After a limousine carrying 17 people to a birthday celebration on Oct. 6, 2018, sped down a hill at up to 118 mph before crashing in a wooded area near a shop in Schoharie, killing all the passengers, the driver and two pedestrians, a new state law is setting safety requirements specific to stretch limos.

The safety requirements apply specifically to stretch limousines altered on or after Jan. 1, 2021.

Whitney Tilson, a newcomer to politics, is trying to make a splash in the crowded Democratic race for mayor. A successful investor, civic activist and lifelong Democrat, Tilson sat down with NY1’s Errol Louis to discuss his decision to run for mayor and try to shake up the political establishment. The episode marks the fourth installment of the “You Decide” mayoral candidate interview series.

Tilson highlighted his plans to improve city safety, affordability, education, housing and homelessness. He also discussed his background in education reform and hedge fund management, detailing his influence on charter schools and political activism. Tilson also provided insights into tackling New York City’s housing crisis and effective investment strategies. The episode concludes with a discussion of Tilson’s upbringing and his parents’ dedication to public service.

Rep. Mike Lawler said the lower cap on the federal deduction for state and local tax payments, also known as SALT, has had a “negative impact” on New York.

“There were key provisions that helped reduce the overall tax burden, but we know the cap on SALT had a negative impact on New York,” he said in an interview on “Inside City Hall” Wednesday.

For a third time, a deadline has come and gone for the MTA to shut off the congestion pricing tolls.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made the demand in February, then extended the deadline to April; then in April, extended it to May 21.

Echoing last year’s school budget vote, 97% of New York school districts voted in favor of their budgets on Tuesday, with that number rising to 99% for school districts staying within the property tax cap.

Forty-two districts statewide sought to override the 2% property tax cap; those districts needed a supermajority of votes to pass their budgets. Seventeen of those attempts failed. The districts will likely revamp their budgets and try again in June.

With just days until Memorial Day, two state lawmakers push for a long over-due tribute for some of our veterans.

State Sen. Nathalia Fernandez and Assemblyman Jon Rivera introduced a resolution to recognize April 13 as Borinqueneers Day in New York state.

When asked if Gov. Kathy Hochul thought federal investigations into several prominent New Yorkers are political, she said, “hell yeah.”

The Justice Department on Tuesday opened a criminal investigation into former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo after congressional Republicans recommended that he be charged with lying over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest highly elected New York Democrat to be probed under the Trump administration and weeks before he faces a Democratic primary for New York City mayor.

The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo after congressional Republicans recommended that he be charged with lying over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

The investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington follows a referral from Rep. James Comer, Republican chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, over statements Cuomo made to lawmakers investigating his management of the pandemic when the virus was spreading through nursing homes, the person said. The person was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Empire State Development has selected a firm to lead economic revitalization in downtown Albany as part of New York state's $400 million investment in the Capital City.

At an event held Wednesday in Albany, Gov. Kathy Hochul launched the Championing Albany’s Potential (CAP) Initiative. The spending includes $200 million to reinvigorate downtown spaces and grow housing; up to $150 million to upgrade cultural attractions, including the State Museum; up to $40 million to reconnect communities to Interstate 787; and $1.5 million for public safety enhancements.

Here's how to watch Thursday's Spectrum News 1 debate between four candidates running to be the Democratic candidate in the race for Albany mayor.

Carolyn McLaughlin, Dan Cerutti, Dorcey Applyrs and Corey Ellis.

The state Liquor Authority held a public hearing Wednesday morning in Albany to gather input on a proposed change to when liquor and wine stores can stay open in Albany County.

The hearing came in response to an Albany County Legislature resolution that calls for expanding the hours of operations for wine and liquor sales to 8 a.m. to 12 a.m. Monday through Saturday throughout the year. Sale hours are presently 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday between Jan. 8–Nov. 14 and from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday to Saturday between Nov. 15–Jan. 7.

State lawmakers said Tuesday they won't back down from a legislative fight to address persistent issues with the transition of a $9 billion Medicaid home care program — even though Gov. Kathy Hochul has indicated she's not open to compromise.

And a federal judge extended a preliminary injunction until June 20 to give people who rely on the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program for home care and their personal assistants more time to enroll with company Public Partnerships LLC, which took over April 1.

Democrat Sam Sutton is the winner of the special election for the 22nd state Senate district in Brooklyn, Spectrum News projects.

According to the city’s Board of Elections, with 99% of the vote counted, Sutton has 66.85% of the vote, while Republican Nachman Carl Caller has 28.10% of the vote.

The Plastic Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act is officially on the move, advancing out of committee and to the Senate floor after passing the upper chamber last year.

One year after a chaotic closing week of session upended by Governor Kathy Hochul’s pause of congestion pricing resulted in the curtain being lowered before the bill could get underneath in the Assembly, sponsors are looking to avoid a repeat this year when the time compression is thanks to the latest state budget in 15 years.

Mayor Eric Adams was more focused on the money the city has already lost than the on federal funding the city could lose.

“Yes, we’re going to fight to make sure D.C. doesn't short-change, us but Albany just short-changed us," he said Tuesday.

The leader of the New York state Assembly Republicans, Will Barclay, spoke with Capital Tonight’s Susan Arbetter about the state’s late budget, prison closures, the prison strike and his conference’s end-of-session priorities.

The Trump administration is allowing work on a major offshore wind project for New York to resume.

The developer, the Norwegian energy company Equinor, said Monday it was told by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management that a stop-work order has been lifted for the Empire Wind project, allowing construction to resume.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday paid a visit to the Thomas Indian School, where she issued an apology to Native Americans on behalf of New Yorkers for the state's "sanctioned ethnic cleansing" and long legacy of broken promises at the former boarding school in Western New York’s Cattaraugus Territory.

In the first known trip by a sitting governor to Seneca Nation Territory, Hochul recounted New York's "sordid history" at the school, which was founded by missionaries in 1855 and once called the Thomas Asylum for Orphan and Destitute Indian Children.

Local unions of health care workers were outside 24th Congressional District Rep. Claudia Tenney's office in Canandaigua on Tuesday, urging her to vote against public service cuts.

They say millions of working families will suffer if Congress goes ahead with proposed cuts to Medicaid, the health care program for some 70 million Americans.

Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente assailed New York state’s new even-year election law during his State of the County address on Tuesday, framing it as a hostile takeover of local government control.

“Albany wants to control our policies on everything. How we deal with issues, how we use our own land, how we build housing and where we put it, where renewable energy can go and to whom it will serve, what services we provide and how we provide them. And now they want to control our local elections,” Picente said in prepared remarks provided to Spectrum News 1.

Several New York House Republicans remain committed that restoring the federal deduction for state and local tax payments, also known as SALT, be a part of the substantial multi-trillion-dollar tax package the GOP is trying to push through Congress while President Donald Trump wants them to give up that fight.

SALT was expected to be a big sticking point in the legislation, which aims to extend the 2017 tax cuts Republicans passed during President Donald Trump’s first term in office and will expire at the end of this year. The 2017 law capped the SALT deduction at $10,000 — part of an effort to help pay for tax cuts included in that legislation. The cap disproportionately hurts taxpayers in blue states like New York, where property and state income taxes are relatively high.

FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed over the weekend that the agency is investigating New York Attorney General Letitia James' real estate transactions.

The probe is reportedly focused on whether James committed fraud on a mortgage application.

School budget votes begin on Tuesday across New York.

Most polls are open at 7 a.m. and many will stay open through 9 p.m.

Drug-related deaths dropped 32% in 2024 across New York state compared to 2023, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The latest CDC findings show an estimated 4,567 New Yorkers died of a drug overdose in 2024, compared to 6,688 in 2023, with approximately 77% of those deaths involving an opioid, such as heroin or fentanyl.

With the June primary approaching, plenty of attention has been focused on the race for mayor. But there’s an important and highly competitive contest on the undercard: the race for city comptroller. What does the comptroller do and why should New Yorkers care?

NY1’s Errol Louis decided to talk more about the job with two former comptrollers who were major players in New York’s political arena — Liz Holtzman and Bill Thompson.

A slim majority of New York voters would prefer someone else as governor rather than reelect Gov. Kathy Hochul next year, while her favorability and job approval ratings have changed little, according to a Siena College poll released Tuesday.

According to the poll, 36% of voters are prepared to elect Hochul to a second full term in 2026 while 55% want “someone else,” a net 10-point negative movement from April. That said, the poll found voters approve of the job Hochul is doing as governor 50-46%, up slightly from 48-45% last month. Her favorability rating stands at 44-46%, where it was 44-43% in April.

New York state senators voted Monday to commemorate a cultural phenomenon that's spanned almost five decades — and unites lawmakers both Sith and Jedi.

Senators who are major fans of the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas adopted a bipartisan resolution Monday to celebrate Star Wars Day — an informal holiday celebrated every May 4, or play on the catchphrase "May The Force be with you."

Among the bills advocates are hoping to move in these closing weeks of the legislative session is policy dealing with expanding bottle redemption and recycling in New York: The Bigger Better Bottle Bill, as it’s known.

Blair Horner, NYPIRG’s senior policy advisor, is a driving force behind the effort to score what he described as a long overdue update to New York’s redemption system.

If you’re watching the economy and starting to get worried about being laid off from your current job, there’s a tiny bit of good news for you in the recently passed state budget.

Unemployment benefits are set to increase from $504 per week to $869 per week starting in October of this year.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — For more than an hour Monday, attorneys and Erie County Court Judge Dennis Ward discussed the next steps in potential motion for contempt of court for correction officers who participated in illegal strikes across New York state earlier this year.

The state is seeking contempt of court against a fraction of the hundreds of officers originally named in the lawsuit, however in Monday’s hearing, the state attorney, Soo-Young Chang, reiterated that the state’s position hasn’t changed and they are only seeking a formal decision on whether officers in question violated the Taylor Law by striking, as the state argues. The state is not seeking larger punishments or penalties.

More New York counties are taking action against the use of biosolids on farmland because of rising contamination concerns.

Schoharie County on Friday became the latest New York county to put a moratorium on the use of biosolids on farmland, and Steuben County on Monday approved a resolution in support of state legislation that would pause the practice.

Businessman Tom Golisano is stepping down from the board of directors of Paychex, Inc., the human resources company he founded in 1971.

The company says the move is effective after the board's meeting this July.

The United Farm Workers have two rallies planned on Monday to demand the release of farm workers detained by ICE earlier this month in Orleans County.

Members of the United Farm Workers say 14 individuals were arrested by ICE after their transport bus was stopped on its way to work on May 2.

Albany’s downtown is about to get a major boost. After years of buildings going vacant, calls for change and economic investments, New York state is investing $400 million in an effort to help transform New York’s Capital City.

"What you'll be able to see is more people on the street, what you'll be able to see is businesses coming back to the downtown and you'll be able to see that really beautiful, obvious result with economic development," state Assemblymember Gabriella Romero said.

State lawmakers called attention this week to legislation that would help New Yorkers who stutter or have a reading-related learning disorder access essential services they need.

There's less than a month to get bills through both houses of the Legislature, but several Democrats said they feel confident they'll get the measures to Gov. Kathy Hochul's desk this year.

Districts who are struggling to meet New York state’s mandate to purchase only zero-emission school buses by 2027 with the goal of full fleet transformation by 2035 could find a life preserver deep in this year’s state budget.

It comes in the form of the possibility of a second 24-month extension for districts who can prove that they need it through a consultation process with NYSERDA.

The sweeping legislation introduced this week on Capitol Hill to enact President Donald Trump’s agenda of tax and spending cuts includes a provision creating a federal tax incentive for donations to scholarships that parents can use to send their children to private schools.

The initiative, pushed by Rep. Elise Stefanik and others, is considered a big win for the so-called “school choice” movement. It is being met with alarm by public school advocates in New York.

Despite being over a month late, the state budget included some major victories for the business community.

One big win? The state will spend $8 billion to pay off its unemployment insurance debt.

New York leaders plan to put up a legal fight to get billions of Medicaid reimbursement dollars it was promised by the federal government after President Donald Trump's administration announced it plans to change a policy several states have used to generate additional money for health providers.

As Medicaid costs continue an unsustainable climb, state leaders decided to bank on $3.7 billion for a tax on Medicaid insurers known as Managed Care Organizations, which the federal government approved at the end of last year.

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.

Gov. Kathy Hochul will make what is believed to be the first trip by a sitting New York governor to Seneca Nation Territory next week, when she will apologize to the Seneca people and thousands of former Indigenous students and descendants for what she said was New York’s role in separating them from their families and forcing them to assimilate at the Thomas Indian School in Western New York’s Cattaraugus Territory.

Hochul’s Tuesday visit includes meetings with survivors of atrocities committed at the residential boarding school, which the state owned and operated from 1875 to 1957, she and Seneca President J. Conrad Seneca announced Friday morning.

The head of the State University of New York said Friday its community college campuses are ready for a program in the budget to cover the cost of tuition, fees and supplies for many New York adults pursuing a field in high demand.

The final $254 billion budget passed last week earmarks $47 million for SUNY Reconnect — a program Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed at the start of the year to provide free tuition, fees, books and supplies for adults ages 25 to 55 who do not have a prior degree.

This week, a federal judge ordered the city to hand over the operations of its troubled jails on Rikers Island to an outside manager. Lawyers for detainees on Rikers Island have argued in court that the practices, violence and mismanagement in city jails violate the constitutional rights of the people awaiting trial there. NY1 investigative reporter Courtney Gross, and political reporters Bobby Cuza and Dan Rivoli, discuss this massive development in the ongoing saga of Rikers Island and where it goes from here.

After that, the “Off Topic” team continues their weekly series of profiles on Democratic mayoral primary candidates. This week’s installment finds them discussing the candidacy of Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller who was initially considered a favorite in this year’s mayor’s race, but is significantly behind in the polls.

As Republicans on Capitol Hill take their first steps to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda, New York Democrats and health care advocates are warning about the potential impact back home.

Medicaid is one of the programs Republicans are targeting for savings to pay for Trump’s plan, which calls for sweeping tax and spending cuts.

Some of New York’s mental health advocates say while they feel there are some significant holes that need to be filled following changes to New York’s involuntary commitment standards in the state budget, there are crucial wins in the final spending package as well.

State Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, chair of the Assembly Mental Health Committee, says the outcome of the budget battle over the involuntary commitment has left a bad taste.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — For decades, a carveout in New York's child labor laws allowed kids as young as 11 to legally partake in the time-honored tradition of a paper route.

Flipping papers into suburban hedges, bicycling through snow squalls, dodging dogs and getting stiffed for tips became a rite of passage for generations of youths.

While workers in the mental health and human services sector received a 2.6% cost-of-living adjustment in the just-passed budget, it was nowhere near the 7.8% increase that advocates had been pushing.

The increase is equivalent to about $50 million.

There are two kinds of state budget bills: Appropriations bills, or the money that the budget allocates; and Article VII bills, the legislation necessary to implement the appropriations.

Article VII bills include policy and may be changed by lawmakers; appropriations bills distribute the money and may only be changed in limited ways.

State lawmakers introduced a new bill this week to expand the companies that oversee a $9 billion Medicaid program that enables disabled or elderly New Yorkers to choose their home caregiver.

State Senate Health Committee Chair Gustavo Rivera and Assembly Health Committee Chair Amy Paulin introduced legislation they said would help address persistent issues in the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP), which management company Public Partnerships LLC took over April 1.

Cameron residents in Steuben County have been fighting against the use of sewage sludge for decades, and they are finally seeing progress with local legislation that would ban the spreading of biosolids on farmland.

“I’ve been wanting to have this level of town action for 40, 39 years now,” said Wayne Wells, a resident of Cameron whose creek has been tainted by forever chemicals, which he believes is a result of the neighboring farm’s use of sewage sludge.

The number of private sector jobs in New York increased by 14,400, or 0.2%, in April, according to preliminary seasonally adjusted figures released Thursday by the state Department of Labor.

These put the total number of private sector jobs in the state to 8,471,700 in April. The number of private sector jobs in the U.S. increased slightly lower in the same period, at 0.1%, the department said.

An audit by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli concludes officials in the Hudson Valley town of Wawayanda did not properly manage public finances, but its town supervisor doesn't necessarily see it that way.

In an audit released Wednesday, DiNapoli's office states the town adopted budgets that underestimated revenues by about $5.2 million and budgeted $2.2 million of its fund balance it didn't need to use.

Members of SEIU 1199 gathered in New York’s 17th Congressional district Wednesday to protest proposed cuts to Medicaid.

The House GOP unveiled the bill that would institute President Donald Trump’s policy priorities, including getting rid of what they labeled "waste, fraud, and abuse" to Medicaid to the tune of nearly $900 billion.

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.

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.