Charlie Voelker

After being elected in November, navigating her own Democratic party has not been easy for Governor Kathy Hochul. After suffering an embarrassing loss, when the Senate rejected Justice Hector LaSalle as New York's chief judge, the governor was forced to pivot to a more liberal Justice Rowan D. Wilson, for a quick win.

Missing person searches are never easy. As time rips by, the chances of finding someone that can be helped become less and less. Technology has certainly helped in the rescue/recovery mission but it doesn't always lead to good endings.

For those that aren't in favor of rewarding bad behavior, you may be torn reading this story. With a bizarre solution to violent crime in his city, an upstate New York mayor intends to reduce gun violence by paying gang members.

Cheating options for students have reached a new level of sophistication. With artificial intelligence apps, like ChatGPT, students have well over a billion possible "human sounding responses" to questions at their fingertips. So, where do these A.I. apps leave our education system?

Former Governor Andrew Cuomo got the Start-Up NY program rolling in 2014. The program offered a decade of tax-free status to tech companies that would set up operations in New York State and create partnerships with colleges and universities in the region.

Harassment charges within the walls of Madison Square Garden are nothing new. However, since the landmark $11.6 million payout to Anucha Browne Sanders, as a result of verbal abuse and sexual harassment suffered from former New York Knicks team president and head coach, Isiah Thomas, things have been relatively quiet in the human resources department at MSG. For nearly two decades, the bad memories of one of the worst scandals in NBA history continued to fade, until Monday when the word "harassment" was used in an MSG Network statement about one of their announcers.

In November, Kathy Hochul became the first woman elected governor in New York State history. Hochul has weathered the storm, after taking office in the middle of Andrew Cumomo's tumultuous last term. The 57th governor of the Empire State delivered her State of the State address last week. So, what do Hochul's constituents think of the governor's job performance? A new Siena Poll has the answer.

There are nearly 100,000 volunteer firefighters in New York State. According to the Firefighters Association of the State of New York, those volunteers provide service hours that save the citizens of the Empire State over $3.8 billion per year. It's difficult to quantify what those volunteers really saved those that they have served. Then there are the volunteer Ambulance & EMS workers, jobs so stressful their numbers are tumbling each year. In December, Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski and state Sen. Elijah Reichlin-Melnick that may be a way of keeping those volunteers.

Legal sports wagering in New York saw about $15 billion in bets placed during the course of its first year in 2022. Still tens of millions of dollars continue to be wagered illegally in the Empire State. Federal prosecutors near Rochester were hunting down members of an illegal sports book ring when they got an unwanted surprise. A New York State Trooper was involved and working for the wrong team.

Last week, in the midst of the holiday season, New York's Governor, Kathy Hochul granted clemency to 13 individuals that exhibited remorse, demonstrated the effects of their rehabilitation, and have displayed a commitment to improving themselves and their communities. Among the 13 grantees are two prisoners that are currently serving sentences for murder and a woman that is a domestic violence survivor, in prison for manslaughter for the death of her abuser. Another woman convicted of the same crime was absent from the list.