Good morning. It’s Tuesday, and it’s good to be back. Today we’ll look at how Governor Kathy Hochul has changed the culture in Albany. We’ll also learn about an ant that really enjoys here.
When she became governor nearly 11 months ago, taking over after Andrew Cuomo’s resignation, Kathy Hochul said she would “focus on open, ethical management”. She promised a “new era of transparency”.
This term is no longer applicable Andrea Stewart-Cousins became majority leader in the Senate in 2019, but my colleague Jay Root says decision-making appears to have changed little under Hochul.
Jay said that term limits on elected officials statewide, which Hochul mentioned in her inaugural address, have never been considered. She pushed for $10 billion state tax relief legislation to attract semiconductor manufacturers to New York, and the State Senate and Assembly passed them without a public hearing. Another major government grant – a $600 million state grant for a $1.4 billion football stadium in Buffalo, her hometown – has been made possible following negotiations. exclusively in which the governor’s office participates.
Her pledge of “ethical management” lost some luster after Brian Benjamin, the state senator she chose as lieutenant colonel governor, was arrested on federal corruption charges. (Hochul later admitted that the vetting process that led to Benjamin’s appointment was flawed. He was replaced, in office and on the ballot, by Antonio Delgado – through a tactic that critics claim. is an abuse of power.)
And in Ms. Hochul’s first state budget, she exempted a huge sum from the independent oversight of the state control office and competitive bidding rules – 5 percent of the 220 billion budget. dollars, or 11 billion dollars, based on translator’s office, Thomas DiNapoli. The majority of the $11 billion is allocated for pandemic costs and “unforeseeable emergencies,” officials said, but can be diverted at the will of the governor and director. her budget.
Hochul and her assistants defended her efforts to make Albany more open and accountable.
Aides pointed to Hochul’s success in replacing the struggling Joint Commission on Public Ethics with a new group that is subject to open records law, among other changes. Hochul has also directed agencies to stop passing their Freedom of Information Act requests through the governor’s office, an act by the Cuomo administration that often corrupts state records out of the reach of the public, at times. when for many years.
Hochul has defended the semiconductor and stadium contracts, saying they will give the emerging economy big hits. She also noted that semiconductor subsidies will only cost taxpayers if chipmakers build facilities in the state and meet employment targets.
Diane Kennedy, who campaigned for open government and press freedom as president of the New York News Publishers Association, which represents state newspapers (including The New York Times) , credited Hochul for seeing public meetings remain accessible during the pandemic. She said it was nice to be treated with respect after years of being bullied by many Cuomo officials.
“This looks to me like a much brighter day,” Kennedy said, adding that “people are still traumatized by what they went through under Cuomo and his aides.
Weather
Prepare for the possibility of showers and thunderstorms, where temperatures will hover near 90 during the day, dropping to mid 70s at night.
PARKING OUTSIDE
Valid until August 15 (Hang Thuan Festival).
She said that there were no events that led her to decide to resign from the Court of Appeal. DiFiore, 66, said: “I gave my share. She says there will be “another chapter in my professional career” – though “what that is, at this point, I’m not sure.”
She will be remembered for a 32-page opinion released in April concluding that the new state congressional and Senate districts set out by Democratic leaders were unconstitutional. The opinion, for a majority of four judges, also held that the Democratic-designed congressional districts violated the state’s ban on gerrymandering parties.
The decision angered Democrats, who accused DiFiore of an extrajudicial power grab.
She will be leaving a court that could act as a bulwark against rulings from the US Supreme Court, which recently overturned abortion rights and curtailed New York’s law regulating abortion. carry concealed weapons. She will be replaced by an acting chief justice, chosen by six other judges on the court, until her successor is confirmed by Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, and confirmed by the State Senate. states where there is a majority of Democrats.
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Ants call your home their home
Sometimes reporters discover stories close to home. My colleague Dodai Stewart discover a story In her house – ant. One day, they marched across the living room in single formation. Apparently someone called a conference under the couch, and it wasn’t Dodai.
Turns out they’re not just ants, but a relatively new species in New York. “Relatively new” means they arrived more than a decade ago, according to the researchers Dodai interviewed. I talked to her about their findings, and hers.
New Yorkers always say that we put a lot of effort into our daily lives. But ants? You wrote that you have lived here for decades and have never seen ants in your apartment.
We all suffer a lot, but the ants are taking things too far.
Seriously, there’s an ant Wikipedia. It has a map showing where this insect lives. It’s impressive to see that it’s all over Europe, but across the entire continent, it’s only in New York. It moved here and decided to stay. It is clear that it is enjoying the city as much as any newcomers. What can you say? If you can get here, you can go anywhere, even if you’re an ant. So ant researchers have nicknamed it ManhattAnt.
Why are these ants here and nowhere else in North America?
The researchers hypothesized that this type of ant, from a species called Lasius emarginatus, arrived with the same shipment or something. The biologists I spoke to said it was first discovered here in 2011. But it was established later. It may have been five years earlier for it to truly establish itself, but no one seems to know when or how it got here.
Not many people study Lasius emarginatus. One of those who did was Samantha Kennett, a graduate student at Kennesaw State University in Georgia in Dr. Clint Penick’s social entomology lab. She was here in April and May, but she’s back in Georgia, so she doesn’t see what ManhattaAnt is doing year-round.
She found Lasius emarginatus in the trees all over Broadway, including Times Square. She says they are everywhere, including the upper floors of apartment buildings.
And how is your apartment?
It doesn’t contain ants, except for that one in a small box, which I’m saving in case it’s needed for future scientific research. Or additional investigative journalism.
METROPOLITAN . Diary
Cherry red Vespa
Dear Diary:
A glossy cherry-red Vespa has been parked in the same corner of my Bensonhurst neighborhood for at least a year, through rain, snow and sun.
It was there every time I passed by on my way home from a morning jog. I always wondered who owned it and if it was drivable enough.
Then one morning I heard the humming of an oncoming scooter as I was heading home. It’s a cherry red Vespa.
