Karen DeWitt

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday said with the alarming spread of the COVID-19 delta variant in New York state, he is extending a mandatory vaccination policy for state workers and employees of state-run hospitals to include Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers. He also urged nursing homes and schools also require mandatory vaccines for employees.

The window of opportunity for victims of childhood sexual abuse to file a civil lawsuit against their alleged abuser ends Aug. 13.

Survivors say it’s not too late to file a claim, but some would like another legal window sometime in the near future to accommodate those who are not yet ready to come forward.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo will mandate that front-line workers in New York state-run hospitals be vaccinated against COVID-19. All other state workers also have to be vaccinated or be subject to weekly testing.

But the governor stopped short of imposing new mask mandates, despite advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that masks be required indoors in areas where the virus is spreading, due to the more contagious Delta variant.

A newly formed coalition is joining with key state lawmakers to campaign for a ballot measure to give New Yorkers a constitutional right to clean air and clean water. 

Responding to complaints by New York’s senior senator, Chuck Schumer, about the state’s slowest-in-the-nation rate of distributing federal rent relief dollars, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said a new streamlined application process for tenants begins Tuesday.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in his first public appearance since being questioned by the state Attorney General’s Office on allegations of sexual harassment, cast doubt on the motives of the investigators, saying it’s likely that “politics” are involved.

Cuomo in March said he trusted Attorney General Tish James to conduct a fair investigation into the sexual harassment allegations against him from multiple women.

A member of the State Assembly impeachment inquiry committee said he’s concerned that the Cuomo Administration might be trying to intimidate potential witnesses in an ongoing investigation by the state’s attorney general on sexual harassment allegations against the governor.

Meanwhile, remarks by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie drew fire from the attorney representing one of the women who say Cuomo harassed them.

After a recent AARP survey found that nearly 80% of New York’s 2.5 million unpaid family caregivers spend a significant amount of their own money to care for a loved one, the organization is pushing for federal and state tax credits to help ease that growing burden.

Over the weekend, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a package of voting reforms, including ones that ease the rules and restrictions on mail-in absentee balloting.

But a leading voter access advocate said the state still has more to do before mail-in balloting is universally accessible.

The bills that Cuomo approved include eliminating the requirement that voters have to submit signed applications for absentee ballots. They will now be able to request the ballots by an unsigned letter or by going online to get one mailed to them.