Free Republic

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – Gov. Andrew Cuomo and leaders of the New York State Legislature say they’ve reached a $175.5 billion state budget agreement. The deal includes congestion pricing, a controversial plan to charge drivers below 60th Street in Manhattan. A panel of experts will set the surcharges by the end of 2020, but sources tell CBS2 drivers in cars will pay around $11.50 and truck drivers will pay about $25. Possible discounts for some are still being worked out. Lawmakers say the money will be spent to fix the MTA. A statewide ban on most single-use plastic bags is...

Cardinal Dolan sitting elephant-like on Christian hearts and souls, will NEVER excommunicate his buddy Gov. Cuomo “Please never use the word weigh in when I come on, I’ve asked you to avoid that,” portly Cardinal Timothy Dolan, head of the archdiocese of New York, told Brian Kilmeade in yesterday’s interview on Fox & Friends. For Christian pro-lifers still reeling in shock that Democrat New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law new rules that permit babies to be aborted up to the day of birth, Dolan is an elephant sitting on their hearts and souls. “When asked whether New York...

A prominent law firm that formerly represented Harvey Weinstein handed over a $25,000 check to Gov. Andrew Cuomo‘s campaign six days before the governor called off a probe into the handling of sexual misconduct allegations against the disgraced movie mogul, public records show. The hefty contribution from Manhattan firm Boies Schiller & Flexner came on June 20, according to records on the state Board of Elections website. Less than a week later, Cuomo called for a six-month halt of state Attorney General Barbara Underwood’s investigation into Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance for deciding not to prosecute Weinstein for a 2015 groping...

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Steve Caldeira, CEO of the International Franchise Association, alerts us to the latest plan to ensure “economic justice” through raising worker pay by government decree. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, believing that the Empire State is free from the strictures of supply and demand curves — or more likely that he must appease Big Labor — is promoting a plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour from $8.75 an hour for workers in fast-food restaurants with 30 or more locations. Such a plan may be politically astute — how can anyone...