Karen DeWitt

The Republican candidate for governor, Marc Molinaro, is weighing in on the Schoharie limousine crash, saying there needs to be more government oversight.

Molinaro said he does not want to make the tragic crash, which took the lives of 20 people, a political issue. When asked by reporters, though, he said laws need to be changed to provide more oversight. The driver of the limousine did not have the proper license, and the limo that crashed had failed inspections multiple times.

The Republican candidate for attorney general in New York, Keith Wofford, said if he wins, he’d go after the head of his party, President Donald Trump, and his policies — but only if there’s a good reason.

The current attorney general, Barbara Underwood, has dozens of lawsuits on file against Trump, ranging from an investigation of the Trump Foundation to the administration’s environmental policies.

The Democratic candidate for attorney general, New York City Public Advocate Tish James, has said she’d continue those actions.

Former longtime Queens state Sen. Frank Padavan died on Tuesday at age 83 after suffering a heart attack.

Padavan served 37 years as a Republican in the state Senate, from 1973 until he was defeated by Democrat Tony Avella in 2010.

Before that, Padavan, who was an electrical engineer, worked at Westinghouse and was a colonel in the Army Corps  of Engineers.

Candidates for statewide office were required this week to disclose how much money they have on hand for the final month of the 2018 election season. Once again, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is seeking a third term, is far ahead of his challengers.

The Green Party candidate for state comptroller, Marc Dunlea, said he isn’t in the race to win but rather to highlight one key issue — combating climate change.

Dunlea was the longtime director of Hunger Action Network, a lobby group that advocates for services for the poor. He now works for the environmental group 350.org, and he said if he were comptroller, he would immediately divest the state’s pension fund of all investments in fossil fuel companies.

Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins, a retired UPS worker from Syracuse and former Vietnam war protester, is running for governor for the third time, challenging popular incumbent Andrew Cuomo from the left.

Hawkins, in a conversation with WXXI’s Karen DeWitt, explains why he thinks he is a true alternative and not just a protest vote.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he hasn’t decided whether to accept the nomination of the Working Families Party in the race for governor. The party previously backed actor Cynthia Nixon after a bitter split in the progressive-leaning minor party.

When the party chose Nixon for governor over Cuomo last spring, the argument was heated. Its executive director, Bill Lipton, said Cuomo, in his first two terms in office, did not live up to expectations that the governor would back progressive ideas and policies.

An independent budget watchdog group agrees with an idea that Republican candidate for governor Marc Molinaro has to help bring down local property taxes. But it also says there is a tradeoff to any potential savings.

A new Siena College poll finds Gov. Andrew Cuomo far ahead of his challengers in his quest for a third term in office. But the survey also shows that a failed primary challenger is still taking points away from the governor’s lead.