New York City
Policy
When environmental protection becomes personal
An interview with New York City Council Committee Chairman Costa Constantinides
Energy & Environment
Policy
How can Cuomo hit his environmental goals?
An interview with energy czar Richard Kauffman and DEC chief Basil Seggos on how Andrew Cuomo can hit his environmental goals.
MTA
Policy
New York’s 4 biggest environmental threats
New York’s biggest environmental threats: How the state is addressing them and where it’s falling short.
New York City
Policy
Kicking the bag down the road
Billions of plastic bags clog sewage plants, pollute waterways and cling to trees and lampposts in New York City. And Albany won’t let the city stop it.
Andrew Cuomo
Policy
How fishermen could thwart Cuomo’s offshore wind master plan
Offshore wind turbines are a critical part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's clean energy mandate to generate 50 percent of the state’s electricity from renewable energy. But a few humble fishermen are threatening to derail the governor’s goals with a federal lawsuit they believe is their last best shot to save their livelihoods.
Andrew Cuomo
Policy
How the school aid formula became unrecognizable
In the state budget, the governor included a requirement that school districts submit information to the state outlining how they will distribute aid to each of their schools. But the governor’s new transparency mandate is seen by many in the education community as an attempt to divert attention from a much more complicated and costly issue: how aid is divided up among school districts.
New York City
Policy
How the 2020 census citizenship question will affect New York’s headcount
Many immigrant households may skip the survey, but NYC has a plan to fight back.
New York City
Policy
How insurance is adapting for the modern age
Key New York officials give us the latest on how the insurance industry is adapting for the modern age.
Transportation
Policy
Insuring the future
What modernization and technology mean for New York's insurance industry.
Rikers Island
Policy
Where people are locked up around NYC
Where people are locked up around New York City. Spoiler alert: Jails are already in your backyard.
Andrew Cuomo
Policy
Cuomo’s “disingenuous” estimate of NYC's surplus
Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked New York City to pony up more money for the subways in a speech on Thursday – but the de Blasio administration shot down the budget numbers he used as evidence as “completely disingenuous.”
Labor
Policy
What the Assembly wants to do for public-sector unions
An interview with Peter Abbate Jr., chairman of the Assembly Committee on Governmental Employees.
Budget
Policy
5 big insurance issues in New York
New York faces a number of other insurance issues – some of which were addressed as part of the budget talks, and some that weren’t. Here are five key legislative and regulatory issues affecting the state’s insurance industry.
New York State
Policy
Want to pay a little more for green energy? It’s not so simple
Many ESCOs pitch their services to potential customers as a way of going green. The details vary, but the idea is always to direct your money toward cleaner or renewable energy, such as wind and solar.
Budget
Policy
State budget includes health care fund after $2.8 million lobbying push
Following months of threats by the Trump administration to slash federal health care spending, New York state’s 2018-19 budget responded by creating a new health care shortfall fund – and a major lobbying push likely played a role.
Policy
How an obscure nonprofit became one of NYC's largest contractors
Queens-based nonprofit Childrens Community Services was a quarter-million dollars in the red in 2014, according to IRS records. But by the summer of 2017, record homelessness had propelled the organization to securing what is now the eighth largest year-to-date spending of any city contract, according to Checkbook NYC.
New York State
Policy
New York’s pension funds still invest in guns, tobacco and oil
New York’s pension funds still invest in guns, tobacco and oil because divesting from controversial companies or industries is not so simple – even after high-profile incidents, such as the Florida school shooting in February that left 17 dead, increase the political pressure to do so.
Labor
Policy