Andrea Bernstein

Craig Jennings, the federal fiscal policy director at OMB Watch, still has concerns about the level of transparency in the stimulus bill. Tracking on Recovery.gov will be 'pretty useful,' he says -- 'but not ideal.' For example the level of disclosure only requires contract summaries down to the subcontractor level. Say New York gets federal money (making New York the contractor) for a bridge. The contractor building the bridge -- e.g. ABCXYZ Construction -- is the sub, and the contract summary stops there. If ABCXYZ hires Concrete Boots to provide the asphalt, we won't necessarily know. Moreover, if the state gives money to the city, the city is technically the sub, and that contract trail ends.

New York, NY —

Seven upstate counties will be the first to get federal transportation stimulus dollars. WNYC's Andrea Bernstein has more. REPORTER: New York will spend the first $41 million of federal money on bridge and road repairs in Steuben, Onondaga, Oneida, Herkimer, and Albany counties. The projects ...

A coalition of New York groups, spearheaded by Common Cause/New York, is seeking to have Governor Paterson agree to a high level of disclosure standards (something New York state government historically hasn't championed) for economic stimulus money (in line with President Obama's promise that "every dollar" will be ...

'Transparency' is the buzzword of the day, but looks like, in conference, stimulus package negotiators removed some provisions that would make stimulus $$ easier to track. To wit, an OMBWatch report says, language requiring that each contract or grant be posted on the internet fell out of the ...

Okay, so, in case you were up all night wondering about Comptroller William Thompson's subway bail-out proposal (introduced in November, re-iterated in Senate hearings yesterday) here's how it breaks down, according to spokeswoman Laura Rivera. Under the proposal, motorists who pay an average of $40 now for vehicle registration would pay an average $400 increase for their biannual fee. People who own large, heavy vehicles could pay even more than that. In general, policy wonks approve of disincentives for behavior that might be seen as anti-social (in this case owning large, heavy cars and light trucks that heavily contribute to global warming.) Suburbanites own 3.5 million cars, New York City residents 1.8. million, so that's 5.3 million cars times $200 annually, or $1.06 billion.

It's the season of high-dudgeon, and both Democrats vying for a mayoral seat are falling all over themselves to express outrage. For Congressman Anthony Weiner, this morning it was over Dubai's denial of a visa to an Israeli tennis-player (since revoked, Weiner says, because of his intervention.)

For Comptroller William ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg says the latest deal on the federal stimulus package will pump some $21 billion into the city, helping to close much of a $4 billion budget gap.

BLOOMBERG: Our Medicaid bill for the city is about $5 Billion a year and I think we'll ...

WNYC's Bob Hennelly reports on some breaking news regarding Mayor Bloomberg's re-election bid, while Andrea Bernstein updates the latest in Paterson cabinet appointments and other state budget woes.

When we went to bed last night, people who track transit spending were in agreement there would be $1 to $2 billion allocated for high-speed rail in the economic stimulus bill — and a...

Even though a 'deal' has been announced, negotiators worked through the night on the bill's details -- and details mean a lot when even 0.1 ...

All week we've been asking you how you would like to see the money in the stimulus bill spent, and you've come up with some great suggestions. Now that we know where the money is goin...

but NY Democrats seem none too happy...details as soon as we have 'em.

What a day. Mayor Bloomberg and Teachers Union Chief Randi Weingarten went to DC to lobby to preserve education funding in the stim bill, but they'd hardly finished talking about the dire need at a press conference -- and hadn't gotten a chance to meet with Senator Arlen Spector of ...

New York, NY —

Once the stimulus bill is signed, federal dollars could start coming to New York in seven days. WNYC's Andrea Bernstein has more.

REPORTER: Governor Paterson has set up what he's calling "a cabinet" to manage the state's stimulus money. It will be led by his deputy ...

Senate Democrats advanced the $800 billion plus stimulus bill yesterday, but just three Republicans voted for the bill in a procedural vote, and no additional Republican support is ex...

New York, NY —

Once the stimulus bill is signed, federal dollars could start coming to New York in seven days.

Governor Paterson has set up what he's calling "a cabinet" to manage the state's stimulus money.

It will be led by his deputy secretary, Tim Gilchrist, a 25-year veteran of ...

WNYC's Andrea Bernstein previews ShovelWatch, a new project from ProPublica, The Takeaway and WNYC Radio.

Want to know what the Senate hath wrought? So did we... We're working on putting together a House/Senate comparison, but for starters, here's a press release from the Senate approp...

It was a rough week for President Obama. He lost the candidates he had nominated for two important jobs in his administration and didn't achieve the bipartisan consensus he wanted on ...

Earlier today, it looked like the stimulus bill was going down to defeat. Centrist Senators started putting together a package to cut $200 billion from the bill, in a Congress that i...