Sam Levin

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Mayor Mike Bloomberg at a press conference.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced today that he is ending a controversial policy that requires food stamp applicants to be fingerprinted -- a move that has pitted him squarely against Mayor Mike Bloomberg. The news today is also one that puts Bloomberg in direct opposition with City Council Speaker and mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn (and a handful of other local politicians).

At the center of the debate is the policy that requires all food stamp applications and recipients in New York State to be fingerprinted, which the governor, along with a group of advocates, says creates a stigma around receiving welfare, slows down the process, and creates barriers to reducing hunger. But Bloomberg, who butted heads with Cuomo on the policy back in January, has repeatedly defended fingerprinting, arguing that it stops New Yorkers from abusing the benefits and saves the city millions of dollars by stopping fraudulent recipients.

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This is the promo video for the Committee to Save New York, the outrageously-named pro-Cuomo PAC that loves Andrew. The Governor urged the creation of the fundraising committee before he stepped into office and the monies gathered have supported the advertising of his first term's achievements thus far. 

Run by three business-y board members - Rob Speyer of Tishman-Speyer, Kathryn S. Wilde of the Partnership for New York City and Steven Spinola of the Real Estate Board of New York - the Committee to Save New York raised over $17 million last year for the head honcho of Albany. Except it didn't come from "ordinary, hard-working New Yorkers."

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The state legislature and Gov. Cuomo are under fire for on the one hand, backing legislation that requires everyone arrested in the state to provide a DNA sample, while at the same time, not taking other steps proven to reduce wrongful convictions. (These other steps relate to how police and prosecutors investigate crimes)

The legislation will require anyone arrested--including fare beaters, vandals, shoplifters and other low level suspects--to provide a DNA swatch for the massive state operated database. Until now, the requirement only applied to felony suspects.

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The New York State Senate on Monday night passed a budget resolution that would bleed $770 million from the MTA's Capital Plan, part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed budget, if made into law.

The Republican-led Senate also voted down a plan to up the MTA's bond cap by $7 billion.

While this sounds totally confusing -- as if these public finance facts were being voiced by the teacher's in Charlie Brown, or something -- it's actually quite important to understand.

That's because cap plan cash basically pays for 33 percent of downstate construction gigs. Upstate, it boosted the economy to the tune of 79,869 jobs between 2005 and 2009, according to Transportation Alternatives, a transit advocacy group.

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Yesterday, the state -- after a fair amount of delay and confusion -- finally released map proposals for new district lines in New York, based on Census data.

We heard from one angry pol yesterday, predictably mad at the political motivations that often drive the process. He's not the only frustrated elected -- and there's been a lot of talk today about what the next step might be for those who are upset with the process or product of redistricting.

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Remember how New York's citizens, many of them not too keen on having chemicals blasted into underground rock to extract natural gas, recently submitted 40,000 comments to the state's environmental agency?

That public comment period on highly polemic hydraulic fracturing came to a close earlier this month, and the Department of Environmental Protection Conservation is now supposed to look through the comments -- even respond to the more poignant ones -- before making final recs, as required by law.

(In case you haven't been following the fracking fracas, here's a quick refresher: DEP top brass is trying to settle upon environmental guidelines for fracking, after Gov. Andrew Cuomo's admin recommended that lawmakers lift a drilling ban. Meanwhile, a fair amount of Albany lawmakers have pushed for an outright ban, since many worry that the mining will pollute water with chemicals and even radiation).

You might wonder how much of an impact these comments might have when it comes to policy making. If 39,000 were anti-fracking, you might ask, would that mean that the state would have to prohibit the practice?

So Runnin' Scared chatted with a few environmental lawyers about this...

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo is going around the state this week telling folks about his 2012-2013 executive budget -- and while he was visiting New York City yesterday, he took the opportunity to push his food stamp agenda. Y'know, the agenda that has the governor directly butting heads with Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who is usually a pretty powerful, does-what-he-wants kind of dude.

Cuomo mentioned his distaste for requiring food stamp applicants to get fingerprinted earlier this month in his State of the State speech, and the mayor has come out strongly on the opposing side numerous times, arguing that fingerprinting is necessary and saves the city millions of dollars by stopping fraudulent recipients.

Runnin' Scared was not able to get to Flushing Thursday for the speech, but we caught up with an advocate from the Food Bank For New York City who attended to hear her thoughts on Cuomo's mention of food stamps. Spoiler alert: She was happy!

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo isn't releasing his 2012-2013 budget proposal until Tuesday, but early reports suggest more cuts are on their way, The Associated Press reports (via Wall Street Journal).

Because Cuomo has to address a $2 billion shortfall -- and has promised no additional taxes -- this means that he will probably push for additional belt-tightening, Reuters notes.

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Mayor Mike Bloomberg fondly remembers his days as a small business owner and likes to share the joy of successful entrepreneurship with New York City start-ups.

This time, in the Bronx.

The mayor announced today the first city-sponsored business incubator in the borough, which will be part of the city's growing network of incubators designed to help startups transition into successful companies.

"Embracing New York City's entrepreneurial spirit -- that is a central part of our administration's strategy for creating jobs and putting more New Yorkers to work," he told a crowd of reporters in a swanky new office inside the landmark BankNote Building, (which used to be a penny factory!) in Hunts Point.

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