By: Janet Howard With the 2025–26 school year underway, New York State has launched the nation’s most ambitious bell‑to‑bell smartphone ban in K–12 schools—eliminating distractions and restoring focus to classrooms statewide. This historic Distraction-Free Schools law marks a turning point in American education. Supporters say these phone-free schools help students refocus on academics and wellbeing. […]
By James A. Parrott, THE NEW SCHOOL | Editorial credit: JHVEPhoto / shutterstock.com Unemployment insurance (UI) provides bedrock social and economic security for us all. But in New York that foundation is badly fractured. Our State-administered UI funding setup unfairly penalizes small- and medium-sized employers. It pays woefully inadequate benefits to laid-off workers. And it […]
By Claudia Irizarry Aponte | Editorial Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY Influential health care union 1199SEIU urged postponing the April 1 start of a single administrator to replace hundreds of companies the governor has called a costly “racket.” Gov. Hochul pushed back Friday on a major health union’s demand that she delay moving home care for more […]
By Greg B. Smith, THE CITY | Editorial credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY Both Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and NY Attorney General Tish James could pursue charges, and Gov. Hochul could also remove the mayor. The Trump Justice Department filed a highly unusual motion to dismiss the criminal corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams on […]
By Samantha Maldonado, THE CITY State Attorney General Letitia James and counterparts sue to ensure Medicaid and other dollars continue to flow. An order from President Donald Trump’s budget office to freeze grant funding to states has already sown confusion and spurred pushback in New York. The state’s Attorney General, Letitia James, and five other […]
By Julian Shen-Berro, Chalkbeat, THE CITY Gov. Kathy Hochul will move to limit cellphone use in New York schools this year, she said during her annual State of the State address in Albany. Gov. Kathy Hochul will move to limit cellphone use in New York schools this year as part of a broader education agenda […]