It's beginning to look like this year's governor's race will be pretty boring. The Republicans don't have a strong field, and the Democrats seem ready to anoint Andrew Cuomo.
So let me insert a little drama myself:
What if Andy doesn't...

First local news of the week is tonight's speech by Mayor Bob Duffy (7 o'clock at the Memorial Art Gallery, televised on WXXI and YNN Channel 9).
These annual addresses are seldom newsmakers. They give mayors a chance to talk about the good...

Despite facing a $43 million budget shortfall, Mayor Bob Duffy said he would not raise property taxes in the coming fiscal year. That pledge was about the only news to come out of a largely pro forma state of the city address given by Duffy...

Activist Howard Eagle is circulating a photo from the Democrat and Chronicle's website that, as he says, indicates a lot.
Taken during last night's State of the City address by Bob Duffy, the photo shows an audience that is almost exclusively...

Remember all of the controversy in Hamlin over some proposed wind towers? Well, the company that wanted them doesn't seem interested anymore.
Iberdrola, the Spanish company that bought RG&E and NYSEG, had its eye on Hamlin for a wind farm....

The former regional DEC director under Governor George Pataki will seek an open Assembly seat.
Sean Hanna, a Republican, announced his candidacy for the 130th District seat this morning via press release. The seat is currently held by...

A new report from the Center for Research on Education Outcomes has some stunning revelations about charters.
As many critics have suggested, charters "appear to be no better, and in many cases, worse than local public schools when measured by...

Mayor Bob Duffy is 100 percent committed to his pursuit of control of the city school district. We called to check after a somewhat confusing story in this morning's Democrat and Chronicle, which said that Duffy was "willing to wipe the slate...

Some attorneys in Monroe County have for years worried that minorities might be underrepresented in county jury pools. But they've had only anecdotal evidence or small studies from the Public Defender's Office to go on.
This winter, the state...

I walk a fine line between being inspired and a little intimidated by Frederick Law Olmsted. No matter how many times I venture through Highland Park, I'm overwhelmed by the man's vision.
The color palate, the composition - it's like walking...

When you've been diagnosed with cancer, many things flash through your mind in those first 72 hours.
But after a few weeks, your mind hits the refresh button and recalibrates. Then the questions about origin become persistent. What caused...

New York's high speed rail projects are going to get a bit more federal attention.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has tasked Federal Railroad Administration Deputy Administrator Karen Rae to help New York on its project - an 11-mile...

It's been a busy day for Republican political candidates.
This morning, Ann Marie Burkle, who's challenging Democratic Congress member Dan Maffei, held a press conference outside of RochesterWorks. She was responding to the April unemployment...

Mayor Bob Duffy was not expecting it to take this long to write the mayoral control bill and get it to legislators, he said during a recent interview on WXXI.
Duffy said that he thought the opportunity was ripe for mayoral control at the time...

From all indications, Americans are fuming over government spending and high taxes. A recent Gallop Poll, for instance, found that 48 percent of its respondents said taxes were too high.
But a sign that at least some of this anger is misplaced...

City Council member Carolee Conklin is never without a zippy one-liner, typically delivered in a Bea Arthur deadpan as she hawks over the glasses perched at the tip of her nose. It's a verbal sniper attack: Question, Answer, Pause, Ka-Pow!...

Governor David Paterson says he will schedule a special election on November 2 for the open 29th Congressional District. Yes, that's the same day as the general election.

The New York Power Authority is trying to recruit private developers to build offshore wind farms in Lakes Ontario and Erie. Government officials in several Lake Ontario counties, including Wayne County, have passed resolutions opposing the...

At long last, we can read legislation that could give the mayor control of the Rochester school district.
The Democrat and Chronicle's Joe Spector got his hands on the bill that Assembly Democrats have sent to Governor David Paterson. While it...

I'd like to think that Barack Obama's appointments to the Supreme Court will loosen the pro-corporation, anti-civil-liberties grip of the current court majority. And maybe Elena Kagan will prove to be just what the country needs.
We don't know...