News

11
Feb
2002
ALBANY—Heavy property taxes on railroads in New York, with costs up to 26 times those in neighboring states, have helped drain high-paying railroad jobs from the state and impose higher transportation costs on manufacturers and other shippers, a new study by The Public Policy Institute says
07
Feb
2002
ALBANY, N.Y.—New York State still faces an acute need for more electric generating capacity, even if the recession temporarily affects demand, new analysis from The Public Policy Institute shows. An updated white paper on energy by The Institute shows that New York must still add at least a dozen new power plants with at least 9,200 megawatts of additional electricity-generating capacity within the next five years to avoid the risk of serious economic damage
30
Jan
2002
The Senate Majority will seek to create a $520 million biotechnology program and to locate tax-free Empire Zones in every county of the state as its priorities in this year's budget negotiations. Those are among the initiatives outlined in the Senate Finance Committee's Staff Analysis of the SFY 2002-03 Executive Budget, released this week by Senate Majority Leader Joseph L
28
Jan
2002
ALBANY—Twenty-five New York State schools have been named 2002 recipients of The Business Council's Pathfinder Award, which honors schools that show the most improvement from one year to the next as measured by their students' scores on standardized tests. Each honored school receives its award at a local ceremony
22
Jan
2002
Governor Pataki proposed a 2002-03 budget that would hold state-funded spending to an increase of 1.6 percent, while going forward with $300 million in already enacted tax cuts. Overall spending, including a projected $3.1 billion in new federal aid, would rise 4
22
Jan
2002
Governor Pataki's budget will do much to turn crisis into comeback. This budget works for two reasons. First, despite our short-term setbacks, revenues are significantly higher than they were just a few years ago because of the economic growth Governor Pataki and the Legislature have helped create by reducing taxes and cutting the cost of doing business
18
Jan
2002
This is a spectacular new investment in the Capital District-and, even more important, a welcome vote of confidence in the economic future of upstate New York. So much of General Electric's past glory traces to the research begun here under Charles Steinmetz. The future of this great company will also be made in the Capital Region
18
Jan
2002
GE today announced plans to invest more than $100 million in a multi-year project to modernize its research and development headquarters in Niskayuna, Schenectady County. The newly renamed GE Global Research Center will be a state-of-the-art research lab and hub for new technology innovations at GE, GE said in a release
16
Jan
2002
The Chamber Alliance of New York State (CANYS) has honored two state legislators and a key executive in the Pataki administration for their work in 2001 on insurance-related issues. State Senator James Seward (R-Otsego County) and Assemblyman Joseph Morelle (D-Monroe) were named "Legislators of the Year" by CANYS, an association of New York's local and regional chambers of commerce that is affiliated with The Business Council of New York State
16
Jan
2002
State lawmakers have approved hundreds of millions of dollars in new health-care spending intended largely to fund raises for health-care workers. The Business Council opposed the plan. However, one provision of the original plan to which The Business Council specifically objected, a reduction in state reimbursements to pharmacies for Medicaid prescriptions, was drastically revised in the final bill