Long Beach Medical Center is expected to reopen this evening, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano said, after many of the hospital’s 230 patients were evacuated to Nassau University Medical Center … more

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced earlier today that he has deployed an additional 1,000 New York National Guard troops to augment the state's Hurricane Irene response efforts, bringing the total … more

Smoking is now officially prohibited on Long Island Rail Road platforms. Citing the dangers of secondhand smoke, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law on Monday that forbids commuters from smoking on … more

As ideas go, we think Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order, announced last week at SUNY Old Westbury, creating 10 state regional economic development councils, including one for Long Island, is brilliant. The concept of streamlining the development process — now a byzantine maze of bureaucracy — may be of great value. more

Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council on July 27 to redefine the relationship between the state government and businesses, in order to stimulate regional economic development and create jobs statewide. Cuomo made his announcement at SUNY Old Westbury. more

Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council on July 27 to redefine the relationship between the state government and businesses, in order to stimulate regional economic development and create jobs statewide. Cuomo made his announcement at SUNY Old Westbury. more

My last two columns, “As promised: keeping tabs” (June 30 – July 6) and “Is the bloom off the rose?” (July 21-27) provided information to evaluate the session-ending accomplishments of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Two fundamental questions were raised. Has there been a real transformation in addressing the way the “people’s business” is being managed in Albany? Do our political leaders really understand that the state of New York is still headed down a path of fiscal instability and requires levels of real reform hardly evident to date? more

Malvernites Therese Lendino and Laura Casini started the next chapter of their lives where the first began — on Queens Boulevard, near Borough Hall and the Criminal Court House. It was there … more

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo launched the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council on July 27 to redesign the relationship between the state government and businesses, in order to stimulate regional economic development and create jobs statewide. more

New York state government has a well-deserved reputation for ineffectiveness. Ask most New Yorkers what one word best describes Albany, and the most common response would be “dysfunctional.” That’s the term that New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice used in a study in 2004, in its follow-up in 2006 and in its 2008 update, “Still Broken.” more