New York is among a handful of states that do not allow wine sold in grocery stores.

But now a long-dormant proposal is back in the conversation at the state Capitol as officials are also taking a broader look at New York's alcohol laws.

New York lawmakers next week will hold a public hearing on the effects that non-compete agreements have on workers and the labor market in the state.

The hearing, set for Tuesday, will be held by state Sen. Sean Ryan and state Sen. Jessica Ramos, and include experts on how non-compete agreements can shape the labor pool and how New Yorkers have been affected.

Ethics watchdogs are calling for more teeth in disclosure laws for limited liability companies and their ownership.

The group Reinvent Albany on Friday called for the passage of a measure that would dislcose the owners of limited liability companies, pointing to the prominence of LLC giving in political campaigns and the potential for money laundering through shell companies.

New York state's economy lost more than 25,000 jobs in the private sector in April, the state Department of Labor reported on Thursday.

Still, the unemployment rate declined slightly from March to April from 4.1% to 4%, state officials said, as the number of unemployed people declined from rom 391,600 in March to 385,000 in April.

New York is starting to experience a slowdown in money flowing into the state's coffers, a decline that comes just as temporary federal pandemic aid has largely dried up, and the newly approved $229 billion budget increased spending.

Fiscal watchdogs in recent days have raised concerns with a decline in the state's main driver for revenue, the personal income tax, dropping due in part to a decline in bonuses in the financial sector on Wall Street.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- New York state estimates already this year taxpayers are spending more than $800 million for projects related to climate change-caused damages and resiliency projects.

State Sen. Liz Krueger, a Democrat from Manhattan, sponsors legislation that would hold the world's biggest oil and gas companies responsible for at least some of those costs moving forward.

New York officials are trying to find ways of boosting a flagging medicinal cannabis industry that has struggled as a broader adult-use marketplace takes shape.

At the same time, lawmakers are considering how to also bolster the adult-use cannabis industry itself amid a slow rollout of businesses being opened this year.

New York lawmakers want to crack down on what they call "predatory" marketing of unhealthy foods to kids under a bill that advanced in the state Senate on Wednesday.

The bill would expand the definition of "false and misleading" ads to include marketing of unhealthy food aimed at kids. At the same time, lawmakers want to expand the education of healthy, locally grown food for kids.

Employers would not be able to use a job applicant's or employee's credit report in making key decisions about whether to hire or fire, and rights for domestic violence survivors would be broadened under a package of measures advancing in the state Assembly to address credit rating regulations in New York.

The package of bills, in essence, is aimed at providing a boost for consumers with the all-important credit score and how it can have a wide-ranging effect on a person's life.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The current gaming compact between New York state and the Seneca Nation expires in December.

The Senecas said parties have been meeting roughly bi-weekly since August. State Sen. George Borrello, a Republican from Sunset Bay, is not in the room but has a vested interest.

Republican lawmakers are trying to reverse a provision in New York's $229 billion state budget that shifted $1 billion in Medicaid funding away from county governments.

County leaders have warned that without the combined $1 billion from federal medical assistance percentage funds, they could be forced to consider property tax increases.

Cannabis regulators in New York on Thursday issued 50 additional licenses to operate an adult-use marijuana business in the state, growing the number to 215 licenses awarded since the marketplace went into effect.

The new licenses were announced as a social equity and economic plan, a move meant to expand the development of the legal cannabis market in New York.

New York lawmakers on Thursday will hold a public hearing on the myriad banking issues facing the state's cannabis industry, the state Assembly on Wednesday announced.

The hearing, to be led by Assembly Banks Committee Chair Pamela Hunter and Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce and Industry Committee Chair Harry Bronson, is diving into what has been a long-standing problem for the nascent industry.

While much of the conversation around farms and the New York state budget has revolved around a planned hike in the minimum wage, there is some good news for farmers. Jeff Williams, director of public policy for the New York Farm Bureau (NYFB), calls passage of a renewable investment tax credit for farmers, “wonderful."

“[The tax credit] is designed to spur investing in farms across the state, whether it’s equipment, machinery, land, buildings,” Williams said. “It’s really a watershed program.”

Four companies New York's pension fund has invested in have agreed to analyze and target a reduction in their greenhouse gas emissions, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli on Tuesday said.

The companies included Carrier Global Corp, Papa John's International Inc., Century Aluminum Co. and Spirit Reality. Kraft Heinz, meanwhile, will create a deforestration-free policy of sourcing.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday shrugged off the potential of New York's plan to end natural gas hookups in newly constructed buildings and homes by 2027 being impacted by a legal challenge to a similar provision in Berkeley, California while also pointing to the rebates for consumers to help make the transition.

"There are court cases happening all over the country, whether they have an effect here is another question," Hochul said on Monday in Buffalo.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is backing new legislation to change state business law and impose stricter regulations on digital assets like cryptocurrency to crack down on unregistered platforms and strengthen protections for investors in the industry.

The cryptocurrency industry has largely remained void of regulations and transparency — leading to crime and fraud.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A 21-member commission with 16 appointed voting members met three times starting in August of last year to study and debate reform of New York's alcoholic beverage control laws.

The Business Council of New York State Executive Vice President Paul Zuber was one of those members.

The $229 billion budget was ultimately a mixed result for the state's agriculture sector.

On the one hand, farm organizations are concerned about the financial effect an increase in the minimum wage and its subsequent tie to inflation. But at the same time, farmers will benefit from the funding of environmental, marketing and research programs in the final spending agreement.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Language in the final version of the New York state budget agreement makes major changes to the oft-maligned Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation.

The so-called "Big Ugly" bill includes a section changing the voting structure of the Western Regional OTB's board of directors. It gives more power, among the 17 municipalities that govern and share the public beneift corporation's profits, to the largest counties — Erie and Monroe — and two cities — Buffalo and Rochester.

New York is raising the tax on cigarettes by $1 a pack — a move that anti-tobacco advocates worry is half a loaf, but convenience store groups believe will only lead to an expansion of an underground market of illicit sales.

The tax increase is part of New York’s $229 billion budget plan. Once approved, it will reach $5.35 – making the state one of the most expensive places in the country to buy cigarettes. State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins says the move is meant to further cut down smoking rates.

Personal income tax rates won't increase in New York's state budget, a move that never seemed to gain much traction in the talks and a development that disappoints progressive advocates who had called for the increase.

The budget is expected to be finalized this week and is more than a month late.

Many of the workers who received benefits under New York's paid family leave program in 2021 earned less than $40,000 a year — an indication the program is providing support for low and moderate-income workers, an analysis released Friday by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli found.

The report assessed the state's expanding paid family leave program between 2018 and 2021 as the amount of time off allowed and cash benefits steadily rose as it was being phased in. New York's paid family leave law was first approved in 2016, and is meant to enable workers to take time off with partial pay in order to care for a family member or bond with a newborn child.

A Community Engagement Committee will aim to keep the local concerns and needs of the Central New York community front and center as the region transitions and prepares for Micron Technology’s massive chip manufacturing facility that will be built in Clay, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday in Syracuse.

The 15-member panel is designed to make sure the regional needs of training workers, education systems, housing, child care support and infrastructure are addressed in the coming years as the project takes hold.

Cannabis news in New York moves fast and there’s a lot of it.

Over the past month, we’ve seen a move to repeal the marijuana potency tax; an announcement by New York’s cannabis regulator that it would double the number of licenses to operate retail businesses; and a push to shut down black market cannabis dealers.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Currently in New York state, bars and restaurants can begin serving alcohol at 10 a.m. on Sundays but liquor stores can't open until noon.

A report from the Commission to Reform Alcoholic Beverage Control Law set to be released next week will recommend those shops get the two-hour jump as well.

A tentative agreement to raise New York's minimum wage to as much as $17 in the coming years has drawn critics from both sides of the aisle.

Progressive Democrats, labor union organizations and advocates are holding out for a $21.25 proposal initially made earlier this year in order to support low-income New Yorkers. Republicans and leading business groups argue the wage hike, which is also expected to be tied to inflation, will hurt job creation and drive up costs further.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- So far there are no state licensed cannabis dispensaries open in Western New York.

Still, Buffalo Common Council Member Bryan Bollman said he's hearing from residents in his Lovejoy district all the time about shops illegally selling marijuana.

Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to use the state budget process to address the proliferation of unregulated and illegal sales of cannabis that she worries could hinder the growth of the legal marketplace.

Lawmakers and Hochul are working to finalize a budget this week, but the discussion surrounding enforcement of illegal cannabis in the state has created a snag in the budget negotiations with the spending plan now more than a month late.

Progressive advocates and lawmakers on Tuesday criticized a tentative plan to increase New York's minimum wage to $17 an hour for not going far enough to cover basic expenses of low-income working people.

The proposal would gradually increase the state's wage in the coming years, a provision that is coming together as lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul hope to finalize a budget this week.

TONAWANDA, N.Y. -- Democratic leadership in the New York state Assembly is proposing a 4% state and 4% local sales tax on digital streaming products, excluding newspapers and periodicals.

However, Assemblyman Bill Conrad, D-Tonawanda, said the plan does not have support from the entire conference, including himself.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Drivers get into ridesharing for many different reasons.

In Buffalo, John Glose, a veteran and Bridgestone Corp. retiree, signed up three years ago to supplement his Social Security.

Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration is trying to encourage New Yorkers to buy legal cannabis as concerns continue over an underground marketplace that has continued in the state despite a legal marketplace taking shape.

Hochul's office on Tuesday announced it is launching a public education campaign to promote legal purchases of cannabis from licensed dispensaries.

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. -- Seneca leaders cut the ribbon in Niagara Falls for the first nation-owned dispensary.

Seneca Development Chair Josh Jimerson said the lot is not the only thing it shares with Seneca Niagara Casino that opened two decades earlier.

Newspapers are closing around the country – struggling to make a transition to a digital era.

As local news deserts are spreading in New York, a proposal in Albany could spur the hiring of more journalists to attend planning board meetings and read school district budget proposals. But the proposal has its critics, who worry a government-subsidized media could lead to conflicts of interest for the very officials they are supposed to be holding to account.

People with disabilities in New York are struggling with a higher unemployment rate than the national average, a report released Wednesday by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office found.

Joblessness soared in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. But for people with disabilities, the unemployment picture was far worse and they are yet to fully recover in the three years since the start of the public health crisis, DiNapoli's report found.

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the temporary 2021 federal child tax credit expansion dramatically reduced child poverty.

Now some states, including New York, want to build on that success.

With the state budget negotiations in overtime this month, supporters and opponents of a proposed $1 tax hike on cigarettes in New York are making a renewed push on the issue.

The proposal by Gov. Kathy Hochul would increase the per-pack tax on cigarettes in New York from $4.35 to $5.35.

Entities tied to foreign adversaries and nations deemed hostile to the United States would be barred from owning farmland in New York state under a proposal released Thursday by Democratic state Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara.

The measure is being proposed amid heightened tensions internationally with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as deteriorating relations between China and the U.S.

As the financial system is facing the crosscurrents of inflation and a potential downturn, New Yorkers are feeling a little bit better about the economy compared to the end of 2022, a Siena College Research Institute survey found.

New York's overall consumer sentiment is 13 points above the national index of 62, Siena College reported this week. The current index in New York increased more than 3 points to 70.1, based on the recent survey, and the future index grew by more than 2 points — an indication New Yorkers are holding a more optimistic outlook than the rest of the country as a whole.

Strengthening transit systems in upstate New York can often get overshadowed by a focus on New York City's transportation needs.

State Sen. Jeremy Cooney is trying to change that.

Bonuses on Wall Street dropped by 26% last year, falling to $176,700 on average, according to a report released Thursday by New York state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.

Spiking interest rates, as well as concerns over a potential recession, has contribured to the lower bonsues, which in 2021 averaged more than $240,000.

A federal court on Tuesday lifted an injunction that prevented state regulators from issuing licenses for cannabis sales in multiple regions of New York state.

The move will enable the Office of Cannabis Management to issue licenses for businesses in Central New York, Western New York, Mid-Hudson and Brooklyn as the court continues to hear the case.

New York City's unemployment rate continued to lead the state in February, according to county-by-county numbers released Tuesday by the state Department of Labor.

Nevertheless, New York City is also beginning to show gains in employment nearly three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with its unemployment rate falling the fastest over the last 12 months than any other region.

There's little shortage of ideas from Democratic lawmakers and progressive advocates for what billions of additional dollars gained from taxing wealthy people can do for the state.

They want the additional revenue to boost mass transit systems ravaged by the pandemic and a dropoff in ridership. They want to offset the effects of a higher cost of living for some of the state's poorest residents.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Traveling is just a part of life these days for people from Western New York who work in the film industry.

"Nobody in Buffalo is working in Buffalo. They're having to find work elsewhere," production designer and set decorator Emily Powrie said.

New York's legal cannabis program is facing competition from illegal sales — a scenario that has played out and plagued other states.

And now Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to address it through a measure introduced this week meant to curtail the illicit marketplace while also helping expand the legal sector.

The unemployment rate in New York stayed flat in February, holding at 4.2%, the state Department of Labor on Thursday announced.

The addition of 21,200 jobs in the private sector was a 0.3% increase, but was not enough to budge the state's jobless rate, which remains higher than the national average of 3.6%.

Only a handful of local governments reviewed by New York state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office are deemed to be facing a form of fiscal stress.

DiNapoli's office this week released its latest round of fiscal stress scores for local governments after years of federal pandemic aid boosting bottom lines for many municipal budgets.

Democrats in the New York state Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul this month are negotiating a change to New York's minimum wage that could link the base hourly pay in the state to the rate of inflation.

But lawmakers want to also increase the current wage beyond the $15 an hour in the New York City and $14.20 north of Westchester County. Business organizations, meanwhile, decry the effect the change would have on their bottom line.

Increased penalties for selling cannabis illegally as well as new enforcement powers for the state Office of Cannabis Management and the Department of Taxation and Finance were proposed Wednesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul in a bid to tackle the problem.

Hochul's proposal comes as state lawmakers in recent weeks have also considered changes to how the state's cannabis program works through taxation as well as regulation, with possible changes coming in a state budget due April 1.

Good-government advocates and progressive organizations are trying to convince New York lawmakers to reject an expansion of subisides for a variety of industries in the state budget this year.

Supporters of the subsidies have argued the tax incentives will help grow and expand jobs and industries, including film, TV and Broadway production in the state. But opponents contend there is little evdience the tax breaks create jobs or spur meaningful economic activity.

Supporters of a measure that would create public banks in New York pointed to the recent failures of financial institutions like Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank as an impetus for the passage of a measure that would enable public options for deposits.

In a letter to state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a coalition of advocacy organizations backing the measure urged them to pass the law in the wake of the failures.

The Siena College Research Insititute last week released its annual survey of upstate business leaders in New York.

The findings showed CEOs surveyed hold a bleak view of New York's economy amid rising inflation, a tight labor market, higher borrowing costs and a potential minimum wage increase in the state.

Democratic lawmakers once again want to raise taxes on the richest New Yorkers — it's a position opposed by Republicans as well as Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.

While Republicans question the effect the tax increases could have the state's broader economy, Democrats want to see the money spent to aid lower income New Yorkers struggling amid rising inflation.

Democrats in the state Legislature agree they want to raise New York's minimum wage.

But where the wage will ultimately land remains up in the air, as lawmakers left the question an open one in their budget resolutions introduced this week.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Silicon Valley and Signature banks have both collapsed over the past several days, creating unrest throughout the industry and the stock market.

"In my opinion, they were listed as banks but they were really high-risk investment companies and they weren't looking out for the best interest of their depositors and their investors and their shareholders," New York Republican state Sen. George Borrello said.

According to ReInvent Albany, New Yorkers are being saddled with billions of dollars in taxes while corporations, including television and film companies, are essentially being paid by the state to work here.

According to one estimate, the return on investment for every dollar spent on film and TV subsidies was just 27 cents.

With inflation continuing to strain wallets, New York state lawmakers are trying to find ways of raising pay for a variety of workers, using the state budget as a potential vehicle.

The proposals could impact a range of professions while at the same time see a broad minimum wage increase that is further linked to inflation in the coming years.

Democratic state lawmakers are pushing for a tax increase on the wealthiest New Yorkers this year in the state budget negotiations as Gov. Kathy Hochul has touted her plan that does not seek hikes in the state's personal income tax rates.

Budget proposals made public Tuesday by Democrats in the state Senate would increase taxes on New Yorkers who earn more than $5 million a year.

New York faces a variety of economic challenges in the three years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, including ongoing inflation, more expensive borrowing due to higher interest rates and expiring federal aid, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli on Thursday found in a report on the state budget released by his office.

The report from DiNapoli assessing the state plan proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul this year found tax revenue estimates for a slower economy could be even worse than anticipated. And he warned the budget if adopted could strip his office of oversight powers.

New York added 23,600 private sector jobs in January, but the state's unemployment rate increased slightly, according to statistics released Thursday by the state Department of Labor.

The state's unemployment rate from December to January increased from 4.1% to 4.2%, state officials said.

For medicinal cannabis users like Desarae Little, the drug has been effective at relieving her chronic pain, helping her return to work.

"Without the help of medical marijuana, I would not be able to get through my day," she said. "The pain is under control. I still have my flare ups, but it's not as bad as it was before."

New York lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul are being urged to take up measures in the state budget this month meant to address poverty in nearly all facets of life in the state.

The philanthropic organization Robin Hood Foundation on Tuesday will released a report outlining the steps New York can take in the state budget, ranging from an expansion of the state's child tax credit to increasing the state's minimum wage and indexing it to the rate of inflation.

Thursday marked three years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York. It also corresponded with a legislative budget hearing on workforce issues which revisited several of the state’s biggest failures from that time, including the billions of dollars lost to unemployment insurance fraud.

One of the issues that remains outstanding is how businesses, which have paid higher payroll taxes due to that fraud, will be made whole.

The New York state Cannabis Control Board and the Office of Cannabis Management will double the number of adult-use licenses in the state from 150 to 300, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office announced Thursday.

The office has so far received about 900 applications for licenses and has issued 66 provisional ones. The Office of Cannabis Management will make recommendations in April to the board on the majority of the remaining applications in the areas of the state not impacted by a court-ordered injunction.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- When Buffalo FilmWorks, upstate New York's largest full-service production company, launched in 2018, it was a boom time for film in New York.

The company worked on a number of independent films and major productions like "The First Purge" and "A Quiet Place Part II."

New York ended 2022 with 458,000 job openings, but in a tight labor market nationally has one of the lowest job opening rates in the country, an analysis from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Thursday found.

The state has struggled to regain the millions of jobs lost in the immediate wake of the COVID-19 pandemic nearly three years ago and is not expected to regain all the jobs lost until later this decade.

New York's main business lobbying organization on Wednesday backed an nine-bill package meant to strengthen the state's support for minority and women-owned businesses.

The measures include expanding incentives for contracting with firms that have women or minority ownership, a streamlining of the certification process for the businesses as well as protecting companies against fraud.

New Yorkers continue to feel the bite from inflation, with prices at the grocery store and rents continuing to pinch wallets and bank accounts.

The ongoing cost-of-living concerns have made affordability a key issue in the ongoing state budget negotiations in Albany.

Consumer spending continued unabated in the face of high prices as sales tax revenue continued to jump in New York, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office on Friday said.

But at the same time, DiNapoli warned economic turbulence could cool what has been a red-hot revenue source for local governments in the state.

Republicans in the New York state Senate on Monday called for measures in the state budget meant to address the cost of living in New York, from ending a plan to charge tolls in parts of New York City, to reducing local government burdens that contribute to a homeowner's property tax bill and home heating costs.

Republicans called for the provisions while also criticizing Gov. Kathy Hochul's $227 billion spending proposal over measures they worry will hit New Yorkers' pocketbooks. They also raised concerns over spending meant to aid migrants in New York City.

New York's pension fund over the final three months of the calendar year posted a 4.51% return amid ongoing market volatility, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli on Friday announced.

The pension fund is now valued at $242.3 billion at the end of the third quarter of New York's fiscal year, which concludes March 31.

Republican state Sen. Peter Oberacker wouldn’t mind a dash of Hollywood in his rural upstate district and his home county of Otsego.

He isn't necessarily opposed to a plan that could expand tax incentives to make that happen.

Regulators at the New York state Department of Financial Services on Wednesday moved to review how banks overseen by the state are providing services to minority-owned and women-owned businesses in their communities.

The assessment will be rolled into ratings under the Community Reinvestment Act, which is meant to ensure financial insititutions are providing credit needs to communities.

A package of measures meant to boost small businesses and aid the expansion of minority and women-owned businesses in New York were approved Tuesday in the Democratic-controlled state Senate.

The measures include bills that would create a voucher program to boost innovation, the creation of a matching grant program for a federal program as well as proposals to aid minority and women-owned businesses when bidding for state contracts.

It’s one of Albany’s perennial debates — whether or not heavy taxes on the state’s highest earners is forcing them to flee to places like Florida.

While there is anecdotal evidence this is taking place, there isn’t definitive data. Yet it’s one of the reasons cited by Gov. Kathy Hochul for not raising taxes on the wealthy this year.

The U.S. economy added more than 500,000 jobs in January, significantly defying expectations amid concerns in the private and government sectors of an economy and sharply increasing interest rates.

But in New York, a very different picture on the jobs front has been the theme since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: Jobs have slowly come back, and the state may not recoup all of the 2 million jobs lost in the immediate shutdown in March 2020 for several more years.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed state budget is getting mixed reviews from one budget watchdog.

“One of the first things that jumped off the page and has big implications for the budget is the expectation of a mild, short recession in the first half of 2023,” Patrick Orecki, director of state studies at the Citizens Budget Commission, told Capital Tonight. “But the budget does plan for it.”

If Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget passes as is, New York's counties will be among the spending plan’s biggest losers.

“The governor is looking to intercept almost $300 million in federal funds earmarked for local taxpayers,” said Stephen Acquario, executive director of the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC).

NEWARK, N.Y. -- Gov. Kathy Hochul said, "don't ever forget the farmers," during her budget address Wednesday.

If not forgotten, members of the New York Farm Bureau have felt at least a bit ignored recently.

Gov. Kathy Hochul in her executive budget proposal Wednesday laid out a plan to create the first-ever Office of Semiconductor Expansion, Management and Integration following the announcement last fall that computer memory chip specialist Micron plans to invest $100 billion in Central New York.

The goal, Hochul said, is to make it easier for similar companies to make potential future similar investments in New York state.

If New York state had a credit card, it would owe $61.9 billion.

Not only does New York state carry more debt than every state other than California, but 97% of that debt comes from back-door borrowing, which is borrowing that voters didn’t approve.

New York's unemployment rate did not budge in December from 4.3%, though the private sector increased its number of new jobs at a slightly faster rate than the rest of the country, the state Department of Labor on Thursday reported.

The state added 22,100 jobs in December, a 0.3% increase from November. Nationally, jobs in the private sector increased by 0.2%.

Only about 39% of New Yorkers earn at least a living wage, and less than one-third of them are people of color and younger workers, according to researchers at Cornell University.

The information, which they made available in a new digital atlas, shows disparities in earning a living wage by race, ethnicity, gender and location.

Good-government organizations on Tuesday praised the restoration of oversight powers for the state comptroller's office which have been seen as a key safeguard against public corruption in New York.

Gov. Kathy Hochul's approval of the legislation was a condification of an agreement previously reached with Comptroller Tom DiNapoli to review state contracts for economic development programs.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday announced the first sales of legal, regulated adult-use cannabis in the state's history.

The governor's office said the first sale took place at Housing Works Cannabis Co. in New York City. The first purchase was made by Chris Alexander, executive director of New York's Office of Cannabis Management, a former advocate who spent years fighting for, and crafting the bill that legalized cannabis in the Empire State in 2021.

The state isn't expected to extend its partial gas tax holiday that expires New Year's Eve, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday.

Lawmakers included a six-month suspension of about 16 cents per gallon in state excise and sales taxes, meaning New Yorkers will see their gas prices increase in the New Year.

The first legal adult-use cannabis sales in the state will start Dec. 29 at Housing Works Cannabis Co., members of the state Cannabis Control Board announced Wednesday.

Housing Works, a New York City-based nonprofit, will open Housing Works Cannabis Co. — the state’s first legal adult-use cannabis dispensary — next week at 750 Broadway in Manhattan.

CINCINNATI — More than a thousand new jobs will soon open up in one southwest Ohio city. And it’s all thanks to the expansion of Medpace, a clinical contract research organization.

A press conference was held Wednesday at Medpace to announce their expansion project. It will include 1,500 new jobs with a payroll of $90 million over six years.

A $1 increase in the minimum wage for counties north of Westchester will take effect at the end of the year, reaching $14.20.

And Gov. Kathy Hochul in a statement on Wednesday indicated the stated target of $15 statewide will eventually be reached.

On Monday, the state’s Climate Action Council approved a scoping plan that will serve as a blueprint for the Empire State to reach its ambitious climate goals.

Ken Pokalsky, vice president at The Business Council of New York State, told Capital Tonight that there are a lot of unknowns when its comes to the cost for businesses and as more businesses learn about the changes needed, there will be some “shock and alarm.”

For all the worries about inflation and the economy, Americans aren't scrimping on a centerpiece of many celebrations this holiday season: the Christmas tree.

Retailers from Home Depot and Lowes to mom and pop operations raised their prices on trees — but people are still buying them.

The private sector in New York added 19,600 jobs in November as the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.3%, the state Department of Labor on Thursday announced.

New York's private sector job growth increased by a modest 0.2%, but matched the the nation as a whole in November.

Gov. Kathy Hochul pledged to hold the line on tax increases in the coming state budget talks, saying Thursday at a news conference doing so would go against efforts to reduce the tax burden made earlier this year.

But at the same time, Hochul and outgoing Budget Director Robert Mujica acknowledged the state budget could pose a challenge next year given the broad uncertainty over the economy and the potential of tipping toward a recession even as tax revenue currently remains strong.