March 4, 2025 - In light of federal actions negatively impacting the day-to-day lives of transgender New Yorkers, we explore how the potential substantive and rhetorical response from state policymakers with Kei Williams, interim director of the New Pride Agenda.
March 4, 2025 - We highlight efforts to expand access to financial services for marijuana businesses and ensuring New York-grown marijuana products are sold in the Empire State with James Rogers, director of the trade practices bureau at the State Office of Cannabis Management.
March 4, 2025 - Gov. Kathy Hochul talks about the importance of child care, but her executive budget proposal doesn't address the industry's workforce, according to members of the state Child Care Availability Task Force. We discuss investments into child care providers with Schuyler Center for Analysis & Advocacy Policy Director Dede Hill, and EdTrust-New York Director of Partnerships & Early Child Policy Jenn O'Connor.
Feb. 28, 2025 - We talk with Alex Thompson and Blaise Bryant of the New York Association on Independent Living about the subminimum wage allowed for people with disabilities, funding in the budget to keep New Yorkers independent, and the controversial transition of a home care program.
FEB. 28, 2025 - American Farmland Trust New York Policy Director Julian Magnano calls on the state to increase its investment in farmland protection efforts in order to preserve land for agriculture and create more opportunities for farmers.
FEB. 28, 2025 - Gov. Kathy Hochul's effort to increase involuntary commitments has generated a lot of rhetoric, but what will her proposal actually do? We try to predict the ramifications with Keith Brennan, a former state mental health official and now with the law firm Barclay Damon.
Feb. 27, 2025 - Empower Schools senior advisor Dia Bryant makes the case for investing state resources into early college high school programs that give students a free opportunity to earn college credits and accelerate their academic career.
Feb. 27, 2025 - State Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee Chair Julia Salazar, a Brooklyn Democrat, discusses New York's prison system, including the thousands of guards on strike, the threats of violence in facilities, and whether the system is still in need of progressive reforms.
Feb. 27, 2025 - We take the temperature of the manufacturing industry in New York with Randy Wolken, president and CEO of MACNY: The Manufacturers Association. We consider tax parity for small manufacturers, creating more pathways to a manufacturing job, and the impact of new tariffs.
Feb. 26, 2025 - Chef Christopher Galarza, co-founder of EcoChef, discusses how to make kitchens more sustainable, including transitioning to induction stovetops.
Feb. 26, 2025 - Medicaid reimbursement rates are critical to funding nursing home services and operators of these long-term care facilities say the state's rates don't keep up with the cost of care. We discuss this issue and other staffing issues at nursing homes with Dr. Kimberly Townsend, president and CEO of Loretto, a health care provider in central New York.
Feb. 26, 2025 - Tax rebates, credits and cuts may have gotten the attention from the governor's budget proposal, but there are other tax policies in the spending plan, which we unpack with Liz Pascal, a partner with the law firm of Hodgson Russ.
Feb. 28, 2025 - New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports Commissioner Chinazo Cunningham talks about standardizing care at halfway houses, funding for drug recovery and treatment in the governor's budget, and the impact of the prison strike on substance abuse treatment in correctional facilities.
Feb. 26, 2025 - Municipalities across New York rely on aid from the state government to balance their budgets, but local government leaders argue they need more help from Albany. Syracuse City Auditor Alexander Marion makes the case for boosting aid and updating how its distributed.
Feb. 25, 2025 - State education officials are threatening to use their authority to strip public funds from yeshivas that aren't meeting the basic, secular education needs of their students. We discuss this development with Adina Mermelstein Konikoff, executive director of Young Advocates For Fair Education, which is looking to bring transparency and minimum standards to private schools serving parts of the Hasidic community.
Feb. 25, 2025 - Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, a Queens Democrat, discusses the Trump administration's legal challenge to New York's 2019 law allowing undocumented New Yorkers to apply for a driver's license and put limits on how records would be shared with federal officials.
Feb. 25, 2025 - Affordability is in the eye of the beholder, but efforts to quantify what it takes to make it in New York are woefully inadequate, according to Jennifer Jones Austin, co-chair of the National True Cost of Living Coalition, which wants to create an updated, localized formula for calculating poverty.
Feb. 25, 2025 - Project Guardianship President & CEO Kimberly George discusses the difficulties in finding legal guardians for New Yorkers who lack the competency to make life decisions for themselves.
Feb. 14, 2025 - The Hochul administration is hoping to improve the experience New Yorkers have when interacting with the state government, so we get an update on these efforts from Tonya Webster, the chief customer experience officer for New York. We talk about digitizing working papers, improving state websites, and much more.
Feb. 14, 2025 - Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado visited the studio for a wide-ranging conversation that touched on his push for New York City Mayor Eric Adams to resign, his relationship with Gov. Kathy Hochul, his plans for 2026, and issues being discussed at the Capitol.
Feb. 14, 2025 - State Sen. Jake Ashby, a Capital Region Republican, wants to require websites with pornography to verify that visitors to their site are least 18, which is the law in more than a dozen states.
Feb. 13, 2025 - An exam required to be a licensed master social worker is disproportionately keeping ethnic minorities from entering this critical field, according to proponents of repealing the exam requirement. We examine the positives and negatives of the status quo with Luis Lopez, executive director of the Latino Social Work Coalition & Scholarship Fund, and Jacqueline Mondros, interim executive director of Social Workers for Justice.
Feb. 13, 2025 - Car repair shops say it is time for state policymakers to raise what they can charge for vehicle inspections in order to cover their labor expenses. We discuss increasing this annual cost and addressing the workforce shortage at car repair shops with Wayne Bombardiere, executive director of the New York State Association of Service Stations & Repair Shops.
Feb. 13, 2025 - New York's groundbreaking law intended to make large polluters pay billions for climate resiliency projects is tied up in the courts, but we still wanted to consider what implementation could look like for the state. We considered the merits of the lawsuit and the next steps for environmental regulators with Lee Wasserman, director of the Rockeller Family Fund, which supported the adoption of the law.
Feb. 13, 2025 - New York Apartment Association CEO Kenny Burgos makes the case for more aggressive efforts to build up the state's housing supply and revisiting the laws governing rent regulation.
Feb. 12, 2025 - In the best of times, nonprofit organizations contracting with the state are facing an uphill battle, with long waits to execute contracts and rates that don't cover the full cost of programs. But 2025 is far from the best of times explains Megan Allen, CEO of the New York Council of Nonprofits, who outlines all the challenges facing nonprofits in New York.
Feb. 12, 2025 - The transit system serving the New York City area may get all of the attention, but transit operators around the state need some more love too, according to James Morrell, director of public transportation for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority and president of the New York Public Transit Association.
Feb. 11, 2025 - New York's nascent system of using tax dollars to amplify local political contributions to state legislative candidates had a major impact on fundraising practices during the 2024 cycle, according to an analysis by the Brennan Center. We discuss their findings and the program's future with Marina Pino, a counsel with the center's elections and government program.
Feb. 11, 2025 - New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault Executive Director Emily Miles talks about the services that should be available to survivors of sexual assault, including specially trained medical personnel at hospitals.
Feb. 11, 2025 - Assembly Transportation Committee Chair Bill Magnarelli, a Syracuse-area Democrat, weighs in on the governor's budget, including what it means for road upkeep and upstate transit systems.
