Casey Seiler is reporting at Capitol Confidential Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo took action late Mon., Dec. 29, on more than 30 of the bills lingering on his desk. The approvals include a bill that would prohibits the sale of nicotine to minors, while the vetos included a high-profile rejection -- the dismissal of the governor’s own program bill to protect teachers for two years from professional consequences if they are rated “ineffective” or “developing” as a result of student scores on tests connected to the Common Core standards. The governor proposed the legislation last spring as a corrective to the implementation of the Common Core program. Since then, the pendulum has swung back — in part because the recently released teacher evaluation numbers showed New York’s teachers outperforming their students. “These temporary provisions do not fix the foundational issues with the teacher evaluation system,” Cuomo wrote of his own legislation in his veto message. “Given what we now know, it would make no sense to sign this bill and further inflate these already inflated ratings.” Read the full post at Capitol Confidential, a Times Union blog.