Blair Horner

In less than two months, in fact, New Yorkers will be able to start going to early voting polling centers and submitting mail-in ballots - that is if the President’s efforts to derail mail-in voting fail.

The costs to New Yorkers will go beyond the damage to the public’s health and environment; it will hammer our wallets too.

“Stealing” an election is, of course, a criminal act, and there is no evidence to support the claim. Campaign rhetoric aside, what is the debate about and what would it mean to voters?

New York moved to the head of the pack in protecting consumers from looming rate hikes resulting from the inadequately regulated boom in data center construction.

There is an old political adage: “Money is the mother’s milk of politics.” It means that political power flows from large war chests to candidates and to lobbying efforts that influence government decisions.

Everywhere you look, there is a growing concern over the threats posed by A.I. data centers. We have relied on data centers for years, but the burgeoning construction of new, more massive ones has hit a nerve in an increasingly cost-conscious America.

Friday evening the state Assembly wrapped up its 2026 legislative session, a day after the state Senate. In many ways the legislative session was a typical one: The budget was late (the latest since 2010); lawmakers held campaign fundraising events in the Capital District; and hundreds of bills were approved at the end of session in a flurry of activity in both houses.

Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer. Bar-B-Qs, picnics, vacationing, Americans will want to be outdoors. And at events large and small, in parks or backyards, Americans bring with them the foods and beverages that are easiest to transport.

Now well over a month late, it appears that Governor Hochul and state lawmakers are on a path to finish off the budget, which was due on April 1st. Since the final budget agreement will be the latest since 2010, the tardiness will squeeze the time available to tackle non-budget topics.

The fight over New York’s quarter-plus-trillion dollar budget continues with little evidence of it ending anytime soon. In what has now become an annual ritual, Governor Hochul has frozen budget negotiations in order to pressure lawmakers to agree to what are essentially non-budget policy initiatives.