Senator Malcolm Smith, the newly affirmed president and majority leader of the State Senate, has Upstate on his mind. Or at least he wants to look like he does.
He's even asked his Number 2, Senate Vice President Pro Tempore David Valesky, to...

In the continuing conflict over seating a new senator from Illinois, there's a winner and there are losers. The winner is Governor Rod Blagojevich. The losers: Senate Democrats and Blagojevich's pick for Barack Obama's Senate seat, Roland...

In his speech this afternoon, Governor David Paterson had one word to describe the state of our state: "Perilous."
The word isn't to be taken lightly, considering that most of these kinds of speeches are feel-good stumping.
But once Paterson...

There were few surprises in Governor David Paterson's State of the State address this afternoon. We knew he would say that things are tough in New York State, and he did. "Perilous" was his word.
To get out of this mess, he said, will take...

During his House campaign, Cornng Democrat Eric Massa had a lot to say about the Iraq war - particularly how we need to end it.
Now he's going to have a chance to add to that very debate. In a move that ought to surprise few, House Majority...

So Malcolm Smith will be the first Democratic Senate Majority leader in 43 years.
After a Democratic conference meeting last night, that was the consensus. Smith and the so-called Gang of Three hammered out an agreement, and the rest of the...

At the outset of a recent community forum on Rochester schools issues, RTA President Adam Urbanski stressed that he and Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard share a lot of common ground.
But make no mistake; the areas of disagreement are still...

Say what you want about actor Sean Penn. But he delivers an outstanding performance in the Gus Van Sant bio-pic about Harvey Milk, the country's first openly gay politician.
The film covers the political rise and eventual assassination of Milk...

Monroe County Legislator Willie Lightfoot called his friend and fellow barber Vincent Dotson a "gentle giant" who was trying to make a difference. (see a 2005 story that City Newspaper did on Dotson and other city barbers.)
Lightfoot held a...

While most of the media chewed on the nuances of President-elect Obama's careful choice of words concerning any possibility of his staff's interaction with radioactive Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, it's the selection of preacher Rick...

In her quest for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, Caroline Kennedy is reaching out to Upstate New York.
She took an Upstate tour yesterday, dropping in on mayors and Democratic Party leaders in Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo.
In Rochester, she...

What on earth is Barack Obama thinking?
The president-elect has chosen Rick Warren, the mega-church preacher and author of "The Purpose Driven Life," to give the invocation at his inauguration.
We shouldn't just shrug this off as an...

Over much of the last 30 years, the majority of us have been willing to turn the reign of government over to someone else while we enjoyed our double decaf lattes and spent Saturday afternoons shopping.
Beginning with the Reagan administration...

"We're about to spend the next six hours in an exercise in futility."
That was Majority Leader Dan Quatro's opening salvo last night as legislators prepared to debate, and ultimately pass, the county budget. (It was approved 15 to 14, with...

There's no real connection between Midtown Plaza and the colossal problems facing Detroit automakers. But something Mayor Bob Duffy said in an interview several months ago resonates.
After hearing so many people romanticize the glory days of...

It's taken awhile, but Democrats have finally brought out the big gun - the one that I've been waiting for - to counter County Executive Maggie Brooks' budget proposal: a financial control board.
"We must change the way the county is managing...

With no big controversy to draw out crowds of people, last night's hearing on the proposed 2009 county budget was relatively tame.
Last year, residents turned out in droves to protest a now-defunct plan to reduce the amount of sales-tax revenue...

It's tough to get laughs out of flood insurance. But US Senator Chuck Schumer gave it a try.
The senator was in Gates today to draw attention to the plight of residents who are getting socked with fees between $400 and $800 for mandatory flood...

It's fair to say that the D&C takes its share of knocks around the City newsroom; we gloat when we scoop them and bitch and make lame excuses when they scoop us. We laugh, like the liberal-elitist-intellectuals we are accused of being, at...

Almost every state in the country is either already in the red or heading in that direction. Governors are meeting today in Philadelphia to plan how to approach the Obama administration for their own bailouts.
Everything is on the cutting...