Those of us who have children or grandchildren are very familiar with the need to rein them in when they act up. The traditional way that has worked for all of us is to declare a … more

Col. John F. Barry, a Rockville Centre resident, has been inducted into the New York State Senate’s Veterans’ Hall of Fame. He was appointed by Sen. Dean Skelos. more

Former New York Knicks basketball star John Starks visited the Henry Waldinger Library last week not to show off his hoop skills, but rather to talk about the importance of reading. more

My last two columns, “As promised: keeping tabs” (June 30 – July 6) and “Is the bloom off the rose?” (July 21-27) provided information to evaluate the session-ending accomplishments of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Two fundamental questions were raised. Has there been a real transformation in addressing the way the “people’s business” is being managed in Albany? Do our political leaders really understand that the state of New York is still headed down a path of fiscal instability and requires levels of real reform hardly evident to date? more

In 2004, the Brennan Center for Justice and New York University’s School of Law released a report describing the New York Legislature as “the most dysfunctional state [government] in the nation.” It was an excellent critique and its findings were well founded. more

Members of the Rockville Centre Tea Party held a protest outside State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos’s district office on Front Street on July 15, prompting a spontaneous counterprotest by … more

New York state government has a well-deserved reputation for ineffectiveness. Ask most New Yorkers what one word best describes Albany, and the most common response would be “dysfunctional.” That’s the term that New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice used in a study in 2004, in its follow-up in 2006 and in its 2008 update, “Still Broken.” more

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed New York's first property tax cap in Lynbrook today, at the home of James and Janet Gannon. “For decades, taxpayers across New York state have been burdened … more

It took five appeals, a rally, a lawsuit and, finally, legislation, but at long last fallen Malverne firefighter Paul Brady’s name will be inscribed on a memorial wall in Albany. The … more

Rockville Centre resident Debbie Cuevas was recently honored as one of the state Senate’s 2011 women of distinction. She joined other notable women at a reception on May 24 in the State Capitol … more