Tagged: new york state

New York State will have some new laws that take effect January first. One is a multi-layered legislative package that provides new protections for domestic violence victims. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill package October 25th.  One piece of the legislation increases the penalty for repeat offenders to a felony by creating a Class E felony, Aggravated Family Offense. Manhattan District Attorney and President of the New York District Attorneys Association of the State of New York Cyrus Vance, Jr., said this addresses an underlying issue: the ability of offenders to abuse their victims again and again without serious consequences.

A congressional committee has been looking into why the federal government overpaid New York State by more than $10 billion for the care of developmentally disabled people in state developmental centers. Congress began its probe after reports in the Poughkeepsie Journal. Mary Beth Pfeiffer, projects writer with the journal, says even though the overpayments were first detected in 2007, they still continued. She spoke with WAMC’s Brian Shields.

Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday announced that New York State had purchased 69,000 acres of land from the Nature Conservancy. It’s  the largest acquisition of Adirondack lands in more than a century.

Recently a woman was arrested in Ballston Spa in Saratoga County for driving while intoxicated, and even though this was the seventh time she was charged with D.W.I. , she still had a valid driver’s license. That would not be allowed under a bill from Republican Assemblyman James Tedisco of Schenectady and Saratoga counties who says repeat drunken and dangerous drivers should have their licenses taken away. He spoke with WAMC’s Brian Shields.

Political leaders and casino executives met late last week in Atlantic City for the 16th annual East Coast Gaming Congress and Hospitality Forum, where panelists said that individual states will likely begin approving internet gambling over the next two years because partisan gridlock in Congress.