Vivian Wang and Jeffery C. Mays report in The New York Times that with Democratic control of both chambers of the legislature this year, passing marijuana legalization seemed assured. Now, though, Albany is talking about it not passing this year. First, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said March 11 that legalization is unlikely to be a part of a final state budget deal. “The rate of progress does not suggest it’s going to happen," Cuomo said at the State Capitol. Cuomo's office guesses the state will make $300 million a year in new tax dollars. Now a group of legislators want to assure that at least some of that money goes toward job training programs, and that minority entrepreneurs will receive licenses to cultivate or sell the marijuana. SO far, none of the ten states nor the city of Washington, D.C. have similar policies for minority communities to redress years of having a disproportionate number of African-Americans arrested on marijuana charges. “They thought we were going to trust that at the end of the day, these communities would be invested in. But that’s not something I want to trust,” said Assemblyperson Crystal Peoples-Stokes, the first black woman Assembly majority leader. “If it’s not required in the statute, then it won’t happen.” Read the full story in The New York Times.