Karen Dewitt
NYS Capitol CorrespondentKaren DeWitt is Capitol Bureau chief for New York State Public Radio, a network of public radio stations in New York state. She has covered state government and politics for the network since 1990.
She is also a regular contributor to the statewide public television program about New York State government, New York Now. She appears on the reporter’s roundtable segment, and interviews newsmakers.
Karen previously worked for WINS Radio, New York, and has written for numerous publications, including Adirondack Life and the Albany newsweekly Metroland.
She is a past recipient of the prestigious Walter T. Brown Memorial award for excellence in journalism, from the Legislative Correspondents Association, and was named Media Person of the Year for 2009 by the Women’s Press Club of New York State.
Karen is a graduate of the State University of New York at Geneseo.
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Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin visited a pizza shop near the New York State Capitol in Albany Friday to discuss concerns over rising crime. The shop’s owner says the crime rate in his neighborhood may force him to close the location.
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The two candidates for governor in New York are doubling down on their priority issues in the race. Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul, who is running for a full term, highlighted abortion rights on Wednesday, while Republican candidate and Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin focused on fighting crime.
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New York’s crime rate is once again an issue in the governor’s race, after two teenagers were shot Sunday outside the home of Republican candidate Lee Zeldin.
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New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, who has made the rising crime rate an issue in his campaign, saw gun violence literally hit close to home on Sunday, when a drive-by shooting left two people injured in his front yard. No one in the Zeldin family was hurt.
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New York Governor Kathy Hochul is defending a decision to buy over half a billion dollars in COVID-19 rapid tests from a campaign donor last winter. Her Republican opponents have seized on the issue ahead of November's election, and one government reform group says it merits an investigation.
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Late on Friday, Governor Kathy Hochul’s Labor Commissioner issued an order to phase in a 40-hour work week for farm laborers by 2032. The plan, recommended by a wage board, has sparked backlash from farmers and some Republican elected officials who say it will severely harm New York's farming industry.
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The New York State Democratic Party is reaching out to independent voters on the abortion issue, sending mailers that paint Republican candidate for governor, Congressman Lee Zeldin, as holding unacceptably “extreme” views. Zeldin says he would not try to alter the state’s abortion rights laws.
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A new poll finds New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul ahead of her Republican opponent, Lee Zeldin, as Hochul is making inroads into the law enforcement sector, which traditionally has held views to the right of many Democrats.
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Public comments on changes to New York state’s proposed new minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes are due by the end of Monday. The union representing many of the state’s nursing home workers says the health department’s proposed rules fall short and undermine the intent of the 2021 law.
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New York Congressman and Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin says, even though he is opposed to abortion rights, he would not make big changes in the state’s abortion laws. But his opponent, Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul, isn’t buying it.