Gov. Andrew Cuomo

Low-wage workers and advocates took New York City by storm at the close of last year with mass demonstrations across the city for better wages and work-place conditions.

Thus, one might assume that Gov. Andrew Cuomo's call for a $1.50 minimum wage increase during his annual State of the State address would signal a great victory for those advocating for higher worker wages.

But it turns out that while advocates for wage increases are happy to see the governor put his stamp of approval on a potential wage-hike, many also contend that a $8.75/hour minimum wage still isn't enough for workers and their families to survive.

"Is $8.75 sufficient? Of course not , but it's a huge step in the right direction." James Parrott, chief economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute, tells the Voice. "I think people see that this is the year that this will happened in New York State. This is not going to be the end of it. This is not going to be sufficient."

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But, on the heels of news from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver that state lawmakers were '95 percent' done with a gun control deal, the state's top dog entered Albany yesterday to deliver his annual State of the State Address. His agenda included economic growth, the environment, Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, tourism and, most significantly for our conversation, gun control.More »

www.keepcalm.uk

New York governor Andrew Cuomo's got a busy day ahead of him in Washington D.C. -- which includes meetings with White House officials, the House speaker, and the Senate majority leader -- where he'll make the case for New York's need for a $42 billion appropriation to help the state recover from Hurricane Sandy.

Initially, the governor thought $30 billion in federal coin would do the trick. Last week, however, Cuomo said the state needed $32.8 billion in reimbursements and an additional $9.1 billion to help rebuild -- and modernize -- New York's infrastructure.

This, of course, is happening as federal lawmakers duke it out over how to keep the country from going over the so-called "fiscal cliff." So $42 billion for the Empire State might be a tough figure for the governor to achieve from the cash-strapped federal government.

Cuomo's tentative schedule is as follows:

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Governor Andrew Cuomo said yesterday that the hurricane that ripped through the Northeast last month was worse than Hurricane Katrina, the devastating storm that destroyed New Orleans in 2005.

"Hurricane Katrina, in many ways, was not as impactful as Hurricane Sandy, believe it or not," Cuomo said. "Because of the density of New York, the number of people affected, the number of properties affected was much larger in Hurricane Sandy than Hurricane Katrina. This puts the entire conversation, I believe, into focus. . . . Now Katrina had a human toll that thankfully we have not paid in this region."

It's that last part that should put the "entire conversation . . . into focus."

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A Colorado-based marijuana company has enlisted the help of one of Albany's most influential lobbyists to make medical marijuana a reality in Andrew Cuomo's "progressive" New York. But the chances of the Empire State getting prescription pot any time soon aren't great.

Gaia Plant Based Medicine has recruited former Sheldon Silver aide Pat Lynch's lobbying firm to urge lawmakers -- and Cuomo -- to legalize medical marijuana in New York.

However, despite overwhelming legislative and public approval (anywhere from 60-percent to 80-percent of New Yorkers support medical marijuana, depending on which poll you look at), Cuomo has said he won't approve a bill legalizing medical marijuana.

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www.queenscrap.com

It's no secret that Governor Andrew Cuomo is pretty pissed off with the lack of preparedness New York utilities companies had for Hurricane Sandy. It's also no secret that New York utilities companies have absolutely sucked at responding to power outages caused by the storm -- and Cuomo wants to know why.

The governor today issued an executive order to form a commission to figure out what caused these companies to so badly fail their customers following Hurricane Sandy, as well as their failures following Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.

According to the governor's office, the commission "will be tasked to undertake a thorough review of all actions taken by the power companies before and after these emergencies, and make specific recommendations to reform and modernize oversight, regulation and management of New York's power delivery services."

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Some of you did, anyway.

Yesterday, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order allowing residents of "federally declared disaster counties" to vote at any polling place they want.

Included in the governor's order are relief workers who "reside in one of the federally declared disaster counties."

Problem is, not all the relief workers "reside" in federally declared disaster counties -- which include Nassau, Rockland, Suffolk, Westchester, and all the counties in New York City. Many relief workers -- transplanted utility workers, National Guardsmen, etc. -- reside in counties that aren't federally declared disaster counties and therefore don't qualify to vote at any polling place under the governor's executive order.

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www.hipsterjew.com

Every time a natural disaster destroys entire communities, a handful of religious idiots blame it on gay people and the politicians who defend their civil rights. Hurricane Sandy is no exception.

In most cases, however, the moronic ramblings of fringe lunatics are routinely ignored by elected officials. That, however, is not the case with Hurricane Sandy.

In the aftermath of the storm, wing-nut Southern Christians claimed the hurricane was God's way of punishing the New York State Legislature for voting in favor of gay marriage. But Southern Christians aren't the only idiots who think unfortunate weather is divine punishment for defying God's word (as it's explained in thousands-of-years-old works of fiction).

Enter Rabbi Noson Leiter, the leader of the group Torah Jews for Decency, who is the latest homophobe to blame a storm on gays who occupy lower Manhattan -- which he describes as "one of the national centers for homosexuality."

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Nearly 600,000 New Yorkers still are without power after Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on the Big Apple earlier this week, and Governor Andrew Cuomo appears to be a little pissed off.

The governor sent a letter to the CEOs and presidents of seven utility companies telling them -- in no uncertain terms -- that he plans to hold them accountable for their preparation (or lack thereof) for the storm, which he apparently thinks is the reason so many people still are without electricity.

"If you failed to prepare, however, as evidenced by your response, it is a failure to keep your part of the bargain - a failure to keep the trust that New Yorkers have placed in you by granting you the privilege to conduct utility business in New York State; in particular, the certificates of public convenience and necessity ("Certificate") granted by the State under the Public Service Law," Cuomo says in his letter. "New Yorkers should not suffer because electric utilities did not reasonably prepare for this eventuality. In the context of the ongoing emergency, such a failure constitutes a breach of the public trust."

See Cuomo's letter below.

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Governor Andrew Cuomo earned a big, fat D in a recent grading of his fiscal policies by the Libertarian Cato Institute.

This, of course, comes as the governor has declared New York "open for business."

Cuomo's D  -- on a scale of A through F -- might have a little bit to do with a different group's ranking New York dead last in terms of how business-friendly its tax policies are.

Of New York's governor -- who is eying a run for the White House in 2016 -- the Institute says the following:

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