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A former state Senate leader and his son were convicted Friday of federal extortion charges, marking the second time in a month that one of Albany's most powerful politicians was run out office following a case that put the state capital's political culture on trial. The prosecution of Republican Dean Skelos, 67, and his 33-year-old son, Adam, cast a harsh light on politics-as-usual, much like the one against former Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who was convicted of bribery on Nov. 30. ...

ALBANY -- As the legislature began the process of enacting a new state budget Sunday, its top Republican said Sunday they effectively will cancel a ban on the sale of gun and rifle magazines larger than seven rounds that was set to take effect April 15. In doing so, Senate co-leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) confirmed a plan lawmakers outlined last week.

Governor Cuomo caved. Our lawmakers lied. After more than a year of fresh air in Albany — led by a governor who passed gay marriage, reformed ethics laws and capped property taxes — the state capitol again stinks. After midnight on Thursday, and behind closed doors, the proverbial three men in a room — Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos — cut a deal carving legislative election districts that virtually assures the lawmakers who approved it will be running things for years. Instead of forming an independent panel to create districts that actually represent the...

Actor Alec Baldwin has launched a war of tweets with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos Baldwin's bombastic twitter attacks on Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos has given the Republicans a perfect foil to use to solicit campaign funds--a liberal Hollywood elite actor who wants to raise taxes. "Don't think we haven't thought of that," a Senate GOP source said when asked if Baldwin will be the focus of a fund-raising effort. Even Democrats were scratching their heads over why Baldwin took a one-day story and kept it going. "What Alec Baldwin is doing is making Dean Skelos a man of...

For years, when Republican state senators met privately in their elegant, high-ceilinged conference room in the Capitol, most senior members clustered around the room’s center table, close to Joseph L. Bruno, the majority leader. But Dean G. Skelos, the hard-driving Long Island Republican and deputy majority leader, sat in a back corner. From there, he studied the scene, taking in members’ facial expressions, their tones of voice and their reactions to other senators’ ideas. “My grandfather taught me a long time ago, be a buyer, not a seller,” said Mr. Skelos in an interview on Thursday. He added: “I like...