March 20, 2013 - 4:53 PM
By Tom Precious
ALBANY -- The National Rifle Association's affiliate in New York will file a lawsuit in court tomorrow seeking to overturn the state's gun control law.
Tom King, president of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, would only say the suit will challenge "the constitutionality of a number of issues'' contained in the NY-SAFE Act, which was passed in January.
Continue reading "Major legal challenge to NY-SAFE Act coming tomorrow" »
March 20, 2013 - 1:55 PM
By Tom Precious
ALBANY – Gov. Andrew Cuomo is backing down on a provision in the new gun control law that in three weeks would have banned gun shops from selling weapon clips that hold up to 10 bullets.
With opposition still active by gun rights groups and owners, Cuomo said the law passed in January has “inconsistent’’ provisions that permit people to have 10 bullet magazines at a competition or gun range but makes it illegal to have more than seven rounds in the magazine. Gun makers say they do not make seven-round magazines, and gun rights groups say Cuomo’s gun bill was crafted as a way to limit their gun purchase rights by going after the clip sizes.
Under the plan being negotiated at the Capitol, Cuomo said it will still be illegal for people to have more than seven bullets in a clip, even if that clip has a 10-round capacity. The only exception is at gun ranges and at shooting competitions.
The law grandfathered in existing 10-round clips purchased before April 15. Now, those larger clip sizes will still be allowed to be sold after April 15 in New York if the deal is finalized. The plan was first floated by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on Tuesday.
Cuomo, whose poll numbers have been dropping, especially upstate, said the change has nothing to do with anything other than what he characterized numerous times as inconsistent language. Cuomo said any push to permit people to still put up to 10 bullets in the 10-bullet capacity clips is a “non-starter.’’
UPDATE: After meeting with Cuomo this afternoon, Silver sought to downplay the change. "It's a change to accommodate commerce, basically. They're not being made in sevens,'' he said of seven bullet clips.
Asked if he was worried about more, larger clips being in circulation, which was the stated intent of the lower magazine sizes when Cuomo and lawmakers cut the deal, Silver said: "The issue is not the magazines. The issue is the people and what they do with them ... We're banning assault weapons. We're not going back on banning assault weapons. That's a tremendous accomplishment in this state.''
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March 20, 2013 - 1:39 PM
By Tom Precious
ALBANY -- Lawmakers say they are killing Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to expand the Lottery's Quick Draw game, which gambling treatment experts say is especially addictive.
"That's not happening,'' said one top legislator.
The governor, seeking to raise at least $25 million, wanted to allow Quick Draw -- an electronic, keno-like game -- in hundreds of new establishments. He also proposed allowing those between 18 and 21 years old into bars to bet Quick Draw; current law says someone in a bar must be 21 to play the game.
The governor, like previous governors before him, has been seeking to relax most of the remaining provisions that have restricted where and how often the game can be played. He would allow any store selling lottery games to offer Quick Draw. He also proposed lifting the rule that establishments must be at least 2,500-square-feet in size to offer the game to patrons.
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March 20, 2013 - 11:18 AM
By Tom Precious
Albany – Lawmakers are raising concerns that Gov. Andrew Cuomo is trying to grab too much power over how state economic development money is spent through the 10 regional councils spread around the state.
The issue is one of the final logjams holding up a final deal, though there are still a number of education and health care disagreements still unresolved, as well as how to handle possible changes to the state’s new gun control law.
“There’s a concern the governor is attempting to expand the role of regional economic development councils to the exclusion of the Legislature,’’ Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver told reporters following a brief closed-door meeting with Cuomo and legislative leaders at the Capitol this morning.
Continue reading "Today's budget fight: economic development dollars" »
March 19, 2013 - 4:43 PM
By Tom Precious
ALBANY – The leaders of the Catholic Church in New York met with Gov. Andrew Cuomo Tuesday to challenge him not to introduce legislation to expand abortion rights in the state.
“The bottom line was we told him we were going to oppose any kind of plan that continues what we consider one of the primary evils of our time, which is the taking of a life,’’ said Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone.
The bishop joined about a dozen diocese leaders from around the state in the closed-door meeting with Cuomo at the Capitol. While the Catholic leaders backed Cuomo’s effort to hike the state’s minimum wage and for signing the recent gun control law, the line was drawn over Cuomo’s abortion plans.
The governor has not been specific – either publicly or with the Catholic leaders Tuesday – on the abortion issue, but said he wants to somehow codify state law to protect abortion rights in the event Roe v. Wade is ever overturned.
Malone said Cuomo urged the bishops “not to judge his forthcoming bill’’ based on plans already offered by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer or more recently by some Senate Democrats. He said the governor did not elaborate.
The Buffalo bishop said Cuomo noted his Catholic roots. “He certainly several times spoke of his gratitude to be a Catholic…He said some very affirming things about the Catholic faith,’’ Malone said.
“Of course, he pointed out also that he ran as a pro-choice candidate. We find it unacceptable for a Catholic to run as a pro-choice candidate, and that’s the decision he made. But the meeting seemed to me to be a respectful and open kind of dialogue.’’
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March 19, 2013 - 4:03 PM
By Tom Precious
ALBANY -- Negotiators are closing in on a deal to provide $350 checks to taxpayers with at least child in New York with incomes between $40,000 and $300,000 per year, sources at the Capitol say.
The deal would call for a flat, $350 check -- in other words, not on a sliding scale -- to all earners within that range. When the checks would be mailed is uncertain, though, given past property rebate checks, the early money might be about, say, October every year just before the November elections.
Continue reading "Checks coming in the mail via state budget" »
March 19, 2013 - 12:03 PM
By Tom Precious
ALBANY -- The Assembly's top Democrat is defending a plan to relax marijuana possession laws in New York City, but not elsewhere in the state.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said a plan promoted by lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo is meant to address "stop and frisk'' abuses by New York City police, who can charge someone with a higher crime -- a misdemeanor instead of a violation -- if they remove marijuana from their pockets and place it into public view. Lawmakers and Cuomo have said minorities are especially targeted by the practice.
"It has been done in the past if you show the reason why you are doing it,'' Silver said of the idea.
Continue reading "Two different rules for pot possession being considered for NYC, upstate" »
March 13, 2013 - 1:43 PM
By Tom Precious
ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo is heading to Herkimer to give a 2pm update to reporters there about this morning's fatal shootings of four people in two Mohawk Valley communities.
The shootings come just two months after Cuomo and lawmakers enacted a series of restrictive new gun and ammo ownership provisions, a law that has seen considerable push-back from gun owners in the form of everything from street protests to lawsuits. [The shootings have fueled a spirited and at-times nasty debate over the gun control law on central New York web sites.]
Local media identified the suspect, who is still on the loose, as Kurt R. Myers, 64, of Mohawk. The shootings occurred at a car wash in Herkimer and a barber shop in Mohawk. The Utica Observer-Dispatch has reported an unknown long rifle was used in the shootings.
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March 13, 2013 - 10:53 AM
By Tom Precious
ALBANY -- Framework.
It's the word reporters, lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo are all hot on this week to describe the coming point in the budget talks when the sides will announce a budget deal. As in, the framework of a budget deal.
They can't really say "final deal'' because there are always bumps in the road during the period of time between when a framework deal is announced and when the fiscal staffs have one last round of editing to make sure no one is trying to pull a fiscal fast one in the complex wording that can make up a budget.
March 12, 2013 - 4:00 PM
By Tom Precious
ALBANY -- The head of an influential group of minority state legislators says the issue of relaxing sanctions for small amounts of marijuana should be treated separately from efforts to legalize marijuana for medical purposes.
"I think they're two separate issues, both very significant issues and both we have to deal with now,'' said Assemblyman Karim Camara, a Brooklyn Democrat who chairs the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus. He said the efforts by advocates for both measures would have a better chance of passage if they are dealt with separately.
Continue reading "Minority caucus pushes lesser penalties for marijuana possession" »
Denise Jewell Gee joined The News in 2007. She covers Erie County government and writes a weekly column for the City & Region section.
A native of Schenectady, Robert J. McCarthy came to The Buffalo News in 1982 following a six-year stint at the Olean Times Herald. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University, and has been covering local, state and national politics since 1992.
Tom Precious joined The Buffalo News in 1997 as bureau chief at the state Capitol, where he covers everything from statewide politics and state government fiscal affairs to health care, environmental and municipal government matters. Prior to The News, he worked for news outlets in Albany and Washington, DC.
Jill Terreri is an Amherst native and has covered politics and government in upstate New York since 2003. She joined The Buffalo News in June and covers City Hall.
@jillterreri | jterreri@buffnews.com
Jerry Zremski, The Buffalo News Washington bureau chief, has reported from the nation's capital since 1989 after joining The News as a business reporter in 1984. A graduate of Syracuse University, Zremski is a former Nieman fellow in journalism at Harvard University. In 2007, he served as president of the National Press Club.
