The New York State Legislature finally passed a budget two weeks ago, which it balanced by taking on extra debt without the approval of voters to fund a 6% increase in spending as revenues continue to shrink. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says New York is heading for trouble, especially since revenue projections are so uncertain and vulnerable to further economic downturn. The $121.7 billion budget grew 6% despite entreaties from Gov. Paterson to actually cut......

State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has kept a relatively low profile over the past several months, as Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno battled with Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who would go on to self-destruct in a highly public style. With Mayor Bloomberg's beloved congestion pricing plan past the City Council hurdle and with the support of our new Gov. Paterson, it now lays stalled in the Assembly, where whatever Silver says pretty much goes. A profile......

Democratic lawmakers in Albany seem poised to block Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan, which attempts to reduce traffic by charging drivers $8 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours. Though the plan was approved by the City Council on Monday, a “lively, sometimes emotional” meeting between state lawmakers yesterday ran over three and a half hours, and approximately 30 of them expressed opposition to the plan, with only four or five in favor.......