few people know the terrain better than Bill de Blasio. As the 109th mayor of New York City, he served two terms from 2014 to 2021, the last Democratic mayor since Ed Koch to serve two terms in office. De Blasio joined NY1’s Errol Louis to discuss his thoughts on the 2025 Democratic primary. They also discussed the importance of a clear message and how he looks back on his relationship with the media.

Join the conversation, weigh in on X using the hashtag #NY1YouDecide or give us a call at 212-379-3440 and leave a message. Or send an email to YourStoryNY1@charter.com.

Reps. Dan Goldman and Jerry Nadler spent Wednesday morning in Lower Manhattan, attempting to observe proceedings at immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza. They said they also wanted to see how detained immigrants were being treated.

Their visit came one day after mayoral candidate Brad Lander was detained in the same building.

Taking the podium a half hour after midnight Wednesday, New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie officially called it a Session for the state Assembly.

“Well, well, well,” he said. “We came into this session this year laser focused on easing the financial burden on families.”

New York state lawmakers will hold a public hearing next month to determine how the Legislature should address continuing issues with a $9 billion Medicaid home care program after a controversial transition to one company.

The Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, known as CDPAP, allows disabled or elderly people to choose their own home caregiver. Company Public Partnerships LLC, or PPL, took over the program April 1 — a decision Gov. Kathy Hochul forced in last year's budget to put over 600 fiscal intermediaries out of business.

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday hit back at the New York Times Editorial Board’s assessment of his time as mayor, criticizing what he called “the elitism and the out-of-touch reality” of the board.

The editorial board posted an opinion piece on the upcoming mayor's race earlier this week that said de Blasio “bears significant responsibility for the city’s problems.”

Environmental advocates are accusing EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin of betraying his own past record as a New York congressman, saying he has undermined water safety by rolling back restrictions on certain so-called “forever chemicals.”

Zeldin’s team counters this, arguing the changes EPA is pursuing will benefit all Americans, including those in Zeldin’s former congressional district on Long Island.

In 2018, as a relative unknown, Antonio Delgado unseated an incumbent Republican in an upstate, mostly white, mostly rural district to win election to Congress.

During COVID-19, he successfully advocated for New York localities by ensuring counties, towns and villages directly received $400 million in federal funding under the American Rescue Plan. He held over 60 town halls during the COVID-19 pandemic and helped secure money for rural broadband. In 2022, he was then plucked by Gov. Kathy Hochul to serve as her lieutenant governor, a spot he won outright in an election later that year.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand introduced legislation Wednesday that would provide mandatory annual funding for a initiative that aims to help end food deserts.

According to the junior senator from New York, her bill would give $50 million annually to the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), a program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture that offers loans and grants to incentivize grocery stores to establish locations in food deserts.

A bill that would have put a five-year moratorium on the use of sewage sludge on farmland did not pass the New York state Assembly before the end of this year’s legislative session despite bipartisan support early on.

“If you look at the votes, you’ll see it was unanimous ‘yes,’ bipartisan, and then last minute, the same people who voted ‘yes’ all voted ‘no’ in the Rules Committee,” said state Assemblywoman Anna Kelles, a Democrat and sponsor of the bill.

Unlike the eleven Democratic mayoral candidates, Mayor Eric Adams isn’t worried about the upcoming primary election.

“In a general election you’re not restricted by a party,” Adams said.

New York state has awarded the first round of funding for cannabis retailers with former marijuana convictions who opened a recreational store, the state Office of Cannabis Management announced Wednesday.

The 52 licensed dispensary owners receiving the funds are part of the state’s Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary Licenses (CAURD) program, which was created by the state to prioritize upcoming business owners with a cannabis conviction under former drug laws or people who have a family member with a previous conviction.

Despite efforts from defense attorneys to push back the federal trial in the case of Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron, lawyers are set to receive a start date next week.

Gendron killed 10 Black people and injured three others at a Tops supermarket on Jefferson Avenue in May 2022. He's currently serving a lifetime prison sentence after pleading guilty to state charges.

New York state Attorney General Letitia James is formally investigating how the Oswego County Sheriff's Office has been potentially working with federal agencies on immigration enforcement.

Spectrum News 1 has obtained a letter sent from the AG's office to Oswego County Sheriff Don Hilton.

A bill to loan the city of Dunkirk nearly $14 million to help the city's troubled finances has passed the New York state Assembly.

The terms of the loan include 7.75% interest with 15 years to pay it back.

A new fight between Republicans is brewing on Capitol Hill over the future of the federal deduction for state and local tax payments — or SALT.

Senate Republicans are threatening to upend a deal crafted by their GOP colleagues in the House, offering a counterproposal that some New York Republicans are dubbing “a non-starter” and “dead on arrival.”

Working to win over voters one week ahead of the Democratic primary for mayor, Andrew Cuomo toured Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights and Fort George Tuesday afternoon along with Rep. Adriano Espaillat.

After the Upper Manhattan campaign tour, Cuomo spoke exclusively with NY1 about his plan to vote early, his relationship with Mayor Eric Adams and cross endorsements.

A new Marist University poll shows former Gov. Andrew Cuomo remains a frontrunner in the Democratic primary for mayor, but the contest tightened between him and Zohran Mamdani.

According to the poll released Wednesday, Cuomo is the first-choice candidate of nearly four in 10 likely Democratic primary voters, including those who are undecided. Mamdani, a Queens assemblyman, placed second, with more than a quarter of the vote.

New York state assemblymembers Tuesday voted in the final hours of session to pass consumer protection reforms that expand the powers of the state Attorney General's Office to go after predatory lenders and scammers.

State Attorney General Letitia James made it clear to the Legislature this session to change state law to prohibit "unfair" and "abusive" business practices across the state. She lobbied for the Fostering Affordability and Integrity through Reasonable Business Practices, or FAIR Business Practices Act, which cleared the Assembly on Tuesday night with a vote of 94-48.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie began his closing remarks just before 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, marking the end of the legislative session and any hope that the State Assembly would pass the Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act, one of the most closely watched bills this legislative session.

The bill already passed in the state Senate. It also passed in the Senate last year, but never made it to the floor for a vote in the Assembly after Governor Kathy Hochul’s last-minute decision to pause congestion pricing upended the final hours of the legislative session.

X is challenging the constitutionality of New York state law which requires social media companies disclose how they handle hate speech, extremism, disinformation, harassment and foreign political interference. The company owned by Elon Musk argues it violates the First Amendment and points to its successful challenge of a similar California law.

Referred to as the "Stop Hiding Hate Act" by the law's sponsors, it was passed last year and signed into law with a number of other regulations for social media and protecting personal data online. The law gives state Attorney General Letitia James authority to enforce the regulations and impose fines. James is named as the defendant in the lawsuit as a result. Spectrum News has reached out to the attorney general's office for comment, but have not heard back.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday, giving the progressive New York City mayoral candidate a boost as he challenges establishment forces in the 2025 Democratic primary.

Mamdani, a Queens assemblyman, welcomed the endorsement with praise for the Vermont senator's influence on his political vision.

Among the last cache of bills on the New York state Assembly’s plate are so-called good-governance bills, which are wonky, but important because they help improve government transparency and accountability.

Rachael Fauss, the senior policy advisor for ReInvent Albany, told Capital Tonight that a few bills addressing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIL) have passed in both houses and will now await Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature or veto:

WASHINGTON — A cohort of House Republicans representing districts in Democratic-led states are fuming over the state and local tax deduction cap included in the Senate’s version of what President Donald Trump calls his “one big, beautiful” bill, adding another layer to the uncertainty around its future.

In a post on X on Monday, one of those Republicans, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York, blasted the level set by Senate Republicans, pointing out that the cap included in the House version of the bill was “carefully negotiated.”

City comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was released from detention after being arrested at immigration court in Lower Manhattan Tuesday.

At a press conference after his release, Gov. Kathy Hochul said the charges against the comptroller were dropped.

A lawsuit has been filed against Mid-State Correctional Facility officials, correction officers and the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision commissioner over the death of Messiah Nantwi, 22, earlier this year.

The law firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel said Tuesday that its federal suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York on behalf of Nantwi's estate. Nantwi, according to an indictment of correction officers charged in the case, was pronounced dead on March 1 at Wynn Hospital in Utica after beatings by correction officers at Mid-State.

New York state lawmakers advanced legislation in the final days of session to regulate the use of artificial intelligence, but one is unlikely to pass the state Assembly before time runs out.

Lawmakers defied big tech companies over the last week and passed legislation to protect the public when AI is used irresponsibly as Congress considers a 10-year moratorium to prevent states from regulating the emerging technology.

Less than a week after the Trump administration stripped the late Sgt. Henry Johnson's name from the Army's top combat training center, Capital Region lawmakers announced a new way to honor the decorated World War I soldier from Albany's Arbor Hill.

Elected officials and military veterans met Tuesday in the state Capitol to discuss introduction of a bill that would dedicate the Patroon Island Bridge spanning Albany and Rensselaer counties after Johnson, a Black soldier who fought valiantly in France but died largely destitute in 1929.

Troy Mayor Carmella Mantello on Tuesday announced the new proposed site for City Hall in a place that used to be the center of downtown – the former Proctor’s Theater.

City Hall would take up a space in Proctor's, but still leasing. Current tenants of the building include Rensselaer County Chamber and RPI.

The state Senate and Assembly recently passed legislation to bring the first state-sponsored Holocaust memorial in New York to the Empire State Plaza in Albany.

The legislation was introduced by State Senator Patricia Fahy and Assemblymember Gabriella Romero with help from the Capital District Jewish Holocaust Memorial.

A bill to fix a technicality that threatens to dismiss many cases filed by survivors of sexual abuse may stall in the New York state Assembly.

The state's top court dismissed a Child Victims Act lawsuit earlier this year after justices argued a man's claim of child-sex abuse at a state-run theater in the late '80s lacked sufficient information to bring the claim against the state.

Mayoral Democratic hopefuls Zohran Mamdani and Michael Blake cross-endorsed one another Monday morning at an event in the Bronx.

The joint announcement marks Mamdani’s second cross-endorsement in just a few days. On Friday, the Queens assemblyman joined forces with City Comptroller Brad Lander, urging voters to use ranked-choice voting strategically in an effort to ice out former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The long-awaited answer to the question of "will 2025 be the NY HEAT Act’s year?" came to a rather underwhelming conclusion in the state Assembly chamber Monday.

The state Assembly has long been the stumbling block for the bill, which has passed multiple times in the state Senate and seeks to align the state’s utility guidelines with its move away from fossil fuels. So much so that last week a compromise bill was introduced that revamped the original legislation specifically to address concerns coming out of the lower chamber.

Last week, the Trump administration filed a complaint against the state of New York over policies that block U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from arresting people at or near courthouses.

The primary law that the suit challenges is called the “Protect Our Courts Act," passed in 2020. The law shields individuals without documentation from being detained at or on their way to court.

A group of New York Democrats on Capitol Hill is warning that President Donald Trump’s proposed budget would leave New York City “woefully unprepared to prevent and respond to a second 9/11.”

In a letter sent Monday to the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Appropriations Committee, the members of Congress urged them to reject the president’s “draconian” recommended cuts to federal grants. Those cuts, they warn, would “all but dismantle the FDNY’s capacity for emergency management and would reduce the NYPD’s post 9/11 counterterrorism apparatus to a shell of its former self.”

An incident in New York is reigniting the debate over sex offender registration policies.

There are three levels of sex offender status in New York state. Some of those names are published publicly, and some are not. A man who was previously on the sex offender registry now stands accused of luring a minor, as well as several felonies.

More than 75,000 people took part in the first weekend of early voting for this year's primary elections in New York state, according to state Board of Elections numbers released Monday.

As of Monday, 75,302 state residents voted early on Saturday and Sunday, with 36,090 on day one and 39,212 on day two.

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a New York court to take a new look at whether some religious organizations should be excluded from a state regulation requiring health insurance plans to cover abortions.

The justices acted after the court unanimously ruled earlier in June that Wisconsin discriminated against a Catholic charity by forcing it to pay state unemployment taxes.

Thousands of New Yorkers were out in the streets Saturday, taking part in "No Kings" protests in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island - protests that all remained mostly peaceful.

Meanwhile, federal troops are still in Los Angeles and were also called into several other states ahead of Saturday's protests.

A judge blocked Mayor Eric Adams from letting federal immigration authorities reopen an office at the city’s main jail, in part because of concerns the mayor invited them back in as part of a deal with the Trump administration to end his corruption case.

New York Judge Mary Rosado’s decision Friday is a setback for Democratic Mayor Adams, who issued an executive order permitting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies to maintain office space at the Rikers Island jail complex. City lawmakers filed a lawsuit in April accusing Adams of entering into a “corrupt quid pro quo bargain” with the Trump administration in exchange for the U.S. Justice Department dropping criminal charges against him.

This legislative session is just about over. The Senate finished early Friday, at around 4:20 a.m., and the Assembly is scheduled to wrap up on Tuesday.

Capital Tonight takes a look back at what happened during this session as well as Gov. Kathy Hochul's testimony in the House on Thursday with two insiders — Morgan Hook, partner at Blue Jacket Strategies, and Jack O’Donnell, managing partner at O’Donnell & Associates.

Starting this week, nationals from 19 countries are either barred or restricted from entering the United States.

“Many of the countries listed in the travel ban are countries that we have historically received refugees from,” said Shelly Callahan, executive director of The Center, a nonprofit organization in Utica that provides refugees with resources to integrate into communities.

New York lawmakers decided not to pass immigration reforms this session as the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the state law that blocks immigration officials from detaining people in or around courthouses.

The lawsuit alleges the law enacted in 2020, known as the Protect Our Courts Act, obstructs federal law enforcement from detaining undocumented people — an action they have legal authority to do.

The state Assembly has some significant catching up to do starting bright and early Monday morning.

After budget negotiations with Gov. Kathy Hochul led to the latest state budget in 15 years, the Assembly tacked three extra days onto the legislative session. The state Senate declined to add extra days and wrapped up early Friday morning before bolting to their districts, not to be seen in Albany again until January but for the occasional legislative hearing or the hypothetical special session legislative leaders have been dangling to address federal cuts.

Emergencies are expensive. Whether the COVID-19 pandemic, influxes in asylum seekers or weather-related disasters, communities can rally for clean-up and recovery.

At the end of the day, that’s all needs to be paid for.

Democrats in the New York State Legislature have accomplished their goal of passing a prison reform package in response to the murder of Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility in December. Whether it rises to the occasion in the eyes of the advocates who have spent the legislative session advocating for it is another question.

Weeks before the legislative session began in January, a package of prison reforms in response to Brooks’ death was galvanized as a priority for lawmakers in the powerful Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus. Last Friday they released their own package of more than 20 preferred pieces of legislation, while the actual package approved by legislative leadership and sent to the floor for a vote included nine initiatives wrapped into an omnibus piece of legislation.

Gov. Kathy Hochul defended New York’s immigration policies in the face of a Republican grilling Thursday on Capitol Hill — including questions from two New York Republicans who are weighing potentially challenging her in next year’s election.

“We cooperate in all criminal investigations. Always have, always will,” Hochul told lawmakers.

Every year, after the state budget is passed, the Office of the New York State Comptroller issues a report on the spending plan.

This year, the report is especially important considering the enormous concern in New York about possible federal budget cuts and new tariff policies.

The proposed bill that would put a five-year moratorium on the use of sewage sludge on farmland passed the New York state Senate on Thursday.

For decades, spreading sludge — also known as biosolids — was seen as an acceptable practice to fertilize farm fields, but now residents nearby are experiencing contamination of their drinking wells by forever chemicals, or PFAS.

The First Amendment protects freedom of speech, even on social media. So, what happens when a public figure limits who can participate in online public forums?

It’s an issue that pops up time and time again in this digital age, as social media has become one of the primary ways the public can connect with public officials.

The Trump administration sued New York state Thursday over a law that blocks immigration officials from arresting people at New York courthouses, saying it purposely shields dangerous criminals.

The lawsuit in New York's Northern District is the latest in a series of legal actions targeting state or local policies the administration says interfere with immigration enforcement, authorities said.

With the June 24 Democratic primary fast approaching, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams sat down with NY1’s Errol Louis to discuss her run for mayor. A late addition to the race, Adams emphasized her leadership style, which she says is based on appointing competent, community-based leaders. The episode marks the eighth and final installment of the “You Decide” mayoral candidate interview series.

Adams discussed her views on budgeting, the legislative achievements of a majority-female City Council and innovative approaches to address mental health and public safety. She also shared her personal background, education at Spelman College and insights on the importance of diverse leadership in the city.

In a different era in New York, mayoral candidates focused on what was known as “The Three I’s“: Italy, Ireland and Israel.

Fast forward to 2025, where in this year’s primary, the candidates all seem to be dealing with just one big “I”: Israel.

State lawmakers said Wednesday they expect to leave Albany for the year without passing legislation to allow grocery stores in the state to sell wine, but remain hopeful they'll modernize another part of state liquor law to help restaurants and small businesses.

Key New York alcohol distributor Empire Merchants withdrew its opposition to a bill that would permit restaurants and taverns to buy up to six bottles of liquor from local stores per week in between shipments after lawmakers amended the proposal late last week.

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Aviation Administration faced scrutiny on Capitol Hill Wednesday, as Democrats pressed him about his past opposition to a pilot training rule adopted after a deadly airline crash in upstate New York.

Bryan Bedford, who appeared at a confirmation hearing in the U.S. Senate Wednesday morning, previously publicly labeled a rule mandating commercial airline pilots log 1,500 hours of flight training “arbitrary.” Under his leadership, Republic Airways unsuccessfully petitioned the FAA for an exemption.

Fentanyl is so ubiquitous that it could be baked into any pill that one purchases on the street. Even children who aren’t looking for opioids are dying from taking what they thought were amphetamines that a friend may have purchased on the internet. Another issue: drug cartels are now expanding their profits by cutting that fentanyl with animal tranquilizers that no human should ever ingest.

It’s prompted Mohawk Valley Republican state Assemblyman Robert Smullen, who lost his son in a traffic fatality, to propose new legislation called the “Fentanyl Fathers and Mothers Act."

The New York state Assembly may be poised to give the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act a ticket to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk.

The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation, which passed in the state Senate but ran out of time in the Assembly last year, once again passed in the Senate this year. Now Assemblymember Deborah Glick, who sponsors the bill in the lower chamber, told Spectrum News 1 that she has garnered the necessary support for the bill to pass in both chambers.

Fort Johnson, which was named after Albany war hero and World War I Sgt. Henry Johnson, is being renamed to Fort Polk. The Army made that announcement Tuesday along with a slew of other name changes to U.S. military installations.

Johnson was born in North Carolina but later moved to Albany.

Former Gov. David Paterson endorsed Andrew Cuomo in the race for mayor on Wednesday.

Cuomo, who has been leading in the polls, also snagged the endorsement of former state Assemblyman Keith Wright, who is the chair of the Democratic Party in Manhattan.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will face questions Thursday from House lawmakers on Capitol Hill regarding so-called sanctuary policies in the state.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are also expected to testify before the Republican-run House Oversight Committee. All three governors are Democrats.

Charles Rangel, the charismatic and influential congressman who represented Harlem in the House of Representatives for more than four decades, will lie in state at City Hall starting Wednesday evening, Mayor Eric Adams said.

Rangel, who died last month at the age of 94, was remembered as a towering figure in New York politics and an advocate for civil rights, economic justice and his home of Harlem.

Total lobbying spending in New York state reached nearly $67 million from March to April, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the state Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (COELIG).

That amount is up $1.3 million from January to February.

Five Democratic Socialist assemblywomen joined a protest to block traffic outside the state Capitol on Tuesday after most Democrats in the Legislature have indicated they wouldn't support expanding sanctuary policies statewide, or restrict state and local agencies from sharing information with federal immigration authorities.

Dozens of immigration rights advocates led by the New York Immigration Coalition railed against ramped up deportation efforts led by President Donald Trump's administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE — shutting down the intersection of Washington Avenue and North Hawk Street in front of the Capitol.

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump's quest to erase his criminal conviction heads to a federal appeals court Wednesday. It's one way he's trying to get last year's hush money verdict overturned.

A three-judge panel is set to hear arguments in Trump's long-running fight to get the New York case moved from state court to federal court, where he could then try to have the verdict thrown out on presidential immunity grounds.

With two weeks to go until the Democratic primary for mayor, Andrew Cuomo picked up a major endorsement Tuesday from former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In a statement, Bloomberg acknowledged his and Cuomo’s past differences, but maintained the former governor's “decades of experience” made him the right pick for the job.

A New Yorker in the clean energy business is warning of potential layoffs if Republicans in Congress move ahead with legislation cutting off certain green energy tax credits.

“If the bill were to pass as written in the House, it would eliminate a significant number of jobs,” Kevin Schulte, CEO of Rochester-based Green Spark Solar, said.

If you’re keeping a list of which bills are still in play as the New York legislative session heads into the final sprint, we have a last-minute substitution.

From the state lawmakers who brought you the NY HEAT Act, enter the Customer Savings and Reliability Act. The new bill was introduced Monday with literally no time to spare if the Senate is to pass it and leave town Thursday given the three-day aging period required for new legislation.

After months of back and forth, Democrats in the New York state Senate and Assembly have reached a deal on a slate of prison reforms in response to the deaths of two men, Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi, at the hands of correction officers in state facilities. The omnibus bill has multiple parts, including provisions mandating fixed cameras in prisons, expanding the Commission of Correction and requiring the disclosure to the state attorney general’s office of video footage related to the death of an incarcerated person that involves a corrections officer.

You can find the omnibus package of 10 bills here S.8415 (Salazar)/A.8871 (Dilan).

Mayor Eric Adams pulled no punches on Tuesday when it came to criticizing the mayoral frontrunner and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

“Let me tell you the art of what Andrew [Cuomo] does. Because I have a master’s in public administration, but a PhD in Andrew,” Adams said.