Free Republic

The bulk of the mammoth $254 billion state budget deal was unveiled Wednesday with some last minute self-serving quietly slipped into the batter before Albany lawmakers were set to finally vote on it. The spending plan documents — nicknamed “The Big Ugly” in capital lingo — provide a last-minute, warts-and-all look at much-anticipated legislation focused on New York City’s mental health crisis, recidivism problems and more. Gov. Kathy Hochul ran a victory lap Wednesday after a deal to revamp the state’s discovery laws — a move to combat a slew of criminal cases that have been getting dismissed on technicalities....

"Only the politician who said that America's economy was economically better off under Jimmy Carter than Ronald Reagan would consider a thirty percent decrease in what students pay for tuition to be a cost hike. Kerry's cynical attacks are at odds with the facts that more Americans have college degrees than ever before and the amount students pay in tuition costs is down by a third since 1998." -Steve Schmidt, Bush-Cheney '04 Spokesman Amount Students Pay In Tuition Costs Is Down, Number Of Graduates Is Up Kerry Attacks On Tuition Costs, But The Amount Students Pay In Tuition Costs...