Dormansville News

A state commission will recommend 76 ways to control spiraling property taxes as it calls for dramatic - and politically challenging - efforts to merge cities, villages, towns and school districts. via Buffalo News

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has revoked four lawyers' memberships in the state pension system and canceled service credits for a fifth after determining they were not public employees, a ... via Newsday.com

“At this time, combat veterans that served after February 28, 1961 will not receive that block grant of $1,00, but an amount equal to undergraduate tuition at a SUNY or CUNY school in New York State”

ALBANY Funding in the state budget will expand a tuition assistance program for veterans of the Vietnam Persian Gulf and Afghanistan wars. via Mid-Hudson News

“Well, I tell you: If you had a nickel deposit on them, you wouldn't see them thrown around the corners anymore. Somebody would definitely pick them up.”

Every year, they emerge at this time, as reliable as the robins or crocuses. You find them in city and county parks. via Post-Standard

“And we just had a vigil last night for Virginia Tech. "Nobody needs this right now. Nobody wants this.”

DEKALB, Ill. - Two buildings at Northern Illinois University were evacuated briefly Thursday afternoon because of a bomb threat that was later determined not to be credible, school officials said. via WHEC-TV Rochester

“It would appear as though our elected leaders in Albany are starting to get the message and starting to react to the message that we are hearing”

A state plan to lower property taxes by limiting growth in school district tax levies received unanimous support this week from members of the Niagara County Legislature. via Niagara Gazette

ALBANY - Gov. David Paterson and his wife earned $269,815 in 2007, yet claimed giving only $150 to charity, a donation of clothing to the Salvation Army, according to his tax returns released Monday. via Ithaca Journal

“For low-income people who have to use food pantries, $25 is a lot of money.”

ALBANY -- More than 345,000 parents who receive child support payments will have to pay the state almost $4.5 million in service fees annually starting immediately, state official confirmed Monday. via Star-Gazette

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that, truth be told, he'd rather revisit his Boy Scout days than become the state's next governor. via WINS-AM New York

“He steered me in the right direction more than once.”

As a state assemblyman from 1967 to 1972, Kenneth S. Leasure, an Endicott Republican, wasn't afraid to go against the grain of his party, support an unpopular measure or antagonize then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller ... via Press & Sun-Bulletin

“If the average member of the public wonders why things have gotten so bad in Albany, one reason is the way the system is run”

The Legislature took a lot of heat last week for its secret budget negotiations, its abandonment of public conference committees required by its own 2007 reform law, and its refusal _ with Gov. via Newsday.com

Having utterly failed in the political arena to get themselves a pay raise, New York judges this week moved back into a more familiar venue to try to get more money: the courts. via Journal News

Here is our weekly roundup of stories to cheer and jeer: * Cheers to the 30 young people at St. via PressConnects.com

Niagara County Historian's Office was given a certificate of commendation from the Upstate History Alliance for its publication, "They All of Them Fought Like Heroes: Veterans Markers of Niagara County." ... via Niagara Gazette

“This is a very, very good budget for upstate”

New York state will spend tens of millions of dollars on tearing down the Midtown complex and building up the University of Rochester. via Democrat & Chronicle

ALBANY -- Setting up an unprecedented legal showdown among the branches of the state government, the state's chief judge today sued Gov. via Ithaca Journal

“It is such a remarkable win-win scenario”

BINGHAMTON -- A century and a half ago, Binghamton's New York State Inebriate Asylum made history as the first facility in a young nation to treat alcohol addiction as a disease. via PressConnects.com

“This whole economic situation that we are in now is not going to be solved in decisions made in one budget”

ALBANY - The state Legislature gave final approval yesterday to a 2008-09 state budget that increases fees and taxes for New Yorkers by $1.5 billion, provides record spending for education and adds an addition ... via Journal News

“I do not think that any one person should decide what is right.”

The owlish, quiet man in glasses who speaks in a low, almost inaudible monotone is easy to overlook. via New York Daily News

“One of them I can't sell back, a new edition is coming out.”

ALBANY - With the average student paying about $1,000 per year for textbooks, legislation is needed to rein in the "out of control" prices on college campuses across the state, according to a report released ... via Ithaca Journal