Tagged: politics

The Innovation Trail is looking at the how the GOP presidential primary will affect upstate New York. This is the first in a series of reports.

With 36 contests behind us, the Republican nomination fight is coming to New York. 

Mitt Romney is heavily favored in the Empire State - up 30+ points on Rick Santorum in the most recent poll. Romney is now widely viewed as the inevitable Republican candidate.

But that doesn't mean April 24 is not a big day for campaign watchers. GOP primary voters in five states are going to the polls, with 72 delegates in Pennsylvania and 95 in New York on the line.

New York's Republican Party is gearing up for light statewide campaigning. But the GOP's intra-party turmoil remains very much on display.

In our latest Innovation Trail report for New York NOW, we looked into a new bill to expand the state's DNA databank.

Prosecutors say adding DNA from more convicted offenders to the databank helps the police solve more crimes. They call it a "sword and a shield:" convict the guilty and exonerate the innocent.

So why would a  man who was exonerated of murder with DNA evidence after spending close to 20 years in prison say the bill falls short?

See this week's full episode of New York NOW.

Steve Barnes spent nearly 20 years in prison for rape and murder, before DNA evidence finally cleared him.

So why does he think a new bill to expand New York's DNA databank doesn't do enough to help people like him?

The bill would require people convicted of all state felonies, and all penal law misdemeanors to hand over their DNA to the state databank. Advocates of the bill say more DNA will help the police prosecute the guilty, and protect the innocent. 

But Barnes says the bill falls short when it comes to measures that would truly protect the wrongfully accused.

See a preview below, and watch the full story this weekend on New York NOW (check your local listings).

This week's New York NOW features a one-on-one interview with longtime Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan).  

This week he put out a proposal that would raise New York's minimum wage to $8.50 per hour in January of 2013. It will surely pass his chamber, but is the governor on board?   

Silver sat down with Karen DeWitt of New York State Public Radio. He also talked about why he's pushing for a pay raise for his fellow lawmakers.

Watch the preview below, and tune in for the full interview this weekend on your local PBS station:

New York State legislators and the governor are facing down an April 1 deadline for a completed state budget.

In advance of that due date, the Innovation Trail has collected a group of experts to blog their solutions for New York's budget.  We wanted to know: How would you fix New York's budget?  What would you cut?  Where would you find more money?

We got an interesting set of answers to those questions from a great group of guests writers.  You can read the ones we've posted so far here.  Now we want to hear from you.

Governor Andrew Cuomo delivered his first State of the State address at the Convention Center at the Empire State Plaza in Albany this afternoon. Click "read more" the details in the governor's address about innovation, technology and economic development.