The State University of New York hired a longtime Albany government communications aide this week who has worked for the state attorney general's office since 2022.

Gary Ginsburg joined SUNY on Thursday as the new chief communications officer. He served as acting communications director in state Attorney General Letitia James' office since January and the deputy communications director since 2022.

New York brought in hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of medical equipment during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that went unused and is now sitting in storage facilities without getting recommended maintenance while costing taxpayers storage expenses, according to a report released Friday by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office.

Auditors discovered the state paid $453 million to purchase nearly 250,000 items of durable medical equipment in 2020, including ventilators, X-ray machines, CPAP/BiPAP machines, oxygen tanks, pulse oximeters, oxygen concentrators and infusion pumps. Of the state’s total inventory, including equipment that was available pre-pandemic, only 324 items were distributed during the public health emergency, and only three items from the nearly 250,000 items purchased during COVID-19 were used.

This week, Mayor Eric Adams appeared before the New York City press corps wearing a casual t-shirt bearing the phrase, "In God We Trust." Adams said the outfit was about bringing attention to the faith he relied on during his federal investigation and indictment — which was dropped earlier this month. Adams is now looking to win a second term in office running as an independent candidate. NY1 investigative reporter Courtney Gross, and political reporters Bobby Cuza and Ayana Harry look at another tumultuous week at City Hall and the latest in the race for mayor.

After that, the “Off topic” team continues its series of profiles on Democratic mayoral primary candidates. This week’s installment finds them discussing Michael Blake, the former assemblyman and vice chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is calling for an investigation into whether members of Congress engaged in insider trading on the day President Donald Trump sent stock prices soaring by pausing his "reciprocal" tariffs on imports from around the world.

And she's renewing her call for a ban on stock trading by members of Congress.

A federal judge ruled Thursday to give thousands of New Yorkers who depend on the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program for home care or for work more time to register with its new management company to ensure people do not lose their care.

The preliminary injunction the state Health Department agreed to gives disabled or elderly people who use the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program until May 15 to register with company Public Partnerships LLC. Workers must be registered with the new management company by June 6, and must continue to be paid by their previous management company until then.

It’s Gov. Kathy Hochul’s way or the no budget way.

With no budget deal and the governor digging in, lawmakers passed a budget extender to get them through an abbreviated break for Passover until Tuesday. They were scheduled for a two-week break.

The Adams administration doubled down on their plans to bring the U.S.. Immigration and Customs Enforcement back onto Rikers Island after 10 years on Thursday.

“This is all about public safety and protecting New Yorkers from these violent gangs," Randy Mastro, the city’s new first deputy mayor, said.

A bill prohibiting the establishment of new for-profit hospices in New York state has passed both legislative houses.

The bill (S3437 Krueger/ A565 Paulin) has been kicking around the Legislature for three years. In 2022, it passed both houses of the Legislature but was vetoed by Gov. Kathy Hochul. In 2023 and 2024, the bill was only passed by the Senate.

ALBANY, N.Y. — The Coalition for Just and Compassionate Compensation is an advocacy group representing the interest of New York's Child Victims Act claimants.

"There's over 10,000 in the state and the vast, vast majority of them have not seen justice since the law was passed six years ago," Executive Director David Catalfamo said.

It’s been a crisp spring, but shelters across New York state are closing their doors in anticipation of warmer weather, leaving many experiencing homelessness without an outlet for relief.

“You just never know how it’s going to be,” said Patrick McCarthy. “I got a tent, I have my sleeping bag and hope not to be woken up in the middle of the night by anything."

Republican U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney reported raising just over $1 million in the first quarter of 2025, the congresswoman announced Thursday.

Tenney said her campaign raised money from every county in her district, receiving over 5,700 donations from more than 2,400 donors.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers are at a standstill over how to spend upwards of $252 billion in a state budget that’s already over a week late.

The negotiations continue amid economic uncertainty over tariffs, and federal cuts aimed at city and state programs.

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik has returned to House GOP leadership in the new role of chairwoman of House Republican Leadership and was reappointed to her committees after President Donald Trump recently withdrew her nomination as ambassador to the United Nations.

According to a press release Wednesday, the leadership chair role is a senior leadership appointed position focused on strategy and communications. It has been used by multiple previous Republican leadership teams and comes with budget, staff, and an expansive strategy, legislative, and communications portfolio.

The state Health Department reached an agreement late Wednesday that will give New Yorkers who rely on a $9 billion Medicaid home care program more time to register with its new management company and avoid disruptions in care or worker pay.

A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York will decide Thursday to grant or deny an updated order that would give thousands of disabled and elderly people who rely on the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program for home care until May 15 to register with new company Public Partnerships LLC.

There probably wouldn’t be enough room in a three-ring circus for all the candidates and all the drama in the race for mayor in New York City. In the wake of federal corruption charges that have been dropped against him, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams is struggling in the polls. Rather than run in a crowded Democratic primary, Adams announced this month that he’s skipping that race in June and will run as an independent candidate in the general election in November.

Meanwhile, despite major controversies in his past, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is the early frontrunner in the crowded primary race that also includes the City Council speaker, the city comptroller and several state lawmakers. One of the early surprises in the race has been the strong showing of little-known Queens state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.

Top Democrats continue to hash out budget language to expand forced treatment for people suffering from severe mental health issues after two unprovoked, violent attacks in New York City this week injected new life into the debate.

Republican state Sen. Stephen Chan represents the part of Brooklyn where a schizophrenic man attacked four young children with a meat cleaver earlier this week.

With the mood at the state Capitol souring by the day, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie threw a curveball: A bill which would make it so that lawmakers don’t have their paychecks withheld for a late budget— if the governor inserts policy proposals into her pitch.

In an interview with Capital Tonight’s Susan Arbetter, Heastie explained the move.

It’s a win for Hudson Yards.

The City Planning Commission approved new zoning for a sprawling casino project on the western rail yards in Manhattan on Wednesday, paving the way for the project to inch forward.

As first reported by WNYC’s Gothamist, New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie is proposing legislation that will continue paychecks to lawmakers if the budget is late and if the governor includes unrelated policy items in the spending plan.

The proposal comes as the legislature and the governor appear to be stalled on a variety of policy issues in budget talks.

ALBANY, N.Y. — District attorneys across New York state are voicing concerns about several bills the state Legislature is considering that could drastically reduce the amount of time incarcerated people serve.

Erie County DA Michael Keane, a Democrat, wrote lawmakers asking them to oppose bills known to proponents as the Fair and Timely Parole and Elder Parole Acts.

A recent decision by the United States to revoke all visas for South Sudanese citizens is raising concerns in Syracuse, which has a large community of people from South Sudan, including Chol Majok, who is running for mayor as the first refugee elected to the Syracuse City Council.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday announced the U.S. would cancel visas for those from the African country because it failed to accept the return of deportees from America “in a timely manner."

Schools across New York state had to reschedule their computer-based testing after technical issues with the state education's website on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The outage impacted students in grades three through eight. The state Education Department says 10% of schools were affected.

All 19 New York Democrats in the U.S. House united Wednesday in demanding a meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., warning a recent attempt to cut $11 billion in public health grants is endangering their constituents.

In a letter to Kennedy, shared first with Spectrum News NY1, the lawmakers said New York could lose roughly $400 million in health funding if the Trump administration’s effort to rescind funding succeeds.

It's been just about one month since New York state and Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) leaders declared the correction officer wildcat strike over.

It was March 10 when Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order barring correction officers who were fired amid the strike from being hired by local municipalities unless they go through a specific program.

The Trump administration is freezing more than $1 billion in federal funding to Cornell University.

This comes amid a government investigation of alleged civil rights violations at the school.

New York budget negotiations are "stuck," state leaders said Tuesday, as they debate criminal justice reforms and Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposed changes to discovery laws.

Top Democrats are divided to compromise on the evidence sharing changes the governor wants after pressure from district attorneys from across the state.

Lawmakers are getting impatient with Gov. Kathy Hochul.

“The later the budget is, the more the governor gets blamed," said Deputy Senate Majority Leader Mike Gianaris. "If she wants to go through that route that other governors have gone through, she can figure it out herself."

Mayor Eric Adams was wearing his faith on his short sleeves Tuesday as he faced reporters for his weekly question-and-answer session.

“This outfit is not campaigning. This outfit is my life, in God we trust. I went through hell for 15 months and all I had was God," he said.

Just last week, Secretary of U.S. Veterans Affairs Doug Collins announced he would be cutting the department’s workforce by 80,000 people, which includes numerous veterans.

It’s an issue close to the heart of Army veteran and Syracuse Assemblywoman Pam Hunter, speaker pro tempore of the state Assembly. Hunter is a member of the Committee on Veterans Affairs as well as the chair of the Subcommittee on Women Veterans.

April marks National Donate Life Month, and right now in New York state there are more than 8,000 people awaiting a life-saving organ donation. Of those 8,000 patients, about 400 lost their lives last year.

“Any time we’re talking about Donate Life, it’s a celebration," Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes told a group of advocates, donors, survivors and a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the Legislative Office Building in Albany Tuesday.

A late state budget could be a blessing in disguise. As of April 1, Gov. Kathy Hochul didn’t know about President Donald Trump’s tariff plan and the stock market’s impending decline.

“People are worried about Social Security, they’re worried about pensions, they’re worried about their stock crashing!” Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Democratic State Senate Majority Leader in Albany, said Tuesday.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Starting Friday, Canadians who are at least 14 years old, cross the border by land or car and are staying in the U.S. for 30 days or more must register with the United States Immigration and Citizenship Services.

"I don't think it's terribly burdensome. I tried it myself. It's free," said Rosanna Berardi, Berardi Immigration Law managing partner.

The Trump administration said Tuesday that it’s not backing off its latest deadline for New York to end its $9 congestion toll on drivers entering the most traffic-snarled parts of Manhattan, despite a recent court filing that indicated the charge would remain at least through the summer.

Lawyers for the two sides recently reached an agreement that appeared to slow things down. They proposed a briefing schedule that allows for court filings through the end of July and possibly into October, while government lawyers indicated they wouldn't seek an injunction to stop the tolls while the lawsuit proceeds, according to a joint letter dated Friday and signed by an MTA lawyer to the judge in the case.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Experiencing a little bit of economic pain for more industries to come back to the U.S. is the reasoning for many who support tariffs, but for some American businesses, "Made in America" just isn’t possible.

About 70% of the items at Tara Gift Shoppe in Buffalo come directly from Ireland. Their customer base doesn't want those items made stateside. They want that authentic connection to Ireland.

The Trump administration canceled $188 million in federal grants meant to reimburse New York City for sheltering migrants, saying the money was being spent to support illegal immigration and leading the city's mayor to vow to fight the clawback.

In a letter sent April 1 and shared with The Associated Press on Tuesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency informed city officials that it was canceling the grants, which included roughly $80 million that the agency withdrew from city's bank account in February.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is cutting more than $325 million in funding intended for “critical” infrastructure and resilience projects in New York state, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Tuesday.

Much of the funding — which the state would have received through FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program — was allocated for flood mitigation efforts, Hochul said in a release.

Four labor leaders are calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to secure more funding for SUNY Upstate University Hospital's expansion project.

In a letter obtained by Spectrum News 1, the heads of United University Professions, the Public Employees Federation, the Civil Service Employees Association and the Central & Northern New York Building Trades are asking the governor to work with legislative leaders to allocate $450 million toward the project.

Thousands of people living and working in New York state now face deportation after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday revoked legal status of migrants who were allowed to come to the U.S. using the CBP One app.

“Individuals who came to the United States through the CBP One app, who were paroled into the country, they are now canceling their status as well,” said Murad Awawdeh, CEO and president of the New York Immigration Coalition. “What this is doing is creating a larger class of people who are undocumented in this country and then would put a target on their back for immigration enforcement.”

As state budget negotiations drag a week past the deadline in Albany, Gov. Kathy Hochul threw a dark horse issue into the talks with a proposal to change election procedures so candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run together in the primary rather than separately, Spectrum News 1 confirmed Monday.

First reported by Politico, it’s a change that would benefit Hochul as she has grappled with challenges with multiple lieutenant governors. Her first pick was indicted on corruption charges just two months before a primary election that would decide her running mate and she was able to strongarm the Legislature to quickly change state law to allow candidates to be dropped from the ballot in such circumstances. The charges were later dropped.

Two prominent downstate district attorneys showed up at the state Capitol bright and early Monday to make the case for Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposed discovery reforms, as Hochul decided to throw a few curveballs into negotiating a budget that will be a week late at the strike of midnight Tuesday.

An extender was passed to bridge the funding gap to Wednesday.

Thirty-five of the 41-member Senate Democratic conference in New York are condemning the Trump administration for what they see as violations of laws and norms.

In what could be the first of its kind in the nation, the senators issued a joint statement late last week criticizing the administration’s failure to follow due process; its chaotic dismantling of federal programs; its “wholesale attacks” on lawyers and judges; and the lack of due process offered to immigrants.

Standing in his Midtown office, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed he’ll continue urging President Donald Trump to rethink upcoming tariffs on some of America’s biggest trade partners.

Schumer said Americans, especially New Yorkers, will pay the price.

CHENANGO, N.Y. — Chenango is not one of New York state's biggest cities and, located in the rural Southern Tier region, is not typically known for its Democratic politics.

However, on Saturday, Joe Lott, a member of Chenango Change, a branch of the national organization Indivisible, said roughly 250-300 people gathered to protest President Donald Trump and his administration's agenda.

Head Start programs in New York are still struggling with funding, even after a judge blocked a Trump administration freeze on federal grants.

The grants are the primary funding source for Head Start and its efforts to serve more than a half-million low-income children.

As tariffs by the Trump administration strain U.S. relations with Canada, Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing a project in Western New York that could help bring tourists over the border.

The governor's office announced Monday it's moving ahead with plans to build a new cruise terminal at Buffalo's Outer Harbor.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a challenge to gun laws in New York that ban firearms from certain “sensitive" locations and require that handgun owners be of “good moral character.”

The high court did not give an explanation on why it chose not to hear the case.

Rep. Claudia Tenney and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand have reintroduced legislation in the House and Senate that would designate the Finger Lakes Region as a National Heritage Area.

If it does pass, the bipartisan Finger Lakes National Heritage Area Act would provide funding to preserve the area's natural and historic resources in hopes of boosting recreation and economic development.

A mother and her three children are returning to the Sackets Harbor area in Jefferson County after ICE removed them from their home during a raid last month and held them in Karnes County Detention Facility in Texas, Assemblyman Scott Gray and the kids' school superintendent said Monday.

The announcement was made two days after Sackets Harbor school Principal Jaime Cook blasted ICE's actions in taking the family as "unfathomable" and "unconscionable," and urged for their release in an open letter to the community.

Another state budget extender was passed Monday by the New York state Legislature and signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul to keep the government running through Wednesday and ensure state employees are paid on time.

New York lawmakers returned to the state Capitol in Albany on Monday as state budget negotiations continue, now nearly a week past the deadline.

Medicaid reimbursement rates are being brought up again as state leaders negotiate the budget. Some nursing homes are again pushing to raise rates, saying they can't maintain operations, but others argue current funds need to be managed better.

“In here is better than wonderful. It’s like a family,” said Lucretia Campbell, who was a patient at Waterville Residential Care Center about a year ago for rehabilitation.

Some New Yorkers say they are bracing for price hikes and rethinking how they shop as a sweeping new round of tariffs announced by President Donald Trump took effect over the weekend.

The baseline 10% tariff applies to nearly all U.S. trading partners and is expected to ripple through the global economy — affecting consumer goods, groceries, electronics, automobiles and services.

State leaders are taking more measures to help prevent future gun violence with three new laws.

The first new law enacts penalties for people who use rapid-fire modifiers, called pistol converters, to make semi-automatic pistols shoot quicker.

A federal judge will make a decision next week that could delay the state's timeline to transition thousands of New Yorkers who rely on a $9 billion Medicaid home care program under one management company.

A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Friday extended a temporary restraining order requiring the state Health Department to continue to work with nearly 600 home care agencies, known as fiscal intermediaries, that have facilitated payroll for the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) for decades.

Former Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin has been the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for only two months, but is already making his mark.

Implementing a series of changes, Zeldin argues he is cutting costs and helping the economy. Climate activists warn he is hurting the environment.

Chaos surrounding the illegal correction officer strike continues to find its way into the state budget conversation and beyond.

One of the primary sponsors of legislation to expand opportunities for incarcerated individuals to earn time off of their sentence is expressing concern over a proposal from Gov. Kathy Hochul that is said to be aligned with efforts to increase staffing in prisons through budget negotiations, as the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) and the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) engage in a public spat over post-strike communication.

With layoffs at the federal level and the possibility of further budget cuts in the future, some parents of high school juniors and seniors are starting to worry about the stability of financial aid.

This year at the State University of New York (SUNY), nearly half of first-year undergraduates are Pell Grant recipients, an indicator of students from low-income backgrounds; yet nationally, the rates of FAFSA completion, the free application for federal student aid, have dropped 20% among high school students compared to last year.

Child care funding is one of the many issues still on the negotiation table after Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers failed to hit their April 1 budget deadline.

Legislators raised the alarm over a funding fight between City Hall and Hochul’s office that could jeopardize a voucher program used by tens of thousands of poor families in the five boroughs.

As of May 30, the New York State Public Health Corps Fellowship Program will end, meaning people seeking careers in public health will lose access to a two-year mentorship and education program.

“It really is a blow to our workforce and our infrastructure,” said Sarah Ravenhall, executive director of the New York State Association of County Health Officials. “These fellows were members of our teams. They were doing really, really wonderful work.”

The union that represents New York correction officers is calling for an urgent meeting with the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to address a range of issues regarding the safety and working conditions of its workers, the state Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) said in a release Friday.

The issues include those that contributed to the recent 22-day strike by correction officers — staffing shortages, workplace conditions, the implementation of 12-hour shifts, scheduled regular days off and vacation periods — and have reached a critical point, the organization said.

Ahead of his independent run for mayor, Eric Adams sat down with “Mornings On 1” Friday to outline his record on public safety, criticize partisan politics and discuss his campaign after the dismissal of his federal court case.

“I tell voters all the time, go to the items I ran on and then go look at what we have accomplished. Our public safety was the foundation. It's the prerequisite to our prosperity, and the numbers are extremely impressive,” Adams said. “We have witnessed five straight quarters of decreasing crime in the city, and we're seeing a success.”

Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday he's skipping the June Democratic primary and instead running for reelection as an independent candidate. In a campaign video, Adams said his legal troubles had prevented him from mounting a legitimate Democratic primary campaign. The announcement comes a day after a Manhattan judge dismissed the federal corruption case against the mayor. NY1 investigative reporter Courtney Gross, political reporter Bobby Cuza and political director Bob Hardt break down a very eventful week in the race for mayor.

After that, the “Off Topic” team begins its weekly series of profiles on Democratic mayoral primary candidates. The first installment looks at Whitney Tilson, focusing on his background, campaign positions on crime, housing and education, and his political strategy.

Former President Barack Obama criticized the Trump administration Thursday night at an event at Hamilton College in Oneida County, pointing to the polarization in the U.S., lack of international cooperation and the erosion of the common rules of democracy.

“For most of my lifetime, post-World War II era, there was a broad consensus between Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals. There was a certain set of rules where we settled our differences. There was a creed we all stuck to where all of us count, all of us have dignity, all of us have worth,” said Obama, who didn’t mention President Donald Trump by name during the event.

State leaders continue to consider a backroom budget proposal to make it easier for nonpublic schools to satisfy state Education Department guidelines to teach a curriculum that is substantially equivalent to public districts.

Multiple lawmakers Thursday said the proposal remains on the table as negotiations persist with no end in sight.

Lawmakers passed another budget extender Thursday to keep the government funded, and headed home for the weekend with the extender keeping the lights on through Monday and no guarantee of a budget deal by then.

Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters Thursday that she’s in it for the long haul.

For months, Mayor Eric Adams had been projecting confidence about his chances in the Democratic primary in June.

“No one that's running for mayor has ever won mayor but me,” he said at a news conference on March 24.

The Older Americans Act is the primary federal statute for the delivery of social and nutrition services for older people.

According to Becky Preve, executive director for the Association on Aging in New York, because of federal layoffs, the act is no longer fulfilling its mission.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Save the Michaels of the World, a Western New York-based comprehensive addiction services provider, says it gets roughly 50,000 calls from people seeking treatment each year and serves more than 30,000 people annually.

However, President Avi Israel said it's becoming more and more difficult to maintain and recruit staff.

New York government agencies are using artificial intelligence with insufficient guidance, creating risks the technology can be used irresponsibly, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli says in an audit released Thursday.

While the state has implemented AI systems, safety guardrails for the technologies are not keeping pace, DiNapoli says in the audit, which focused on the state’s AI policy and how AI was used at the state the Office for the Aging, and departments of Corrections and Community Supervision, Motor Vehicles and Transportation Department.

The World Trade Center Health Program could be devastated by this week’s mass layoffs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 9/11 community advocates say.

They warn the deep job cuts likely include workers supporting the health program, which provides medical care for those sickened by toxic smoke and debris from the Twin Towers' collapse.

Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday he will seek reelection as an independent, foregoing the Democratic primary after his federal corruption case was permanently dismissed.

In a campaign video first obtained by Politico, Adams said his legal troubles had prevented him from mounting a primary campaign.

There’s an ongoing debate in Washington over whether the federal government should continue funding public news organizations like National Public Radio. President Donald Trump says he would like to strip federal funding from the outlets, calling it a waste of money.

Joining NY1’s Errol Louis to discuss NPR and public broadcasting is journalist and author Steve Oney, the author of a new book: “On Air: The Triumph and Tumult of NPR.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed public masking ban could be in jeopardy.

Her plan has divided Democrats, with supporters seeing their elimination as a crime-fighting issue and others saying a ban would give President Donald Trump a win.

The New York state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) is looking at early releases to address a staffing shortage following the recent three-week correction officer strike.

The state will look to release those with fewer than four months left on their sentence, and the directive does not apply to those convicted of sex crimes, violent felonies, terrorism or arson.

Behavioral health workers said Wednesday lawmakers must significantly increase their pay in the budget to address a rise in severe mental health issues as state leaders debate Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposal to expand the criteria for coercive treatment when a person's condition could result in serious harm.

Advocates are pushing for a 7.8% increase for nonprofit behavior and human service workers based on inflation, and argue the governor's plan to broaden the involuntary commitment statute with an inadequate pay raise would make the state's mental health crisis worse.

Albany is moving through the familiar choreography of creating an annual state spending plan while it’s quite possible that whatever the leaders come up with will be blown to bits later in the year by federal cuts.

Republicans in Washington are looking to cut fraud, streamline government and make the 2017 tax cuts permanent before they expire at the end of the year. To do that, they will need to pass deep cuts to the federal budget, including to Medicaid, education and transportation.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Empire State Development (ESD) said it expects to finalize a letter of intent by the summer to extend Tesla's lease of its gigafactory in South Buffalo.

The new deal would increase the rent the company pays for the state-subsidized facility from $1 per year to $2 million through the end of 2029, the original expiration date, and $5 million annually for an additional five years. However, Manhattan state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal said the state Legislature should examine if that's the best path forward.

The cost of child care is a challenge for families across the country. But a New York state assistance program appears to be falling short, leaving some parents with tough decisions to make ends meet.

Waitlists have been rolled out in several counties across the state.

Following the detainment of a woman and three children by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Jefferson County, advocacy groups and supporters gathered at City Hall in Syracuse Wednesday to protest immigration officers in New York.

“We have seen fathers taken, detained on their way to drop their children at school in Fulton. Here in Syracuse, we had a father taken, leaving his 13-year-old U.S. citizen son with no family here,” said Jessica Maxwell, executive director of the Workers Center of Central New York.

Mayor Eric Adams turned the page on his historic indictment.

“Today finally marks the end of this chapter," he said Wednesday.

New York food banks are struggling to handle the fallout from what U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand described as President Donald Trump's "massive" cuts in funding that helps feed Americans in need.

Gillibrand on Wednesday outlined funding cuts to the nation's food banks. She said the Trump administration slashed $1 billion in federal funding dedicated to purchasing food for food banks and schools and child care centers that provide meals, and is canceling another $500 million in already approved funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which helps food banks and other emergency food providers.

A judge on Wednesday tossed Mayor Eric Adams’ federal corruption case, a month and a half after the Justice Department asked for it to be dismissed.

In an order, Manhattan federal judge Dale E. Ho dismissed Adams’ case with prejudice, meaning the charges against the mayor cannot be refiled.

A state Supreme Court judge in Albany County has placed a temporary injunction against New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive order in Oneida County barring correction officers who were fired for striking from being hired by local municipalities unless they go through a specific program, according to court papers obtained Wednesday by Spectrum News 1.

The order has been criticized at the county level, with Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente recently calling it "gross overreach and abuse." The ruling is not statewide and only applies to Oneida County.

One of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s top priorities is making it easier to hospitalize people with serious mental illness involuntarily and hold them there until they stabilize.

The proposal would change the standard for what clinicians should consider when deciding the likelihood that a person with a mental illness would “result in serious harm.”

The New York state budget is officially late with no clear end in sight. If you’re looking to gain insight for an office pool or a friendly wager on when it will be completed, don’t ask Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

“I’m not helping anybody’s betting odds,” he told Spectrum News 1.

New York state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has failed to issue draft regulations – the blueprint -- for how to enact the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), and now DEC is being sued over that failure.

The agency was supposed to finalize the regulations by Jan. 1, 2024. Instead, the agency announced this past January that the draft would not be released this year.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday proposed a new slate of prison reforms for the budget to reignite criminal justice talks while the head of the state Department of Correction and Community Supervision said he supports the governor's plan to close more facilities.

Multiple lawmakers briefly conferenced proposals from Hochul on Tuesday to expand opportunities for people in prison to reduce long sentences with credits for good behavior or job training — a priority Hochul included in this year's legislative agenda.

Some incarcerated individuals in New York state will be released early as prison guards continue to face a staffing crisis.

DOCCS documents report a 24.4% decline in correction officers and correction sergeant plot plan positions between the years 2000 and 2023. Since then, numbers have only continued to drop. In February, COs were told that 70% of staffing is the new 100% staffing — one of the main reasons behind the statewide wildcat strike that lasted nearly a month.

President Donald Trump is expected to announce a plan that could include the implementation of delayed tariffs on Canada and Mexico, as well as sweeping retaliatory tariffs on other countries throughout the world.

The administration is touting the plan as a bold step toward American economic independence, as well as a way to push back against the flow of illegal drugs into the country. However, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, sees it differently.

A federal judge has ruled that the legal battle over Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation should continue to play out in New Jersey, rejecting the Trump administration’s bid to transfer the Columbia University protester’s case to Louisiana.

In a written decision Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz in Newark said jurisdiction over the case should remain in New Jersey since Khalil was being held there at the time his lawyers filed their habeas corpus petition demanding his release.

The removal of a mother and her three children from a home in the Sackets Harbor area for relocation in a detention center in Texas drew fire Tuesday from New York state's top elected leaders.

According to school officials and the New York Immigration Coalition, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers removed the family and four others last week from the North Harbor Dairy farm located just outside the village in Jefferson County.

A 22-day prison strike and the multiple deaths of those incarcerated during that time has reignited conversations about reforms in the state prison system.

A report last fall claims white people were offered parole at higher rates than people of color — and the gap has widened in the last three years.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Attorneys for a white gunman who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket want to move his death penalty-eligible trial to New York City, writing in a court filing that it would be difficult to seat a diverse and impartial jury in the upstate city.

About 85% of Buffalo’s Black residents live in East Buffalo, where the shooting occurred, Payton Gendron's lawyers wrote Monday, and many would be prevented from serving on the jury because of ties to the case.

New York youth sports leagues and schools are struggling to find referees. Games are being postponed and some canceled as a result.

There are a number of reasons why, but a big one is the negative and often hostile behavior of spectators and parents as they watch the games.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Tuesday that Republicans are looking for what kind of future Rep. Elise Stefanik can bring to the House leadership now that she won’t be serving as President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.

“We’re trying to figure out some creative role for Elise to play,” Johnson said.

New York Attorney General Letitia James and 22 other states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Trump administration over abruptly cutting billions of dollars in state health funding.

These cuts come as part of a plan announced last week by the Trump White House to pull back $11.4 billion in COVID-19-related funds for local public health departments and other organizations across the country. The Department of Health and Human Services says it will stop spending money on responding to what it claims is a nonexistent pandemic.