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(New York -- Lisa Chow, WNYC)

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie made his first public appearance this morning since he suggested last week that reporters "take the bat out" against a state senator. Christie on Friday told assembled press that they should go after Sen. Loretta Weinberg for drawing down a pension while also collecting a state salary. Weinberg is a 76-year-old widow who had lost much of her savings in the Bernie Madoff scandal.

At today's event, the governor's 12th "town hall" of the year, no one in the audience asked about the comment. These type of events have at times presented as minefields for Christie, whose sometimes testy responses to questions can turn into YouTube fiascos.

Christie's Town hall took place at a retirement home in Ocean County, a solidly Republican enclave. In response to the Weinberg comments, Christie's spokesman says reporters know the governor was chiding them for their light treatment of the state legislator.

A new poll released by Siena College Monday gives New York Governor Andrew Cuomo a big post-budget boost, and sees strong support for more rent regulations, independent redistricting process and same-sex marriage.

Some of the highlights:

Cuomo was a winner as a result of the budget. Local schools, hospitals and the citizens of New York were losers.

By a 7-1 margin, voters say Cuomo was the big winner in the budget debate. A plurality of 41 percent, however, say that local schools, hospitals, and residents took the hit. Still, Cuomo is viewed favorably by 73 percent of voters, while 18 percent view him unfavorably. Favorability ratings and the number of voters saying Cuomo is doing an "excellent/good job" have both increased since last month. These ratings are nearly identical among Democrats and Republicans in all regions of the state.

Support for same sex marriage is on the upswing

Same sex marriage now has more support than it’s ever had, with voters 55 and older and Republicans being nearly evenly divided, and voters younger than 55 and Democrats and independents being strongly supportive.

Budget makes voters feel better about state legislature.

But not its leaders. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos continue to be viewed unfavorably, but by a 3-1 margin, New Yorkers say the new budget makes them feel better about the legislature as a whole.

Property tax cap, ethics reform should top legislative agenda.

Statewide, imposing a property tax cap and instituting ethics reform are the two most pressing issues before the legislature. Same sex marriage legislation, extending rent regulations, and the creation of an independent redistricting commission round out the list, in that order. Marriage equality enjoys a majority of support.

For New York City voters, ethics reform and rent regulations were the two most important issues.

Squeeze public employees, but not too hard.

A majority of voters support freezing public employee salaries for a year and forcing said employees to contribute more to their pensions. But New Yorkers across the board also support keeping the Triborough Amendment, which keeps current salary and benefit levels in place for public employees when their contracts expire. A slim majority (51-46) of New Yorkers would also like to repeal the Taylor Law, which denies public employees the right to strike.

Overwhelmingly, voters say that unions have been treated fairly by Governor Cuomo.

Obama looks better...

63 percent of New Yorkers view Obama favorably; that rating is at its highest point since January 2010. 52 percent  of New Yorkers want to see the president re-elected next year, the highest that number has been since Siena started asking the question in December.

...and New York State is looking up.

“Despite seeing themselves, their schools and their hospitals as budget losers, 44 percent of voters think that the budget will make fiscal conditions in New York better, compared to only 16 percent who believe the budget will worsen the state’s fiscal condition," said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg.

46 percent of voters say that New York is heading in the right direction, compared to 41 percent who say it's not. This marks only the second time in the last three years that more New Yorkers have an optimistic view on the direction of the state.

-- Stephen Reader

Former Mayor Koch and his group New York Uprising, convinced numerous state lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, to sign a pledge during the last election campaign, saying that, if elected, they would pursue non partisan redistricting reform.

It seems that Governor Cuomo is successfully managing to arm wrestle the notoriously persnickety and difficult state legislature into accepting his budget proposal with just a few concessions, on time, no less. Few New York State governors can say as much, particularly when they are faced with eliminating a $10 billion deficit.

"The governor is in the midst of a honeymoon period with the people of the state of New York and he has used his tremendous popularity to great effect in persuading the legislature to go along with some extremely difficult cuts," said Hakeem Jeffries. The state assemblyman believes the governor has capitalized on public sentiment that New York state government is so broken and so in need of fiscal discipline that he was able to ram his austerity through.

"People who are mechanisms of political change are so relieved to have anything resembling adult leadership at this point that they're more than willing to defer a great deal of whether it be their personal apprehensions or political desires to get the job done because it's such a change from what we've gone through in the last few years," said Michael Oliva, a Democratic political consultant. "I think that's a lot of the reason why he's been able to do this as easily as he has," he continued.

Oliva also theorized that the state legislature and special interests can't help but compare Cuomo to governors around the country who have been even more harsh with cuts. "If you view it through that prism of what these governors are doing around the country, this feels rather tame by comparison. The sacrifices that Cuomo is more or less imposing on the state is nothing compared to what's going on in other places so I think he gets a lot of deference because it just doesn't look as extreme," Oliva said.

Assuming Cuomo manages to get the budget passed on deadline, April 1, even without enacting his threatened emergency powers, his next big fight will be rent regulation and a cap on local property taxes. Assemblyman Jeffries says progressives and the 2.5 million people who live in rent regulated apartments in the state are counting on Cuomo to bat for their team.

"We're hopeful that governor Cuomo will demonstrate the same skill and assertiveness that he showed during this budget process with respect to the legislative session particularly as it relates to the strengthening of the rent regulation laws," said Jeffries.

-- Sarah Kate Kramer

Governor Cuomo and legislative leaders failed to meet their goal of a conceptual budget agreement Friday afternoon, but the governor is vowing that the state will have a budget in place, one way or another by early April.

Hopes for a preliminary budget agreement faded as legislative leaders shuttled to closed door meetings with Governor Cuomo, all the while saying they were hopeful of an accord. By late afternoon, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, an Orthodox Jew, said he needed to leave to observe the Sabbath. Shortly afterward, Governor Cuomo confirmed that differences remain over school aid restorations and prison closures.

“Either you have an agreement or you don’t,” Cuomo said. “And we don’t have an agreement.”

Cuomo says talks will continue, but vowed to get a budget accomplished with or without lawmakers consent, and will jam his spending plan through in an extender bill on April 2, if he has to.

--Karen DeWitt

“It’s off the table, that’s gone, it’s done, it’s dead, it’s not going to happen.”

That's Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos on the proposed "millionaires tax," which he has pronounced dead in Albany during budget negotiations between the Senate and Assembly. Doth he protest too much?We'll know soon.

Following a private meeting with governor Cuomo, the leader of the State Senate also says he expects a “conceptual agreement” on the state budget by mid day Friday, one week before the March 31^st deadline.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver , who was also at the meeting, remained tight lipped, saying only that he is “cautiously optimistic”.

-- Karen DeWitt

The Republican majority state Senate presented their one-house budget resolution which will be considered on Tuesday in Albany. They propose restoring $280 million in school aid.

School districts north of New York City would receive 68 percent of the proposed restorations. Capital Confidential reports, Sen. John Flanagan (R - Long Island), also the Senate Education Chair, says this distribution will provide more equitable financing through the state of New York.

The GOP Senate's budget resolution also includes less severe legislation that restructures the last-in, first-out system that administers teacher lay-offs, a change Mayor Bloomberg is seeking. Sen. Flanagan said the revised bill removes some of the more controversial criteria for eliminating teachers, like student test scores, but it still maintains the general concept that seniority should not be the only consideration.

The Assembly also presented their one-house budget resolution on Tuesday, which considers $684 million more tax revenue than Gov. Cuomo’s budget proposal. Bloombergreports they would use 30 percent of this additional revenue for school aid. The teachers union opposes the revised bill, saying it only contains "minor tweaks."

The legislative budgets are traditionally seen as responses to their policy priorities, a nod to special interests groups, and part of their negotiation strategy. Both houses are expected to vote and pass their own versions of the state budget on Tuesday. A final budget is due on April 1.

- Beth Fertig and Sarah P. Reynolds

New York states 2011-2012 budget is due at the start of the fiscal year, April 1. Today in Albany, one-house budget bills will be introduced and although legislators say their budgets are similar to the budget Gov. Cuomo presented in February, a few differences remain.

The Assembly proposed a budget resolution that continues a tax on millionaires. Both the Assembly and the Senate restored $700 million of the cuts to education, including money for SUNY state aid. Both houses would cut more than $50 million in funding for the Tobacco Use Prevention and Control program.

Speaker of the House, Sheldon Silver says he's confident that the budget will be ready on time.

-Sarah P. Reynolds

Out of Range: Fled Wisconsin Democrats hand-delivered a letter to Gov. Scott Walker today in a request to meet near the state border to resume a conversation about the budget.

Ensign No More: Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada said on Monday he wont seek a third term. He is currently under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee. (NPR)

More Gitmo Trials: The Obama administration laid out its legal strategy to indefinitely detain prisoners who can't be tried, but are too dangerous release. They also announced plans for new Guantanamo Bay military trials. (WSJ)

Obama Eyes Libya Intervention: While Libyan government planes bombed rebel areas in Ras Lanuf near the coastal oil refinery, Obama threatens military intervention. (NYT)

War on Women: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand speaks out against Republican budget cuts aimed at reproductive health and services, saying they are unfair to women. (WNYC)

Devil in the Details: Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Mark Warner, leaders of a bipartisan deficit-reduction effort, held a bipartisan meeting in Washington to talk through the national budget dilemma. Polls show Americans like the idea of cooperating on deficit reduction until specific measures are proposed. (NYT)

Scary Movie: A video taken by the NYPD on 9/11 surfaced on the internet showing the towers collapse and reactions from a birds-eye view. (NY Daily News)

It's a fact. At $53 billion dollars, Medicaid is one of the largest chunks of the New York state budget. As Governor Andrew Cuomo works to wrangle the state into better financial shape, he will need not only to find a way to trim Medicaid, as he has proposed, but also to fundamentally restructure the health care system.

Currently Medicaid provides coverage to almost five million low-income people in New York. An estimated twenty percent of those have elevated health needs which account for eighty percent of Medicaid costs -- an estimated highest-needs one percent account for 28 percent of the system’s entire costs.

A panel appointed by Andrew Cuomo to investigate redesign strategies for Medicaid released a slate last week of 89 proposals for cutting costs. Several of these propose shifting those recipients with the highest -- and most expensive -- needs into a manage care program where they would receive wrap-around social services as well as health care.

-Alec Hamilton

WNYC's Fred Mogul writes more.

Don't Need Your Money: Florida Governor Rick Scott turned down $2.4 million in stimulus money for a high-speed rail project, sparking outrage in Florida, where many are still suffering from the high unemployment and the real estate crisis. (NPR)

Caught on Video: Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Nick Milory was tackled by the cops trying to enter the Capital building to go to his office after the building was closed to the public. (NY Daily News)

Doing Time: Tuscon shooter Jared Lee Loughner indicted by a federal grand jury on 49 counts, including several murder charges. (NPR)

Calling His Bluff: President of the Wisconsin Education Association Council says 5700 state workers filed for retirement over the last six weeks.

Get to Work: The unemployment rate dropped to the lowest it has been in two years. (WSJ)

Not He: Former Schools Chancellor Joel Klein says he will not be running for mayor in 2013. (@azipaybarah)

Going Rogue: Speaker of the House John Boehner says the House will continue to support DOMA, despite the Obama administration finding the law unconstitutional.  (NPR)

- Alec Hamilton

Jody Avirgan back with a guest post while Azi is out for a bit, interning as a gaffer on Sarah Palin's Alaska.

Politico caught this moment from the White House press briefing this morning. Robert Gibbs suggests that Jon Stewart can help pressure the public - and, presumably, the Republican hold-outs - to support the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 (aka the 9/11 first responders bill).

I think he has put the awareness around this legislation. He's put that awareness into what you guys cover each day, and I think that's good. I hope he can convince two Republicans to support taking care of those that took care of so many on that awful day in our history.

If you haven't seen it, below is one of the several segments the Daily Show has devoted to the bill. Wonder if it'll work.

If you're curious about the ayes and nays, here'sthe breakdown of the last vote on H.R. 847.

A highway in southwestern Montana. (Thanks: flickr user gmark1 (cc:by-nc-nd)

(Yellowstone Public Radio, March 15, 2010)   There are Montanans who don't worry about the price of a gallon of gas or the latest vehicle recall. They don't drive. Some of them can't, while others choose not to.  Kay Erickson introduces us to two Montanans who are without a car for very different reasons.

Listen to the story here.