City Hall reporters swarm then-NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. (azi paybarah / wnyc)

Kaye:

What should Congress do to prevent people like Jared Loughner from being able to purchase the weaponry he used? The media should have immediately turned a bright spotlight on our gun laws and then inquired into why the shootings generated so little momentum for reform. We’ve seen a little of that, but it’s been buried in the avalanche of opining about political speech.

Then House Republicans got back to work trying to dismantle healthcare reform. When Democrats were struggling to pass reform last year, we were inundated, via the media, with the sights and sounds of angry protesters. Watching the news accounts, you would have thought America was rising up in full-throated revolt. Of course, we now know that many of those protests were manufactured by conservative operatives.

With Republicans flexing their newfound majority in the House, the media had an opportunity to delve into the effect undoing health reform would have on millions of Americans who enjoy benefits they’ve never had before. Instead, the reporting was disproportionately about the kinds of words Republicans and Democrats used during floor debate. That was great news for Republicans—they could offer a sop to their base without alienating a broader swath of the electorate. Not so great for those of us who hope that newscasts will feature news. [Read the U.S. News debate: Should the healthcare law be repealed?]

And then there was the State of the Union. I think the bipartisan seating arrangement was a fine gesture, and I suspect its sponsors would suggest that it was meant to be nothing more. But the fourth estate couldn’t get enough—about which I would like to offer the following: If we have really come to the point where Congress is to be complimented for comporting itself as we would expect, say, a fifth grade classroom to do, then perhaps it is time to rethink this whole democratic experiment. Honestly. That is a low, low bar.

Cuomo takes his budget argument past the media, and releases this video, saying his financial proposal will "shake up the Albany establishment. But this is exactly what we must do."

The scape-goat in Cuomo's telling of the budget, is "Albany."

"When you pull back the curtain in Albany, you find a government working more for the special interests and the lobbyists than for the people."

He says, "Only government hasn't adjusted to the new economic reality" and "I will be attacked by these special interests."

It's an pre-emptive move against attack ads Cuomo says is coming because he's trimming the state budget.

So, just a few words on where Andrew Cuomo expects to raise money for his budget without raises taxes.

Basically, it's mostly coming from gambling.

From the "Revenue Actions" section of the governor's budget book:

$11,922,000 - an "amended fee" for people requesting Security Clearance Requests clearance checks - jumping fro $5 to $60.

$7,600,000 - a new 2 3/4 percent charge on "purses for all horse races conducted within the state."

$22,000,000 - repealing a tax benefit for "cooperative insurance companies" with profits exceeding $25 million.

$5,000,000 - automatically withholding a lottery winner's unpaid taxes.

$200,000,000 - requiring all sales tax vendors to file their taxes electronically, which will result "in increased State revenue through denied refunds." Also, require "more frequent filing from sales tax filers who have poor filing records."

$38,000,000 - granting "free game credits" on video lottery games "to induce frequent players to use paid credits [money] when their 'free play' is exhausted."

$4,000,000 - expand the number of certain instant games.

$10,000,000 - eliminate certain restrictions on where Quick Draw machines can be located.

$2,000,000 - combining video lottery games here with progressive jackpots (which grow larger until there's a winner).

$100,000,000-expand the Lottery sales force, and add things like a "Megaplier" feature on the Mega Millions game.

$55,000,000 - shorten the length of time a vendor is allowed to hold onto uncollected property or money, from 5 or 6 years, down to 3 years. Uncollected money is turned over to the state.

These actions are expected to raise $455,552,000 this year, in Cuomo's budget.

On Maddow last night, Bloomberg pressed the White House to move ahead with gun control enforcement - something the mayor says they can do without congressional approval.

In particular, the mayor wants more intel sent to the national gun registry, which could weed out drug addicts, felons and other people who should be barred from buying gun. So far, Bloomberg says not enough info is being sent to the registry.

Bloomberg:

Obama "can stand up to federal agencies, that he directs, you will send the data to this database and I want you to certify to me every six months to me that you are doing that."

The governor says his budget changes funding formulas for Medicaid and education. (azi paybarah / wnyc)

He equated it to Enron, said it defied logic and warned (or perhaps, promised) that fixing it would send lobbyists "running around the hallways like their hair is on fire."

New York's new Democratic governor said he wanted to replace formulas that called for annual double-digit increases to the state's most expensive programs, with more modest rates of growth, that also, for the first time, took performance into account.

By the end of his hour-long presentation Monday, Governor Cuomo had cast himself as a transformer: changing Albany's decades-old budget habits, and repositioning the state "nationally" as an economic destination for the private sector.

And

E.J. McMahon, a budet expert with the business-backed Manhattan institute, said eliminating the formulas was indeed a shock to the Albany system, but the rest of Cuomo's budget was not extraordinary.

The elimination of those automatic cost increases "'just drives people here crazy. I love it," said McMahon. He said Cuomo did nothing to empower school districts to cut program costs hoisted upon them. McMahon also doubted the Medicaid Redesign Team which Cuomo empaneled — which included legislator and organizations representing health care workers and hospital operators — would come up with any drastic changes to the program.

"That crew ,on that Medicaid Redesign Team, they may hit a target of 2 billion and change — they aint going to change Medicaid," said McMahon. "All right. They're going to find a way to get through this year, you know what I mean. That group, they putting the stakeholders in a can, shaking it up and seeing what comes out is not going to alter Medicaid for all-time. What it is, is 'I'm putting a gun to their head and saying 2 billion my way or 2 billion your way.'"

Governor Cuomo is proposing major cuts. (azi paybarah / wnyc)

$579.7 million cuts to public schools
$64.7 million in cuts to Human Services
Overall, $659.4 million in cuts to the city.

It is, to be fair, just a proposal.

Bloomberg:

"State mandates will contribute to increasing the cost of special education related services in our public schools by almost 13 percent next year. And our mandated pension costs will go up 19 percent."

Lovett and Blaine put the total hit to NYC at $700 million.

The reactions from 1199 SEIU, the union representing health care workers, and the Greater New York Hospital Association is...not supportive.

Interestingly, both are on the Medicaid Redesign Team, which Cuomo is banking on coming up with $2.8 billion in savings.

The two organizations put out a joint statement, the group said the cuts, combined with the loss of matching federal dollars, would mean New York would lose "$5.9 billion in Medicaid funding."

The impact?

It would "decimate New York’s health care infrastructure, threaten access to care, and harm communities everywhere. For hospitals, nursing homes and home care workers, the cuts would trigger further reductions in care, layoffs, and outright closures."

Full statement after the jump.

UPDATE: 1199 SEIU is hosting a rally in Manhattan on February 3, to protest "the unprecedented budget crisis in Albany [that] could lead to devastating cuts in the delivery of homecare."

After getting a standing ovation, Cuomo joked that he went to his dentist for a root canal as a "welcomed" distraction from the budget, which is already raising howls from some critics for its drastic cuts in education and other programs.

Budget Director Robert Megna has called this a "transformational budget."

Via Liz Benjamin.

UPDATE: In a press release accompanying the budget proposal, there is a reference to "one new fee" that is being introduced, along with "$805 million in non-recurring actions."

UPDATE II: The new fee is a surcharge on horse racing purses, estimated to bring in about $7 million. So, if you don't bet on the ponies, you probably won't notice it.

Cuomo's budget presentation is pretty consistent with what he's been saying all along: no new taxes, no borrowing, and across-the-board cuts.

But there are parts of the budget that assume cooperation among some well-entrenched interests.

Medicaid. The budget relies on the Medicaid Redesign Team "will identify initiates to reduce state Medicaid spending by $2.85 billion for 2011-12 and by $4.6 billion in 2012-13." They'll find these savings by "modifying program requirements and limiting spending growth."

The Medicaid Redesign Team - which includes legislators and members from the health care industry and unions representing health care workers - has not yet announced their recommendations. That'll come on March 1.

Prison Consolidation. To close prisons, Cuomo is offering up to $100 million to those communities to wean them off those institutions as a form of economic development. (The New York Times earlier said Cuomo wouldn't press this issue in his budget presentation.)

While closing prisons is unpopular with local lawmakers who rely on those facilities to employ constituents, the $100 million carrot should be enticing.

And, if not, there's always the stick.

Cuomo will create  a "task force by Executive Order" to make recommendations. If the recommendations are rejected by the legislature, the commissioner of Correctional Services (which is appointed by the governor) "would be empowered to implement facility closures."

"Communities affected by the closures wold receive assistance" from the governor's new Regional Economic Development Councils, with "$100 million available to help communities end their reliance on incarceration as a major source of employment."

Part of Governor Cuomo's budget presentation. (Governor Cuomo)

I'm going through Cuomo's budget book now, but here are some highlights:

9,800 layoffs, in addition to attrition

$41.5 million- how much is expected to be raised from "enhanced collections from existing taxes"

$0-Aid and Incentives for Municipalities to New York City.

UPDATE: Some photographs from inside the budget book.

Carl Paladino, in Albany, keeps it entertaining.

I'm not sure what the backstory here is, but Paladino jabbing with reporters is nothing new. During the governor's campaign, he blacklisted AP reporter Beth Fouhy. Afterwards, he's called for his supporters to cancel their subscriptions to the Buffalo News, his hometown paper.

For what it's worth, the public radio reporter rebuffed in the video above, Karen DeWitt, kept her cool and avoided making any Youtube viral video moments, which, as Fred Dicker demonstrated can happen when questioning Paladino.

The tabloid will now regularly feature news about 'uptown.' (newseum.org)

The tabloid announces a concerted effort to go local, and expand the map. Their main competitor, the New York Post, is unlike to chase them into side streets of El Barrio or through the Cloisters. But the push to go more local is catching on with some New York outlets.

UPDATE: Uptown bureau chief Joanne Wasserman takes to Facebok: "The New York Daily News is going uptown with a new section starting Feb. 10 - and I'm editing it! Can't wait to hear from all of you with stories about Harlem, East Harlem, Inwood and Washington Heights."

The official announcement, from the Daily News:

Beginning Thursday, February 10, residents in northern Manhattan will find local coverage of their neighborhoods in the Daily News’ Uptown News section three days a week on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. The Daily News is publishing this new section for the more than 515,000 residents that live in these storied neighborhoods, which are home to some of New York’s most historically promininent sites, such as the Apollo Theatre in Harlem; El Museo Del Barrio in East Harlem; the Cloisters in Inwood; New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Washington Heights - not to mention home to Daily News readers. JoAnne Wasserman has been named the Uptown News Bureau Chief and will oversee the production of the new borough news section.

Uptown News reporter Michael Feeney, a Harlem resident, and Pulitzer prize-winner Heidi Evans will report on area schools, crime, housing, arts and culture, local businesses and residents. The three-day a week section will also include: a weekly column by the News’ own Clem Richardson spotlighting these neighborhoods; a weekly political column by veteran reporter Frank Lombardi; and a weekly review of the best of everything in the neighborhood, from bakeries to bookstores; playgrounds to swimming pools.

Jeremy Peters has the story about Barrett's new job. He was let go from the Village Voice because of budgetary reasons. In a sign of solidarity, colleague Tom Robbins said at the time he'd leave the paper too.

Speaking on New York 1 on Friday, Robbins said his last column for the Voice will be about the millionaire's tax debate brewing in Albany.

The topic is classic Robbins: the middle class and poor fighting against the rich through the sometimes comically arcane world of politics.

It has not yet been announced which news outlet will snatch up Robbins.

Governor Cuomo says he can explain why the state budget keeps growing, despite everyone's "cuts." (azi paybarah / wnyc)

In an op-ed, Andrew Cuomo says he's uncovered something "close to a state secret." The cost of health care, education and other state-funded programs are calculated based on formulas that wildly increase prices, and that this growth in cost is blindly incorporated in budget negotiations.

The program costs, Cuomo writes in the op-ed are:

"dictated by hundreds of rates and formulas that are marbleized throughout New York State laws that govern different programs – formulas that have been built into the law over decades, without regard to fiscal realities, performance or accountability…this year these rates and formulas in total call for a 13 percent increase in Medicaid and a 13 percent increase in education funding next year…[therefore] a “cut” is then defined as anything less than a 13 percent increase."

He adds:

The expression used to explain this budget process is that the rates are in “permanent law,” and thus, cannot be changed.  “Permanent law” is a term to suggest differentiation from the state’s annual budget bills which are “temporary” as they only exist for one year.  This “permanent law” is really the way the “permanent government” of lobbyists, special interests and political friends manipulates the entire system and misleads the public in the process.

This is the system that has brought New York to the brink, and it is why we are the highest “spending-and-taxing” state in the nation with programs that fail to perform for the people.

This all must end.

Michael Bloomberg released three videos of an undercover agent buying guns and extended clip magazines at a Phoenix, AZ gun show. The show's proximity to the location and date of the Jared Loughner shooting are key tools in Bloomberg's latest argument.

Question 1: How easy is it to buy a gun without a background check?

Result: An undercover investigator bought a Glock 9-millimeter pistol, similar to the weapon used by Jared Loughner, from a private seller without a background check. Under current law, this no-background-check sale is legal assuming the man making the sale is in fact only an occasional seller. The investigator also bought three high-capacity 33-round magazines like the one Loughner used.

Question 2: Would private sellers sell guns to people who said they probably could not pass a background check?

Result: An undercover investigator bought two 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistols from two different private sellers. In these buys, the investigator told the sellers “I probably couldn’t pass a background check.”

Financial experts with the state teachers union are saying the property tax cap bill Cuomo introduced is more drastic than the governor has let on. Instead of a 2 percent increase, the bill, they say, could cut that down to 0.

If the district is asking voters to approve a levy increase which is higher than the lesser of 2% of inflation, then 60% of voters must approve the tax levy.  If the voters defeat the proposed tax levy, then they will hold a second vote on the third Tuesday of June.  If the tax levy cap is defeated two times by the voters, then the school district may not increase its tax levy at all from the prior year.  Therefore, this bill sets a 0% tax cap on school districts.

The duo paired by NY1, is taking their act to Sliwa's radio station, starting tomorrow afternoon.

Official announcement after the jump.

The New York Post first reported Dan Halloran's claims (nytimes.com)

The New York Times ran a story last week questioning the claims made by a City Councilman who said sanitation workers intentionally did a poor job of removing snow during the Christmas weekend blizzard.

Now, a reporter for the paper is questioning the coverage surrounding that claim.

The New York Post first reported the claims by Councilman Dan Halloran, but, according to Times metro political reporter Michael Barbaro, the Post has not been as thorough in reporting on the state of the investigation which has stalled, amid a lack of verifying evidence.

Speaking on the New York Times Close Up (a New York 1 show featuring Times reporters discussing stories of the week), Barbaro said, "This was a really tabloidy moment, in the coverage of the blizzard."

"And, you'll be holding your breath for a very long time if you wait for the New York Post, whichoriginally reported this - sort of salaciously and loudly on the front of their paper - to come back at it and say 'the person we quoted as saying there was a deliberate slowdown, you know, is withering under investigation, [there's] no evidence of it.' "

Then, referring to his colleagues, Russ Buettner and William Rashbaum's story, Barbaro added, "The reality is, it took some really enterprising reporters to fact-check a claim that rocketed around the world and everyone took to be the truth…and now it seems to be crumbling."

As Josh Benson and I discussed earlier, whether Halloran's claims are verified by investigators or not, one thing is certain: it has taken the spotlight off Mayor Bloomberg's handling of the storm.

UPDATE: Columbia Journalism Review's Ryan Chittum piles on, criticizing how easily the story got picked up, especially on cable news.

UPDATE II: Two other things worth noting: First, the Post coverage wasn't based solely on Halloran's comments. Later stories quoted local residents and even another lawmaker, Councilwoman Tish James, who said on a radio show in December, "I do believe that there were a few [workers] that in fact engaged in a slow down." Democratic State Senator Malcolm Smith said he "heard it from sanitation workers that there was a concerted effort" to slow the street plowing.

Secondly, investigators have not commented publicly about this ongoing investigation, so, the official ruling hasn't come in yet.