Ian Pickus News Today

Gov. Kathy Hochul delivered her third State of the State address, focusing on housing proposals and plans to make the state a safer and more.

From Governor Kathy Hochul’s election to a full term to the dramatic rejection of her first choice for chief judge to an overdue state budget, it has been an eventful few months in New York politics. Now, the legislative session is down to its final days, with a number of outstanding issues still on the table.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is facing new scrutiny for failing to report expensive vacations and travel from a Republican megadonor and developer. According to a new investigative report by ProPublica, the justice of more than three decades has traveled on a private jet and stayed in luxurious facilities every year without disclosing the trips. One destination has been in the Adirondacks, on St. Regis Lake.

Saturday marks the first day of the new fiscal year in New York State and for the second year in a row the budget is late.

Saturday marks the first day of the new fiscal year in New York State and for the second year in a row the budget is late.

Still far apart on a number of key issues, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and fellow Democrats who control the legislature have until the weekend to hammer out an agreement before the state budget is officially late.

The NCAA men's basketball tournament returned to Albany Friday for the first time since 2003.

Voters in Vermont will gather Tuesday to decide on a number of local issues, from budgets to elected offices and election rules in general.

President Joe Biden said the state of the union is strong in his address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday, and he called on lawmakers in the now divided Congress to work together. It was Biden’s first speech to Congress since Republicans took control of the chamber in November’s midterms.

WAMC’s Ian Pickus speaks with Emma Platt from the Boston Globe about the change in leadership in the Massachusetts state Republican Party.