Blair Horner

The big news last week was the election results. By and large, it was a good election day for Democrats across the nation. Here in New York, Democrats won in many parts of the state. For example, Democrats picked up control of the Onondaga County Legislature, a feat that they have not accomplished in almost half a century.

New York spends billions of dollars on programs to spur economic activities. Yet the spending is hard to track because there is no standard definition of economic-development spending.

(Airs 11/27/25 @ 3 p.m.) WAMC’s David Guistina in conversation with Blair Horner, Senior Policy Advisor for The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), about Blair not liking “Big Oil” getting big tax breaks amid a climate crisis, wanting the bottle bill to be expanded, and much more.

As New Yorkers rang in the New Year, Albany’s budgeteers were developing a fiscal proposal for Governor Hochul. As directed by the state Constitution, the governor must unveil her budget plan within a few weeks and with it her policy priorities for the upcoming legislative session.

Now well over a month late, it appears that Governor Hochul and state lawmakers are on a path to finish off the budget, which was due on April 1st. Since the final budget agreement will be the latest since 2010, the tardiness will squeeze the time available to tackle non-budget topics.

There is an old political adage: “Money is the mother’s milk of politics.” It means that political power flows from large war chests to candidates and to lobbying efforts that influence government decisions.

“Stealing” an election is, of course, a criminal act, and there is no evidence to support the claim. Campaign rhetoric aside, what is the debate about and what would it mean to voters?

The costs to New Yorkers will go beyond the damage to the public’s health and environment; it will hammer our wallets too.

(Airs 08/26/26 @ 3 p.m.) WAMC’s David Guistina in conversation with Blair Horner, Senior Policy Advisor for the New York Public Interest Research Group about higher education, data centers, the environment, protecting New Yorker’s health, and more.

New York’s embrace of mobile gambling is outpacing its ability to address addiction and financial harm.