Monroe County Republican state Assemblyman Josh Jensen is the vice chair of the Minority Joint Conference Committee and the ranking minority member on the Assembly Committee on Health.

He spoke with Capital Tonight’s Susan Arbetter about the minority’s role in the state budget process, as well as why funding early intervention is so important to him.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — ONSCREEN is a tech startup that launched during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The product allows people to use their televisions as a fully-automated communications hub for voice calls, video calls, text messages and more.

Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos was sentenced Friday to over seven years in prison, sobbing as he learned his punishment for the crimes that led to his expulsion from Congress.

Santos, who pleaded guilty last summer to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, appealed for mercy. In a federal court a short drive from his old congressional district, he said through tears that he was “humbled” and “chastised” and realized he had betrayed his constituents' trust.

Upstate city electeds Thursday put the pressure on state leaders to put more unrestricted aid in budget for municipalities as several consider tax increases to overcome double-digit budget deficits.

As Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders near a final deal, local officials said $3 billion the governor wants to spend on one-time inflation "refund" checks for low- and middle-income families would be better spent making localities whole.

The mayor’s race got a jolt this week when three unions and the New York State Attorney General backed Adrienne Adams for mayor. Unions for municipal and hospitality workers endorsed the City Council Speaker, whose campaign had failed to gain momentum so far. The endorsements come as Andrew Cuomo has continued to lay low, perhaps resting on his lead in the polls. NY1 investigative reporter Courtney Gross, and political reporters Bobby Cuza and Dan Rivoli break down the latest developments in the race for mayor.

After that, the ”Off Topic” team continues its weekly series of profiles on Democratic mayoral candidates. This week, they discuss Scott Stringer — the former city comptroller now making a second run at the city’s top job.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Congress has introduced legislation aimed at reducing delays in the construction of major manufacturing facilities, like Micron’s planned multi-billion dollar semiconductor plant just outside of Syracuse.

The legislation, led by New York Congressman Nick Langworthy, seeks to streamline what the Republican argues can be a duplicative environmental review process. In short, the bill exempts such major projects from certain federal reviews when in states where they already must meet equally or more stringent state-level environmental standards.

With the state budget 24 days late, state lawmakers were back in Albany Wednesday to pass yet another budget extender to fund state government through Tuesday. The hope remains that a handshake deal is within reach Friday with remote conferencing over the weekend — ideally setting the stage for voting on a budget package next week.

State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie met with Gov. Kathy Hochul for just under an hour Thursday afternoon. Stewart-Cousins exited the elevator back to her third floor office to a wall of reporters with one question: Do we have a handshake deal?

As Earth Week puts a spotlight on sustainability efforts across the state, New York’s school districts are preparing for a major transformation in student transportation.

Under a state mandate, all new school bus purchases must be zero-emission by 2027, and by 2035, every bus on the road must be electric. While some districts have started making the switch, many say the transition is proving more complex than expected.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — If you go to the Frank Merriweather Library on Buffalo's East Side, there's a good chance you'll see Dr. Eva Doyle.

The retired public school teacher, author and activist who is turning 80 next year says she started going to libraries when she was 10 years old.

Democrats in New York are condemning a decision by the U.S. Justice Department to cancel hundreds of grants to community organizations, including those that fund crime-victim advocacy and gun-violence prevention.

According to The Washington Post, the millions of dollars in grants also support nonviolent youthful offenders, mental health resources for local police, efforts to avert opioid-related deaths and hate crimes.

The City Council has passed a bill that cracks down on the commercial helicopter industry. The measure, known as Intro 26 A, passed the Council with a 46-1 vote with one abstention Thursday.

The April 10 crash of a touring helicopter, which killed a family of five and the pilot when it went down in the Hudson River, renewed calls to crackdown on non-essential helicopter flights in city airspace.

An internal legal memo that the U.S. attorney's office says was filed by mistake reveals that federal lawyers believe it will be difficult for the government to win its case against congestion pricing.

The letter, dated April 11, was uploaded to PACER, the electronic filing system for the federal courts, by a U.S. attorney defending Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in the suit brought by the MTA against him.

Council Speaker Adrienne Adams didn’t hold back on Thursday in criticizing the mayor’s blossoming relationship with the White House.

“We’ll continue to stand firm to protect the rights and safety of all New Yorkers against the Trump Administration even if our mayor will not,” she said.

Labor challenges are ongoing for many New York farmers, with some opting to bring foreign workers through the seasonal agricultural worker visa program, H-2A.

“We’ve been using the H-2A program for close to 20 years,” said Brian Reeves, an owner of Reeves Farm that raises a variety of vegetables on 300 acres in Baldwinsville.

A lawyer for New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday urged the Justice Department to refuse a Trump administration official’s request to prosecute the Democrat for mortgage fraud, calling it “improper political retribution."

In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the lawyer, Abbe Lowell, also offered evidence that the central accusation against James — that she had falsely told a lenders she intended to use a house in Virginia as her primary residence — is easily disproven by records and correspondence related to the real estate transaction.

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — A New York man told federal agents, "I know I'm finished," when he was arrested Thursday on charges that he concealed his leadership role in the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 in his applications for a green card and U.S. citizenship, prosecutors said.

Faustin Nsabumukunzi, 65, was charged with hiding from U.S. authorities his role as a local leader in Rwanda when the genocide began in 1994. An estimated 800,000 Tutsis were killed during the three-month-long genocide. The indictment of the Bridgehampton man was unsealed in Central Islip on Long Island.

A combination of economic stagnation, disinvestment and mismanagement of the city’s budget brought New York into a fiscal crisis in 1975 — unlike any it had seen up to that point. The result was shuttered schools and firehouses, mountains of garbage on the streets, and cops being laid off by the thousands. But what happened next is perhaps even more important: the city somehow united to pull itself out of financial and cultural ruin.

The story is told in a new documentary called “Drop Dead City.” The film’s co-directors, Michael Rohatyn and Peter Yost, joined NY1’s Errol Louis to discuss the movie and this infamous moment in our city’s history. The conversation touched on the film’s construction, its soundtrack, and the broader themes of governmental responsibilities and the impact on New Yorkers living through the crisis. They also talked about the co-director’s father, Felix Rohatyn, who was a pivotal figure in the financial recovery.

Just like it takes a village to raise a child, state lawmakers said getting a proposed $252 billion spending plan over the finish line requires extensive support from their families that often goes unnoticed.

The state budget, now 23 days, is testing lawmakers' ability to balance work and family as most schools across the state held spring break over the last two weeks — forcing several policymakers to bring their children to Albany as spending negotiations continue.

New York Attorney General Letitia James endorsed City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams for mayor Wednesday.

She announced the endorsement alongside DC 37, one of the city’s largest unions representing over 150,000 public sector employees.

Affordable housing advocates in New York are warning of a potentially devastating impact if the Trump administration moves ahead with threatened cuts to federal housing programs.

The New York Times reports President Donald Trump's White House is eying changes to housing programs, including to the Section 8 program, which helps poorer tenants pay their rent.

New York state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said Wednesday after meeting with Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins that leaders are getting closer to a state budget deal, but no handshake just yet.

“We’re still talking, things are moving,” he said. “It’s not done.”

While the state budget has slowly come together, mayoral primary elections have been quickly sneaking up. On June 24, there will be Democratic primary elections in four of the larger upstate cities including Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo.

One of the most closely watched races is in Buffalo where Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon is trying to earn his first full term after the resignation of longtime mayor Byron Brown to head up Western Regional Off-Track Betting.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Democratic mayoral primary features half a dozen candidates, including longtime politicians and public servants.

However, first-time candidates and activists Anthony Tyson-Thompson and Michael Gainer said they're embracing their role as underdogs.

NEW YORK — Roughly a week after California filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging the president’s authority to use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, 12 other states filed a similar suit Wednesday.

Saying the tariffs illegally imposed an unprecedented tax hike on Americans, the attorneys general for New York, Arizona, Colorado, Maine and eight other states are seeking a court order to stop the Trump administration from enforcing or implementing tariffs that have disrupted global trade.

PENN YAN, N.Y. — A decade ago, Scott Osborn would have eagerly told prospective vineyard owners looking to join the wine industry to “jump into it.”

Now, his message is different.

Several state lawmakers said Tuesday they want to pass separate legislation after the budget is finished to fix ongoing issues with a $9 billion Medicaid home care program transition as workers complain about inaccurate paychecks.

The state continues to transition thousands of disabled and elderly people who use the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program for home care to company Public Partnerships LLC.

President Donald Trump said he will deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy.

Trump said on social media earlier this week that he would deliver addresses at both West Point and the University of Alabama.

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Acting Buffalo Mayor Chris Scanlon is asking the New York State Board of Elections to issue an opinion about whether one of his opponents, state Senator Sean Ryan's campaign, is legally transferring money from his senate campaign fund to his mayoral coffers.

A lawyer representing Scanlon's camp sent a letter Tuesday asking the BOE to clarify election law as it applies to campaign limits. In the letter, attorney Laurence Laufer said it was the campaigns understanding that Ryan maintains the law allows him to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars between his political committees.

State lawmakers bought themselves another two days to pass a state budget, now 22 days late. They passed an extender to bridge the funding gap for state services and payroll from Wednesday when the current extender expires, through Thursday.

Deputy Senate Majority Leader Mike Gianaris told reporters the most likely scenario at this point seems to be a budget deal later this week with voting on budget bills spilling into early next week.

Former Congressman George Santos is preparing for life in prison.

Ahead of his criminal sentencing on Friday, Santos spoke exclusively with NY1, saying when it comes to the nearly half a million dollars he owes in restitution and forfeiture, “right now, I am unable to pay anything.”

With a focus on the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, President Donald Trump’s "border czar" Tom Homan was back in the city on Tuesday.

“Every member of TDA should be on the run because the Trump administration is committed to removing every single member of TDA and MS-13," Homan said.

While the first Earth Day, in 1970, took place during the Republican administration of President Richard Nixon, many in the environmental community will use Tuesday’s 55th anniversary to rail against Republican President Donald Trump and push to unite behind renewable energy.

Earlier this month, via executive order, Trump told environmental and energy agencies to sunset an array of regulations that protect endangered species, prevent oil spills and allow the public to track progress on pollution.

Andrew Cuomo is not a candidate typically low on cash.

While the city’s campaign finance board shut down his request for matching funds last week, the former governor has a state campaign account from his previous runs for governor.

Even though a budget deal has yet to be reached, Gov. Kathy Hochul spent Tuesday celebrating a major international company announced a $1 billion investment in the state and a new poll shows she’s winning more support from voters.

It all comes just one week after Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik slammed Hochul’s leadership, positioning herself to potentially run for governor.

Three more federal prosecutors who had been involved in the now-dismissed corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams resigned on Tuesday, saying they felt pressured into admitting wrongdoing or regret as a condition for being reinstated to their jobs.

“We will not confess wrongdoing when there was none,” Celia Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach and Derek Wikstrom wrote in a letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. — Amid an ongoing battle over New York state’s prohibition on Indigenous names, mascots and logos in public schools, President Donald Trump is backing a Long Island school district’s effort to keep its “Chiefs” team name.

“I agree with the people in Massapequa, Long Island, who are fighting furiously to keep the Massapequa Chiefs logo on their Teams and School. Forcing them to change the name, after all of these years, is ridiculous and, in actuality, an affront to our great Indian population,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday.

An estimated 14 million electric vehicles were purchased globally in 2023, according to the International Energy Agency, but EV owners say they are facing challenges when it comes to charging.

In the United States, six in 10 Americans live within two miles of a public charging station, but many of those stations are in densely populated cities, not the rural areas between them.

Between now and the start of primary voting in June, NY1 will take a closer look at the key issues in the race for mayor.

This week’s topic is the mayor’s relationship with Albany — because while the mayor may be the face of New York City, the real power to enact major change often sits 100 miles north in the state capital.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul saw an improvement in her favorability and job approval last month and strong support for her top-line policy items in the still unfinished state budget, according to a Siena College poll of registered New York voters released Tuesday.

The governor has a favorability rating of 44-43%, up from 40-50% in March, and voters approve of the job Hochul is doing 48%-45%, according to the poll. Also improved from last month is her reelection stance with a year and a half until she’s set to face voters for a second full term, with 39% of voters prepared to reelect her, while 48% want someone else.

New York state lawmakers are divided on Gov. Kathy Hochul's budget proposal to let 18-year-olds work as correction officers in state prisons to ease the ongoing staffing shortage.

Hochul is pushing to lower the minimum age of correction officers down from 21 after firing about 2,000 officers who participated in last month's illegal wildcat strike — fueling tensions in prisons that were already battling a shortage of 2,000 officers.

City Hall’s plan to reopen a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office on Rikers Island could take longer than expected.

“The executive order expressly limits the cooperation to federal criminal investigations and federal criminal charges being brought, not civil matters,” First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said on Thursday.

Gov. Kathy Hochul says there is light at the end of the state budget tunnel, which could include a watering down or tabling of her push for legislation related to the wearing of face masks in the commission of a crime.

“Certainly, Monday and Tuesday will be important days for us,” she said while hosting an Easter egg roll at the New York State Executive Mansion on Saturday.

The New York state Comptroller's Office says former U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan pioneered the concept of balance of payments between the federal government and states with his first report in 1977.

For the vast amount of time New York has reviewed those payments, it has been what Moynihan referred to as a “donor state.”

Due to pandemic aid, New York state currently receives more money from the federal government than New Yorkers send to Washington in federal taxes. Not only is this four-year trend about to end, but it is also a shift from a decades-long imbalance that former U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan would rail against in an annual report nicknamed "the Fisc."

A new bill would give the state the ability to withhold payments to the federal government if the Trump administration withholds funds from the state in defiance of court orders.

There’s a growing concern for what a trade war could mean for the restaurant industry. President Donald Trump has implemented a baseline 10% tariff on all countries and a 145% for Chinese imports — which could put pressure on costs of ingredients and supplies.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and local restaurant owners met in Syracuse on Monday, calling for a stop to this tedious trade tussle.

New York’s top Democrats, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams, issued kind words for Pope Francis on behalf of the Catholics living in the city and state, mourning the loss of the 88-year-old Holy Father.

Both politicians made previous trips to Rome and spent time with him.

As Catholics the world over mourn the death of Pope Francis, New Yorkers and church leaders alike are offering tributes to the late pontiff.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo, said Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, passed away at 7:35 a.m. Monday, Vatican time. He was 88.

The Trump administration on Monday issued another warning to New York about congestion pricing, giving the state until May 21 to either put a stop to the tolling initiative or prove it doesn't violate federal law.

In a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said New York risks losing federal funding and approvals for certain projects from the Federal Highway Administration if it doesn't do one or the other.

On a sunny September evening, Pope Francis arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens greeted by a high school band and leaders of the Diocese of Brooklyn and Archdiocese of New York.

That was Sept. 24, 2015. He then made his way to St. Patrick's Cathedral in Midtown Manhattan for an evening prayer.

HILTON, N.Y. — Gov. Kathy Hochul’s state budget proposal allocates $13.5 million to help schools create smartphone storage solutions to cut down on clicking and scrolling during class. The continued push for a bell-to-bell ban on smartphone use in schools statewide has districts giving options a test run, including one in Monroe County.

The Hilton CSD is looking at possibly using individual student pouches to keep cellphones zipped up for the day to try and cut down on distractions in class. The district did a trial run to collect feedback from students.

Multiple New York lawmakers said Friday a last-minute budget debate remains unsettled to amend state Education Department standards for religious and non-public schools in the budget, now 18 days late.

With a conceptual deal on discovery about done, leaders are expected to revisit the debate to make it easier for nonpublic schools to satisfy state Education Department guidelines to teach a curriculum that's substantially equivalent to public districts.

On Tuesday at an event in Kingston, Gov. Kathy Hochul addressed reporters on discovery changes in the state budget alongside district attorneys and other stakeholders and then abruptly cleared the room.

“The loss of any life in our correctional facilities is one too many,” she told reporters as she announced indictments in the death of Messiah Nantwi at Mid-State Correctional Facility at the height of the three-week illegal correction officer strike — including two for murder.

Immigration is a primary focus for the Trump administration and New York City has found itself in the crosshairs of enforcement in the wake of the migrant crisis and its current sanctuary city status.

Cooperation with the White House’s federal immigration policies has put both Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul in the hot seat — and lately the mayor has been witnessed backtracking on his prior stance.

As Mayor Kathy Sheehan winds down what will be a 12-year tenure, four Democratic candidates are eying Albany City Hall’s top office.

“Albany is worth fighting for,” said Dorcey Applyrs.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Former Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Judith Enck says customers often end up with lots of extra paper, cardboard and plastic because companies that deliver online orders, like Amazon, have no financial responsibility to deal with waste management.

"You and I have all had the experience of, you order something online, it arrives at your house, just layer after layer of excess packaging and you’re kind of scratching your head thinking, ‘why did it have to be so over-packaged,’" Enck said.

The back and forth over tariffs continues to seemingly put Canada, one of the United States’ closest allies, on edge and with “elbows up.”

“It's not good to fight with your neighbors,” said Prashant Ghorpade, a resident of Hamilton, Ontario.

A onetime aide to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state have settled a lawsuit she had filed against the state claiming as her employer it was liable for Cuomo’s alleged sexual harassment and for the actions of his top aides, who failed to take corrective action once she reported it.

Bennett, who became the second woman to publicly accuse him of misconduct, claimed Cuomo subjected her to invasive questions about her personal life and sexual relationships, and once told her he was “lonely” and wanted a girlfriend who lived in Albany, according to the state lawsuit, which Bennett filed in March 2023.

State Sen. Andrew Gounardes on Friday sharply criticized the Trump administration’s move to halt construction on a major offshore wind project based in his Brooklyn district.

The Empire Wind One project, located at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, was expected to power over 500,000 homes starting next year. Originally approved in 2017 under the Trump administration, the project is now in limbo as the U.S. Department of the Interior seeks to re-review construction plans.

The original sponsor of the 2019 pretrial discovery law said Thursday that she expects future budgets to include criminal justice rollbacks and changes to the state's evidence-sharing process.

State leaders are cleaning up language for a new compromise on discovery, the process in which the prosecution shares evidence with the defense in a criminal case.

This week, mayoral candidate and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo had some highs — and some lows. He was once again confirmed to be a frontrunner in a new Siena College poll, but he was also denied millions of dollars in public matching funds because of a so-called technical glitch. Meanwhile, Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani is the first mayoral candidate to max out on public matching funds. Mamdani, along with some of the other candidates, spent the week going after President Donald Trump. NY1 political director Bob Hardt, investigative reporter Courtney Gross and statehouse reporter Bernadette Hogan break down a busy week 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 Jessica Ramos, the Queens state senator running to the left of most of the other candidates.

New York state Attorney General Letitia James calls President Donald Trump’s accusations against her of falsified real estate records "baseless.”

“Let me just say to all New Yorkers and to all Americans: The allegations are baseless. The allegations are nothing more than a revenge tour,” she told NY1 political anchor Errol Louis on “Inside City Hall” Thursday.

State lawmakers are heading home for a long Easter weekend still with no budget, but some progress.

With changes to the state’s discovery laws, or how evidence is shared between the prosecution and the defense, largely wrapped up, focus is shifting to the remaining budget items.

If you have a child with a learning disability, a hearing issue or a speech impediment, he or she may need what’s called “early intervention." These are evaluations and therapeutic help for young children who may have developmental delays and/or disabilities.

The Agencies for Children’s Therapy Services, or ACTS, is an association of 40 early intervention agencies which provide services both in-home and in community settings. Each year, they serve over 30,000 infants, toddlers and preschoolers across New York state.

Americans saving for retirement are keeping close tabs on the stock market. The U.S. and its trading partners have been going back and forth since President Donald Trump announced his intention to reset the global market and assert U.S. economic freedom by enacting new tariffs.

For someone who is 20 or 30 years off from retirement, the response to the volatility is probably a lot different than someone who is near retirement or is recently retired, but experts say, no matter the age, it often comes down to threshold of tolerance in terms of any changes made to finances.

Legal aid attorney Elizabeth Lynch says that Congress voting to overturn overdraft fee limits is a major blow for working class people. Those fees can turn a $1 overdraft into a $36 penalty and very quickly add up.

“We see things that are more akin to like payday lending, which is not allowed in New York state," Lynch said. "But your banks and the bank accounts through these overdraft fees can basically give out a loan that has interest rates that are astronomical when you compare it to the purchase that the person is making.”

BUFFALO, N.Y. — There are currently six Democrats vying to be the next mayor of the city of Buffalo.

Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon is among them. He assumed the role last fall after longtime incumbent Byron Brown resigned to take another job.

Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos “remains unrepentant” as he faces years in federal prison for fraud and identity theft, federal prosecutors say, citing a tirade of his social media posts in recent days.

Prosecutors, in a legal filing Thursday, bolstered their arguments for a stiff sentence, saying the 36-year-old New York Republican has disparaged the U.S. Department of Justice as a “cabal of pedophiles” and cast himself as a victim of prosecutorial overreach in multiple posts on the social platform X.

Mayor Eric Adams signed several pieces of legislation Thursday to address scaffolding issues across New York City.

"Moving forward, our streets are lighter and brighter. There is less trash, less opportunity for crime and more space for pedestrians and customers for our small businesses,” Adams said during a news conference. “We’ve already taken down 330 longstanding sidewalk sheds and began our work for more colorful, better-lit designs for the times when sheds do have to go up."

The New York state Republican Party’s Albany headquarters was vandalized overnight, the party announced Thursday on X.

The New York GOP posted photos showing swastikas, which were used as a national symbol in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, had been taped to parts of the building, including a sign that reads "If this is not what you stand for, prove it."

The number of private sector jobs in New York increased by 5,600, or 0.1%, in March, 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 8,464,400 in March. The number of private sector jobs in the U.S. increased slightly higher in the same period, at 0.2%, the department said.

Spectrum News NY1 will be hosting a Democratic mayoral debate and a Democratic debate for city comptroller in the leadup to the city's primary elections on June 24.

These two debates will air live on Spectrum News NY1 at 7 p.m.

The Trump administration issued an order Wednesday to stop construction on a major offshore wind project to power more than 500,000 New York homes, the latest in a series of moves targeting the industry.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to halt construction on Empire Wind, a fully-permitted project. He said it needs further review because it appears the Biden administration rushed the approval.

The Trump administration is continuing its efforts to claw back $20 billion worth of Biden-era climate funding for low-income communities — part of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. For now, the $20 billion remains frozen in a Citibank account, preventing eight organizations from distributing the money that would finance tens of thousands of projects across the country to fight climate change. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has accused the recipients of the program of misconduct and waste.

Cathie Mahon is the president and CEO of Inclusiv, one of the groups in charge of disbursing the now-frozen funds. She joined NY1’s Errol Louis to discuss the latest in this financial battle with the Trump administration. They also touched on the group’s ongoing efforts to defend the program and demonstrate its benefits for low-income communities.

New York state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said Wednesday night that state leaders have reached a deal on discovery reform, which has held up budget talks for over two weeks, and made significant progress on other policy items in the spending plan.

After a roughly one-hour leaders meeting with Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday evening, Heastie told Spectrum News 1 the meeting went well.

As the announcement of a deal to make changes to New York’s discovery laws pushed relentlessly by Gov. Kathy Hochul appeared imminent Wednesday, state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie is getting a share of the credit for an unconventional maneuver.

Hochul, who has been adamant that she won’t sign a budget that doesn’t include a discovery solution that is up to her standards, acknowledged the assist Wednesday.

New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik is considering throwing her name in the mix for a 2026 gubernatorial run, a source familiar with her thinking told NY1.

“I think there’s a lot of candidates that are in the mix. I’m honored to have my name in the mix as well,” she told NY1 in an interview on Tuesday night at the New York State Republican Party gala in Midtown Manhattan.

A longtime correction officer with the New York state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) says he was wrongfully terminated last month after a series of wildcat strikes across the state.

"I thought I had a good career until recently,” said Adam Root, a former correction officer at Washington Correctional and the former Great Meadow Correctional in Comstock.

There’s a new chapter in the years-long legal drama between President Donald Trump and State Attorney General Letitia James.

NY1 obtained a criminal referral letter written by the president’s federal housing director. The letter claims James, “in multiple instances, falsified bank documents and property records.”

When he was a teenager, Kilmar Abrego Garcia fled from El Salvador to the United States after a local gang extorted the family business and threatened to kill him and his brother and rape his sisters.

Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally in 2011 at the age of 16.

LANCASTER, N.Y. — At a Wednesday press conference with U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz told seniors in Lancaster if they're worried about potential cuts to Medicaid, they should call their congressional representative and let him know.

"We need you to send that message to Nick Langworthy to say don't cut Medicaid," Poloncarz said.

U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko is sounding the alarm about federal spending cuts that will impact libraries in the Capital Region.

During a round table at the Bethlehem Public Library on Wednesday, Tonko discussed a presidential executive order earlier this month — one he says slashed $200 million in annual library funding.

A grand jury has indicted two state correction officers for second-degree murder and eight others for lesser charges in the death of an inmate at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Oneida County in March, according to court papers released Wednesday.

The indictments stem from the death Messiah Nantwi, 22, who was pronounced dead at Wynn Hospital in Utica on March 1.

Mayor Eric Adams announced plans Wednesday to include $167 million for special education preschool seats and expanded 3-K seats in his proposed executive budget.

Adams was joined by former Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose administration's signature policy was the rollout of universal pre-K in the five boroughs.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — If you walk into a local liquor store, you'll often find dozens, or even hundreds, of wine options to choose from.

New York Sen. George Borrello says the competitive environment can make it difficult for local products to stand out.

With a compromise on discovery changes in reach, New York state leaders are expected to return their attention to Gov. Kathy Hochul's controversial proposal to expand forced psychiatric treatment for New Yorkers with severe mental health conditions.

Religious leaders from around the state rallied in the Capitol on Tuesday opposing the governor's plan to change involuntary commitment criteria — a stance most Democrats in the Legislature have taken since Hochul announced her policy agenda in January.

New York state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced Tuesday that he has come to a compromise with the five New York district attorneys on changes to the state’s discovery laws. Gov. Kathy Hochul has yet to give the plan her OK as the state budget remains in limbo.

Discovery is the process of evidence exchange between the prosecution and the defense, and Hochul has said that loopholes in 2019 reforms have led to cases being dismissed on technicalities when trivial items are not turned over within the timetable required.

New York state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced a framework compromise between the state’s district attorneys and legislative leadership regarding the state’s discovery laws.

Discovery is the formal process of exchanging information about witnesses and evidence between the prosecution and the defense in a case that they’ll present at a trial. It’s been amended multiple times since it overhauled in 2019.

New York state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, one of the “three people in a room” who hammer out the contours of a state budget, announced Tuesday that progress was being made on one of the stickier issues holding up the spending plan: Discovery.

He told Capital Tonight that over the last four days, he and his staff, working with the five New York City district attorneys, came up with a framework of a deal on the issue that he presented to his conference Tuesday.

When New York state Sen. Rob Rolison heard about the results of a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) bridge safety report, he wanted to know what was being done to address it. It recommended new safety evaluations following the collapse of a Baltimore bridge after a ship collided with it last year. Thirteen bridges in New York are included in the report.

“We just have to make sure that everything that can be done to make sure that they travel safely [is done]... These bridges carry lots of cars over the major transportation corridors," Rolison said.

HENRIETTA, N.Y. — The Trump administration’s on-again, off-again tariffs on foreign nations are being touted as a way to attract manufacturers to the United States. Experts say there are opportunities in New York state — but it’s complicated, especially as the goalposts seem to keep moving.

Business is strong and the work is steady at Fieldtex Products in Henrietta, near Rochester. Interest in the military and medical supply case maker’s products has grown in recent weeks.

Cornell University and the University of Rochester have joined a lawsuit against the Department of Energy and the DOE secretary, Chris Wright.

The lawsuit alleges that the DOE took "flagrantly unlawful actions" by "slashing 'indirect cost rates' for government-funded research."

Gov. Kathy Hochul and her husband, William Hochul, raked in nearly $1.5 million last year, according to the couple's joint tax returns released Tuesday.

The pair reported a combined income of $1,479,244 — down from about $1.9 million last year.

The City Council has filed a lawsuit to block Mayor Eric Adams from allowing federal immigration authorities to open an office on Rikers Island.

The suit, lodged in Manhattan Supreme Court Tuesday, accuses the mayor of engaging in a “quid pro quo” with the Trump administration.

The New York state inspector general’s office identified $2.7 million in workers’ compensation fraud during 2024, resulting in 14 arrests, a 30% increase from the year prior, according to its annual report released Tuesday.

Inspector General Lucy Lang in the report noted that more than $1.4 million in restitution and fines were awarded to defrauded state agencies, insurers, and employers – also representing an increase in enforcement outcomes across the board compared to 2023.

As Democrats look to regroup, New York U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan, a moderate who outperformed his party in last year’s election, is encouraging his colleagues to adopt an aggressive message focused on reaching out to working class Americans.

He dubs it "patriotic populism" — a direct response to President Donald Trump’s right-wing populist style, which he describes as “destructive” — and argues it could be instrumental in reversing his party’s fortunes.