Latest news with #KathleenHochul
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Siena poll pits Hochul against Stefanik, Blakeman, Lawler for governor
Jul. 1—Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul leads the pack of likely gubernatorial candidates for next year's election, and Rep. Elise M. Stefanik is slightly outmatched by Hudson Valley Rep. Mike R. Lawler in theoretical contests against the incumbent, according to the latest Siena College Research Institute poll. According to the poll released on Tuesday, Hochul has at least 20 points of advantage over any of the three Republicans who appear most likely to run for their party's nomination for governor; Stefanik, Lawler and Nassau County Executive Bruce A. Blakeman. In the three separate contests, SCRI found that Hochul would lead handily among Democrats and independents, and carry 44% of the vote against both Lawler and Blakeman, who would carry 24% and 19% of the vote respectively. Against Stefanik, more people said they'd vote for Hochul, 47%, to 24% who would go to Stefanik. Stefanik did the best of the three with GOP voters and independents, but more Democrats said they'd vote Hochul over her than in the other contests if the election scheduled for November 2026 were held today. "Recognizing that 16 months in politics is many lifetimes away, a first look at how New York voters feel about potential gubernatorial matchups shows that partisanship wins out. Hochul leads Lawler by 20 points, Stefanik by 23 points and Blakeman by 25 points," Siena College Research Institute Director Don Levy said in a statement alongside the poll results. Levy noted that Hochul isn't pulling great numbers for an incumbent in such a heavily Democratic state, and that between one-fourth and one-third of voters had no choice in each of the three match-ups. Hochul's job approval, favorability and basic reelection numbers aren't all positive either; while 50% approve of the job she's doing, more people dislike her, 47%, than like her, 42%, and only 37% said they'd reelect her versus a non-specific "other candidate." These numbers have stayed roughly the same for the last few months. For Stefanik, favorability numbers are likewise underwater, with 25% of voters reporting that they like her and 32% who dislike her. Lawler is more closely tied, with 22% who like him to 24% who do not and 54% who don't know him or have no opinion. In a Republican primary, Stefanik is most likely to win, but many minds are not made up. The numbers show that voters are favoring Stefanik 35%, to 18% for Lawler and 7% for Blakeman. In a Democratic primary, Hochul far outpaces her one declared opponent, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado. Delgado pulls 12% to Hochul's 49%, and Rep. Ritchie Torres, who has not declared a campaign for governor, gets 10%. "One year out from a potential primary, two in five Republicans don't know who they'll support among Stefanik, Lawler and Blakeman, but Stefanik maintains an early lead, 17 points ahead of Lawler, who is 11 points ahead of Blakeman," Levy said. "On the Democratic side, Hochul has huge leads of 37 points over Delgado and 39 points over Torres, each of whom remains largely unknown to more than half of Democrats." The poll also asked voters for their positions on a number of bills passed by the state legislature this year. Voters widely approved of the issues SCRI asked about, with at least 70% of Republicans, Democrats and independents each supporting a requirement that state agencies disclose when they use artificial intelligence and requiring state prisons to expand video and audio surveillance in prison common areas. At least 60% of Democrats, Republicans and independents also said they supported a move to create a state utility consumer advocate's office to advocate for consumers before the Public Service Commission when utility companies seek rate increases. A plurality of Republicans and a majority of Democrats and independents said they approved of a bill that allows the state attorney general to sue businesses on behalf of customers in cases of alleged unfair or abusive practices. Perhaps the most controversial single-issue bill considered this year was one to allow medically assisted suicide, termed "medical aid in dying," in New York. The SCRI poll found that 54% of all New Yorkers back the bill as passed. "While it doesn't have the same level of support as several other less controversial bills that passed the legislature at the end of session, voters support what some call medical aid in dying and others call physician assisted suicide, 54-28%. It has better than two-to-one support from Democrats and independents, and Republicans support it 48-39%," Levy said. "It has support from at least 53% of voters from every region of the state, and at least 54% support from young, middle-aged and older voters. Jewish voters, 53-30%, and Catholic voters, 52-30%, support it at virtually equal levels. All those major pieces of legislation await the governor's approval, veto or negotiation on amendments, which must come before the end of the year. This poll was conducted from June 23 to 26, reaching 800 New York voters via phone and an online polling platform. The margin of error is 4.4 percent in either direction.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
U.S. files suit against New York State over courthouse arrest law
June 13 (UPI) -- The federal government has filed a suit against the state of New York over a law that has kept ICE enforcement out of its state courthouses. The Department of Justice has named New York Gov. Kathleen Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James as the defendants in the lawsuit filed Thursday with the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York that seeks to have New York's "Protect Our Courts Act" ruled unlawful. The act, signed into law in December of 2020, provides a "privilege against civil arrest" for anyone traveling to or from, or involved in court proceedings, whether that be for themselves or in support for family or household members when they need to appear in court. The law further states that only judicially signed orders or warrants can be executed in court buildings, and such warrants must also be reviewed by the court, which then determines where and when a warrant can be executed, and how it may be implemented. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a press release Thursday that New York is "employing sanctuary city policies to prevent illegal aliens from apprehension." She added that the suit "underscores the Department of Justice's commitment to keeping Americans safe and aggressively enforcing the law." Chair of the New York State Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal responded to the legal action with astatement Thursday in which he called the lawsuit "baseless and frivolous, and "part and parcel of the Trump administration's ongoing assault on the rule of law in New York." Hoylman-Sigal also insisted that the Protect our Courts Act is "well within the established purview of state law," and doesn't apply to federal or immigration courts, and permits Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make arrests with valid judicial warrants. "At a time when masked ICE officials are roaming the state and lawlessly detaining New Yorkers without any due process, the law preserves access to justice and participation in the judicial process," Hoylman-Sigal said. Hel was one of two New York legislators who wrote a letter to state Attorney General James in March when someone was allegedly detained by federal law enforcement while inside a state courthouse. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate also said in the Justice Department press release that the act allows New York to obstruct "federal law enforcement and facilitates the evasion of federal law by dangerous criminals, notwithstanding federal agents' statutory mandate to detain and remove illegal aliens."
UPI
13-06-2025
- Politics
- UPI
U.S. files suit against New York State over courthouse arrest law
The Department of Justice has named New York Gov. Kathleen Hochul (pictured) and Attorney General Letitia James as the defendants in the lawsuit filed Thursday with the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York that seeks to have New York's "Protect Our Courts Act" ruled unlawful. File Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI | License Photo June 13 (UPI) -- The federal government has filed a suit against the state of New York over a law that has kept ICE enforcement out of its state courthouses. The Department of Justice has named New York Gov. Kathleen Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James as the defendants in the lawsuit filed Thursday with the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York that seeks to have New York's "Protect Our Courts Act" ruled unlawful. The act, signed into law in December of 2020, provides a "privilege against civil arrest" for anyone traveling to or from, or involved in court proceedings, whether that be for themselves or in support for family or household members when they need to appear in court. The law further states that only judicially signed orders or warrants can be executed in court buildings, and such warrants must also be reviewed by the court, which then determines where and when a warrant can be executed, and how it may be implemented. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a press release Thursday that New York is "employing sanctuary city policies to prevent illegal aliens from apprehension." She added that the suit "underscores the Department of Justice's commitment to keeping Americans safe and aggressively enforcing the law." Chair of the New York State Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal responded to the legal action with astatement Thursday in which he called the lawsuit "baseless and frivolous, and "part and parcel of the Trump administration's ongoing assault on the rule of law in New York." Hoylman-Sigal also insisted that the Protect our Courts Act is "well within the established purview of state law," and doesn't apply to federal or immigration courts, and permits Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make arrests with valid judicial warrants. "At a time when masked ICE officials are roaming the state and lawlessly detaining New Yorkers without any due process, the law preserves access to justice and participation in the judicial process," Hoylman-Sigal said. Hel was one of two New York legislators who wrote a letter to state Attorney General James in March when someone was allegedly detained by federal law enforcement while inside a state courthouse. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate also said in the Justice Department press release that the act allows New York to obstruct "federal law enforcement and facilitates the evasion of federal law by dangerous criminals, notwithstanding federal agents' statutory mandate to detain and remove illegal aliens."
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lt. Gov. Delgado pitches fundamental change as he challenges his boss for governor
Jun. 7—SCHENECTADY — Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado is pitching himself as a transformative leader who will make fundamental changes to how New York operates and will prioritize issues, blaming "current leaders" — his boss Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul — for failing to effectively respond to the core issues of our time. On Saturday, in a humid half-court YMCA gymnasium to a crowd of about 150 people in his hometown, Delgado spoke of family, of loyalty, of his commitment to representing the people of New York above all, and batted away criticism that he's proven a disloyal No. 2 to Hochul. "Some folks will talk about this idea of loyalty, since I announced my run for governor, loyalty," he said. "But I have to ask, loyal to who? Loyal to what?" "Loyalty to a broken system is why we're in this mess to begin with," he continued. "Don't talk to me about loyalty unless it's loyalty to the people." Delgado didn't name Hochul outright in his speech, but derided many of the policies the Hochul administration has overseen as fundamentally out of touch with good governance. "All New Yorkers, every single New Yorker, deserves better leadership," he said. He criticized programs that funnel public, taxpayer money into private enterprises, both to achieve economic growth and to deliver public benefits like healthcare and public housing. He questioned the financial viability of such programs, which he said have not done much to improve quality of life or boost economic performance. He said New York is the nation's third-largest economy, and would be eighth in the world if identified as its own nation — and with a $254 billion public state budget for the coming year. "Where is the money going?" he asked his supporters on Saturday. Delgado laid out a number of broad policy proposals — just a first look, he said. He called for efforts to address poverty, taking back public housing programs and increasing the income cap to qualify for New York's "Essential Plan" publicly-subsidized health insurance plan. He called for universal pre-school across the state and an increase in the statewide minimum wage "for everyone." He said the state should stand up it's own rental assistance programs, and make efforts to reach the estimated seven out of 10 eligible people who don't take advantage of that and other public benefit programs. He also called for universal childcare beyond universal pre-school as well, and said the state should establish a taxpayer-funded account to pay extra money to childcare workers as well. But when asked if he supported the extra spending that would come with those programs, Delgado said he wasn't backing the bills that currently exist in the state legislature that would enact many of these programs. "What I'm laying out is a vision," he said to gathered reporters after the campaign event. "Then you work with the legislative body to effectuate the vision and figure out what the best way forward is to get there. Delgado's message is one of change, of a departure from the way Hochul and recent governors before her have done things — and he said he has not been a significant part of that governance despite being the No. 2 most senior elected official in the state since 2022, when Hochul appointed him to replace then-Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin. "I've tried very hard to communicate all these things within the administration, I've tried to push to make sure that we take bolder steps," he said. "Now listen, to do that you have to be part of the decision-making process, right. To do that, you have to be included." He said he was not included in that process, despite promises from Hochul before he was appointed that she would take a different approach to governing and would include the lieutenant in more decisions. That's not historically how the job works — for years, the lieutenant governor position has been varying degrees of thankless and responsibility-free. The lieutenant is no longer even regularly handed control of state government when the governor leaves the state, thanks to modern communications technology and the governor's private planes and helicopters. Delgado broke with Hochul nearly a year ago — first by calling for President Joseph R. Biden to step aside from his reelection campaign after his poor debate performance in June of 2024, then on further and further issues. After telling reporters in a rare Capitol news conference that he was working toward a better relationship with the governor, Delgado announced he would step aside and not run for reelection with Hochul. She responded by stripping him of everything but the most basic essentials for his office — taking back his downstate and Capitol second floor office space, a significant amount of his staff, digital devices, executive email and vehicles. Delgado has been left with a skeleton crew for official staff and a rarely-used office off of the state Senate chambers mostly used for ceremonial purposes in typical times. She also took all the duties and initiatives she's assigned to him and his team — a program to boost civic engagement and any assignments to represent the Governor's office at events across the state. All that remains is his constitutional duty to preside over the Senate — another rarely used ceremonial role almost always delegated to the Senate Majority Leader by assigning them as President Pro Tempore. Delgado hasn't done that since the first day of session in January. Delgado has maintained for months, since he started to break with the governor, that his real job is to "get out there and connect with people," a phrase he's repeated often including on Saturday. He, in his capacity as Lieutenant, has held quasi-campaign rallies across the state framed as town hall events, meeting with those in the community who care to show up. Many of those events were filmed and cut together for his campaign announcement video. "As lieutenant governor, I can't control when somebody decides to take a look at my staff, I can't control someone taking my phone, I can't control that," he said. "What I can control is my connection to New Yorkers, and I'm going to continue to lean in on my connection to New Yorkers. New Yorkers, who, by the way, who independently elected me to serve in this capacity." Delgado went on to say that he didn't see that same approach from Hochul — and that's what made him decide to run against her. "I wasn't seeing the plan, on top of that you don't have visibility to where we're going, you don't know exactly what the plan is, what the vision is, this feels more reactive, that's the piece I want to make sure that I change," he said. Delgado's path to victory is far from simple — Hochul has the incumbency advantage, years of fundraising, the support of the state Democratic party and polls better than Delgado in statewide rankings. Shortly after Delgado dropped his announcement video on June 2, a coordinated effort by the state party to shore up local Democratic support resulted with over 40 out of 64 local county Democratic chairs endorsing Hochul. On Friday, three leading Schenectady County Democrats announced they're backing Hochul. Hochul's campaign declined to comment on the lieutenant governor's criticism, or his candidacy in general, but pointed to a handful of news reports detailing those county and local endorsements of her, plus a New York Post article from Saturday with the headline "'No Show' Delgado: NY's lieutenant governor does little to earn $220k paycheck, records show." But Delgado isn't without his support — a handful of Democratic chairs, including from Greene and Otsego counties were at his event on Saturday. They appeared in their personal capacities — many county committees don't endorse before a primary, and others haven't had meetings to decide if they want to endorse, and who to endorse, yet. Greene County Chair Lori Torgerson said her county committee hasn't met yet, but said that for her personally, Delgado represents a good leader with a clear vision. "Antonio has integrity, everything he said today I believe he delivers on, and in my experience he has never been a leader who says one thing and does another," she said. Otsego County chair Caitlin Ogden said her committee generally doesn't endorse a candidate if there's a primary, but said that since Delgado's time in Congress he's demonstrated an ability to flip Republican and Trump-loyal voters and could be the best pick to stop the shift to the right the electorate has demonstrated in recent elections "I feel that he's the one whose got a proven track record doing that, and he has a really good shot," she said.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
100 dairy farms in New York get over $21 million from state
New York state is pushing more than $21 million in grant money out to over 100 dairy farms statewide, part of a long-term push to enhance and expand the state's upstate milk and milk product industry. On Monday, at Glory Days dairy farm in Lowville, state Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball announced the funding through the state Dairy Modernization Grant program as the state kicked off June Dairy Month. 'New York's dairy industry is the backbone of our agricultural economy, supporting thousands of jobs across our rural communities,' said Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul. The Governor had successfully pushed for this program in budget negotiations last year. 'With this $21.6 million investment through the Dairy Modernization Grant Program, we're giving hardworking dairy farmers and cooperatives the tools they need to grow, innovate and lead in a changing market. This is how we honor our agricultural legacy — by making sure it has a strong and sustainable future,' Hochul said. Across the North Country, 15 farms will get a combined $3.3 million in state grant money — in Central New York will get more than $3.9 million, and in the Finger Lakes, 20 farms are getting more than $4.3 million. The money can be used for projects on dairy farms to expand or improve storage, improve transportation and strengthen operations — it helps farmers buy newer, more efficient equipment and is run with an eye towards increasing environmental protection, efficiency and farm operation health. The program requires that each grant-funded project demonstrate a path towards expanding storage, increasing energy efficiency, improving food safety, saving work hours, decreasing raw milk dumping or making the farm more resilient economically. Each project must achieve at least two of those listed goals. 'The Dairy Modernization Grant Program gives farms like ours the opportunity to progress and innovate and continue being the lifeblood of our communities,' said Amy Beyer, owner of Glory Days Farm. 'This program encourages the adoption of efficient technology that improves food safety with more consideration to environmental impacts, securing the future of dairy in New York.' This new grant program is authorized for another $10 million round in 2026 — and Hochul indicated that further funding will be headed to the dairy industry for research and climate-resiliency work in the future. 'Our dairy farmers and processors are second to none when it comes to the care they give to the land and their animals and the quality of their milk products,' said Ball, the state Agriculture Commissioner. 'I am so pleased to see this funding being awarded to these deserving farms, who will now have the additional resources they need to ensure that they can continue to provide the very best milk and dairy products, and keep operations and the supply chain going, even in the event of severe weather or emergency events.' This grant funding comes as the New York dairy industry sees major investments in plants and farms across the state. In April, Gov. Hochul and regional lawmakers attended the groundbreaking of a new, $1.2 billion Chobani company plant in Oneida County, which will become the largest single-site natural food processing center in the country and increase fluid milk demand by multiple billions of pounds per year. New York has already pumped $23 million into that project alone, with another $73 million in tax credits for job creation set aside once the facility starts hiring. A handful of other major projects, including a Fairlife milk processing plant in western New York, a $30 million expansion of the Agri-Mark cheese facility in Chateaugay, Franklin County, a $150 million Cayuga Marketing milk plant in Auburn, a $621 million cheese plant in Franklinville, Cattaraugus County, are expected to increase demand for milk in New York by more than 35% by 2030. New York already has nearly 300 processing facilities for milk and milk products, served with more than 16 billion pounds of milk per year from over 3,000 dairy farms, over 95% of which are family-owned and operated.
