1010 WINS - On-Air, Online, On Demand - It’s Official: Clinton, Spitzer, Cuomo Have Primaries
ALBANY (1010 WINS) — The state Board of Elections, as expected, officially declared on Monday that Democratic front-runners Hillary Rodham Clinton, Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo will all face Sept. 12 primary challenges.
The action came as state election officials certified […]

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Fiscal Time Bomb
New York’s state and local governments provide their retired employees with continuing health insurance coverage on the same basis as active workers, at benefit levels far more generous than those available to taxpayers employed in the private sector.
Until now, the true cost of this largesse has been obscured by government accounting methods […]

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State facing at least $47 billion in retiree benefit payments
ALBANY, N.Y. — The state has reported for the first time how much it will cost taxpayers to provide health benefits to government retirees: at least $47 billion over the next three decades, according to Gov. George Pataki’s Budget Office.
The cost, which could reach $54 […]

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PoughkeepsieJournal.com - N.Y. Republicans look at Medicaid problems
Billions are wasted each year through mismanagement, waste and outright fraud in the Medicaid system. The challenge is how to prevent the fraud and waste, and go after people and companies who abuse the system.
That was the message of a panel of Republican assemblymen and software makers who […]

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Senate failing to fix state campaign finance
We share your frustration with the failure of Albany to enact meaningful campaign finance reform (”Only in New York,” Aug. 1 editorial). The Brennan Center’s finding that state’s campaign finance law is a disgrace is consistent with every independent analysis of the system. We disagree; the state Assembly is […]

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Free New York Blog
We already know that the average U.S. worker is taxed higher than a medieval serf, and New Yorkers are plundered far more than the average modern worker.
The centralization of power in Washington and Albany has resulted in the greatest amount of plunder, as is evident in the shameful spending practices of legislatures […]

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The Cost of Health Insurance in NYS
by Scott Miller
Senator Seward and esteemed members of the Insurance Committee, thank you for providing this forum to discuss the various forces that are driving up the cost of health insurance. My name is Scott Miller and I am the owner and president of Miller Printing & Litho in […]

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New York’s property taxes are too high.
New York’s property taxes are too high. Albany and localities are both to blame
by Robert B. Ward,
Almost everyone knows by now that New York’s taxes are too high. Where, exactly?
One major problem, certainly, is our heavy property-tax burden. The latest Census figures show property taxes in New York […]

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Cahill urges override of governor’s early retirement vetoy
Albany – Assemblyman Kevin Cahill of Kingston has asked Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to reconvene the house to override Governor Pataki’s veto of the legislature’s state workforce reduction plan.
Last month the governor vetoed legislation that would have allowed public employees to retire with no penalties if they have […]

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SHEL LAW FIRM PULLS ‘SUE STATE’ WEB AD
ALBANY - A top law firm that employs Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has quietly removed a controversial solicitation on its Web site seeking clients to sue the state.
Weitz & Luxenberg deleted the section of its Web site that made an ambulance-chasing appeal to people who claim to […]

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