Published - May 25, 2021
May 25, 2021 – In recognition of the one-year anniversary of the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police department, we talked with Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins about the social unrest following the tragedy, the waning support for the Black Lives Matter movement and her personal trepidation in advance of the verdict against Derek Chauvin.
Published - May 24, 2021
May 24, 2021 – Carol Shapiro thought she could be a force for change upon joining the state’s parole board in 2017, but she resigned in 2019 when it became clear to her that the process needed to be reformed from the outside. The criminal justice reformer joins the show to highlight the process of granting parole and make the case for changing New York’s parole laws before the end of the legislative session.
Published - May 24, 2021
May 24, 2021 – Siena College Research Institute pollster Steve Greenberg breaks down how voters feel about the 2022 race for governor and the COVID-19 vaccine.
Published - May 24, 2021
May 24, 2021 – Assemblyman Steve Englebright, a Long Island Democrat, discusses a recent hearing that examined the state’s implementation of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and talks about what steps lawmakers will need to take in the effort to combat climate change.
Published - May 22, 2021
“We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn’t a stronger connection between people than storytelling.” – Jimmy Neil Smith Storytelling is powerful. It can communicate emotions, cautionary tales, experiences, even history, in ways that simple facts and figures cannot. This week, we are telling tales through music, from a mountain trek to a tale of becoming “Telling Tales, Part 2” Mark Brandt: The Nightingale (excerpt) Yana Nikol, flute; Katherine Colburn, cello; Mark Brandt, piano “The Nightingale” Lionhearted Music East 51317 Monica Houghton: Andean Suite Ditmitri Atopine, cello; Hyeyeon Park, piano “Of Time &
Published - May 21, 2021
May 21, 2021 – Retail Council of New York State President and CEO Melissa O’Connor joins the show to explain how her members are adapting to this brave new world, where vaccinated New Yorkers won’t be mandated to wear masks indoors and businesses can decide for themselves whether they’ll have a mask mandate.
Published - May 21, 2021
May 21, 2021 – New York passed a major milestone in the fight against COVID-19 this week, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo relaxing the state’s mask mandates, following the latest CDC guidance. But the decision is a major “blunder,” according to one of the state’s pandemic advisors, Dr. Eli Rosenberg, who teaches at the University at Albany and was appointed last year to the governor’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution and implementation task force. He explains why it’s a mistake and discusses the vaccine rollout in New York.
Published - May 20, 2021
May 20, 2021 – While mask mandates are being relaxed in most of the state, child care providers and camp operators got the news this week from the Cuomo administration that they’ll need to keep masks on the children who are under their care, including toddlers. We talked about how this will be implemented and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s approach to child care issues during the pandemic with Beth Starks, founder and executive director of the Chautauqua Lake Child Care Center and a member of the governor’s Child Care Availability Task force.
Published - May 20, 2021
May 20, 2021 – A return of cougars and wolves to the Adirondacks? That’s just part of the vision for the region from the Adirondack Council’s John Davis, who is spearheading a rewilding initiative, which would reverse some of the human impact on forest preserve.
Published - May 20, 2021
May 20, 2021 – With New York’s laws governing ticket sales set to expire this summer, Consumer Report’s Chuck Bell makes the case for new legislation overhauling the system to create a more consumer friendly experience.
Published - May 20, 2021
May 20, 2021 – Special Olympics New York President Stacey Hengsterman discusses state funding for an initiative creating athletics opportunities for students with disabilities and explains how the Special Olympics had to adapt during the pandemic.
Published - May 19, 2021
May 19, 2021 – New Economy Project founder and co-director Sarah Ludwig highlights a new law protecting stimulus checks from debt collectors and makes the case for legislation enabling municipalities to invest their tax revenue into a public bank.
Published - May 19, 2021
May 19, 2021 – Assemblymember Sarah Clark, a Rochester-area Democrat, is trying to get the Cuomo administration to acknowledge the true cost of providing child care, so the state can begin to pay providers what they’re owed. We also discuss the investment of more than $2 billion of federal money into New York’s child care system.
Published - May 19, 2021
May 19, 2021 – Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, a Queens Democrat, is pushing legislation that would make one day during Diwali a holiday for schools in New York City that have a minimum number of students of South Asian descent.
Published - May 19, 2021
May 19, 2021 – State Senate Labor Committee Chair Jessica Ramos, a Queens Democrat, talks about the implementation of the Excluded Workers Fund, protections for independent contractors, and other workforce issues under her purview this legislative session.
