It’s time for the Republican Party to call the police and report a kidnapping. A few months ago, the party was basking in the glow of a big victory in Washington and victories around the country. Now it seems that wherever you look, there’s chaos and confusion. more

Facing a fiscal crisis, Nassau County’s leaders have difficult decisions to make. Raising property taxes and imposing budget cuts are two options and County Executive Ed Mangano said last week that he would choose the latter. more

Facing a fiscal crisis, Nassau County’s leaders have difficult decisions to make. Raising property taxes and imposing budget cuts are two options. County Executive Ed Mangano said last week that … more

Under Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed budget plan, South Nassau Communities Hospital may lose around $2 million in state funding, but hospital officials say they believe it is a storm the institution … more

The West Hempstead Board of Education’s second budget workshop of the season, held on March 8, was punctuated by the crying, sniffling and distribution of tissues by students who attended to … more

State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos says he is optimistic that despite the difficult choices they face, this is the year when Albany lawmakers will finally make the structural changes to the state budget needed to rein in spending. more

On Feb. 28, in front of sizable crowd of teachers, parents and students in the School 4 auditorium, Oceanside School District officials presented their second workshop on the 2011-12 budget, and the … more

It is time for leaders to take strong, firm stances. That goes for lawmakers in Washington and Albany, our county, town and village representatives and the elected members of our own boards of education. more

The Bellmore-based Long Island Crisis Center is facing a crisis of its own: Governor Cuomo’s proposed budget cuts mean that the center could lose nearly one-third of its budget, possibly shutting … more

My last column, “Stop playing games with the budget deficit” (Feb. 3) was written one week before New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli issued his analysis of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive budget draft. The irrationality I outlined fell short of anticipating the following mea-culpa expressed in the comptroller’s analysis. “The SFY 2010-2011 enacted budget relied on $16.7 billion in non-recurring or temporary budget resources; and overly optimistic tax revenue projections, causing a dramatically worsened state structural deficit.” How dramatic? These tenuous entries constituted 30 percent of all the monies in the state’s operating fund. more