The Ithaca Journal reports - “The state’s highest court agreed Tuesday to expedite a hearing on whether Gov. David Paterson can legally appoint a lieutenant governor to fill the vacant position.

The Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments Sept. 11 in a case that has tested the governor’s constitutional rights to fill the lieutenant-governor position by appointment rather than by an election.”

Read the rest of the story click here.

Chris Mckenna of the Middletown Times Herald-Record writes - “Some 27,000 military veterans living in Orange County can now claim discounts of up to 25 percent at certain local businesses through a new program announced Tuesday.

About 150 companies have agreed to participate so far, entitling vets to a price break on everything from pizzas and bagels to lumber and auto repairs whenever they present a county-issued identification card.

The first beneficiaries got their IDs in a matter of minutes Tuesday morning, lining up inside the Orange County Government Center to have their photos taken and cards made before a news conference heralding the program.”

To read the rest of the story click here.

Even with the passing of Senator Kennedy overnight health care reform remains center stage across New York and America. This morning’s New York Times provides us with an editorial entitled World Best Health Care. Here’s a small segment – “Critics of President Obama’s push for health care reform have been whipping up fear that proposed changes will destroy our “world’s best” medical system and make it like supposedly inferior systems elsewhere.

The emptiness of those claims became apparent recently when researchers from the Urban Institute released a report analyzing studies that have compared the clinical effectiveness and quality of care in the United States with the care dispensed in other advanced nations. They found a mixed bag, with the United States doing better in some areas, like cancer care, and worse in others, like preventing deaths from treatable and preventable conditions.

The bottom line was unmistakable. The analysts found no support for the claim routinely made by politicians that American health care is the best in the world and no hard evidence of any particular area in which American health care is truly exceptional. “

To read the rest of the editor click here. For other health care news and a piece on te passing of Senator Kennedy see the links below.

Sen. Ted Kennedy dies at age 77 (NYDailyNews)

Tonko hears roar of crowd (AlbanyTimesUnion)

Obama’s stimulus plan isn’t helping New York (BuffaloNews)

Jockeying in the starting gate (BuffaloNews)

Health care co-ops an option that needs studying, congressional candidates say (ElmiraStar)

Valerie Bauman of the Associated Press writes on Newday.com - “New Yorkers who need to toss old TVs and computers could help avoid harming the environment with the heavy metals in the electronics if the state Senate takes up one of several bills sidetracked by political gridlock earlier this summer.

Environmentalists began the year optimistic their issues would get new traction in the Legislature. With a Democratic-led Senate for the first time in more than four decades, they saw passage of a bill requiring recycling water bottles — an elusive dream for decades.

Anything seemed possible, and bills that would tighten emissions standards, weatherize more homes and require manufacturers to recycle old electronics were on the verge of passage….

One proposal would require manufacturers of electronics to accept the old TVs, computers and hand-held devices that would otherwise wind up in landfills or incinerators. Environmentalists argue these materials should be separated from the wastestream because they contain heavy metals, like lead and mercury, that can be harmful to the environment and humans.

In some cases, old computers and electronics have been shipped to other countries where young workers take apart the materials without any protection from the hazardous materials.

Michael Moran, a spokesman for the New York Business Council, said the group supports this type of recycling, but requiring manufacturers to handle the cost of recycling the waste that would come from commercial, municipal and industrial sources is a burden that would affect consumers. A final version of the bill could involve some kind of tax credit or other incentive for companies, said Democratic Sen. Antoine Thompson, of Buffalo.”

Read the entire story click here.

A number of stories have been published this morning that will influence the way business is conducted and how our leaders spend our tax dollars. I have provided links to some of them below.

Gov run on Rudy Giuliani’s mind, says top ally Pete King (NYDailyNews)(8.25.09:0726)

Mondello to leave as state GOP chairman (NYJournalNews)(8.25.09:0726)

Giuliani, Seeing Opening, Mulls a Governor Bid (NYTimes)(8.25.09:0726)

More New York Senate staffers get raises (SyracusePostStandard)(8.25.09:0726)

Obama to Nominate Bernanke to 2nd Term at Fed (NYTimes)(8.25.09:0726)

SEIU, ACORN Move to Infiltrate Health Care Protests (UrbanElephants)(8.25.09:0726)

The International Center for Financial Research
and
The Lally School of Management & Technology
at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Present

Marshall N. Carter
Chairman, New York Stock Exchange Group
Deputy Chairman, NYSE Euronext

“Navigating a Perfect Storm - Regaining Our Bearings After the Global Financial Crisis”
Wednesday, September 2, 4:00- 5:30 p.m.
Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) Theater
Reception immediately following

Reservations required Register Online at www.lallyschool.edu

or Reply to: Chaina Porter at portec2@rpi.edu or (518) 276-6590

Before joining the NYSE, Mr. Carter served as Chairman and CEO of State Street Bank. Prior to State Street, Mr. Carter was with Chase Manhattan Bank for 15 years, in positions related to finance, operations and global securities businesses. A former Marine Corps officer who was awarded the Navy Cross and Purple Heart during two years’ service as an infantry officer in Vietnam, Mr. Carter served from 1975-76 as a White House Fellow at the State Department and Agency for International Development. Mr. Carter has most recently lectured at Sloan School of Management at M.I.T. and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

According to a new Siena Poll released today - Majority Think It’s Time to Elect All New State Leaders

Cuomo’s Numbers Continue to Grow, As Paterson’s Stay Low

More than half of voters say that New York politicians have less integrity and work less hard for their constituents than politicians of 40 or 50 years ago, according to a new Siena (College) Research Institute poll of registered voters. A majority of voters wish they could throw out all state government leaders and elect new ones. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s standing with voters has reached near-record high levels, as Governor David Paterson continues to receive very low favorability and job performance ratings from voters. And by a five-to-two margin, voters support having a state constitutional convention.

Read more »

Budget gap grows despite hikes in taxes, fees

Tom Precious of the Buffalo News writes - “The latest round of one of New York state’s biggest tax and fee increases takes effect next month, but it still won’t be enough to balance a state budget that continues to outpace inflation.

Everyone from car owners to boaters will pay more when additional fee hikes kick in Sept. 1. But thanks to a moribund economy, the largess from those increases and others is falling far short of expectations.

And that’s just one of the reasons why the state’s budget deficit won’t go away.”

Read the rest of the posting click here.

Yesterday I attended the Joint Landowner Coalition Rally in Bainbridge, NY. Twenty-three individual coalitions make up the Joint Landowner Coalition representing 13 counties and over one million New Yorkers. The largest coalition has over 150,000 acres! Landowner coalitions were created so that landowners have a more attractive acreage for bidding and more power to control the process. As stated in the rally brochure their mission is “to foster, promote, advance and protect the common interest of the people as it pertains to natural gas development through education and best environmental practices.”

The prevailing sentiment at the rally was one of frustration that the DEC is dragging its feet in finalizing the drilling regulations. During the year-plus that the regs have been under review “hundreds of millions of dollars that would have been invested in New York State, has instead been spent in Pennsylvania.” These people are not only looking forward to their own personal economic benefit but to the benefit that their communities will experience as well. They want to see their kids stay in the community, not seek jobs out of state.

Among the speakers were Sen. Tom Libous who fired up the crowd by saying “We are not on the Patterson team. We are on your team!” There is great distrust and frustration among the landowners directed at Governor Patterson and the DEC. “We need to send DEC a message that this is their #1 priority so that we can have safe drilling now!”, he said. He encouraged everyone to go to www.safedrillingnow.com to sign on to the on-line petition urging the Governor to get drilling started now.

While there were humorous moments in the day (all the volunteers wearing bright yellow T-shirts printed with a PASS GAS logo), the tone of the 2000 people attending the rally was very serious. This is not some pie-in-the-sky pipe dream for these landowners. This is real and it will transform their lives and their communities once state leaders stop dragging their feet. Farmers are patient people but these folks are fed up and they want to see some action! The Leaders who attended the rally understand, but that is like preaching to the choir. Now they need to apply pressure to the Governor and get these one million voters some results!

Philip Rucker and Anne E. Kornblut of the Washington Post report in
Saturday’s paper - “Former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle’s visit to the Oval Office on Friday, at the invitation of President Obama, was more than just a meeting between two loyal friends and political allies. It also served as a reminder of what might have been.”

Read the rest of the story click here.