Governor Kathy Hochul

Albany’s state-backed downtown revitalization plan has been unveiled by Governor Kathy Hochul’s office. WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief Jesse Taylor had a chance to read some of the plan and spoke to Northeast Report host Lucas Willard about some of the key takeaways.

As ICE ramps up its crackdown, immigrants in New York state are facing an increasingly complicated immigration court system without sufficient access to legal representation.

(Airs 02/06/26 @ 10 p.m.) The Legislative Gazette is a weekly program about New York State Government and politics. On this week’s Gazette: Governor Hochul takes her strongest stance yet amid tensions over ICE, the governor proposes several initiatives to assist the state’s farmers, and The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families want more mental health support.

(Airs 01/22/26 @ 3 p.m.) WAMC’s David Guistina in conversation with Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO of The New York Immigration Coalition, about their 2026 legislative agenda including passage of the New York For All Act which would ban the state from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Environmental advocates are cheering Governor Kathy Hochul’s State of the State address this week where she outlined goals for 2026 and highlighted accomplishments of 2025.

(Airs 01/16/26 @ 10 p.m.) The Legislative Gazette is a weekly program about New York State Government and politics. On this week’s Gazette: Governor Kathy Hochul gave her fifth State of the State speech, we’ll have reaction from Republicans, Newsday’s Yancey Roy joins us to talk about the governor’s push for more nuclear power, and hundreds of Orange County residents push back against a proposed ICE detention facility.

As part of her State of the State agenda, Gov. Kathy Hochul is set to announce a "These Lands are for Everyone" initiative to help expand access to state lands to New Yorkers with disabilities.

Could a mile-long canal help revitalize Albany’s waterfront? Several local leaders are already on board. That has one group hoping support from the governor could be on the horizon.

(Airs 12/25/25 @ 3 p.m.) WAMC’s David Guistina in conversation with Paul Wolf, President Emeritus of The New York Coalition for Open Government, about why they put Governor Kathy Hochul on their naughty list for the third year in a row, and much more.

With the calendar year wrapping up and Governor Kathy Hochul filtering through hundreds of bills, let’s take a look back at some of the biggest issues that New York State politics faced this year.