City & Region

Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 61-year-old Willie Henley of Buffalo was virtually arraigned this morning before State Supreme Court Justice Christopher J. Burns on an indictment charging him with one count of Assault in the Second

Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 31-year-old Angel DeJesus of Buffalo was virtually arraigned yesterday before Erie County Court Judge Sheila A. DiTullio on an indictment charging him with the following offenses: Two counts of Predatory Sexual

BY ANGELA RACHIDI The disappointing April jobs report raised new questions about how government policies, such as enhanced unemployment insurance, have slowed the economic recovery by discouraging people from returning to work. Some have suggested that closed childcare facilities and schools, not employment disincentives, are

BY BILL HAMMOND New York’s hospitals remained near the bottom of two quality report cards issued last week. In an update to Hospital Compare, a consumer guide from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the state’s hospitals received an

BY E.J. McMAHON Today was the (rescheduled) deadline for filing 2020 federal income tax returns, which makes this New York’s third annual SALT-Free Income Tax Day. By midnight tonight, most Empire State residents will have been reminded once again that—despite

BY E.J. McMAHON New York’s spending on public elementary and secondary education reached $25,139 per pupil during the 2018-19 school year, once again surpassing all states in the latest U.S. Census annual data. The Empire State’s public schools spent 91 percent more than

BY PETER WARREN School budget votes proposing an average increase in per pupil spending of 4.2 percent were overwhelmingly approved in state-wide voting held yesterday, with all but five of 685 individual budget votes succeeding. New York’s tax cap law did flex

BY E.J. McMAHON Private-sector employment in New York increased faster than the nationwide recovery rate in the month of April, according to the state’s latest monthly jobs report. The April count of private-sector employment was estimated at 7.4 million jobs, up

BY E.J. McMAHON Barely a year after Governor Cuomo declared the state was “broke” due to the pandemic, New York’s budget is bursting with cash—fueling enormous spending hikes, as shown in the financial plan update released today by Governor Cuomo’s Division

BY E.J. McMAHON Since the late 1960s, New York’s primary export to the rest of the nation has been people, as reflected in federal data tracking population flows within and between states. The Empire State has lost a net 1,585,770 residents to

BY BILL HAMMOND In spite of an ongoing pandemic and spiraling Medicaid costs, New York’s health-care system received surprisingly little attention in the new state budget. On issue after issue, lawmakers chose to preserve the status quo without addressing the

BY E.J. McMAHON New York’s private-sector job recovery accelerated in March—but remained far behind the national pace on a year-to-year basis, according to the latest monthly figures from the state Labor Department. This analysis was updated April 16 with subsequently

BY BILL HAMMOND New York’s bluest counties are posting the lowest coronavirus vaccination rates for older residents, a striking contrast with the pattern in the U.S. as a whole. The disparity appears to be mainly driven by Brooklyn and the

BY MATT WEIDINGER Fact-checkers have started to notice the shaky jobs claims made by Biden administration officials in touting their $2.2 trillion American Jobs Plan. That includes this whopper from President Biden last week: “Independent analysis shows that if we pass this plan, the

BY PAUL H. KUPIEC Newly-elected administrations try to lay the groundwork for their legacy in the first 100-days in office. During their “honeymoon” period, they introduce landmark legislation and issue executive orders to address existential economic or national security concerns,

BY BRENT ORRELL That’s the question raised by a new incentive program designed to draw workers freed from geography by remote-work options to live in the state of West Virginia. Ascend West Virginia is offering $12,000 and other perks as incentives to draw

BY ANGELA RACHIDI When the coronavirus pandemic hit American shores in early 2020, questions emerged over how employers and employees would handle the anticipated need for workers to take time away for illness or to care for family members. Without a national paid leave law,

BY MATT WEIDINGER The Washington Post reports President Joe Biden’s next trillion-dollar spending plan “is expected to devote hundreds of billions of dollars to new programs,” including “$225 billion for child-care funding; $225 billion for paid family and medical leave; $200 billion