ALBANY, N.Y. (WTEN) -- Lawmakers reconvened for an extraordinary session today. One topic of discussion is a proposed constitutional amendment to extend protections for New Yorkers. The Equality Amendment would create full legal protections for every person in New York. The bill language includes equal rights not based on race, color, disability or sexual orientation, also barring discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes. With the Supreme Court overturning Roe V Wade just last week, New York is looking to instill legal abortion into the state Constitution. But with abort ..read more

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — New York continues to work on getting the COVID-19 vaccine to the people who need it the most. The biggest issue that remains statewide is the supply and that issue has forced Governor Andrew Cuomo to re-evaluate how the state is prioritizing who should get a shot sooner. The Governor signed an executive order over the weekend ordering specific vaccination sites to prioritize certain groups of people. The point of the executive order is to quantify and makes it law for the priorities. Healthcare workers are to be vaccinated at hospitals or federal qualified health cent ..read more

ALBANY/ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM/NEWS10) - The New York State Public Service Commission (Commission) approved tariff filings submitted by the six major investor-owned electric utilities in New York State. These tariffs allow for the recovery of energy storage dispatch rights contracted by the Commission’s Dec. 13, 2018 order. The order establishes its nation-leading energy storage goal and deployment policy. The six utilities include Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (Con Edison), Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation (Central Hudson), Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation d/b/a N ..read more

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)- New York is facing heavy budget cuts due to a loss of revenue related to the coronavirus pandemic. Schools, local governments, not-for-profits, and other organizations have not been spared from the impact of the state budget. NYS Comptroller: 2020-2021 school budget voter participation increased more than 300% statewide The court system is also not going to be exempt from budget cuts. Thursday the New York Assembly held a hearing to discuss a 10% cut to the court system budget. With an annual judiciary budget of $3 billion, the court system is looking at a $300 million c ..read more

(WETM-TV) - The New York lottery is altering some of the lottery schedules to better cater to players. Starting November 2nd, the draw times and sales-cut-off times for five of New York's lottery games are changing. Daily NUMBERS (midday and evening), Win4, Take 5, and LOTTO. According to the New York Lottery website, the new schedule will provide more time for players to purchase tickets for the Midday and Evening NUMBERS and Win4 drawings. Times of new gaming schedule can be seen below: The Midday NUMBERS is moving from 12:20 p.m. to 2:20 p.m. The Midday Win4 is moving from 12:20 p.m. to 2 ..read more

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- New legislation has been introduced this week in the New York Legislature aimed at protecting nursing home residents in the event that there's a second wave of the coronavirus. "The fall's coming. We don't have a vaccine, yet, so we have to be prepared," said NY Senator Sue Serino. Serino has new legislation that would require the state Department of Health to create a regional "step-down facility" plan. If a nursing home resident contracted COVID-19, went to the hospital and was later discharged, they would be sent to a "step-down" facility until they're no longe ..read more

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Hannaford Supermarkets announced a $100,000 donation for increased access to food, housing, and child care in the Capital Region. The money is targeted at families affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The donation is divided in half, with $50,000 each going to Albany Community Action Partnership and Schenectady Community Action Program. Direct aid will take the form of financial assistance on rent, mortgage, utilities, transportation, and health and safety-related home repairs. Hannaford cited a recent study by the Urban Institute showing that over a third of parents s ..read more

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan and Chief of Police Eric Hawkins will host a conference Wednesday morning to discuss recent gun violence in the city. The discussion gets underway at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday morning at Albany City Hall. Take a look at the stream below: The community discussion comes a day after the arrest of a 24-year-old man in connection to a homicide that occurred in June. In June, Albany Police were investigating a string of shootings that left several with injuries and one person killed in the span of 24 hours. Since the string of shootings, police in the ci ..read more

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — New York State lawmakers are reviewing the impact that COVID-19 had on the June Primary. All races from the June Primary have been called, but the process took more time this year due to the large number of more than 1.2 million absentee ballots statewide. “That was a huge, astronomical number. Something we’ve never seen before in our primary election, so it took some boards quite a while to process all the absentees that they had,” said NYS Board of Elections Director of Public Information John Conklin in an interview last week. At Tuesday’s hearing to review the ..read more

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — On Monday morning, Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy announced today that there have now been 2,359 confirmed positive cases of coronavirus since the outbreak began. That’s an increase of 10 since Sunday, for a current total of 36 active cases, up from 32. Of Monday’s new positives, one lives or works in a health care setting, five had close contacts to positive cases, one traveled out of state, and three did not have a clear source of transmission. The five-day average for new daily positives increased slightly, to 7.4 from 7.8 Sunday. With no new deaths or ..read more