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By Karen DeWitt, New York Public Radio Capital Bureau Chief

Courtesy of the Governor's office.

Governor Cuomo’s budget office delayed releasing its annual mid-year budget report and future financial forecast. They cited uncertainties over the European debt crisis and delays in collection of some business taxes due to two hurricanes that hit the state in late summer for the delay.

The governor’s budget office planned to hold preliminary hearings on next year’s state spending plan during the first week of November. But the hearings have been postponed, as have the mid-year budget report and financial forecast.

“There are a number of factors that we’re weighing, there’s significant volatility in the market right now,” said Cuomo. “We want to make sure we have the best information possible, because we’re going to start to make real decisions based on this information.”

Those decisions include how much to spend on key programs like school aid and health care, the largest portions of the budget. After Cuomo and the state legislature cut $10 billion dollars in last year’s budget, they promised they would increase spending on schools and health programs by 4% in the next budget.

In addition, the cost of two devastating hurricanes that hit New York in late summer have yet to be tallied, says the state budget office. Cuomo estimates the total cost at more than a billion dollar, and granted business affected by flooding from the storms a delay in filing their quarterly state income taxes. Payments due September 15th were not received until November 1st.

Pumpkin farmers have been forced to look out of state the make sure they have enough vegetables for the season after a soggy summer dampened prospects for a fruitful fall.

The terrorist attacks of 9/11 fore-grounded the concept of disaster preparedness, but it was Hurricane Katrina, four years later, that redefined the idea of animal rescue. Sept. 11, 2001 gave us the Department of Homeland Security; Katrina, the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act, which was signed into law in October of 2006.

The city agency responsible for literally weathering the storm, the mayor's Office of Emergency Management, just sent out a note. According to their figures, Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene cost the city at least $55 million:

Based on preliminary information we have gathered from City agencies, we estimate that the costs of the response, recovery and damage to public infrastructure are at least $55 million. I emphasize that $55 million is a preliminary figure based only on the information we have been able to collect so far. Many City agencies continue to collect cost information and we expect agencies will report additional costs.

The Long Island Power Authority is estimating that the cost of restoring power 523,000 of its customers in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene is about $176 million.

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New Yorkers are back on Mayor Bloomberg's side, thanks to his handling of Hurricane Irene according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released this morning. The mayor's job approval rating is up to 54 percent from 45 percent in late July. The vast majority of those polled -- 86 percent -- approved of the mayor's handling of Hurricane Irene.

“Maybe it was the decisive preparations for Irene – Bloomberg’s job approval has moved up nicely.  As usual, Manhattan likes him best of all,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in a statement. “This survey was conducted after Hurricane Irene and during the storm about Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith’s arrest – but maybe that second storm is a tempest in a teapot.

“The critics cried ‘overkill!’  But most people agreed with the mayor, ‘better safe than sorry.’  Overwhelmingly, Bloomberg’s handling of Irene gets high marks.”

A major surf competition with some of the world's best surfers — and $1 million in prize money — is descending on Long Island this weekend, despite the damage from Tropical Storm Irene.

With tens of thousands of households still without power, Governor Andrew Cuomo ripped into the utility responsible for Long Island's electricity network.

While Tropical Storm Irene was churning up the East Coast, a surprising thing happened. A new lamb was born in a stable in the Central Park Zoo. According to the zoo, it is rare for a lamb to be born at this time of year.

Following the landfall of Hurricane Irene this past weekend, flood waters overtook the WNYC AM transmitter site in Kearny, NJ, causing the station to stop over-the-air broadcasting. WNYC has owned several other transmitters in its history -- indeed, the AM tower used to be in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in the location that will soon become WNYC Transmitter Park. This AM transmitter was dedicated in a ceremony on October 31, 1937.

Tropical Storm Irene recently stormed across the northeastern United States, leaving somewhere billions of dollars in damages in its wake. But it won't be insurance companies footing the bill — most likely, it'll be taxpayers. This is partly due to the fact that most people that the storm affected don't have insurance that covers floods, but the federal government's insurance program is also billions of dollars in debt. 

Nearly a week after Hurricane Irene tore through the East Coast, many towns are still in the midst of the massive flooding that followed the storm. The city of Paterson, New Jersey is one of the places that the storm hit hardest. The low-lying city of about 150,000 sits along the banks of the Passaic River, which is dealing with the highest floods it has seen in more than a century. President Obama is scheduled to survey the damage there this weekend.

The New York City Parks Department has some good news for beach-goers. Commissioner Adrian Benepe said all city beaches will be open on Friday, just in time for the Labor Day weekend.

By Karen DeWitt, WXXI Capitol Bureau Chief

State Insurance superintendent Benjamin Lawsky says is office has had reports that some New Yorkers flooded during Irene are being told by their insurance companies that their flood insurance does not cover damages. He says that is absolutely incorrect.

“If you have flood insurance it applies regardless of the cause of the flooding,” said Lawsky. “This is what insurance is all about. You pay these premiums year in and year out for when a disaster like this happens.”

Lawsky won’t speculate on whether the insurance adjusters are committing fraud or simply misinformed, but he says he intends to use every power of his office to go after companies found to be deliberately misleading policy holders.

The Superintendent says New Yorkers who feel they have been wrongly denied flood insurance payments should call the Insurance Department’s disaster hotline at 1-800-339-1759.

New Jersey's Health and Senior Services Department has opened a call center to field questions about health concerns stemming from Tropical Storm Irene.

The city's Congressional delegation is joining Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz in calling on the federal government to include Brooklyn as part of its major disaster declaration.

Tropical Storm Irene has been called the worst natural disaster to ever hit Vermont. Twelve thousand people remain without power thereand over 250 roads were closed, with six state highway bridges completely destroyed. The federal government has pledged $5 million to Vermont for initial rebuilding. Relief efforts are underway, and progress is already being made for the many towns and highways irreparably damaged by the storm.

A long-term solution to the Passaic River's chronic flooding will be a costly, multi-faceted strategy that will have to include restricting development in the floodplain, according to Colonel John Boule, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New York District.