Local organizations discuss domestic violence prevention
Local organizations sat in on the presentation by the state's Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, and the Office of Victim Services.
The presentation focused on budget proposals such as doubling the funding for rape crisis centers, creating a mass violence crisis response team for survivors, requiring hospitals to provide victims of sexual assault free forensic exams, and free school meals.
The executive director of the Office for Prevention of Domestic Violence, Kelli Owens, says they're traveling across the state to hear from stakeholders, and a majority support all of the proposals.
'Everybody is talking about how we can-do long-term services for victims and survivors. So much of what we focus on is that emergency response, and everybody is really asking what can we do long term? And I think there's a lot of stuff in here that really gets to that, for victims and survivors of gender-based violence,' said Owens.
The meeting took place at SUNY Broome's Culinary and Event Center in Downtown Binghamton.
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Local organizations discuss domestic violence prevention
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Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
New York to scale back key energy efficiency program
This story originally appeared in New York Focus, a nonprofit news publication investigating power in New York. Sign up for their newsletter here. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has made energy affordability a centerpiece of her political platform this year, blasting proposed utility rate hikes and even promising to slow down implementation of the state's climate law over the concern that the clean energy transition is costing New Yorkers too much. But Hochul's administration is slashing an energy affordability program that was once a priority for the governor, New York Focus has learned. The EmPower+ program was designed specifically to help low- and moderate-income households 'save energy and money' through energy efficiency upgrades. Since 2023 — at Hochul's initiative — it has been New York's one-stop shop to help residents take advantage of green building upgrades they might not otherwise be able to afford, like better insulation and replacing old boilers. 'I don't know of any other program that makes such a big difference to the energy bill and the quality of life for a household that goes through [it],' said Jessica Azulay, executive director of the advocacy group Alliance for a Green Economy. The program is now facing drastic budget cuts. In a July 11 meeting, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) warned local contractors who install the upgrades that it would be cutting the EmPower+ budget from roughly $220 million this year to $80 million in 2027. Michael Hernandez, New York policy director at the pro-electrification group Rewiring America, said he was 'shocked' to learn of the impending cuts and has been sounding the alarm among advocates and lawmakers. Azulay called the projected cuts 'devastating.' 'As families are facing rising energy bills, the state is cutting back on a key tool that it has to help people get their energy bills under control, and to have homes that are more comfortable and safer and healthier,' she said. In recent years, EmPower+ has served tens of thousands of New Yorkers, helping them identify ways that their homes might be wasting energy and fix them through installing better insulation and air sealing and switching to efficient new appliances like heat pumps. The program targets one- to four-family homes, allowing both homeowners and renters to participate. The program covers up to $24,000 worth of upgrades per household, using a mix of state and federal funding. It aims to cover the full cost of upgrades for low-income households and, in some cases, guarantee that participants never pay more than 6% of their income on energy, by providing ongoing subsidies where needed. Even New Yorkers who have gotten relatively minor upgrades through the program say it can make a big difference. Isaac Silberman-Gorn, a first-time homeowner in Troy, outside Albany, said the program recently allowed him to replace a 'dinosaur' of a dryer with a brand-new heat pump model. Thanks to the upgrade, his energy usage no longer spikes every time he does a load of laundry. 'It's the first new appliance I've ever had,' he said. 'Our energy bills are lower. I'm not worried about the thing starting a fire, which is nice.' Silberman-Gorn, who works part-time as a bicycle mechanic and at an environmental nonprofit, said he wouldn't have been able to afford the state-of-the-art new dryer if EmPower+ hadn't covered the cost. 'That was a game changer,' he said. The program relies heavily on the work of local contractors, who conduct NYSERDA-funded energy audits for homes and then, typically, file the application to NYSERDA for upgrades that might be warranted. They've been a key avenue for bringing people into the program, often through customers who refer the companies to friends and neighbors they think might be eligible for similar upgrades. NYSERDA told contractors in last week's meeting that they can no longer sign up new customers for EmPower+ themselves. Clean energy advocates and contractors participating in the program see this as another way to tighten the belt. 'That will naturally slow the program down big-time,' said Hal Smith, CEO of Halco Home Solutions and president of the Building Performance Contractors Association of NYS, a trade group. He said his own company, which works across the Finger Lakes region and has a staff of about 180, should be able to weather the cuts because it does a variety of work and serves customers across the income spectrum. But he worries that some companies working mainly or even exclusively for EmPower+ may have to shut down entirely or lay off much of their staff. The cuts are particularly hard to stomach after years where NYSERDA was pushing for 'more, more, more,' Smith said, building up the program as the state scrambled to meet clean energy targets and encouraging as many contractors as possible to get on board. 'That's been the march for years, and we've all grown, grown, grown,' he said. 'Now NYSERDA is saying we have to put on the brakes.' A NYSERDA spokesperson said that EmPower+ remains a high priority for the agency and that it is only pausing applications from contractors while it reviews how to direct funds to the households most in need. (The spokesperson did not comment on the agency's funding cuts to the program.) Smith said he doesn't blame any one actor for the cuts. The EmPower+ program — which was the result of a 2023 merger between two others — draws its funding from a dizzying array of sources. There's money from New Yorkers' utility bills, through a program approved by the state's Public Service Commission; from the East Coast cap-and-trade program known as RGGI; from the state budget; from a federal home energy rebate program created under former President Joe Biden; and from the longer-standing federal heating assistance program LIHEAP. Scott Oliver, an EmPower+ program administrator at NYSERDA, told contractors last week that federal and state budget cuts were forcing the agency to scale back the program. Hochul and state lawmakers gave EmPower+ a $200 million funding surge in 2023 but earmarked only $50 million for the program this year. President Donald Trump's administration is seeking to eliminate LIHEAP entirely and cut back other weatherization funds. Hochul could direct NYSERDA to tap other funding sources for the program, advocates say. The cap-and-trade program RGGI has earned New York anywhere from $100 million to $400 million a year over the last decade and accumulated a surplus of more than $850 million, according to NYSERDA's latest financial statement. The state's new $1 billion climate fund included only $50 million specifically for EmPower+, but has another $110 million for unspecified green buildings projects, which the governor could use for the program. (The New York State Assembly had sought in negotiations to allocate more than $300 million just to EmPower+.) And the Public Service Commission, New York's utility regulator, recently increased the funding going from energy customers' bills to programs like EmPower+, if not by as much as some advocates had hoped. Advocates say it's not yet clear whether Hochul's administration intentionally cut EmPower+ or whether the program, with its complicated mix of funding, has simply slipped through the cracks. Still, Hernandez, of Rewiring America, said it was bewildering that Hochul's administration could allow such cuts to proceed while the governor emphasizes energy affordability as much as she has: 'How can she be saying, doing both of those things at the same time?' In a statement, the governor's office highlighted the $50 million for EmPower+ in this year's state budget. 'Governor Hochul has made affordability for New Yorkers a top priority,' said Hochul's energy and environment spokesperson Ken Lovett. 'The Governor continues to push back against devastating cuts in Washington, and calls on our state's Congressional Republican delegation to join the fight to protect our state's most vulnerable citizens.' The EmPower+ cuts further slow New York's progress toward meeting legally binding climate targets, in particular a requirement to slash energy use in buildings by 2025. That deadline is now just months away, and the state is far from meeting it. Some climate hawks in the state legislature are beginning to cry foul over the EmPower+ cuts. 'I'm sure that right now the governor is doing her best to look at where we can cut corners,' said Assemblymember Dana Levenberg, of Westchester and the Hudson Valley, referring to the massive funding cuts coming down from Washington. 'This is not where we should be doing that.' In their presentation last week, NYSERDA officials said they were still looking for alternate sources of funding to keep EmPower+ whole. 'This is a problem that is absolutely fixable, and we need the governor to step in here and make the call,' said Azulay, of Alliance for a Green Economy. Hochul has promised that she's attuned to such concerns. 'Utility costs are a huge burden on families,' she told reporters earlier this month, 'and I'll do whatever I can to really alleviate that.' Solve the daily Crossword
Politico
2 hours ago
- Politico
A perfect budget storm
Presented by Resorts World New York City With help from Amira McKee Wall Street could be the state budget's savior next year — or a major headache. Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Democratic-led state Legislature are already contending with a $3 billion hit to the Essential Plan taking effect next fiscal year, which provides health coverage to about 1.6 million low-income New Yorkers. The cut is being heaped on top of a pre-existing $7.5 billion budget gap. And if the financial industry — the engine that fuels New York's economy and tax revenue — goes south, the consequences for Albany could be massive. 'If we get hit not just with the federal restructuring, but with an economy that starts to slow down or tank — that's where we could get that perfect storm,' Comptroller Tom DiNapoli told Playbook in an interview on Monday. That kind of financial turbulence would come at a bad time for the governor, who's running for a second full term next year. She stands to be hit with political crosscurrents from lefty Democrats who'll push for tax hikes and from wealthy New Yorkers who contribute an outsize share of taxes to the state's coffers. State officials are still assessing the fallout from President Donald Trump's megabill, a sweeping federal tax-and-spend package that includes significant cuts to Medicaid and food stamps. Hochul told reporters Monday she plans to roll out a 'swat team' to find ways of saving money as the state also works to address the $750 million being slashed from the Essential Plan — cuts which will take effect Jan. 1. She also defended her $2 billion rebate program, which was approved in the May state budget and will send New Yorkers cash this fall. Hochul insisted the money, which was pared down from the original $3 billion proposal, will help people make ends meet. 'Now more than ever families across New York will appreciate what I did for them and putting money back in their pockets,' the governor said. DiNapoli, a Hochul ally, was not as enthusiastic about the check plan, which Hochul has framed as a way to bust inflation. 'I wouldn't say it was a mistake, but that creates spending that has to be balanced against these other cuts,' he said. 'Rebates are going to happen, hopefully that will help people.' DiNapoli expects finding ways to offset the loss of $750 million in the current fiscal year will be relatively easy. The harder part comes next year when lawmakers and Hochul negotiate the state budget. 'My guess is everything will have to be on the table — cuts, tax increases,' DiNapoli said. New York Democrats have already trained their ire on Republicans over the federal cuts, pre-emptively blaming them even before the mega-bill became a mega-law. There are limits, though, to the blame game. Hochul will still need to get a balanced budget on the books months before voters render their verdict on her tenure. 'It could be a tough budget,' DiNapoli said. 'It's an election year and there are more pressures in an election year.' — Nick Reisman IT'S TUESDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman. WHERE'S KATHY? In New York City with no public schedule. WHERE'S ERIC? No public schedule available as of 10 p.m. Monday. QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'You know, the Dos Equis commercials, the most interesting man in the world? That is him. This guy is having this moment, and he's capitalizing on it.' — Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz on FIFA President Gianni Infantino, in POLITICO's look at how the sports executive learned to navigate American politics ahead of next year's World Cup. BONUS QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'Columbus is worse than pineapple on pizza.' — One of the signs at the Italian-Americans for Zohran Mamdani counter protest Monday, opposite a rally organized by The Italian-American Civil Rights League after discovering Mamdani had posted a photo flipping off a statue of Christopher Columbus. 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Shapiro said he was briefly at the Las Vegas confab at the behest of billionaire crypto investor Brock Pierce and that he did not perform any campaign-related activities — not even coordinating fundraising — while in town. 'I want to clarify that I was not attending any Bitcoin conference on behalf of the campaign, nor was I aware of any formal event taking place,' Shapiro said. 'I was simply a guest of my former client, Brock Pierce, and have a personal interest in blockchain technology.' Pierce sung the praises of Adams while at the conference. 'He's not about to be the crypto-mayor. He is the crypto mayor of the United States of America,' he said in an on-camera interview at the event. 'And it is mission critical to me — I believe New York City, the state and the nation, and therefore the world — that it stays that way and he stays the mayor of New York City.' City Hall referred POLITICO to its statements from last week noting that the fundraiser was a small portion of the trip. 'The overwhelming majority of the trip was dedicated to discussing crypto policy for the city,' spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus said at the time. — Joe Anuta CITY HALL: THE LATEST MEMBER DEFERENCE IN DANGER: A majority of City Council members — from socialists to Republicans — oppose the Charter Revision Commission's approved ballot measures, saying they'll reduce elected officials' and organized labor's input on building housing. 'Mayor Adams' Charter Revision Commission is giving away the store to luxury housing developers while cutting our communities out of the process,' reads a statement organized by City Council Member Sandy Nurse and signed by 31 of her colleagues. The commission voted Monday to place four questions on the November ballot that are meant to make it easier for the city to build apartments. A fifth question would start the process of holding city elections in the same years as presidential races. Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and her leadership team blasted the 'misguided proposals' in a separate statement, saying they'd 'undermine the ability to deliver more affordable housing, homeownership opportunities, good-paying union jobs, and neighborhood investments.' The council has a tense relationship with the mayor. The speaker and other members staunchly opposed ballot proposals from Eric Adams' charter revision commission last year too, but voters approved four out of the five. — Jeff Coltin SCHOOL BUS WOES: Two prominent citywide Democratic electeds are demanding short-term extensions on school bus contracts and are pointing to persistent, adverse impacts on the 145,000 students who depend on taking buses. The Panel for Educational Policy, the Department of Education's governing body, is expected to vote Wednesday to approve a 30-day emergency extension of the contracts. In a Monday letter to Adams, Comptroller Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams urged him to limit any contract extensions to between one and three years after learning the administration is exploring a five-year timeframe. Shorter term extensions would give state lawmakers in Albany time to enact legislation ensuring bus driver protections are included in new contracts, the pair said. The DOE could then rebid the contracts with improvements. 'The bus companies may be content collecting taxpayer dollars while delivering unacceptable service, but our students and families deserve far better — and they should not have to wait until 2030 for relief from a system that's failing them now,' Lander and Williams wrote. State lawmakers didn't pass legislation this year that would protect bus drivers' wages and benefits. The contracts expired at the end of June. 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'My record on Palestine speaks for itself. I'm proud of it. One of the strongest in Congress. I throw down for pro-Palestine candidates. Largely unrecognized work. That's fine,' she said in another post on Bluesky. Ocasio-Cortez voted against far right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene's amendment to cut defense aid to Israel, a vote that failed 422-6. The amendment 'does nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of US munitions being used in Gaza. Of course I voted against it,' Ocasio-Cortez posted on X about the Friday night vote. 'What it does do is cut off defensive Iron Dome capacities while allowing the actual bombs killing Palestinians to continue.' — Jeff Coltin More from Congress: — Trump's megabill would increase the federal deficit by $3.4 trillion and cause 10 million people to lose health insurance over the next decade, per a Congressional Budget Office forecast. (POLITICO) — Rep. 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Dean Murray … Patrick Jenkins … Red Horse's Doug Forand … Ariana Collado of the Bronx Dems … BerlinRosen's Louis Gonzales … Michael Jon Fieni of the Brooklyn Public Library … Annie Lowrey … CNN's Terence Burlij … Sam Brodey … Warren Bass … Peter Prengaman … Natacha Hildebrand … Maor Cohen … Don Van Natta Jr. … (WAS MONDAY): Shonni Silverberg ... Jane Ginsburg ... Jon Lovitz ... Eric Simonoff Missed Monday's New York Playbook PM? We forgive you. Read it here.
New York Post
a day ago
- New York Post
Democrats bow to nuclear-energy reality — but the left won't give up their delusions
The Biden-era climate-activist class may be the last to accept that there's no clean energy future without nuclear power. At least some politicians — even in the bluest corridors — are conceding. Reliably progressive New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has instructed the state's public power authority to build no less than one gigawatt of advanced nuclear power. Her announcement came just weeks after President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders to bring back America's nuclear-energy dominance. Site assessments, private-sector partnerships and labor support are already in motion. Hochul and Trump come from opposite political universes, but both understand that nuclear delivers what wind and solar never will. It's the only zero-emission energy source that can power today's energy requirements reliably at scale. Modern life depends on uninterrupted electricity — AI computing, chip manufacturing, electric vehicles and data centers can't run on 'weather permitting' power. Storage for excess energy from wind and solar resources is still too expensive. Sunlight and wind are still too unreliable. Nuclear is the only clean option that runs 24/7. Trump's directives reflect that reality: They speed up permitting timelines, reauthorize shuttered reactors, rebuild domestic uranium supply chains and fast-track next-generation reactors for military bases and AI infrastructure. The goal is 300 gigawatts of new capacity by 2050, ensuring that nuclear power is the center of American competitiveness and security. Hochul, for her part, recognizes that New York can't meet its electrification targets without nuclear, either. The state's phase-out of fossil fuels has created demand spikes the current grid can't handle, made worse by the premature shutdown of plants like Indian Point in Westchester. She may never admit it publicly, but her plan rests entirely on the foundation Trump laid over the past months. His leadership — combined with streamlined Nuclear Regulatory Commission reviews, rebuilt supply chains and rising bipartisan support — cleared the way. But while some Democrats have begun to evolve, the institutional climate-activist left has not. Groups like the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Sierra Club and the Nuclear Threat Initiative have cycled millions of dollars through projects meant to thwart nuclear power. They reflexively oppose every new reactor proposal, every licensing reform and every effort to restore fuel production on American soil. UCS has spent years pushing climate litigation to 'hold bad actors accountable' for 'climate change,' recover 'damages' and 'limit future climate harms,' while taking money from far-left donors like the Tides Foundation and the Energy Foundation — which has longstanding links to the Chinese Communist Party. Edwin Lyman, a UCS director and frequent critic of nuclear power, has shockingly urged the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to disobey Trump's executive orders. The Sierra Club, once a conservationist group, now donates millions almost exclusively to Democratic campaigns, and supported President Joe Biden's push to ban gas stoves. NTI, co-founded by CNN's Ted Turner and run by former President Barack Obama's energy secretary, is bankrolled by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Arabella Advisors' dark-money network. These groups are increasingly out of sync with global science, public opinion — and now, even the Democratic officials they once helped elect. They portray themselves as scientific, civic-minded watchdogs, but their only function is to spend millions injecting a radical, unpopular left-wing agenda into American politics, one that benefits America's adversaries more than the environment. The rest of the world is advancing its nuclear energy capabilities: China is developing small, modular reactors to export globally, while Russia is financing nuclear plants across Africa and Eastern Europe. These countries are not paralyzed by activist lawsuits or donor-driven campaigns, so they are free to invest in the most powerful tool available to cut emissions and expand growth. Finally, thanks to an increasing groundswell of support, so is the United States. The future of energy is nuclear, whether the climate lobby likes it or not. America is fortunate to have a president who understands this fact and is willing to lead. The alternative is to let out-of-touch donor-backed litigators and left-wing dark money behemoths dictate US nuclear policy, just as they did in the Biden White House. The country can't afford that kind of nostalgia. Steve Forbes is chairman and editor -n- chief of Forbes Media.
