Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer made sure the tragic anniversary of the Buffalo mass shooting was honored in Washington.

Sen. Schumer took to the Senate floor as the Buffalo community gathered to remember the 10 lives taken in the tragic attack.

With the June 24 Democratic primary fast approaching, Scott Stringer — the former state assemblyman, comptroller and Manhattan borough president — sat down with NY1’s Errol Louis to discuss his second bid for mayor. The episode marks the third installment of the “You Decide” mayoral candidate interview series. Stringer highlighted his extensive political experience and discussed his campaign platform, focusing on criminal justice, hunger, housing and homelessness. He also spoke about the importance of experience and collaboration in handling New York City’s challenges.

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

After two deaths at the hands of employees of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, and a three week illegal correction officer strike, Wednesday presented a long awaited moment at the state Capitol: An opportunity for lawmakers to take a serious look at the state’s prison system, and what can be done legislatively to fix it.

Robert Ricks, the father of Robert Brooks, who was killed at Marcy Correctional Facility in December, arrived at the Legislative Office Building in Albany at 7 a.m. to participate in the hearing running on “coffee and fumes" after working until midnight with youth in a reform program he leads.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. admitted Wednesday that cuts made to a program providing health care to 9/11 victims were a “mistake.”

Advocates have warned that the wave of firings and then re-hirings at the federally funded World Trade Center Health Program have undermined patient health. The program works with 9/11 victims and first responders suffering from illnesses tied, for example, to their exposure to the toxic smoke and debris.

A new Marist College poll shows Andrew Cuomo ahead of the rest of the field in the Democratic primary for mayor, both as respondents’ first choice and at the end of the ranked-choice voting process.

According to the poll released Wednesday, Cuomo crossed the 50% threshold needed to win the primary in the fifth round of balloting. The former governor is also the first choice among 37% of potential Democratic primary voters who responded to the poll.

Spectrum News 1 will host a debate next week with all four candidates running to be the Democratic candidate in the race for Albany mayor.

Carolyn McLaughlin, Dan Cerutti, Dorcey Applyrs and Corey Ellis will all face off in the hour-long debate, live at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 22 from Spectrum News' studio. The debate will be moderated by Spectrum News political anchor Susan Arbetter.

Back in 2016, PFOA — so-called “forever chemicals” — were detected in the public drinking water supply in the village of Hoosick Falls, as well as in the town of Hoosick’s private drinking water.

Forever chemicals are linked to manufacturing. The community’s drinking water infrastructure had to be replaced because PFAS chemicals don’t break down in the human body; instead they accumulate in human organs and cause a variety of cancers.

Retailers, manufacturers, and advocates gathered outside the state Capitol on Wednesday afternoon to highlight the benefits of a bill that, if passed, would provide incentives for institutions that purchase electric lawn equipment.

The legislation (S.1574/A.2657), introduced by state Sen. Liz Krueger and State Assemblymember Steven Otis, would create a rebate program for the purchase of electric lawn care equipment by landscaping companies and government institutions like schools.

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio has agreed to pay a $329,794 fine to settle an ethics board’s complaint that he misspent public funds on his security detail during his brief, failed run for U.S. president.

The deal, announced Wednesday by the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board, is the costliest repayment order in the ethics board’s history. But it allows de Blasio to avoid an even steeper penalty of $475,000 that was previously imposed, a reduction the board said came in light of the former mayor’s “financial situation.”

The race to succeed Mayor Kathy Sheehan in Albany heated up Wednesday when two Democrats announced competing endorsements.

With about 40 days from the Democratic primary in Albany, Chief City Auditor Dorcey Applyrs received the backing of state Assemblywoman Gabriella Romero of Albany, while the campaign of Dan Cerutti announced support from former city Mayor Gerald Jennings, Albany County Comptroller Sue Rizzo, several labor organizations and Bishop Avery Comithier, pastor of the South End’s Elijah Missionary Church.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — In 2020, following ferocious wildfires across Southern California, Jasmin Singer and her wife, Moore Rhys, decided they had had enough of Los Angeles. They packed their bags and moved to New York state.

They debated between Ithaca and Geneva before finally picking Rochester. Also known as the Flower City, Rochester won out in part because of a more stable climate and progressive policies aimed at combating climate change, caused by the burning of fuels like gasoline and coal.

After the late budget ate up three more weeks of session than it was scheduled to, New York lawmakers are feeling the pressure to bring hundreds of bills across the finish line with fewer than 20 days on this year's legislative calendar.

The Assembly added three days to its schedule through June 17 because policy issues dragged the budget five weeks past its deadline. The extra three weeks of session days that went to the budget process are about a fifth of the total time that lawmakers spend in Albany for the year.

State lawmakers have about a month to test if their aggravations with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s handling of this year’s budget process are potent enough to kickstart the process of changing the state’s constitution before they leave Albany for the summer.

Nearly 30 state senators have signed onto the 2025 version of a state constitutional amendment proposal to rein in the governor’s inherent power over the state budget, with others signaling they are in favor. Similar language has been proposed several times in recent years, but there is a sense of urgency among lawmakers this year given that the budget was the latest in 15 years and that they argue Hochul made a public display of holding the process up until her policy proposals were woven into the final budget to her satisfaction.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that he will hold up all Justice Department nominations on the Senate floor until he gets more answers about the free Air Force One replacement that President Donald Trump says would be donated by Qatar. Democrats have expressed uniform outrage about the potential foreign gift and many Republicans are uneasy about the plan, as well.

Trump said this week that he wants to accept the $400 million plane, and that it would later be donated to a presidential library. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Monday that the details of the donation are still being worked out.

It was the latest New York state budget since 2010, and there was some audible griping among lawmakers who didn’t like how long it took, or that the governor used up so much "legislative time" for her own priorities.

While lawmakers gripe about the budget process every year because of the latitude it gives to the executive, this seemed more than just temporary crankiness. But state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie threw cold water on the idea of a constitutional amendment to correct what he views as an unequal process.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Come this fall, keep an eye out for a refund check from the state, as Gov. Kathy Hochul is sending inflation refund checks to New Yorkers.

To offset the high cost of living in New York state, the governor says she is honoring her promise to put more money in people's pockets.

A federal judge has ordered the city to hand over the operations of its troubled jails on Rikers Island to an outside manager.

In a decision Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain wrote that manager will "support remediation of the ongoing violations of the constitutional rights of people in custody in the New York City jails."

The New York Farm Bureau and Northeast Dairy Producers Association are lauding the inclusion of multiple important agricultural funding items in the New York state budget.

“New York Farm Bureau works hard all year to protect agriculture in New York state. It’s often a difficult process, but because we make our voice heard, we were able to secure these wins,” said David Fisher, president of the organization.

Food bank and religious leaders joined farmers and U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Monday in Rensselaer to warn about proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps low-income families purchase groceries.

Schumer said congressional Republicans in their recently announced budget are looking to cut $230 billion from USDA programs, including SNAP, to pay for President Donald Trump's proposed tax cuts. The senator and other speakers said the cuts would leave millions of Americans without protection from hunger at a time of heightened need.

On the eve of the third anniversary of the mass shooting on Buffalo's East Side, a judge has denied a motion filed by the defense team of gunman Payton Gendron to dismiss one of the federal hate crimes he faces.

The ruling centers around charge 27, which specifically focuses on those people who were in and around the store at the time of the shooting.

Several Democratic lawmakers, including Orthodox Jewish legislators, said Monday that changes to New York State Education Department regulations in the budget will allow nonpublic schools in the state to thrive.

The budget enacted Friday alters the pathways that religious and nonpublic schools can use to prove to the department they provide an education that is "substantially equivalent" to public districts. The budget expands which tests can be used to satisfy the department's guidelines, and will gradually phase in compliance with elementary schoolers through the year 2032.

House Republicans unveiled a budget proposal late Sunday, which President Donald Trump has called a “big, beautiful bill.”

But not all Republicans are in favor of it.

Sixty-five percent of firefighters across the country are volunteers. In New York, it is closer to 90%.

But in recent decades, their ranks have gotten dramatically smaller and older.

Some of the 2,000 correction officers fired in the wake of a three-week illegal strike in February and March could be heading back to work.

Not because Gov. Kathy Hochul or state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) Commissioner Dan Martuscello are having mercy on those who refused to return, but Martuscello told Spectrum News 1 that some could be offered their jobs back through a grievance process that was part of their collective bargaining agreement.

Andrew Cuomo’s campaign has been hit with another campaign finance setback.

On Monday, Cuomo's campaign was docked more than $622,000 in matching funds by the city's Campaign Finance Board.

The new state budget incorporates several changes into the primary school funding formula in New York state, which means school districts across the state this week are scouring school aid runs to see exactly how those changes will impact their bottom line.

The Foundation Aid formula hasn’t been updated since it went into effect in 2007 during the tenure of Gov. Eliot Spitzer. One change made this year eliminates the reliance on 25-year-old Census data from the year 2000. That data was replaced by a three-year average called the Small Area Income & Poverty Estimate (SAIPE), which is a series of recent Census poverty data sets that includes SNAP program recipients and poverty income measures for instance.

Spectrum News 1 is getting our very first look at the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s effort to cut Medicaid by $880 billion between 2025 and 2034.

Democrats on the committee estimate that the legislation would reduce the number of people with health insurance in the U.S. by at least 8.6 million people.

President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order aimed at expanding accessibility to in vitro fertilization, which is a medical procedure helps people facing infertility.

The order asks for policy recommendations on protecting IVF access and reducing costs.

Wednesday marks three years since the racially motivated mass shooting that killed 10 Black people at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo. Legislation is now being introduced in honor of one of the shooting victims.

On Monday, U.S. Rep. Tim Kennedy, of New York’s 26th Congressional District, was joined by the families of the victims as he announced new legislation that would ban owning or selling military-grade body armor to civilians at the federal level. It's called the Aaron Salter, Jr. Responsible Body Armor Possession Act.

Included in New York's 2025-26 state budget is a plan to close three prisons in a continued effort to reform the state's prison system.

Gov. Kathy Hochul isn't saying which prisons will be closed, but stresses that the effort will not lead to job losses.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin has named New York State Senator James Skoufis of Orange County to the DNC’s "People’s Cabinet."

The initiative, launched in April, elevates "issue experts and policy leaders" within the Democratic Party to lead pushback against President Donald Trump’s Administration.

Federal agents investigating Mayor Eric Adams were still seizing phones and applying for search warrants days before Justice Department leaders ordered prosecutors to drop the corruption case, according to documents released Friday.

The trove of court records, which had been sealed, opens a window into the criminal case and shows that even as Washington officials were backing away from the prosecution, investigators in Manhattan were moving forward.

With a $254 billion budget behind them, state lawmakers said they're frustrated by the drawn-out process and how Gov. Kathy Hochul flexed her executive muscle to hold up the spending plan five weeks past its deadline.

New York's Constitution gives the governor extreme powers to set the state budget. However, several lawmakers told Spectrum News 1 they're unimpressed with how Hochul used that authority to drag out negotiations and ensure the top items on her agenda were included.

As rain poured off the state Capitol’s cornices and into the courtyard below, the dreary, quiet scene reflected the feeling of exhaustion that many involved with negotiating New York’s $254 billion state budget feel a day after the long slog finally came to a conclusion. In the end, it was 38 days late — the latest since 2010.

Thursday evening, both houses of the state Legislature wrapped up voting on a final package, which many describe as bloated with policy for which Gov. Kathy Hochul insisted on, holding up the budget for more than five weeks in order to see enacted her way. Hochul has consistently worn it as a badge of honor.

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is America's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its long-time leader, 92-year-old Hazel Dukes, died in March after having an out-sized influence on national and state politics for close to 70 years.

The woman who picks up the torch from Dukes is also well-known in New York state politics.

Catholic politicians in New York reflected on the hope they hold for Pope Leo XIV, the first pontiff from the United States.

"We're lost sheep, especially in the Catholic Church," Councilman Robert Holden, a Queens Democrat and alter boy, said. "I think a lot of us need to go back to practicing faith because I see we don't really care for our fellow man. There's no middle ground anymore. We're polarized."

Mayor Eric Adams met with President Donald Trump to discuss “New York City priorities” on Friday, but their accounts of the discussion painted different pictures.

In a statement released after the meeting in Washington, D.C., Adams said he met with Trump to talk about "critical infrastructure projects, as well as the preservation of essential social services, among other topics.”

The Norwegian energy company Equinor said Friday it will be forced to terminate an offshore wind project for New York within days unless President Donald Trump 's administration relents on its order that stopped construction.

Work on Empire Wind has been paused since April 16, when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to halt construction. Burgum said it needs further review because it appeared the Biden administration rushed the approval. Equinor went through a seven-year permitting process before starting to build Empire Wind last year, and the project is roughly a third complete.

Republicans have appealed to New York's highest court the case involving a new state law that will move many local elections to line up with state and federal elections in even-numbered years after an appeals court ruled against them earlier this week and upheld the law's constitutionality.

Led by Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon, challengers to the law petitoned to the state Court of Appeals on Thursday to take up the case.

With the June primary about seven weeks away, the campaign trail in the race for mayor is heating up with new ads and policy proposals. Andrew Cuomo released his mental health plan and announced plans to run on a third-party ballot line this November, while Zohran Mamdani rallied with hundreds of supporters in Brooklyn and Brad Lander released his first campaign ad of the cycle. NY1 investigative reporter Courtney Gross and political reporters Bobby Cuza and Ayanna Harry break down the latest developments in the crowded race.

After that, the “Off Topic” team continues its weekly series of profiles on Democratic mayoral primary candidates. This week’s installment finds them discussing the candidacy of City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who promised to shake up the race when she announced her campaign in March.

Thirty-eight days after the April 1 deadline, the New York Legislature approved a state budget, over a week after Gov. Kathy Hochul declared victory in accomplishing her policy goals and insisting on holding up the process to see them through.

In a slight consolation for those who have grown weary as the budget lapsed into the latest in 15 years, the second day of votes and debates ended hours earlier than anticipated with the Assembly unexpectedly concluding first – just before 9:30 p.m. as applause echoed through the Capitol’s stone hallways. The Senate followed minutes later.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has had a bad run when it comes to lieutenant governors.

Her first lieutenant governor, Brian Benjamin, resigned after he was indicted on bribery charges. His replacement, Antonio Delgado, has publicly broken with Hochul and could potentially challenge her next year.

Mayor Eric Adams may be refusing to speak out about President Donald Trump, but his administration is not.

“One of the biggest concerns we have in New York City is our immigrant communities going further into the shadows because they are afraid of their government, their local government, and they will not come forward if they believe they're going to be deported," Manny Castro, commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, said.

There’s been a shift in how the medical marijuana industry functions in New York state.

About five years ago, medical marijuana operators were thought of as the elephant in the room – the deep-pocketed corporate players that could steer the market at will.

Cardinal Robert Prevost, an American, has been elected as the new pope on the second day of the conclave at the Vatican.

Prevost will go by Pope Leo XIV and is the first American pope ever.

The head of the state's cannabis regulating board said Thursday she will not leave her post after Gov. Kathy Hochul made the decision to eliminate her $229,000 annual salary in the budget.

Cannabis Control Board chair Tremaine Wright exclusively told Spectrum News 1 she knew her salary was under negotiation.

New York state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli on Thursday delivered a major announcement in Kingston on the city’s finances.

DiNapoli delivered good news: Kingston is fiscally stable and making major investments in infrastructure, institutions and tourism. He also praised what the city has already done with climate change resilience, especially with the increased uncertainty on the federal level.

Health officials in New York state confirmed four more cases of measles outside of New York City on Thursday.

The state Department of Health said that three patients, who are residents of Orange County, are less than 5 years of age and who recently traveled internationally all have tested positive. The DOH is monitoring the cases in coordination with the Orange County Health Department.

New York is set to lower the minimum hiring age for prison guards from 21 to 18, seeking to boost the ranks of corrections officers during a shortage that was exacerbated by the firing of more than 2,000 guards after a weekslong strike crippled the state’s prison system.

State lawmakers approved the measure on Wednesday and Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, is expected to sign it into law.

Tim Custer, a fourth-generation maple producer in Cuyler, taps about 15,000 trees each year – and he’s looking to grow.

Knowing New York has a process for leasing trees on state land for tapping, he went on a quest last year to get permission to tap trees on state land that abuts his property.

A Palestinian student arrested during an interview about finalizing his U.S. citizenship helped launch a $1 million fundraising campaign to strengthen the legal safety net for immigrants in Vermont on Thursday, a week after a federal judge freed him from custody.

Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel’s war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison before a judge ordered him released on April 30.

A New York state appeals court has ruled the new state law that will move many local elections to line up with state and federal elections in even-numbered years is constitutional, reversing a lower court judge's decision last fall.

The court on Wednesday ruled against Republican-led challenges to the law in that it conflicts individual county charters. Twenty New York counties are chartered, meaning they have locally drafted and approved laws outlining the structure and authority of county government, and there have been three separate amendments in the state Constitution allowing for and protecting counties' abilities to govern through charters.

With the June primary quickly approaching, Michael Blake, the former assemblyman and vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, sat down with NY1’s Errol Louis for the second installment of his mayoral candidate interview series.

Blake highlighted his multifaceted governmental experience and emphasized the need for a mayor with managerial skills and empathy, particularly in the current political climate. He also shared personal insights on his family, background and faith, and explained how these elements shape his vision for the five boroughs. He also talked about his views on managing immigration enforcement in the city, ensuring timely reimbursements to nonprofits, and the importance of addressing poverty as a moral issue.

BUFFALO — Amid attacks on federal judges who have slowed President Donald Trump's agenda, Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday defended judicial independence as necessary to “check the excesses of the Congress or the executive.”

“Judicial independence is crucial,” Roberts, the leader of the Supreme Court and the entire federal judiciary, said at a gathering of judges and lawyers in his hometown.

Thirty-seven days past the state budget deadline, the legislature passed two budget bills as of Wednesday afternoon — for a total of three out of 10 with more on the way in the coming hours.

Gov. Kathy Hochul made clear early in the process that she had no intention of signing a budget that didn’t include her policy proposals the way she wanted them. “Summers are nice here,” she said in early April.

New York lawmakers have their sights set on legislation before session ends to counter President Donald Trump's agenda after the pending budget over $254 billion will not address potentially sweeping federal cuts.

Hochul and legislative leaders have plans to call the Legislature back to Albany later this year if billions of dollars in proposed cuts come into fruition. But lawmakers are focused on several bills, including new immigration, labor and election policies, they said could undercut the effects that Trump's administration's policies could have on the state.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last week that the 2025-26 budget would include $400 million for child care assistance over what she included in her executive budget.

Dede Hill, director of policy at the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, explained why she considers the investment a “partial victory," and why future investments in the child care workforce are so critical.

New York state budget bills are being passed a full week and a half after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a deal on the spending plan, which has now grown to around $263 billion.

While the drawn-out process is finally coming to an end, it’s clear from remarks made on the state Senate floor this afternoon by Sen. James Skoufis that some lawmakers are deeply unhappy with how the governor handled the negotiations.

New York state is no stranger to Hollywood magic.

“We make it very easy to film here,” Albany County Film Commissioner Debby Goedeke said.

Political town hall meetings are increasingly becoming hotly contested affairs, as some constituents voice their displeasure with representatives. The exchanges have led some Republican lawmakers to avoid them altogether.

The disagreements were on display at a recent town hall held by Rep. Mike Lawler in Somers, Westchester County, located in the Hudson Valley swing district that elected the Republican to Congress in 2022.

School districts across New York are preparing for critical budget votes on May 20. But without hard data on state funding, districts that are facing rising costs and deficits will have to make difficult decisions.

Leaders are encouraging families to get involved and brace for potential cuts.

Farmer Jeremy Brown taps the nose of a young calf. “I love the ones with the pink noses,” he says.

This pink-nosed animal is just one of about 3,200 cattle at Twin Birch Dairy in Skaneateles, New York. In Brown’s eyes, the cows on the farm aren’t just workers: “They’re the boss, they’re the queen of the barn.”

The 2024-25 influenza season was a challenging one for young children, New York state Department of Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said Wednesday, with 25 influenza-associated pediatric deaths in the state, the highest amount ever.

Nationwide, 216 pediatric deaths related to the flu were reported during the season, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, which was the highest in 15 years.

State lawmakers said sentencing reform will be a top priority in the final weeks of session as a deal to expand earned time credits for incarcerated New Yorkers fell out of the final budget.

Democrats in Albany expressed frustration Tuesday that a proposal to make more people in prison eligible to earn time off their sentence for educational programs, job training or good behavior, was likely removed from the annual spending plan — now over five weeks late.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this week that he will run as an independent in the November general election for New York City mayor, even as he continues his campaign for the Democratic nomination.

In a statement released by his campaign Tuesday, Cuomo said he will appear on the newly created Fight and Deliver Party ballot line regardless of the outcome of the June 24 Democratic primary.

As the first budget bill – transportation, economic development and environmental conservation – went to print Tuesday evening, state lawmakers prepared to kick off what is expected to be a marathon day of voting on Wednesday.

When lawmakers do vote, they will be considering the $254 billion in state spending that Gov. Kathy Hochul announced more than a week ago, plus an additional $6.2 billion from the state’s reserves to pay off New York’s unemployment insurance debt. Sources say to expect a few billion more on top of that in other additional funding for a total price tag north of $260 billion— easily the highest ever.

It’s been over a month since Randy Mastro made his return to City Hall as Eric Adams’ first deputy mayor.

“It’s been one of the most productive and rewarding months of my entire career,” Mastro said.

Republicans in New York state are eyeing the 2026 governor’s race with some newfound hope, and a deeper-than-usual bench.

So far, U.S. Reps. Elise Stefanik and Mike Lawler both say they are considering a run against incumbent Kathy Hochul.

A decent amount of rain was falling across New York state on Tuesday, and according to Gov. Kathy Hochul, it was also a rainy day to use some of the state’s reserve funds.

The governor said on Monday that the state budget will now pay off all of the $6.2 billion in unemployment insurance debt that ballooned in New York during the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding for that will come from the state’s reserves, which Hochul at the beginning of her tenure as governor labeled the state’s rainy day fund.

The NHL is planning an international event at UBS Arena next February in lieu of the previously announced All-Star Weekend at the home of the New York Islanders, a person with knowledge of the situation said Monday.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the league has not announced its plans for the weekend before the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics.

Taking care of loved ones can be costly. According to a 2023 study by AARP, the average caregiver spends more than $7,000 out of pocket every year. Support groups, transportation and home modifications are expenses that can add up. Relief for unpaid caregivers could come in the form of a tax credit after bills were introduced at both a national and state level.

Five years ago, Mark Charboneau was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and his wife Pat Charboneau became his caregiver.

New York City will open seven new public schools across four boroughs in September, Mayor Eric Adams and Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos announced Monday.

By this fall, a total of 28 new schools will have opened or will be opening under the Adams administration, bringing more than 13,000 new seats to schools in the five boroughs.

On Friday morning, there seemed to be hope that voting on the state budget could finally commence on Monday. As Friday wore on, that hope dimmed while policy battles continued behind the scenes. By Monday morning, a complete lack of budget bills printed over the weekend meant no votes, but as a consolation, there was a shift in tone toward one of finality.

“We’re 99.9% done,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters in an afternoon news conference.

Top New York lawmakers and advocates are sounding the alarm about the future of a federally funded program providing health care and support to more than 130,000 9/11 victims and first responders.

Over the weekend, 16 workers at the World Trade Center Health Program were reportedly fired, despite assurances the program’s staff would be spared cuts.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie says the final state budget will include approval for a Buffalo hotel bed tax and a new parking authority to manage parking ramps as the city's budget becomes a focal point of a Democratic mayoral primary.

Buffalo Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon requested the 3% hotel occupancy tax and parking authority as ways to close a roughly $70 million budget gap. His budget proposal includes an 8% tax levy increase, but says he has already cut about $30 million in spending for next year. The creation of the Buffalo Parking and Mobility Authority would involve selling four city parking garages to the state, which Scanlon's office says would generate $40-$50 million in immediate revenue.

Lacking state funding, city officials announced they will be closing enrollment and wait listing families for a child care voucher program.

“Sadly, the state’s proposed budget provides insufficient funding for its own program. So we are unable to enroll any new applicants seeking such vouchers beginning today,” First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said Monday morning.

In Albany, state legislative leaders have been busy finalizing the $254 billion deal, while Gov. Kathy Hochul was on Long Island touting more of some of the wins she secured.

The budget includes reforms to discovery law, rules to make it easier to involuntarily commit an individual who has severe mental illness and a ban on cellphone during school hours.

New York state Attorney General Letitia James announced the filing of a new lawsuit along with 19 other states Monday, an effort to block further cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services.

The White House released a budget proposal Friday, which includes $163 billion in cuts, with some of the steepest rollbacks planned for the Department of Health and Human Services.

Last week, after over a decade of trying, advocates rejoiced when the New York state Assembly passed a bill allowing for medically assisted suicide. After an emotional debate, the so-called Medical Aid in Dying Act passed by an 81-67 vote.

The legislation faces an uphill battle in the state Senate, but if passed into law, it would allow mentally competent, terminally ill patients over the age of 18 to self-administer physician-prescribed life-ending medication.

Gov. Kathy Hochul says the state budget will now pay off all of the more than $6 billion in unemployment insurance debt that ballooned during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A week ago, the governor said the state would only pay off the interest on that debt.

State Education Department officials late Monday said they were troubled by a potential budget deal to change department regulations for religious and nonpublic schools after weeks of closed-door debate.

In a victory for the Hasidic Jewish community, sources and lawmakers said the budget will roll back the state Education Department's stricter substantial equivalency standards for nonpublic schools the Board of Regents adopted in 2022.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — County jail inmates who are supposed to be behind bars in New York state facilities are now going to be transferred, but not all at once.

The New York State Department of Corrections is now resuming intake of state-ready individuals from the county-run jails to the male state prisons.

A coalition of state attorneys general filed a lawsuit Monday against President Donald Trump's attempt to stop the development of wind energy.

Attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C., are challenging an executive order Trump signed during his first day in office, pausing approvals, permits and loans for all wind energy projects both onshore and offshore. They say Trump doesn't have the authority to unilaterally shut down the permitting process, and he's jeopardizing development of a power source critical to the states’ economic vitality, energy mix, public health and climate goals.

Voters in U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler’s suburban New York swing district heaped criticism on the Republican during a raucous town hall Sunday night, peppering him with questions around President Donald Trump’s aggressive agenda before devolving into a chaotic chorus of boos as attendees were removed by law enforcement.

The town hall in Somers, a leafy section of Lawler’s Hudson Valley district, began to teeter off the rails soon after it began.

While Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that there was a state budget agreement last week, bills have not been printed now more than a month after the budget was due.

Nathan Gusdorf, executive director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, joined Capital Tonight on Friday to help make sense of the proposals and New York’s budget health.

Mayoral candidate and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo sharpened his attacks Sunday, not on his fellow Democrats in the race, but on President Donald Trump.

During visits to two churches in Brooklyn and in an exclusive interview with NY1, Cuomo criticized Trump’s proposed federal budget cuts, warning they could significantly impact New York City.

A state senator has introduced a bill in response to New York state bail reform after she and some law enforcement claimed current state law has led to increased crime involving repeat offenders.

Supporters are calling it the "PROTECT Act."

A new bill being introduced in the state Senate would increase the availability of tax incentives for volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers.

Sen. April Baskin is introducing legislation that would allow these groups to get tax credits for both property and state income tax.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand warns that President Donald Trump's budget plans for 2026 could impact New York parents.

The president's budget includes $163 billion in spending cuts across the federal government due to what the administration calls "DEI and Woke" policies.

State lawmakers who lead health policy said they will explore legislative action when the budget is done to address ongoing problems with a $9 billion home care program, including pay issues that have caused disabled New Yorkers to lose care.

Challenges have afflicted the transition of the state's Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program to management company Public Partnerships LLC since it started in January.

In the more than one month that the state budget has been overdue, it’s not uncommon to hear "at least it’s not August" around Albany — a reminder of the chronically late budgets of the early 2000s.

August it is not, but Friday the state budget process took a step closer, with 2025 being the latest since 2010 — "the bad old days" as some around the Capitol call them.

SALT talks remain unresolved on Capitol Hill.

“It was a lively discussion,” Long Island Congressman Nick LaLota said coming out of a meeting with House leaders this week. “But we’re still far away” from a deal, he added.

Just one day after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced she clinched a budget deal, the Democratic-controlled state Assembly spent hours debating — and then passing — a bill that would legalize what’s called “medical aid in dying,” also known as assisted suicide.

But it’s still unclear whether the state Senate or Hochul supports it.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — There are three candidates facing off in the Democratic primary in the city of Rochester’s mayoral race.

“We want to continue and accelerate on the momentum that we built during the first term,” said Rochester Mayor Malik Evans, the incumbent in his first term.

Immigration detainments have been a big part of President Donald Trump’s first 100 days.

But when it comes to children, the actions against them can draw powerful responses.