Morning News Brief
Written by John Vazquez on February 23, 2022
A new poll shows how New Yorkers feel about a mandate for students to wear masks while in school. According to the Siena College Research Institute survey, 58% want to see the COVID-19 data in March before Gov. Kathy Hochul decides on the mandate, 30% believe the rule should have been dropped already, while 10% think it should be eliminated after the current February break. Hochul recently ended the indoor mask mandate for businesses that was put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Hochul put her signature on legislation creating a new conditional adult-use cannabis cultivator license. This gives a fast-track for existing New York hemp farmers to grow cannabis in the 2022 growing season for the forthcoming adult-use cannabis market. Under the law, cannabis farmers must meet certain requirements, including certain cultivation practices, participating in a social equity mentorship program, and engage in a labor peace agreement with a bona fide labor organization. With this conditional license, cannabis farmers can grow outdoors or in a greenhouse for up to two years from when the license was issued. It also allows them to manufacture and distribute cannabis products without holding an adult-use processor or distributor license, until June 1, 2023.
Hochul says her administration has reached a contract agreement with the Police Benevolent Association of New York State. The contract covers police officers who serve the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; the Department of Environmental Conservation; and the State University of New York. It includes a 2% salary increase per year for each year of the agreement, consistent with other settled State employees. The agreement runs through March 31, 2023.
The governor also announced the creation of a Joint Security Operations Center in Brooklyn that will serve as the nerve center for joint local, state, and federal cyber efforts, including data collection, response efforts, and information sharing. The Governor’s Office says no other state has brought together cybersecurity teams in a shared command space at this scale including federal, state, city, and county governments, critical businesses and utilities, and state entities.
This builds on Hochul’s proposal in this year’s budget to investment in New York State’s cyber protections, to the tune of $61.9 million.
It looks like New York State is winning their bet on increasing revenue with online sports wagering. Between the launch of sports betting in the state, Jan. 8, through Super Bowl Sunday, the state made more than $78 million in tax revenue from mobile sports bets. The most popular operator used to place bets was Caesars Sportsbook followed by FanDuel.
The Batavia Board of Education are unanimously supporting two state Senate bills. The bills are sponsored by State Senator Ed Rath and would address the rise in harassment by use of electronic communications including text, private message, direct message, email, or any other electronic communication. The bills would change state law to include a provision that a person who engages in a repeated cyberbullying of a minor will be guilty of an unclassified misdemeanor. The Batavia City School District’s Code of Conduct already expressly prohibits all forms of bullying and harassment, including cyberbullying.
Another Republican candidate has stepped forward in a bid to become New York’s next governor. Businessman Harry Wilson says he’ll be at the State Republican Party convention which starts on Feb.28. The Westchester resident and former hedge fund manager says if elected, he’ll cut taxes, try to reduce the state’s high cost of living, and fire district attorneys that he believes don’t properly enforce the law. Other candidates are also seeking the GOP nomination in the governor’s race including Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin, Andrew Giuliani, and Rob Astorino, who ran for governor in 2014 and lost.
