The New York Daily News has obtained an audio recording that shows a New York state trooper lied that a driver he pulled over rammed him during a high-speed chase on I-87 in Ulster County that killed the motorist’s 11-year-old daughter. A crash analysis done by the New York State Police showed that State Trooper Christopher Baldner rammed the Dodge Voyager driven by Tristin Goods twice on Dec. 22, 2020 near Kingston. Baldner, though, repeatedly claims in the recording that Goods rammed him. “He just rammed me, Albany. He just f—ing rammed me,” Baldner says over his police radio in the recording the police office made on his cell phone. Baldner, 39, is facing murder and manslaughter charges in a case brought by state Attorney General Letitia James’ office. “This is audio of the truth, and it will be explosive evidence at trial,” said Sanford Rubenstein, a lawyer who represents Monica’s mother Michelle Surrency in a civil case against Baldner and the state police. On the recording Goods demanded Baldner contact a supervisor, but instead the state trooper pepper-sprayed the driver. “What jumped out at me was the fact the officer is discharging the pepper spray when there was no reason to do so,” said lawyer Cory Dalmata, who also represents Surrency. “And then he’s trying to create the narrative that Tristin rammed him.” Read the full story in the New York Daily News.

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Nick Reisman reports for New York State of Politics that Democrats will hold a hearing about Judge Hector LaSalle's nomination as chief judge of the New York state Court of Appeals, even though there have already been enough senators announcing no votes to scuttle his appointment. Former New York City Deputy Mayor Carol Robles-Román is one of a number of Latinos supporting Gov. Kathy Hochul's judicial nomination, and explains the opposition, saying, "In the way that I know judicial selection, the way it is done right, you get a good sense of the body of work.... They didn't select a couple of cases. They selected three." Critics cite three controversial rulings from LaSalle: He voted to shield a fake abortion clinic from a state investigation; in 2015 LaSalle carved a massive loophole into a state law that previously stopped management from suing unions and union leaders; and in 2014 LaSalle moved to prohibit a criminal defendant from appealing his conviction. Locally, state Senator Michelle Hinchey has come out against LaSalle's nomination. Judiciary Committee Chair Brad Hoylman doesn't think the nomination has much of a chance, saying, "This is a very narrow pathway if one exists at all.... That said, this is completely the governor's decision, which I and my colleagues respect, to advance the nomination." Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Mid-Hudson News reports that Bill O’Neill was sworn in on Jan. 3 as Dutchess County Executive. He was serving as deputy county executive, but moved up as Marc Molinaro resigned the executive post to head to Washington D.C. as the 19th Congressional representative. O'Neill said he does not come with an agenda, but wants to finish what Molinaro started. O'Neill said, “There are things you have to do, certainly in the public works area, we begin projects all the time that are multi-year projects.... I would lean more towards a caretaker trying to make sure we do things well, we’re productive we’re efficient and we move along the projects that we have started.” Molinaro, meanwhile, is still waiting to be sworn in, as the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives failed three times on Jan. 3 to choose a Speaker of the House so they can proceed with business. Read the full story at Mid-Hudson News.

The Troy Record reports that Rensselaer County and the bargaining unit representing the largest group of county employees, the County and United Public Service Employees Union, have reached a tentative contract agreement. “This is a fair agreement, reached after productive negotiations, and is a long-term agreement that ensures stability and continuity of services as provided by our partners in public service, the hardworking men and women who serve the County and its residents,” Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin said in a press release. “The agreement reached with UPSEU is reasonable and responsible and will also help the County continue to effectively manage resources in a way that protects taxpayers and ensures the most efficient delivery of services.” The agreement still needs to be ratified by United Public Service Employees Union members, and voted on by the Rensselaer County Legislature. “We are pleased to reach this agreement after good faith negotiations that recognized the extraordinary efforts our members display on the job 24/7, and especially since the pandemic,” UPSEU President Kevin Boyle said in the news release. “They’ve really gone above and beyond the call of duty in so many areas, and to his credit, the County Executive saw the same thing we did. We thank him for the significant role he played in bringing these negotiations to a successful and timely conclusion.” Read the full story in the Troy Record.

Makena Kelly reports in The Verge that on Jan. 3 President Joe Biden again nominated Gigi Sohn for a seat on Federal Communications Commission. The FCC has been deadlocked with two Republicans and two Democrats, and critics say Biden did little to get the nomination approved by the Senate. Sohn co-founded the Public Knowledge activist group in 2001 and was chief there until taking a position as counselor for then-FCC Chair Tom Wheeler in 2013. She was nominated in October 2021, but never got a vote. Corporations such as Comcast have lobbied against Sohn in fear of facing more regulations, and Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz claims Sohn would censor conservatives even if executives at radical right-wing news networks Newsmax and One America News Network support Sohn's nomination and praise her longtime commitment to free speech. There is more optimism now about the approval of Sohn's nomination with an extra Senate seat for Democrats after this fall's election. But Democrat Sens. Mark Kelly, of Arizona, and Catherine Cortez Masto, of Nevada, have yet to come out in favor of Sohn's nomination. Read the full story in The Verge.

For nearly three years, the New York State Climate Action Council has been working on a long term plan to meet the goals set out in The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. The Scoping Plan is meant to serve as an initial framework for how the State will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve net-zero emissions, increase renewable energy usage, and ensure climate justice. WOOC's Moses Nagel reports on the vote for approval of the plan which took place at the end of last month.

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Kevin McCarthy did not get enough support in his first vote to become speaker of the House of Representatives on Jan. 3. But McCarthy did get the votes of local Republican representatives Elise Stefanik and Marc Molinaro. Stefanik even nominated McCarthy, a California Republican who was Minority Leader, but did not get enough votes to become Speaker of the House. Here is an excerpt of Stefanik's nomination speech: CLICK HERE TO PLAY SHORT EXCERPT OF NOMINATION SPEECH. The final vote had a Democrat in the lead, as Hakeem Jeffries got all 212 Democrat votes. Republicans split their votes between McCarthy, with 203 votes, followed by ultra-conservative Andy Biggs with ten votes, Jim Jordan from Ohio with six votes, Jim Banks from Indiana with one vote, New York's Lee Zeldin with one vote, and Byron Donalds of Florida with one vote. To become House Speaker, 218 votes are needed. Stefanik represents the 21st Congressional District which now includes Rensselaer County, and Molinaro just took office from the 19th Congressional District. Local Democrats Pat Ryan, from the 18th Congressional District, and Paul Tonko, of the 20th Congressional District, both voted for Jeffries. Now, the House of Representatives will continue to hold votes for the speaker position until someone gets the 218 vote majority. No other business will be done in the House of Representatives until a speaker is chosen. Since Republicans only have a four-vote majority, and lots of internal divisions, it could take many votes for a speaker to emerge. A second vote for Speaker of the House happened right after the first failed vote, but that also ended with McCarthy failing to get the 218 needed votes.

Nick Reisman reports at New York State of Politics that a law signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul will ban the use of PFAS chemcials in the manufacturing of apparel and clothing in New York beginning on the final day of 2023. PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl, chemicals are considered toxic, and have been found in the drinking water locally in Cairo, New Lebanon, Newburgh, Hoosick Falls, Nassau, Cohoes, and other towns. Washing garments that contain the toxic "forever chemicals" can lead to the toxins seeping into groundwater and the drinking water supply. “It’s fantastic to see New York joining California in phasing out toxic ‘forever’ PFAS chemicals in clothes. It’s important that we do away with unnecessary uses of these harmful chemicals wherever possible to protect people’s health and safety,” said Avi Kar, senior attorney and senior director for Health & Food at the National Resource Defense Council. “This is not the first PFAS law New York has passed, and it shouldn’t be its last. New York continues to build on its leadership by enacting this law that adds to previous bans on PFAS in firefighting foam and paper-based food packaging.” Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.

Rick Karlin reports in the Times Union that New York's gas tax holiday ended with the New Year, but consumers might not notice because of falling fuel prices. Hochul suspended the state’s 16-cent-per-gallon tax in the summer when gas prices were above $4 per gallon. Some counties, though not Greene and Columbia, also gave up their share of the gas tax to help consumers. All that is over now, and the high prices have lowered. Economists say that the slowing global economy and an increase in diesel fuel production helped lower fuel prices. Nationally, gas prices reached a high of $4.69 in July, but was down to $3.32 in December. Locally, in the Capital Region prices are now around $3.45, according to AAA. Read the full story in the Times Union.

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Brian Hubert reports in the Daily Freeman that on Jan. 2 New York got its first elected female governor, and Ulster County got its first elected female county executive. Jen Metzger was sworn in as Ulster County’s first elected female executive in front of a packed house at the Rosendale Theatre on Jan. 2. “We face some very daunting challenges: a climate crisis, a housing affordability crisis, mental health and addiction crisis, and we have way too many households (that) are struggling to pay the bills month to month,” Metzger said. New York's Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, who walked away from representing the area in Congress last year, noted the importance of electing all different types of people. “Our young people need to be able to look up and see people from all walks of life, and see all types of people from all walks of life in positions of power,” Delgado said. “If you don’t, power feels foreign to you, it doesn’t feel relatable to you, and you feel detached from it. The sad truth about it is that it actually is already in you from the very beginning, (regardless of) your race, your gender or your sexual orientation.” Metzger, a Democrat and former Rosendale councilperson, became the first woman elected as county executive when she defeated Republican Ulster Town Supervisor James Quigley in the election in October and November. Before that, Metzger served in the state Senate from 2019-2020. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.

Rick Karlin reports in Times Union that Gov. Kathy Hochul last week signed a law making carpetmakers responsible to develop and enact plans for recycling their products. Carpet manufacturers will have to establish programs for the collection and recycling of discarded and unused carpeting now, instead of those products being sent to landfills or incinerators. But the law does not kick in until January, 2026. Then, carpet sales in New York will be prohibited unless the manufacturers have an approved plan for recycling or have established their own program for carpet collection, approved by the State Department of Environmental Conservation. Carpets are usually made with synthetic, petroleum-based fibers such as nylon, polypropylene, and polyester. Carpeting is one of the most difficult household items to get rid of, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. The group's lawyer, Eric Goldstein, said of the measure, “This new law provides another piece of the puzzle needed to handle waste more sustainably and take a bite out of the climate crisis.” New York's action will only make a small dent in the more than 3.9 million tons of carpet and rugs discarded annually in the U.S., unless other states adopt similar measures. But California adopted a carpet recycling program in 2010, and New York is now the second state to mandate recycling carpet. New York will only recycle 30 percent of carpet in the next five years, and 75 percent in 15 years. The Carpet and Rug Institute opposes mandated recycling, warning about “carpet bureaucracies” and hidden taxes on consumers. Read the full story in the Times Union.

Colin A. Young and Sam Drysdale report in the Berkshire Eagle that New York lawmakers may not be the only ones getting raises this year. State lawmakers in Massachusetts will receive their fourth pay raise since 2017, this one worth more than four percent. Constitutional officers in the Bay State are likely getting a 20 percent raise this year. The reason legislators are getting the raise is because the state Constitution increases their salaries based on changes in the median household income statewide. And median household income in Massachusetts has risen 4.42 percent since the last adjustment to lawmaker pay. Lawmakers there will go from salaries of $70,536 to about $73,654, much less than New York lawmakers, who now are getting more than any other legislators in the country, at $142,000 a year, after voting for their own raises just before the holiday break. The 20 percent increase for the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, auditor, treasurer, and secretary of state of Massachusetts comes from a 2017 law that ties officials’ salaries to changes in state wages over the past eight quarters, rather than to median household income. Incoming Gov.-elect Maura Healey will now make $222,185 a year, $37,185 more than former Gov. Charlie Baker, who got a $185,000 salary. Healey spokesperson Karissa Hand said Healey will, “accept the salary that has been established by statute.” Read the full story in the Berkshire Eagle.

Andrew Cunningham reports at ARS Technica that New York Governor Kathy Hochul did sign the The Digital Fair Repair Act before the Dec. 29 deadline, making it the first right-to-repair bill in the nation. For years, consumers, if they want new electronic devices, have been forced to buy them with no way to fix them without involving the company that made the product, The new law requires companies to provide the same diagnostic tools, repair manuals, and spare parts to the public that they make available to their own repair technicians. Hochul made a few changes, weakening the bill before signing, on "technical issues that could put safety and security at risk, as well as heighten the risk of injury from physical repair projects.... I am pleased to have reached an agreement with the legislature to address these issues," Hochul wrote. The law will not affect any electronic device anyone currently owns. Instead, only devices manufactured and sold in New York on or after July 1, 2023 will be required to meet the law's requirements. And only the public, not businesses or the government, will benefit from the law as "business-to-business" and "business-to-government" equipment that isn't sold to consumers is excluded from the law. Even with all the exceptions, consumer advocates are crowing. “This is a huge victory for consumers and a major step forward for the right to repair movement," wrote iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens. "New York has set a precedent for other states to follow, and I hope to see more states passing similar legislation in the near future.” Still activist Louis Rossmann explained how bad the changes to the bill are for consumers. "It getting passed without being tainted or screwed with would actually be good for society, and that's not something that [the] New York state government is going to allow to happen," Rossmann said. Read the full story at ARS Technica.

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Joshua Solomon reports in the Times Union that almost two weeks after the New York Times uncovered an extreme list of lies from Long Island Congressman-elect George Santos, Rep. Elise Stefanik still has not made any comment about her new fellow Republican representative. There are now multiple investigations into the background of the newly elected Congressperson and the sources of his personal wealth and campaign funds. Santos has also lied about his mother's death (claiming it had something to do with the 9/11 attack), falsely claimed his grandparents "survived the Holocaust," and falsely claimed he was half Black. Last May, Stefanik Tweeted a photo with Santos following a campaign fundraiser. "WOW! Great lunch event," she wrote. "George has my complete and total endorsement and come November, New Yorkers will send George to Congress!" Stefanik Tweeted. Another Republican Congressperson, Marc Molinaro, who was elected for the 19th Congressional District, briefly commented on the issue, telling the Democrat & Chronicle that, "this revelation from my colleague is disappointing and distracts from the important work ahead of us." a href="https://www.timesunion.com/state/article/Stefanik-remains-silent-on-Santos-as-she-rallies-17685850.php?IPID=Times-Union-HP-state-package">Read the full story in the Times Union.