Coronavirus

New York state legislative leaders have announced agreement on a bill to curb Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s emergency powers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The measure comes as Cuomo is embroiled in two scandals:  One over his nursing home policies during the health crisis, and another over accusations that he sexually harassed former staffers.

State Attorney General Letitia James said Monday that she’s received from Gov. Andrew Cuomo the referral required to investigate him and his office on two former aides’ allegations of sexual harassment. The accusations include inappropriate touching, an unsolicited kiss, and invitations for sex.

One day after Cuomo offered his response to the charges, many elected officials, both Democrats and Republicans, said they don’t buy it.

Monday marked the one-year anniversary of the first confirmed coronavirus case in New York. Since then, over 38,000 New Yorkers have died from COVID-19 and more than 1.5 million who were sickened.

At this point last year, though, nobody imagined what was in store.

On the evening of March 1, 2020, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a press release, announcing that a case of COVID-19 had been found in New York. 

You could hear the bells, bouncing off the brick buildings and the frozen Genesee River. Students from the University of Rochester Carillon Society rang them from high atop the University of Rochester’s Rush Rhees Library. Twelve rings a minute, 500 in total, to honor the half-million Americans who died of COVID-19 so far.

Sophomores Valerie Battista and Kayla Gunderson and senior Claire Janezic played them. 

Democrats in the State Legislature support new, higher taxes on New York’s richest residents as part of the new state budget, saying that a newly released study that shows the state’s 120 billionaires increased their wealth by $88 billion during the pandemic bolsters that claim. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo continues to resist raising their taxes.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his staff were in damage control mode Thursday as they faced two scandals: the governor’s handling of nursing home policies during the COVID-19 pandemic and the months-long suppression of the true number of residents’ deaths, and allegations that Cuomo sexually harassed a former staffer. 

Cuomo’s health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker, testified at a long-awaited legislative budget hearing. Zucker -- who had postponed his testimony, originally scheduled for three weeks ago -- appeared 2½ hours late. He immediately addressed the nursing home controversy.