Capitol Bureau

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his counterparts in several other states announced on Monday a task force to figure out how to reopen society after the widespread coronavirus closures.

They did not name any specific dates for reopening schools or businesses or ending social distance rules but said it will begin in a matter of weeks.

Governor Andrew Cuomo visited an upstate nursing home and released new numbers on  the corona virus Sunday, as the total number of New Yorkers who have died from the virus reached 9,385.

Cuomo says the daily death toll, at 758,  has not decreased significantly in several days, when the numbers have ranged from around 780 to a high of 799 for the previous four days.

“It has been flattening, but flattening at a terribly high level,” Cuomo said.

Schools across New York are struggling to cope with mandatory closures, distance learning and uncertain funding.

WXXI's Karen DeWitt spoke with the New York State School Board’s David Albert, for public radio and television. He said even though schools are currently set to receive the same amount of aid they got last year, they still need to brace for cutbacks.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo quietly froze the pay of 80,000 state workers Wednesday night, saying that with the state’s finances in tatters from the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, he had little choice. 

Most state employees were due to receive a 2% pay raise in their next paychecks under terms of collective bargaining agreements worked out between their unions and Cuomo’s administration. 

But around midnight Wednesday, the governor’s budget office informed the unions that the pay raise is on hold for at least 90 days. 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it was another day of mixed news about the coronavirus.

Another new daily high for deaths was reached, while the overall rate of new infections and hospitalizations is flattening. 

The governor announced that 779 New Yorkers died from COVID-19 on Tuesday, the highest daily death toll yet, bringing the total to 6,268.

“The bad news isn’t just bad,” Cuomo said. “The bad news is actually terrible.”

One of those who likely died of the virus is former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, who passed away Wednesday morning.

New York reported the highest number of daily deaths to date from the coronavirus, but despite that grim number, Gov. Andrew Cuomo sees a glimmer of hope. 

When Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers approved the state budget this week, they slipped in a provision to permit public campaign financing for elections in future years.

But critics say the plan was designed to weaken minor political parties, including the progressive Working Families Party, which has a long-running feud with Cuomo.

The public campaign financing measure has a history. Last year, when the governor and Legislature could not agree on the specifics of a program, they appointed a commission to work out the details.

On the highest single-day increase in coronavirus deaths and new hospitalizations in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is mandating that upstate hospitals share their spare ventilators with downstate hospitals that are overwhelmed with dealing with COVID-19 patients and rapidly running out of the machines. 

The governor said he understands why hospitals in parts of New York where there are fewer cases of coronavirus want to hold on to their spare ventilators for when cases spike.

New York state lawmakers were finishing up the state budget Thursday, two days after the deadline. One area of contention was making changes to the state’s bail reform laws.

In the end, they compromised.

On Jan. 1, New York eliminated most forms of cash bail for nonviolent crimes. There was a backlash as prosecutors and police said too many repeat offenders were being let back out onto the streets, and crime was on the rise as a result.