"We should remember what it felt like one year ago, as the ability to recall it emotionally will pass and it is an emotional memory as much as anything else," writes Lawrence Lessig in "How to Get our Democracy Back" in the current issue of The...

If you grew up in the late 1960's and early 1970's, you probably remember television's battle of the music and dance shows: Dick Clark's American Bandstand, Hullabaloo, and Shindig.
The most successful by far was American Bandstand, and that...

The NYCLU issued a white paper in 2009 on mayoral control, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein pushed for a renewal of the legislation that first gave Bloomberg control of the New York City schools seven years earlier.
The...

Carla Palumbo says she's definitely not running for Susan John's Assembly seat and that a Smugtown Beacon report insinuating otherwise is wrong.
The author, Christopher Wilmot, served alongside Palumbo in the county Legislature. Clearly...

After years of back-and-forth bickering like an old married couple, the mayoral control debate has all the makings of a high-profile divorce - complete with big payouts and the question of child custody.
The most striking thing about the mayoral...

Former President Bill Clinton was often referred to as America's first black president - that was until we elected a black president.
But in some circles, smaller to be sure, Clinton was sometimes called the first gay president. He was the...

Despite the clamor for more dialogue, we probably won't be seeing Republicans stage another get together with President Obama anytime soon.
Speaking to House Republicans in a televised question-and-answer session last Friday, Obama took...

UR Professor David Hursh has written a blog on mayoral control. He has written previously on this topic and closely studied mayoral control of Chicago and NYC schools.
Hursh is an associate professor in the Warner School of Education at the...

Some members of City Council held a work session yesterday afternoon to discuss mayoral control.
The much-anticipated talking paper from Mayor Bob Duffy outlining his pitch for taking over city schools had just been released to the...

Congress member Louise Slaughter briefed the local media corps today on some details of the $151-million in high-speed rail funding that's coming to New York. Here's some of what we learned:

Slaughter's very happy with the amount New York...

President Obama, in his first State of the Union address, faced the challenge of reassuring a frightened middle class.The Obama that was carried to victory by so much hope and optimism has become an ordinary guy facing the country's...

President Obama plans to announce tomorrow the recipients of $8 billion in federal funding for high-speed rail. And it sounds like New York will be getting a chunk of that money.
Congress member...

Just about every reporter in town scrambled to get a peek at Mayor Bob Duffy's report on mayoral control.
From most accounts, the 10-page document, "Putting Children First," is more of a continuation of what Duffy thinks should be done, rather...

Susan John's Assembly district is, again, serving as an example of the lunacy that is redistricting in New York.
Now that John's said she won't seek re-election, a number of possible candidates are getting mention and they seem to come from...

A.M. thoughts from our news staff:
Tuesday's Massachusetts election outcome was depressing, but not catastrophic. Yesterday's Supreme Court decision letting corporations help finance political campaigns was something else...

The analyzing of Tuesday's victory for Massachusetts's new Republican Senator Scott Brown is in full swing.
The Democrats disarray is like an open-casket viewing.
We have White House spokesman Robert Gibbs trying to explain the president's...

It turns out that the state will still pursue the purchase of the Hemlock Lake and Canadice Lakes watersheds this year.
Yesterday, I wondered in a blog post whether the governor's proposal for a moratorium on state land acquisition via the...

More than 250 people from about a dozen different parent, activist, and labor groups gathered outside City Hall last night to protest Mayor Bob Duffy's plans for taking control of the city school district.
In addition to members of the...

Republicans around the country are celebrating this morning. So are the Tea Partiers. So, I assume, is Joe Lieberman.
But Republican Scott Brown's capturing of Ted Kennedy's Senate seat has left me sad. And really worried.
Getting a health-care...

Governor David Paterson is calling his plan to close a $7.4-billion budget gap in 2010-11 a "recovery budget."
The $134 billion proposal, he said during a speech this morning, increases overall spending by less than 1 percent, and includes but...