Here and Now

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in Albany with no public schedule.

Travel restrictions in Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, and Wyoming Counties have been lifted.

Time Warner Cable News meteorologists say they’ve seen snow totals anywhere from 10 to fifteen inches in the area as of Wednesday night. The total is hard to measure due to blowing snow, and some areas may have seen more accumulation than that.

It’s still bitter cold out there, and conditions on the roads are not great. Be careful driving. Check TWCNews.com for closures.

At 8:10 a.m., NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito appears on FOX 5’s “Good Day New York.”

At 9 a.m., NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio will meet with first responders at the site of the Harlem explosion and building collapse, 116th Street and Lexington Avenue, Manhattan.

Also at 9 a.m., Westchester County Executive and gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino, along with the Department of Community Mental Health and Westchester Jewish Community Services, will present “Youth Mental Health First Aid,” a new Safer Communities initiative, Westchester County Center.

Also at 9 a.m., Sen. Ruben Diaz, the senior partner of the Brooklyn law firm Rubenstein & Rynecki, Sanford Rubenstein, and New York Hispanic Clergy Organization members hold a “Prayer Rally for Justice” and news conference in response to the sexual assault of a Manhattanville Health Care Center resident who can’t speak, to coincide with a suspect’s court hearing; Bronx Supreme Court Criminal Term, 265 E. 161st St., the Bronx.

At 10:30 a.m., AG Eric Schneiderman will make an announcement regarding workplace discrimination during his welcoming remarks at the Out In Law Leadership Summit, NYU School of Law, 40 Washington Square South, Manhattan.

The blast drew new attention to the administration’s lack of a permanent commissioner overseeing the city’s Buildings Department – one of a number of high-profile appointments de Blasio has yet to make 10 weeks into his term.

De Blasio blamed a gas leak for the blast, but a source told the Daily News the explosion was the result of a water main collapsing onto a gas line under the street.

Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez: “This troubling concern comes just a day after the Center for an Urban Future released a report noting the dire need for mass infrastructural improvements to our city’s gas lines, water pipes, roads and rails.”

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, whose city has been plagued by water main breaks this winter, reiterates her pitch for state assistance with upgrading crumbling infrastructure.

The Assembly has already passed its one-house budget proposal. Negotiations continue in the Senate between the IDC and the GOP over its measure.

A sticking point in the Senate: Public campaign financing. Senate leaders are considering using money the state receives from legal settlements instead of taxpayer dollars to fund such a system.

Sources tell the NY Post the Senate will propose sweeping measures in its budget bill to undo de Blasio’s ­moves against charter schools.

The Assembly’s plan would require the state to compensate Albany for improvements to its vast tax-exempt landholdings on Harriman State Office Campus, but it didn’t include Cuomo’s proposal for a $600 million new public health laboratory on the 330-acre campus.

Donald Trump has given boosters of his potential gubernatorial bid what he insists is a new timetable, pegged to when he finishes filming the latest season of “The Apprentice” in April. He has also reportedly said he’ll spend $50 million on a run.

The Public Campaign Action Fund, a national group pushing for public campaign finance, is unleashing a $600,000 ad campaign praising Cuomo and pinning potential inaction on issue on the state senators.

The Hollywood film producer who will be the first tenant at a state nanotechnology business hub in DeWitt owes more than $400,000 to 13 laborers and an investor from a failed movie production three years ago.

A film production company that is moving to a new nanotechnology hub in DeWitt will announce plans today for an Upstate film, “The Opium War,” part of which is expected to be shot in downtown Syracuse.

State GOP Chairman Ed Cox praised state elections commissioners for tackling what he says Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission would not – investigating a fundraising committee linked to allies such as political operative G. Steven Pigeon of Buffalo.

The agreement between IBM and the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering calling on the company to retain 3,100 jobs in New York through 2016 was signed last June. But Cuomo did not announce the deal until Feb. 24 – just days before IBM announced sweeping layoffs companywide.

The Utica Observer-Dispatch is annoyed Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino skipped the Rome-Utica-Herkimer region when he made a post campaign announcement upstate swing.

The Assembly’s med-mar proposal would allow the state to charge a 10 percent tax on the drug’s retail price, and allows patients certified by the state’s health department to possess 2.5 ounces of pot.

While legally grown medical marijuana can currently be purchased for about $3,500 a pound in Colorado, where medical as well as recreational pot use is legal, it would likely cost around $4,500 in New York.

NYSUT is pressuring the State Board of Regents to reject some school districts’ “sit and stare” policies, which designate that students who choose to “opt out” of state exams should not be offered alternate locations or activities during testing.

The United Federation of Teachers – taking its case for better pay and working conditions public in advance of bargaining with the de Blasio administration – said that the city is losing experienced teachers at an alarming rate.

In a symbolically important move, the NYC Council’s Brooklyn delegation elected freshman Councilman Carlos Menchaca as its co-chair, potentially positioning the 33-year-old lawmaker for bigger things down the road.

An ambitious experiment involving 4,000 children, lasting more than six years and costing $25 million is designed to answer a fundamental question: When it comes to preschool, what actually works?

Citing the potential impact on public health of Albany’s growing role as an oil hub, the county executive ordered a moratorium on the expansion of oil processing facilities at the Port of Albany.

The new owners of the financially troubled 74 State Hotel are already getting a taste of Albany politics: A threatened boycott by at least three dozen state lawmakers upset with the way the new owners have been treating workers.

Demand for milk to supply the state’s growing Greek yogurt industry is expected to increase later this year when distribution of Greek yogurt through the federal school lunch program will expand to 12 states.

At his first meeting at the helm of the state Gaming Commission, Chairman Mark Gearan called for improving programs to prevent and treat problem gambling.

This entry was posted by Liz Benjamin on March 13, 2014 at 6:26 am, and is filed under Uncategorized. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

orange county

I don’t see a ‘war’ between Mayor DeBlasio and charter schools. If they can afford to pay Moskowitz $475,000 annually I think they can afford to rent their own space without taking it from the public schools.

BusterBrown

[While legally grown medical marijuana can currently be purchased for about $3,500 a pound in Colorado, where medical as well as recreational pot use is legal, it would likely cost around $4,500 in New York.]

That’s 30% more than Colorado and yet another example of why nobody want to do business in NYS. EVERYTHING our state government touches turns to sh*t…because of state imposed taxes and burdensome regulations.

It’s UNCONSCIONABLE to be taxing artificial hearts (or whatever it was) and prescription drugs, including marijuana. The tax will just be passed on to people who are fighting debilitating/life-ending diseases. They’ve already lost their jobs and are going broke. Yet our mercenary governor (and state legislators) insist on making a buck off of illness and death.

Either (1) let pharmacies buy medical grade pot from Colorado and don’t tax it or (2) skip legalizing med-mar entirely, IMHO. We’ve got enough producers of countless goods unable to compete pricewise — due to state meddling. If a 30% markup on pot is the best NYS has to offer the sick, they might as well continue buying it from their local dealer. They’re kids will acquire it from them, if need be. The competitive market will do its thing and drive out inefficient producers. It’s laughable that even drug dealers know more about running a profitable business than the people running NYS.

BusterBrown

[De Blasio blamed a gas leak for the blast, but a source told the Daily News the explosion was the result of a water main collapsing onto a gas line under the street.]

And so the City and Con Ed begin their game of musical chairs to see who gets stuck paying the inevitable lawsuits. The PSC’s own “2012 – Gas Safety Performance Measures Report” (bitDOTly/1iGrQNM) indicates Con Ed was doing a decent job of responding quickly to calls about gas leaks. If people chose to delay calling Con Ed, it’s not the utility’s fault. They showed up pronto as soon as a call of a leak came in. Unfortunately, it was too late. Things had just gone kaboom.

deBlasio can flap his lips all he wants. THE NTSB and the courts will decide who was at fault. It might very well be the City.

BusterBrown

It’s also the City’s fault if calls to 311 weren’t relayed to Con Ed ASAP. Sounds to me like the tenants weren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer, either. How many times does a sane person call 311 and get ignored before calling the utility directly?