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☆ New York closes bridges for its marathon. Runners should pay for the unpaid tolls, the MTA demands
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Jeff Winter | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

“New Yorkers love Marathon Sunday, but taxpayers cannot be expected to subsidize a wealthy non-government organization like the New York Road Runners to the tune of $750,000,” MTA Bridges and Tunnels President Catherine Sheridan said in a statement. The New York Road Runners, which organizes the race, says that the marathon already generates millions of dollars for the city’s economy, and that the amount MTA proposed would make the race less affordable. “We value our partnership with all the City and State agencies that allow us to stage all of our events, including the marathon,” NYRR said in a statement. The MTA recently voted to approve congestion pricing in New York City, making it the first US city to charge such a toll. Despite the approval and expected implementation of the tolling plan, multiple lawsuits, such as one spearheaded by New Jersey Gov.

Persons: Catherine Sheridan, ” NYRR, Kathy Hochul’s, Phil Murphy, CNN’s Nathaniel Meyerson Organizations: CNN, Metropolitan Transit Authority, York, New, MTA, City and State, Gov, New Jersey Gov Locations: Brooklyn, New York City

☆ New York Gov. Kathy Hochul apologizes for using Canada-Hamas analogy in defending Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Zenebou Sylla | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Kathy Hochul has apologized for remarks made earlier this week in which she suggested that Israel has the right to destroy Gaza in response to the October 7 attacks by Hamas. “If Canada someday ever attacked Buffalo, I’m sorry my friends, there would be no Canada the next day, right, right?” Hochul said at the UJA Federation of New York lawyers division annual event, referring to her hometown. New York state Assembly member Zohran Mamdani said on social media that Hochul was “justifying genocide, while laughing. Disgusting.”New York City Council member Shahana Hanif said she would not accept Hochul’s apology. Hochul ascended to the New York governor’s office in 2021, becoming the state’s first female governor.

Persons: Kathy Hochul, ” Hochul, Hochul, Hochul’s, @GovKathyHochul, Zohran Mamdani, ”, Shahana Hanif, “, ” Hanif, Andrew Cuomo, CNN’s Kaanita Iyer Organizations: CNN, New York Gov, Democratic, Canada, UJA Federation of New, Jewish Locations: Israel, Gaza, New York City, Hamas, Canada, Buffalo, UJA Federation of New York, ”, Buffalo NY, . New York, York, New York

☆ A fight over sewage is preventing Long Island from solving its crippling housing crisis
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The people of Suffolk County, Long Island, need to start considering it. Like most of the suburbs surrounding New York City, Suffolk County is suffering from a major shortage of homes. In December, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced she'll send $59 million to Long Island to deal with water contamination and sewer upgrades. “The governor has said she wants to see more housing on Long Island. Last year, Long Island public officials led the charge against Gov.

Persons: —, Hunter Gross, “, ” Gross, Long, Suffolk County’s, Ed Romaine, Kathy Hochul, you’ve, ”, Joe, Edmund Smyth, ” Smyth, ” Long, Kathy Hochul’s, who’ve, boomers, can’t, that's, Ian Wilder, Nathan Cummings, ” Cummings, Cummings Organizations: Service, Hamptons, Business, Newsday, Republican, ” Long Islanders, Gov, New, Housing Services, Yale Law Locations: Suffolk County, Long, New York City, Huntington, Suffolk, New York, Huntington , Suffolk County, Levittown, Black, Old Lyme , Connecticut

☆ Hochul to Propose $25 Million in State Funding for A.L.S. Research
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-15 | by ( Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Kathy Hochul is set to propose an appropriation on Tuesday that would provide one of the largest sums ever invested by a state into research of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the neurodegenerative disease known as A.L.S. The appropriation, part of Ms. Hochul’s overall budget proposal, would commit $25 million to A.L.S. The governor said she hoped the program could serve as an outline for tackling other rare diseases as well. Ms. Hochul’s mother, Patricia Courtney, died from A.L.S., also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 2014. She never saw her daughter become lieutenant governor or governor.

Persons: Kathy Hochul, Hochul’s, Patricia Courtney, Lou Gehrig’s, Hochul, ” Organizations: State Assembly Locations: A.L.S, State

☆ Andrew Cuomo lawsuit: Accuser who previously claimed former New York governor groped her filing suit
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Kristina Sgueglia | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —A former aide to ex-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who previously claimed Cuomo groped her breast, is filing a lawsuit against him alleging sexual harassment and abuse, according to a summons filed this week. Commisso’s claims are provably false, which is why the Albany District Attorney dismissed the case two years ago after a thorough investigation,” Cuomo attorney Rita Glavin told CNN in a statement. The report triggered the eventual resignation of Cuomo, which he announced on August 10, 2021, a week after it was released. According to the state’s report, Commisso told investigators Cuomo grabbed her buttocks during hugs and a photo. Commisso claims she was demoted by the then lieutenant governor, now governor, Kathy Hochul, removed from the front office, and moved to the “demeaning task of answering telephones” for Hochul’s office, according to the document.

Persons: CNN —, Andrew Cuomo, Cuomo, Brittany Commisso, Commisso’s, “, ” Cuomo, Rita Glavin, “ Ms, ”, Commisso, Letitia James ’, David Soares, Kathy Hochul, Avi Small, Governor Hochul, Politico –, Eric Adams, Adams, Eric, Adams ’, ” CNN’s Michelle Watson Organizations: CNN, New, Court, New York, Albany Times Union, Albany City Court, Commisso, Hochul, Politico, New York City Locations: New York, Albany County, Albany, State, ”, ” The

Thousands of people took to the streets on Friday evening in the latest instance of what has become near daily protests in New York City over the Israel-Hamas war. This time, pro-Palestinian demonstrators held banners and signs demanding a cease-fire in the bombardment of Gaza. Earlier in the afternoon, several rallies attracting hundreds of people formed at different points around the city, including Union Square, the J.P. Morgan offices on Madison Avenue and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s New York office near the United Nations headquarters, before merging on the steps of the New York Public Library near Bryant Park. As demonstrators wound their way through the center of the city, they waved Palestinian flags, held handmade signs with messages like “Ceasefire now,” and chanted, “Free Palestine.” The crowd stretched several blocks and paused at times in front of Pennsylvania Station and the New York Times building.

Persons: Morgan, Kathy Hochul’s, Debbie Bitar Organizations: Madison, United Nations, New York Public, Pennsylvania, New York Times Locations: New York City, Israel, Gaza, York, Bryant Park, Midtown Manhattan, Palestine, United States

CNN —Media personality and sex expert Dr. Ruth Westheimer is now New York state’s honorary ambassador to loneliness, a role that’s the first of its kind in the nation. US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has described the prevalence of loneliness and isolation as a national epidemic among all ages. Dr. Ruth Westheimer arrives at the Governors Awards at the Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles on October 27, 2019. A sense of being alone defines loneliness, while social isolation is an objective lack of social connections. Social isolation has also been linked to cognitive decline, anxiety and weakened immunity.

Persons: Ruth Westheimer, Kathy Hochul, Westheimer, Vivek Murthy, Jordan Strauss, ” Westheimer, “, ” Hochul, ”, Hochul, ” Greg Olsen, Olsen, Hochul’s, ” Olsen Organizations: CNN — Media, New York, New York Gov, US Centers for Disease Control, Dolby, Aging, New York State Office, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine Locations: New, Los Angeles, As New York, Germany, New York, —

☆ Cannabis Vendors in Limbo as Judge Halts N.Y. License Program
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Ashley Southall | More About Ashley Southall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Just 23 retailers have opened storefronts or delivery services since the first licensed shop opened in December, and only about 18,000 pounds of cannabis have been sold so far, according to the Office of Cannabis Management. At the current sales rate, 564,000 pounds of legally grown cannabis will remain unsold by the end of the year, agency officials said. Some licensees and lawyers have laid some of the blame on Attorney General Letitia James, whose office is responsible for defending the cannabis program against lawsuits. At the hearing last week, her lawyer struggled to answer basic questions about the program from Justice Bryant, such as distancing requirements between dispensaries. Then, an investor agreed in June to put up $150 million to revive the state’s dispensary plan under terms that have not been disclosed.

Persons: Beau Allulli Jr, ”, Letitia James, Justice Bryant, Kathy Hochul’s Organizations: Cannabis Management, Justice Locations: Lower Manhattan

☆ Why it's so hard to build homes in your neighborhood
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-05 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Single-family homes in Arlington, Massachusetts. Around 75% of residential land in the United States is zoned for single-family homes only. This has had the effect of encouraging ever-larger single-family homes and limiting housing options, like smaller houses. “You can’t just do it all with zoning reform,” Walla Walla City Manager Elizabeth Chamberlain told CNN. The second wave of single-family zoning laws spread during the 1970s, historians say, and the policies became more restrictive.

Persons: Suzanne Kreiter, ”, Jenny Schuetz, “, —, Ben McCanna, Joe Biden’s, Richard Kahlenberg, Kathy Hochul’s, Elizabeth Chamberlain, “ It’s, Nancy Kaye, William Fischel, Fischel, Carlos Avila Gonzalez, Yonah Freemark, we’re, ” Freemark Organizations: New, New York CNN, Boston Globe, Brookings Metro, Republicans, Portland Press Herald, Getty Images, ”, CNN, Homes, “, Dartmouth University, Homeowners, San Francisco Chronicle, AP, Pew Charitable Locations: New York, Arlington , Massachusetts, United States, “, Maine, Getty Images Minneapolis, Arlington , Gainesville, Charlotte, Walla Walla , Washington, Oregon , California, Washington , Montana, Connecticut , Arizona, ” Walla Walla City, Cities, Louisville , Kentucky, Flushing , Queens, America, San Francisco, Los Angeles , New York City, Seattle, Chicago , Philadelphia, Portland, Washington, Walnut Creek , California, Minneapolis, Portland , New Rochelle , New York, , Virginia, Towns, Walla, Walla Walla

☆ The Secret Deal for a Tribal Casino and Why It Imploded
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For months, talks over a new casino deal between New York State and the Seneca Nation of Indians have been at an impasse, with the two sides deadlocked over the size of the state’s cut of hundreds of millions of dollars in gambling revenue, and what the tribe would get in return. With a few precious hours left before state lawmakers were set to break for the year, that suddenly seemed set to change: Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has faced questions over her husband’s ties to commercial gambling interests, tried to fast-track a bill that would have given her administration blanket authority to negotiate a new compact with the Native American nation — and cut out the scrutiny that accompanied the old one. But now the effort, marked as it was by secrecy and a lack of consultation with virtually anyone besides tribal leaders, has backfired spectacularly. It has alienated local officials and gambling and labor interests that are powerful forces in New York State politics and left the state and the Senecas no closer to a new casino compact.

Persons: Kathy Hochul Organizations: New York State Locations: Seneca Nation, American, New York State, Rochester

☆ Wine at Wegmans? Not in New York, if Liquor Stores Can Help It.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Luis Ferré-Sadurní | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The two main alcohol distributors in the state, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and Empire Merchants, have collectively spent at least $120,000 since the year began on lobbying state officials, disclosure records show. The families that own Southern Glazer’s, which is the largest liquor distributor in the United States and based in Florida, also contributed at least $25,000 to Ms. Hochul’s campaign last year. The commission failed to reach consensus on some of the most contentious issues, such as allowing grocery stores to sell wine. It is now up to lawmakers to decide whether to turn the proposed changes into legislation. law, introduced a bill that incorporated the commission’s recommendations.

Persons: Hochul’s, ”, Harry Bronson, “, James Skoufis Organizations: Empire Merchants, Rochester Democrat, Anheuser, Busch, State Senate, Hudson Valley Democrat Locations: Southern, United States, Florida, logjam, Albany, State, Hudson Valley

☆ Despite Hochul’s Pledge, Her Policies Have Helped Husband’s Firm
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At issue is a renewal of the Seneca Nation gaming compact, with billions of dollars at stake. The governor says she is recusing herself from the matter, as is her husband, whose $650,000 in compensation last year helped push the Hochuls’ combined income to just under $1 million. Mr. Hochul has signed his own recusal policy with Delaware North on matters concerning the company’s New York operations. Delaware North was founded more than a century ago in Buffalo, beginning as a peanut stand run by L.M. Jacobs and his brothers, and eventually expanding to stadiums and horse and dog tracks all over the country.

☆ Hochul Acknowledges She Didn’t Vet Adviser Accused of Sexual Harassment
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | Jeffery C. Mays | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Kathy Hochul acknowledged on Thursday that she had not scrutinized the background of a longtime political adviser when she hired him to run her 2018 re-election campaign for lieutenant governor of New York, just months after he was fired for sexually harassing colleagues at a nonprofit in Washington, D.C.Ms. Hochul said that she had seen no reason to vet the adviser, Adam C. Sullivan, because he had already managed her 2011 congressional race. In the absence of a thorough background check, the governor said she had no knowledge of the accusations against him until The New York Times reported them this week, long after Mr. Sullivan had risen to become one of her most trusted counselors. “To ask for a résumé and go through a whole new process later for campaigns, that wasn’t what I was doing,” Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, told reporters of her 2018 hiring decision. “Had I known what I knew now, there would be a very different circumstance.”The remarks were part of Ms. Hochul’s first extended account of her dealings with Mr. Sullivan, 43, whose close ties with the governor threaten to cast a cloud over her promises to clean up Albany after her predecessor, Andrew M. Cuomo, resigned amid his own sexual harassment scandal.

☆ Hochul’s Ex-Adviser Has History of Sexual Harassment Complaints
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | Jeffery C. Mays | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ms. Driscoll did not lodge a formal sexual harassment complaint until mid-July that year, when a woman she supervised came to her recounting a similar experience. A human resources specialist investigated, found the claims credible and in the last days of July, the Hub Project quietly fired Mr. Sullivan. The two had worked together before: In 2011, he helped Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, win a special election for Congress, and she later recommended him for the job at the Hub Project. It is not clear what Mr. Sullivan told her about his time at the Hub Project. Ms. Hochul cut ties with him on Sunday, when she said that she was surprised and disappointed to learn of the behavior described by The Times.

☆ Gov. Hochul Severs Ties With Top Political Adviser in Face of Backlash
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | Jeffery C. Mays | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A top political adviser to Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York abruptly informed colleagues that he would resign on Sunday, citing a New York Times report that called into question his political counsel and described a toxic work environment under him. The adviser, Adam C. Sullivan, was not a paid employee of the state but had been the de facto head of Ms. Hochul’s political operation, overseeing her 2022 campaign. She had also deputized him to help steer the state Democratic Party. In an email Sunday to colleagues, including the party’s chairman, Mr. Sullivan apologized for his behavior and said he and Ms. Hochul agreed he should relinquish his responsibilities.

☆ Kathy Hochul’s Power in Albany Faces Questions After Rough Patch
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Jimmy Vielkind | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Kathy Hochul, in New York City earlier this month, emerged from the state budget battle with her political clout diminished. Kathy Hochul ’s announcement this week of a $229 billion state budget agreement was a coda to several bruising months battling with lawmakers in her party, making clear her political clout has diminished since winning a closer-than-expected election last year. The budget is a month past due, the latest it has been in more than a decade. The Democratic governor was forced to drop her marquee plan to spur more housing growth in the face of legislative resistance. Separately, she suffered an unprecedented rebuke when lawmakers rejected her first nominee to lead the state’s court system.

☆ He Calls the Shots for New York’s Governor. He Lives in Colorado.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | Jeffery C. Mays | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But Mr. Sullivan often insisted that crime was a losing issue for Ms. Hochul. Mr. Sullivan declined to comment on campaign strategy. He and Ms. Hochul have stood by its chairman, Jay Jacobs, who has become a punching bag for Democrats, especially on the left. Mr. Sullivan’s allies say he and Ms. Hochul want to strengthen the party, but they could only describe vague plans. “I don’t think he has any agenda other than the governor being successful.”Susan C. Beachy contributed research.

☆ Black Smokers at Center of New York Fight to Ban Menthol Cigarettes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Luis Ferré-Sadurní | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

ALBANY, N.Y. — A push by Gov. Kathy Hochul to ban menthol-flavored cigarettes in New York has become the focal point of a fierce and expensive lobbying fight, pitting Big Tobacco against the medical community. Caught in the middle are Black smokers, who smoke menthol cigarettes at higher rates than white smokers, and are the main group the ban is meant to help. Decades of aggressive marketing by tobacco companies have caused Black smokers to consume menthol cigarettes, whose cooling sensation on the throat makes them more appealing and addictive. The companies have also funneled at least $135,000 since 2020 to a convenience-store trade group that is fighting the ban.

Law Firms Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP FollowApril 18 (Reuters) - New York's Senate on Tuesday easily confirmed Governor Kathy Hochul’s nominee to lead the state’s highest court, elevating a judge favored by liberal lawmakers. Rowan Wilson was approved by a vote of 40 to 19 as chief judge of the New York State Court of Appeals. Wilson will be the first Black judge in the role, which also oversees the state's court system. Wilson dissented from prominent decisions by former Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, including a ruling last year that maps of the state’s congressional districts redrawn by Democratic lawmakers violated the state’s constitution. Wilson's swift confirmation comes after Hochul’s first nominee for the post, appellate Judge Hector LaSalle, was rejected by the state Senate amid criticism from Democratic lawmakers about his record on abortion and labor issues.

☆ Warmer Reaction for Kathy Hochul’s New Chief Judge Pick
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Jimmy Vielkind | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Judge Rowan Wilson was a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP before his appointment to the New York State Court of Appeals. Photo: Court of Appeals, State of New York

☆ Kathy Hochul’s Plan to Force NYC Suburbs to Approve More Housing Sparks Battle
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Jimmy Vielkind | Photographs Jeenah Moon For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HUNTINGTON, N.Y.—Backhoes are finally clearing the earth for the development of Matinecock Court, an affordable-housing complex in this Long Island suburb that was first proposed 45 years ago. To housing advocates, a multifamily project first floated when Jimmy Carter was president is the ultimate example of unreasonably restrictive suburban zoning and the reason for a push by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul to change the rules. To Long Island officials, who have long been concerned about traffic and school crowding, Matinecock Court was a challenge to the inviolate need for local control over land-use decisions.

☆ Where New York’s Asian Neighborhoods Shifted to the Right
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Jason Kao | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

In last year’s governor’s election, voters in Asian neighborhoods across New York City sharply increased their support for Republicans. And predominantly Asian areas — precincts with a majority of eligible Asian voters — have undergone a pivotal shift. Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Note: The precinct in Kensington is mostly Indian and Bangladeshi. Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Flushing, 2022 Murray Hill Bayside Flushing Northern Blvd. Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area state senate race Bensonhurst Sunset Park McDonald Ave. 65th St. New Utrecht Ave. 8th Ave.

☆ N.Y. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s High-Court Pick, Hector LaSalle, Fails in Committee Vote
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Jimmy Vielkind | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Kathy Hochul cited Justice Hector LaSalle’s temperament and experience in choosing him for the chief judge role. ALBANY, N.Y.—Democrats voted down Gov. Kathy Hochul ‘s nomination of Justice Hector LaSalle for chief judge of New York’s highest court, an unprecedented rejection that dealt a political blow to the newly elected governor. The state Senate’s judiciary committee on Wednesday declined to advance Justice LaSalle’s nomination to lead the New York State Court of Appeals. Of the 19 committee members, two Democrats voted for Justice LaSalle, 10 Democrats voted to reject him and one Democrat joined the panel’s six Republicans to advance his nomination without recommendation.

☆ Human Composting Should Be an Option for New Yorkers - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Caitlin Doughty | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +12 min

Human composting — or, as it’s sometimes referred to, natural organic reduction — fulfills many people’s desire to nurture the earth after dying. In its place, Ms. Spade founded Recompose, a new for-profit company designed to bring human composting to the public. I have no stake in Recompose or any other human composting company.) Human composting, by Recompose’s reckoning, uses just an eighth of this energy and falls in total price between cremation and conventional burial at around $7,000. Human composting reframes the dead body: not something to be protected from nature and the elements, but something meant to return to them.

☆ Kathy Hochul Is the First Woman to Be Elected New York’s Governor
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Jimmy Vielkind | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul became the first woman elected to lead the Empire State after she defeated Republican U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin , according to the Associated Press, in a closer-than-expected race that caught the attention of national Democrats. While there are twice as many enrolled Democrats in the state as Republicans, polls showed the race tightening in October and Ms. Hochul’s margin of victory was less than 10%, according to the state Board of Elections. That marks the best showing by a GOP gubernatorial candidate since George Pataki secured the last Republican statewide win in 2002.

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