THE "PORK" IN NEW YORK, Thoughts of an older American on Constitutional Government in the USA Options

[Livyjr]

You must live in NY ... your understanding, and interest in the minutia...is overwhelming to a country-boy like me.

I know it's the center of The World ... but it's hard to keep up.

If I may ask...every now and then offer the rest of us your opinion on the national macro situation.

And New York certainly is not the center of the world, Indianhead ....

Far from it ....

Although bankers and politicians like the PROSTITUTE USER and ex-governor of New York Eliot Spitzer would like all of us to believe that New York City is the CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE and FINANCIAL CAPITAL of the world ....

WALL STREET has become a very dangerous place, Indianhead, when the DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR and EXCESSIVE GREED of a handful of lawyers and bankers on a short street only a handful of blocks long down in lower Manhattan can jeopardize the lives of countless thousands of people all over the world who were not GAMBLERS themselves and did not invest in the FOOL'S GAME known as the stock market ...

And so ....

"Consumer confidence falls to new low"

By JEANNINE AVERSA, Associated Press

Last updated: 7:52 a.m., Friday, April 11, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Americans' confidence in the economy fell to a new low, dragged down by worries about mounting job losses, record-high home foreclosures and zooming energy prices.

According to the RBC Cash Index, confidence dropped to a mark of 29.5 in April, down from 33.1 in March.

The new reading was the worst since the index began in 2002.

It marked the fourth month in a row where confidence has fallen to an all-time low.

Pointing to the overall confidence reading of 29.5 in April, T.J. Marta, a fixed-income strategist at RBC Capital Markets, said:

"What confidence?"

"There is no confidence."

"It's like 1929."

"Fed worried in 2002 about deflation"

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, Associated Press

Last updated: 4:12 p.m., Friday, April 11, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Just-released transcripts show the Federal Reserve was worried about the threat of deflation when it decided to cut a key interest rate by a half-point in November 2002.

Then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan called the prospect "pretty scary."

Those transcripts, released Friday, showed that Greenspan and his colleagues were focused on what should be done about a sluggish economy and the threat that the country could tumble into a period of deflation, something the country had not experienced since the Great Depression.

While the Fed strives to achieve low inflation, it does not want to see the economy enter a period of serious deflation with the value of real estate and other assets dropping because that sets off destabilizing forces that can have serious consequences.

The United States was battered by deflation during the 1930s and Japan experienced a lost decade of growth in the 1990s after its real estate bubble burst, causing a severe bout of deflation in that country.

Some critics have argued that there was never a serious threat of deflation in the United States in the period of the 2001 recession and that the extremely low interest rates engineered by the Fed created a housing boom that drove prices and sales up to record levels only to burst in 2006, sending shock waves through the economy that are still reverberating.

The transcripts released Friday show that Fed officials at the time were not that worried about the effects low interest rates might have, arguing that if inflation started rising, the Fed could reverse course and start raising rates but that a bout of deflation would be harder to combat.

The Fed did cut the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge on overnight loans, by a half-point at the November 2002 meeting, moving it from 1.75 percent down to 1.25 percent, the lowest level in 41 years.

That was the only rate cut the Fed made that year.

During the discussions, Greenspan expressed concern about the country falling into a "deflationary hole."

"It's a pretty scary prospect and one that we certainly want to avoid," Greenspan told other members of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed panel that meets eight times a year to set interest rates.

The Fed would cut the funds rate one more time the next year, pushing it to a 45-year low of 1 percent on June 25, 2003.

The central bank left the funds rate at that level for an entire year until it began a gradual move to raise rates in June 2004.

While Greenspan was hailed when he left the Fed in early 2006 after 18 1/2 years as chairman for safely guiding the U.S. economy through a number of dangers, the bursting of the housing boom that year and a resulting severe credit crunch have prompted a reassessment of those actions.

But in an interview on CNBC this week, Greenspan said he had "no regrets" about Fed policy during his tenure and said there was little Fed officials or other regulators could have done to avert the housing crisis.

In the interview, Greenspan blamed the housing crisis on "egregious lending practices" in the subprime mortgage market.

Critics charge that Greenspan pushed rates too low and left them there too long, fueling a housing bubble that has now burst, causing severe troubles including the possibility that the country has fallen into a recession.

But at the time, Greenspan and his colleagues clearly saw the biggest dangers coming from weak growth and possible deflationary forces.

On the possibility that a half-point cut might be too much, Greenspan said at the November meeting, "It's a mistake that does not have very significant consequences."

"On the other hand, if we fail to move and we are wrong, meaning that we needed to, the costs could be quite high."

William McDonough, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, argued that if the Fed cut rates by only a quarter-point, financial markets would consider Fed officials "a bunch of wimps, which is not an attractive assessment for a group that is supposed to be a very important public body."

Current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, a former Princeton economics professor who had joined the Fed earlier that year as a board member, supported Greenspan's recommendation to cut rates by a half-point.

Bernanke said the country seemed to be experiencing the same type of "jobless recovery" that had occurred for a prolonged period after the 1990-91 recession and that a cut in rates was needed to boost growth.

While the Fed releases minutes of its closed-door discussions three weeks after the meetings are held, the full transcripts are only released with a lag of five years.

------

On the Net:

Federal Reserve: http://www.federalreserve.gov

[Livyjr]

AND SPEAKING ABOUT THE TIMES THAT WE FIND OURSELVES IN UP HERE IN THE CORRUPT EMPIRE OF NEW YORK ....

WHERE OUR RECENTLY-RESIGNED-IN-DISGRACE GOVERNOR ELIOT "STEAMROLLER" SPITZER WAS PROTECTING A PROSTITUTION RING IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK SO THAT HE COULD THEN AVAIL HIMSELF OF ITS SERVICES, WE HAVE ...

"NY legislature boosts budget for teacher sex investigations"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 7:32 p.m., Friday, April 11, 2008

ALBANY -- The Legislature has restored funding to bolster an understaffed investigative unit in the state Education Department to cut into a backlog of hundreds of cases involving teachers and administrators accused of having sex with students.

The unit will be able to hire eight investigators and attorneys to dig into more than 800 pending cases of "moral misconduct" against teachers, administrators and applicants for certification.

Most cases involve sex with students.

The state budget adopted Wednesday restores the $500,000 that former Gov. Eliot Spitzer sought to cut from the unit's funding and added another $600,000 to hire more investigators and attorneys to reduce the backlog, said Senate Education Committee Chairman Stephen Saland, a Poughkeepsie Republican.

"This will move these people out of the classroom environment more quickly," Saland said.

"It's money well spent."

"In fact, it's a bargain."

The funding will speed prosecution of cases against the certificates of teachers with criminal accusations, according to the education department.

In February, Saland blasted Spitzer from the Senate floor, accusing the governor of calling "open season on children" for sex predators in schools.

He read passages from 2007 stories by The Associated Press that showed the number of "moral conduct" accusations against teachers, administrators and aides had doubled in five years.

In all, 485 misconduct cases were reported over five years, most involving sexual misconduct.

"This will be fixed," he said then of the cut made over the objection of Education Commissioner Richard Mills.

The Spitzer administration wanted to cut the funding, saying automation could accomplish the same thing and provide savings against a nearly $5 billion state budget deficit.

The $1.6 million total budget for the unit is up from $1 million last year and triple the $500,000 Spitzer proposed, according to the department.

The increase was supported by Gov. David Paterson, who succeeded Spitzer.

Spitzer resigned in March after he was implicated in a prostitution scandal.

"Nothing is more important than the safety of our children," said Johanna Duncan-Poitier, senior deputy commissioner of education.

"We want to thank the governor and the Legislature for enhancing our ability to ensure a safe and healthy environment for New York's schoolchildren."

[Livyjr]

For years and years and years, now .....

Going back and back in time .....

Back into the last century ....

And the one before that .....

The 1800's .....

The PEOPLE of the State of New York ....

Have had a problem with CORRUPTION in OUR state government .....

And none of this, of course, is any kind of secret .....

It is more a story that people in other parts of the United States do not know .....

Because it is not happening where they are .....

AND UP UNTIL THIS COMPUTER FORUM .....

It is a story that has received no real media attention ...

THE MEDIA BEING A PART OF THE PROBLEM .....

And so .....

Here we are today ....

In this FORUM .....

And it is indeed a whole new day for those of us up here in the State of New York who have been literally WITHOUT A VOICE these last so many years ....

A VOICE IN WHAT GOES ON IN OUR COMMUNITIES ....

A VOICE IN WHAT GOES ON IN OUR STATE .....

And that is not at all by accident ......

To the contrary .....

IT IS BY INTENT ....

AND DESIGN ....

And so .....

We are without a voice in OUR state government up here for several reasons .....

Which boil down to either two .....

Or one, depending upon how you view the situation .....

AND THAT IS POWER, AND MONEY ....

Which feed each other .....

At least here in the State of New York ....

TO OUR DETRIMENT, THOSE OF US WHO ARE THE TAX-PAYING MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC, UP HERE IN THIS STATE .....

Those who profess to be OUR assemblymen and state senators up here ......

DO NOT ACTUALLY REPRESENT OUR INTERESTS .....

Partly because of the rules of the New York State Senate and Assembly which vest all of the power in the hands of two people .....

Which stifles any input that WE, THE PEOPLE might have, assuming that we actually had someone in there trustworthy and not already compromised to make input on OUR behalf ....

And largely because they simply do not have the time, they tell us, to be looking out for any concerns we might have ......

BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO BUSY RAISING MONEY FOR THEIR NEXT BID FOR THEIR NEXT OFFICE .....

Which brings us back to "PORK" ......

And why "PORK" is as much of an attitude, as it is anything else .....

A "SYMPTOM" of an UNDERLYING STRUCTURAL PROBLEM in OUR constitutional form of government here in the State of New York ......

WHICH HAS BEEN HELD TO BE ONE OF THE MOST DYSFUNCTIONAL GOVERNMENTS IN THE WHOLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA .....

And so .....

"Analysis: NY's special interests well-fed by your tax dollars"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 11:32 a.m., Saturday, April 12, 2008

ALBANY -- The Legislature took a lot of heat last week for its secret budget negotiations, its abandonment of public conference committees required by its own 2007 reform law, and its refusal -- with Gov. David Paterson -- to release details of how they would spend New Yorkers' money until the bills were already passed.

But it wasn't a complete secret.

The unions and other special interests that have poured $171.2 million into lobbying over the last year and gave candidates millions more for campaigns were in on it.

In the hectic final days before New York's $121.7 billion budget was adopted Wednesday, lawmakers debated bills for hours in televised sessions.

But most of the decisions had already been made behind closed doors, sometimes with lobbyists at the table.

The public, who pays for it all, was shut out.

Take Verizon Communications, a major employer in New York.

The company spent $3.2 million to lobby lawmakers and tossed another $157,620 at their campaigns, according to a report released last week by the state Public Integrity Commission.

One of Verizon's interests in Albany is a cell phone bill of rights measure that would bar companies from requiring a customer to renew his or her service plan when adding a new phone, and prevent a company from making the period of a contract longer.

The industry is fighting this consumer-friendly bill, which remains stuck in committee.

Sometimes the money is not spent to block, but to get.

The New York State United Teachers and United Federation of Teachers unions spent almost $3 million lobbying in 2007, the year the report examined, and contributed $841,703 to campaigns.

On Wednesday, the Legislature provided a record $1.75 billion increase in state school aid despite a gaping deficit and falling revenues.

In addition, the powerful unions secured a legislative change among thousands of pages of budget bills that prohibits school districts from using student performance on test scores as a basis for denying teachers tenure.

And most of the gush of education cash will go to salaries and hiring more teachers and administrators, said E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, part of the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute.

Adding more teachers and staff is often masked by saying the money will pay to reduce class sizes, a more popular notion for the public.

"It feeds the bottom line and increases the union argument for paying them more," he said.

The result of taxpayers providing a big increase in state aid this year?

Big increases in local school taxes next year.

"Because there's no cap on school taxes, when you feed the bottom line with a big increase in one year, it usually translates to bigger property taxes in coming years because the state aid increases aren't sustainable," he said.

He said last week's haul for public schools in the state budget proved this about the school unions: "There is no question they are the tail that wags the whole dog."

But others are helping.

Health care and hospital groups spent more than $3 million lobbying and kicked in $931,091 to campaigns as they fought back efforts by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer to shift more money from institutions to outpatient care, which is cheaper.

The Trial Lawyers Association also spent $959,733 in lobbying and $585,134 in campaign contributions while they fought "tort reform," which could force lower judgments in lawsuits.

It's all legal.

The U.S. Supreme Court calls its freedom of speech.

"In Albany's pay-to-play culture, those with the bucks speak with a megaphone, while the rest of us are reduced to a whisper," said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

His group put out its "Fat Cat Factor" annual list of top lobbyists and how much they paid to influence legislation and legislators.

The top 10 lobbyists alone made $2.8 million in campaign contributions last year.

"If the average member of the public wonders why things have gotten so bad in Albany, one reason is the way the system is run," Horner said.

"The reason often is that the interests of the status quo are deeply entrenched, and moving any kind of reform is daunting."

------

Michael Gormley is the Albany, N.Y., Capitol editor for The Associated Press. He can be reached by e-mail at mgormley(at)ap.org.

[Livyjr]

"New state worker contract includes higher pay, better health care"

Associated Press

Last updated: 8:22 p.m., Friday, April 11, 2008

ALBANY -- Members of the New York State Public Employees Federation will get more pay, additional health care benefits and extended educational programs under a new four-year contract with the state.

The union says the contract was ratified with a nearly 97 percent approval rating and about two-thirds of its 58,000 members voted on the new deal.

They'll get a 3 percent raise retroactive to April 2007, another 3 percent raise retroactive to April 1 of this year, a 3 percent raise next April and a 4 percent raise in April 2010.

The new pact includes health insurance with additional benefits and modest copay increases, extended educational programs and cost-of-living increases for members who live in high-cost areas of the state.

[Livyjr]

"Bruno's finance secretary out - Lobbyist anger over budget process played a role in veteran policy specialist Jeff Lovell's removal"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, April 13, 2008

ALBANY -- State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno dismissed his finance secretary Friday, cutting Jeff Lovell just two days after the $121.7 billion state budget was completed.

Bruno's spokesman did not return a call to explain why Lovell, 51, of Brunswick, was removed from his $180,000-a-year post.

Bruno announced the veteran policy specialist's departure on Saturday, calling it a resignation.

He said he wished Lovell well.

Friends and government officials said Lovell's career came to an end involuntarily for a mix of reasons, including the feeling some special interests and lobbyists had of being disenfranchised from the budget process.

The top fiscal post involves being a traffic cop for numerous lobbying groups trying to influence the final budget.

For instance, the budget almost didn't get wrapped up because of controversies surrounding a term in the budget that blocks the ability of school districts to use student test scores in teacher tenure evaluations.

"There were contentious discussions on tenure," said Alan Lubin, executive vice president of the New York State United Teachers.

He said as NYSUT fought to make sure test scores could not be used in deciding tenure, the union dealt with Bruno and Bruno's lawyer, Michael Avella, rather than with Lovell, whose expertise is in education financing.

"We felt very comfortable dealing with Joe and Avella," Lubin said.

Lovell could not be reached.

He joined Bruno's team as the finance secretary in late 2006 after a lengthy career as a top adviser to then-Gov. George Pataki.

He had been an aide in the Senate before working for the governor.

As a leading Senate voice in budget negotiations, Lovell was one of many officials dealing with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's strong push for teacher tenure based on student performance, including test scores.

Bloomberg, a generous donor to Senate Republicans, was upset that the tenure issue was settled to the liking of the teachers unions.

Typically when top staffers leave it is after the legislative session and when they have something else lined up.

Bruno did not name a replacement, but said he is sure Lovell will succeed "in whatever he chooses to do."

Bruno, R-Brunswick, said Robert Mujica will continue to serve as deputy finance secretary and managing director of the finance committee.

[Livyjr]

"Work stoppage for labor panels - Backlog of disputes grows due to conflicts of interest, vacancies on state boards"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, April 13, 2008

ALBANY -- A pair of quasi-judicial statewide panels have for more than a year been backlogged on labor complaints because they either don't have enough people to make rulings or they're so small that a single conflict of interest can bring their deliberations to a halt.

Observers blame the disputes and upheaval in state government under Eliot Spitzer, who resigned in March amid a prostitution scandal after months of feuding with Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.

"The board can't take any action on a case," said Barbara Deinhardt, of the State Employment Relations Board, which hears charges of unfair labor practices and mediates disputes between unions and employers.

With just two of its five seats filled, SERB has been hobbled since December, said Deinhardt, who as chairwoman holds one of the seats.

Deinhardt also expressed frustration that the board can't do the kind of work that aims to defuse labor disputes before they escalate into impasse situations or even strikes.

"In part because we are not up to full strength, we are not able to do the outreach that we would like to do," she said.

Also backlogged is the Public Employment Relations Board, which has had a vacancy on its three-person board since December 2006.

With two members, PERB still can certify, or give its stamp of approval to unions wishing to represent public employees.

Recently, for example, PERB certified that the Teamsters could represent highway workers in the Delaware County town of Colchester as well as Cazenovia in Madison County.

But PERB's two board members, Jerome Lefkowitz and Robert Hite, have had to recuse themselves from some cases because of their prior legal work, leading to backlogs.

Lefkowitz has had to step aside in about 12 certifications because he previously worked for CSEA, one of the state's major public employee unions, confirmed Anthony Zumbolo, PERB's executive director.

He's also had to step aside in a handful of cases in which the union alleged an employer engaged in an improper labor practice.

"We'd like to get them resolved," said CSEA spokesman Steve Madarasz.

While the number of cases being held up isn't overwhelming, some have been delayed for about a year, he said.

Additionally, Hite used to work for Council 82 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and has had to recuse himself in those cases.

The backlog also has led to one union dispute going to a vote rather than a PERB ruling.

In 2006, the 5,000-member State Police PBA launched an initiative to represent the approximately 1,300 investigators in the force's Investigators Association.

But there were flaws in the PBA's process, contended Matt Tynan, the Investigator Association's president.

But since Hite had done some police-related work he had to recuse himself, said Tynan.

With no PERB ruling, Tynan said, his union is holding a vote on whether members should join the PBA or stick with their own representation.

Ballots in that vote will be counted next month, said Tynan.

All of those involved concede that the last year has been a tumultuous one in state government: first with Spitzer's public feud with Bruno, and then with Spitzer's sudden resignation last month.

So it isn't a surprise that some boards and panels have gone empty, they say.

"We understand the circumstances here, particularly at the moment with the changeover in administration," said Madarasz.

Shortly before his departure, Spitzer nominated Rosemary Queenan as PERB's third board member, although even if she is appointed, that might not solve the State Police dispute as she has performed legal work for the PBA.

That nomination, supported by Gov. David Paterson, is awaiting Senate confirmation.

Rick Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at rkarlin@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

For years and years and years, now .....

Going back and back in time .....

Back into the last century ....

And the one before that .....

The 1800's .....

The PEOPLE of the State of New York ....

Have had a problem with CORRUPTION in OUR state government .....

And none of this, of course, is any kind of secret .....

It is more a story that people in other parts of the United States do not know .....

Because it is not happening where they are .....

AND UP UNTIL THIS COMPUTER FORUM .....

It is a story that has received no real media attention ...

THE MEDIA BEING A PART OF THE PROBLEM .....

And so .....

"Taking tax cap's measure - Panel examining possible limits on growth of state levy hears from skeptics"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, April 8, 2008

COLONIE -- To cap or not to cap.

That will be one of the biggest decisions that a property tax study commission headed by former gubernatorial candidate and Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi makes next month.

And the battle lines on that issue are starting to emerge.

A tax cap would place a limit on how much property taxes could increase annually.

While the idea is popular with taxpayers and some politicians, school officials and teachers unions worry that it would create unrealistic limits on spending.

"Analysis: NY's special interests well-fed by your tax dollars"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 11:32 a.m., Saturday, April 12, 2008

ALBANY -- The Legislature took a lot of heat last week for its secret budget negotiations, its abandonment of public conference committees required by its own 2007 reform law, and its refusal -- with Gov. David Paterson -- to release details of how they would spend New Yorkers' money until the bills were already passed.

But it wasn't a complete secret.

The unions and other special interests that have poured $171.2 million into lobbying over the last year and gave candidates millions more for campaigns were in on it.

In the hectic final days before New York's $121.7 billion budget was adopted Wednesday, lawmakers debated bills for hours in televised sessions.

But most of the decisions had already been made behind closed doors, sometimes with lobbyists at the table.

The public, who pays for it all, was shut out.

The New York State United Teachers and United Federation of Teachers unions spent almost $3 million lobbying in 2007, the year the report examined, and contributed $841,703 to campaigns.

On Wednesday, the Legislature provided a record $1.75 billion increase in state school aid despite a gaping deficit and falling revenues.

In addition, the powerful unions secured a legislative change among thousands of pages of budget bills that prohibits school districts from using student performance on test scores as a basis for denying teachers tenure.

And most of the gush of education cash will go to salaries and hiring more teachers and administrators, said E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, part of the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute.

Adding more teachers and staff is often masked by saying the money will pay to reduce class sizes, a more popular notion for the public.

"It feeds the bottom line and increases the union argument for paying them more," he said.

The result of taxpayers providing a big increase in state aid this year?

Big increases in local school taxes next year.

"Because there's no cap on school taxes, when you feed the bottom line with a big increase in one year, it usually translates to bigger property taxes in coming years because the state aid increases aren't sustainable," he said.

He said last week's haul for public schools in the state budget proved this about the school unions: "There is no question they are the tail that wags the whole dog."

"In Albany's pay-to-play culture, those with the bucks speak with a megaphone, while the rest of us are reduced to a whisper," said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

"If the average member of the public wonders why things have gotten so bad in Albany, one reason is the way the system is run," Horner said.

"The reason often is that the interests of the status quo are deeply entrenched, and moving any kind of reform is daunting."

"Bay State offers lesson on tax cap"

By FRED LeBRUN

First published: Sunday, April 13, 2008

New Yorkers pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation.

Nothing, but nothing hits the general public's irritation button like our high tax burden, especially school taxes, whenever I hear a discussion of what's wrong with New York.

It's astounding how often I hear that discussion.

We are quite a negative bunch here in the Empire State.

So it's a fair guess that Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi's recommendations concerning a proposed property tax cap, due to be made public May 22, are greatly anticipated.

Yhey aren't his recommendations, but rather those of a seven-member commission.

But he was the one singled out by then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer to head a commission to look into the matter, a handy way to deflect an unpleasant and deeply controversial issue.

But there's no question Suozzi seems to have embraced the subject eagerly.

Although from a strictly political perspective, it could be argued that Spitzer gave brash up-and-comer Suozzi the Godfather's kiss with this assignment.

He's doomed either way.

If the commission decides not to recommend a property tax cap -- which is highly unlikely -- he will be assailed by Republicans, conservatives and lots of taxpayers who have made passage of such a cap a perceived necessity.

The unions, on the other hand, and especially the powerful teachers unions, are dead-set against most property tax caps because they inevitably slice deeply into the ability of school districts to raise needed revenues.

Of course, the devil will be in the details of the likely recommendations.

Suozzi has been visiting editorial boards and promoting in broad form options being considered, either singularly or together.

They are three: an actual property tax cap of one sort or other (there are many options), restrictions on state mandates to localities and a "circuit breaker" that would limit what a homeowner would pay in taxes based on income and resources rather than the assessed value of the property.

Suozzi, who challenged Spitzer in 2006 for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, is politically ambitious, and this will be his moment in the sun.

So it is likely he will attempt a bold stroke whether one is needed or not.

How far any recommendations will survive through the legislative process depends, again, on those details.

All of this, though, begs the primary question: Do we really need a property tax cap?

Last year, in better economic times, Spitzer negotiated record amounts of school aid, and got arm-twisted for even more for highly taxed Long Island school districts.

After taxpayer rebates are factored in, school taxes went up statewide an average of 1.5 percent.

That is well within any of the existing property tax caps in the nearly 30 states that have them.

There isn't a single state that stands out as a success when it comes to property tax caps, no matter what you may have read about neighboring Massachusetts.

Many caps are dismal lessons in senseless feel-good politics, notably California's Proposition 13.

And the unions have a point: Across the spectrum it's the schools and education that take the worst hit, but so do public safety, libraries, parks, even snow plowing.

The only way you can judge Massachusetts' 2.5 percent cap, in place since 1980, a success is to look strictly at how the state ranks among others on tax levy.

It has gone down, no question.

But talk to any teachers or cops or firefighters in the Bay State and they'll tell you about the schools and fire stations that have closed, the increases in class sizes and the loss of school art, music and athletic programs.

And the heavy lift every time a community, especially a poor one, needs a new building, or wants to spend a little money on an enrichment program.

It's one local referendum after another, and the poorer the school district, the more likely it won't pass.

Education is held hostage by the naysayers.

"Property tax caps do nothing to change the main drivers behind higher property taxes," writes the liberal Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in "The Problems With Property Tax Revenue Caps," which is a national analysis.

"They cannot slow the increase in the cost of health care or fuel, for example, which reflects forces outside the control of local officials."

"Nor do they change the demand for local public services, such as quality kindergarten-grade 12 education, public safety and good roads."

As the study shows, property tax caps for the most part don't work because ultimately they don't save taxpayers from paying somehow.

Sales taxes and other local taxes, user fees and so on become alternative resources, and especially impact poorer citizens, communities and school districts.

Besides, if you believe politicians will stop spending ever higher amounts just because the revenues have been capped, well, just look at the recently concluded state budget.

Our state revenues have been capped by natural economic forces and that didn't stop a nearly 5 percent increase anyway.

So property tax cap is senseless.

Just another set of rules that will do more harm than good.

Fred LeBrun can be reached at 454-5453 or by e-mail at flebrun@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"Focus on world food prices, market woes"

By HARRY DUNPHY, Associated Press

Last updated: 7:53 a.m., Sunday, April 13, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Finance ministers and central bankers are focusing their spring meetings on ways to deal with the unfolding financial crisis that has roiled economies around the world and led to higher food and energy prices.

Germany's development minister urged greater regulation of the global biofuels market to prevent its expansion from driving up food prices.

"It is unacceptable for the export of agrofuels to pose a threat to the supply situation of the very people already living in poverty," Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said in a statement.

"Betting $350M on ethanol"

First published: Sunday, April 13, 2008

ALBANY - Corn's getting expensive, and that could complicate financing for a massive new ethanol production plant at the Port of Albany.

The $350 million project, announced late last month, would cover an 18-acre parcel.

But the partners who will own the plant -- Albany Renewable Energy LLC -- face a confluence of challenges that will make financing difficult, some in the industry say.

The Albany Port District Commission, which oversees port operations, selected a proposal by the partnership to bring trainloads of corn from New York state and the Midwest to the port to be converted to ethanol.

The fuel then would be loaded on barges at the port to be taken to so-called blending terminals up and down the East Coast, where it would be combined with gasoline.

Demand for ethanol climbed sharply in 2006 after refiners began substituting it for methyl tertiary butyl ether, an additive that helps gasoline burn more cleanly in summer months, reducing smog.

But MTBE, as it is known, is also a carcinogen.

Thus the switch.

Lately, though, construction of new ethanol plants has slowed.

Higher energy and other commodity prices, tighter lending standards and stagnant ethanol prices are some of the other challenges.

"Banks are particularly concerned with the thin margins in the ethanol business today," said Brian Jennings, executive vice president of the American Coalition for Ethanol, a trade group based in Sioux Falls, S.D.

"Banks are very cognizant that construction costs are significantly higher than just a couple of years ago."

But Jennings also said a recently enacted energy bill will require oil companies to use more ethanol -- 9 billion gallons this year, and higher amounts in the future -- while nationwide plant capacity currently is just above 8 billion gallons.

A number of plants coming on line during the year will make up the difference.

Ethanol production also requires a lot of natural gas and electricity.

Each gallon of ethanol takes 35,000 BTUs of natural gas to produce, as well as 1.1 kilowatt-hours of electricity, according to figures from the University of Nebraska.

A kilowatt-hour costs 15.27 cents in New York state on average, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

That's one of the highest rates in the country.

At $1.05 per therm, or 100,000 BTUs, the 35,000 BTUs cost roughly 37 cents.

And a bushel of corn yields about 2.9 gallons of ethanol.

Corn for October/November delivery to the ethanol production plant in Fulton, Oswego County, was bid Friday at $6.162 a bushel, according to Troy-based Interstate Commodities Inc.'s Web site.

Interstate has the contract to supply corn to the Fulton plant, near Syracuse, which will open in June.

That works out to $2.12 per gallon of ethanol.

So the three biggest inputs together cost $2.65, while ethanol currently sells at a bit less than $2.50 a gallon.

Ed Stahl, who is president of BioPro Resources in Huntersville, N.C., the proposed Albany plant's developer, says the equipment to be used there is more efficient.

Each gallon produced will consume a maximum of 30,000 BTUs of energy, and 0.75 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

That lowers the cost of producing a gallon to $2.54.

And there are other considerations.

A byproduct is dry distillers grain, which can be sold to farmers for use as feed.

The plant would produce up to 500,000 tons of distillers grain annually, which it could sell.

Carbon dioxide also is produced and can be captured for sale to bottling companies.

Stahl said the company supplying the equipment, ICM Inc. of Colwich, Kan., is exploring other sources of energy to power the plant, including biomass.

The plant would consume about 60 million bushels of corn a year, about what New York farmers now grow.

But rising prices for corn and other crops could encourage local farmers to plant more acreage.

"There is a lot of fallow ground in New York, millions of acres, so there is room to plant more corn," said Peter Gregg, a spokesman for the New York Farm Bureau.

He said farmers have about 2 million acres of idle land.

With each acre producing 100 bushels, that would yield another 200 million bushels of corn per year.

But farmers may not want to use all the land for corn.

"It's a balancing act between corn and soybeans," said Greg Oberting, president of Interstate Commodities.

Corn is a resilient crop, but takes nitrogen, a nutrient, from the soil.

Farmers have to either rotate crops or fertilize to replace the missing nitrogen.

And fertilizer has doubled in cost over the past year.

Soybeans, on the other hand, restore nitrogen, said Oberting and others.

And soybean prices also are very high.

Ethanol benefits from a number of subsidies, while tariffs on imported ethanol protect it from overseas competition.

Blenders get a 51-cents-per-gallon credit for each gallon of ethanol they mix with gasoline.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli last week announced a $500 million fund to make "green" investments in such areas as renewable energy and clean technology.

"All of the investments are subject to the same due diligence as any investment" the comptroller's office makes, said spokesman Jim Fuchs.

One investment it previously made is a $10.5 million stake in Northeast Biofuels' new ethanol production plant in Fulton.

That plant occupies a former Miller brewery, and much of the infrastructure was already in place.

BioPro Resources' Stahl said the Albany plant also has some advantages, including rail service from CP Rail and CSX Transportation.

The port already handles 90-car unit trains of ethanol operated by CSX, said Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association in Washington, D.C.

"Albany was one of the first ports that had the capacity to unload unit trains of ethanol," he said.

The ethanol was then loaded on barges here for shipment to the blenders.

The Port of Albany ethanol plant is "what we call a destination plant, because it's closer to the end use of ethanol than the feedstock source," Hartwig said.

It's a business model that up to now hasn't gotten much study.

But Stahl expects the savings that result from being able to ship ethanol by barge instead of both barge and rail will give the Albany plant an advantage.

Dave Peters, an assistant professor of agricultural economics at the University of Nebraska who deals with rural economic development issues, has created a computer model that calculates ethanol plant profitability given different prices for corn and ethanol.

The model -- based on plants in the Midwest and Great Plains -- also takes into account federal tax breaks and revenue from the sale of distillers grain.

A 100-million-gallon plant can make 3 cents a gallon in profit when corn costs $5.75 a bushel and ethanol costs $2.50 a gallon.

But if the ethanol sells for just $2 a gallon, the plant will lose nearly 50 cents for each gallon it sells.

Another concern: While energy regulations call for the nation's fuel supply to include 15 billion gallons of ethanol a year, "my belief is we will never get to the 15 billion gallon mark," Peters said.

That would put upward pressure on overall food prices, he said, leading the government to back away from the goal.

The increased demand for corn was one goal of farmers, said the Renewable Fuels Association's Hartwig.

Another, of course, was to reduce demand for oil, which at the end of last week had set a new record price of $112 a barrel.

Stahl, meanwhile, said he continues to work on the financing for the Albany ethanol plant.

"We're certainly aware of the market and the challenges we face," he said.

"Energy in New York can and will be more expensive."

"We think we'll have one of the most efficient plants operating."

Eric Anderson can be reached at 454-5323 or by e-mail at eanderson@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

And so ....

All I can say in here, Indianhead, is that in some way, these posts in here are relevant as background to something that is on-going around me up here, or else I would not have posted them ....

And this all goes back to that book The Power of Many by Christian Crumlish that I make mention of at the beginning of this thread ....

And it is a question of BACKGROUND ....

What is it that is going on around me here in the world that has me thinking the way that I am thinking in here in what is an international forum read by not only people in America, but Europe and Japan as well?

And so ....

That is why the minutia about life in a particular place in upstate New York in the north-east of the United States of America is in here ....

To paint a permanent backdrop that I can keep coming back to in the future as more things yet unfold, to connect that future logically to a preserved past in here that is public record, and not merely my unsupported opinion ....

WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and WHY ....

And so ...

"Local news loss focus of new commission"

By JENNIFER C. KERR, Associated Press

Last updated: 12:22 a.m., Monday, April 14, 2008

WASHINGTON -- As people turn increasingly to the Internet for their news, there is concern whether they are learning enough about what goes on in their communities.

With "the thinning down of newspapers and local television in America, there is measurably less local, civic information available," said Alberto Ibarguen, president and chief executive of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

"So what are the consequences of that?"

The foundation and the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, hope to find out.

They are setting up a commission, funded by the foundation, to analyze whether people are getting the local news they need to make decisions in their communities.

The panel will make recommendations that might include actions by the Federal Communications Commission or tax policies aimed at helping communities better meet their information needs, said Ibarguen, former publisher of The Miami Herald.

The commission will be led by Theodore Olson, former solicitor general who represented George W. Bush before the Supreme Court in the contested 2000 presidential election, and Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience at Google.

The foundation said Olson was selected for his expertise in First Amendment issues and Mayer for her experience with new media and technologies.

About a dozen other members, including those with a journalism background, will be chosen.

The latest Pew Research Center Poll on the changing news landscape found 31 percent of people in the United States regularly got their news online in 2006, compared with 23 percent in 2000.

The poll said newspaper readership slipped, from 47 percent in 2000 to 40 percent in 2006.

Creation of the commission comes as the newspaper industry faces some of the toughest economic times in years.

Print advertising revenues have taken a major hit, as advertisers follow readers to the Internet.

Last year, newspaper print advertising fell 9.4 percent, according to the Newspaper Association of America, marking the biggest percentage drop on record.

Circulation also is down, most recently declining 2.6 percent at major U.S. daily newspapers, leading to buyouts or layoffs in recent months at some of the biggest papers -- The New York Times, USA Today, The Seattle Times, the San Jose Mercury News, The Oakland Tribune and the Contra Costa Times in California.

TV stations have cut jobs, too.

This month, CBS laid off dozens of staffers at several stations it owns in cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Boston.

CBS News, run separately from the company-owned local stations, also said it would cut about 1 percent of its 1,500 employees.

The commission, expected to run for about a year, will be funded by $1.7 million in grants from Knight.

The foundation compared the new commission to ones from the 1960s, such as the Kerner Commission and the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television.

The Kerner Commission report in 1968 looked at racial conditions in the United States, concluding that the nation is moving toward "two societies, one black, one white -- separate and unequal."

In 1967, the Carnegie Commission concluded that an educational television system, bigger and more effective than the one that existed must be created.

The report set the course for today's public broadcasting system.

The Knight Foundation, based in Miami, is a nonprofit philanthropic organization that promotes excellence in journalism and invests in 26 communities where the founding Knight brothers owned newspapers.

------

On the Net:

Knight Foundation: http://www.knightfoundation.org

The Aspen Institute: http://www.aspeninstitute.org

[Livyjr]

"Probe of school 'payroll padding' widens - Investigation of districts that listed lawyers as staff hits Capital Region"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, April 11, 2008

ALBANY -- Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed 90 lawyers, including 70 in upstate, in his expanding probe of school districts that improperly, and perhaps fraudulently, listed their outside legal advisers as employees to give them taxpayer-funded pensions.

"It is egregious conduct, and there is no excuse for the fact that it went on as long as it did," Cuomo said Thursday.

He added that the investigation, which started on Long Island about two months ago, is now spreading to school districts in Albany County and the greater Capital Region.

So far, more than 180 New York school districts, including 150 upstate and 30 on Long Island, are suspected of listing their outside attorneys as employees for the sake of benefits.

He also said he is looking at 11 BOCES organizations across the state.

"This is basically a payroll padding scheme," said Cuomo, who didn't name the districts or BOCES being subpoenaed.

If attorneys are found to have improperly been listed as employees and are collecting pensions, Cuomo said his office could seek to recoup the money.

Criminal penalties could also follow.

The probe began in February after a Long Island lawyer, Lawrence W. Reich, who had once worked for the state Education Department, was found to be listed as an employee at five different school districts, giving him a pension of almost $62,000 and health benefits.

Since then, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has said Reich should refund the money.

The IRS and FBI also have begun investigating, according to published reports.

The attorney general's office earlier said the abuses could extend to other school district advisers such as engineers or architects.

To be considered an employee, a person needs to meet certain conditions, such as having an office or assigned workplace, direct supervision and a regular work schedule.

Lawyers who work for law firms but advise school districts usually have none of those.

Millions of dollars could be involved, Cuomo said.

He cited one lawyer who collected more than $700,000 and said another person who collected a pension had died.

"It's a great scam that has gone on for many, many years," Cuomo said.

Cuomo's inquiry has so far hit 20 upstate counties including Albany, Broome, Delaware, Erie, Madison and Monroe.

Several school and BOCES officials in the Capital Region who were contacted said they hadn't listed their outside lawyers as employees.

School officials in Schenectady said the district's lawyer, Shari Greenleaf, was a full-timer who didn't work at an outside firm.

"It's strictly retainer-based," said Matt Leon, spokesman for Bethlehem school district.

The same was true of the Albany district, which spokesman Ron Lesko said retains the Girvin & Ferlazzo firm.

Albany, Bethlehem and Troy also use Girvin & Ferlazzo for legal advice.

Still, Cuomo is seeking information from Girvin & Ferlazzo.

"The New York State Attorney General's office has sought information relating to our firm's relationship with school districts and BOCES."

"We have been cooperating and will continue to cooperate with the inquiry," Girvin & Ferlazzo lawyer Jeff Honeywell said in a prepared statement.

Attorneys at Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna, another Albany firm that advises about 15 districts, are independent contractors, said Beth Bourassa, a lawyer at the firm.

"We are not employees of any of our school district clients," she said.

Representatives of the Capital Region's three BOCES said they didn't believe their lawyers were listed as employees.

"We essentially have an informal clearance from him right now," John Stoothof, superintendent of Washington- Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES, said of DiNapoli.

Cuomo said the pension padding could also extend to other government entities, of which there are about 10,000 in the state including villages, towns and special districts.

"The more we dig, the worse the situation gets," he said.

Rick Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at rkarlin@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"Probe of school 'payroll padding' widens - Investigation of districts that listed lawyers as staff hits Capital Region"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, April 11, 2008

ALBANY -- Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed 90 lawyers, including 70 in upstate, in his expanding probe of school districts that improperly, and perhaps fraudulently, listed their outside legal advisers as employees to give them taxpayer-funded pensions.

"It is egregious conduct, and there is no excuse for the fact that it went on as long as it did," Cuomo said Thursday.

"This is basically a payroll padding scheme," said Cuomo, who didn't name the districts or BOCES being subpoenaed.

The attorney general's office earlier said the abuses could extend to other school district advisers such as engineers or architects.

Millions of dollars could be involved, Cuomo said.

He cited one lawyer who collected more than $700,000 and said another person who collected a pension had died.

"It's a great scam that has gone on for many, many years," Cuomo said.

Cuomo said the pension padding could also extend to other government entities, of which there are about 10,000 in the state including villages, towns and special districts.

"The more we dig, the worse the situation gets," he said.

"Cuomo widens pension probe - Attorney general plans to target municipal governments that gave lawyers taxpayer-funded benefits"

By JAY JOCHNOWITZ and RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, April 15, 2008

ALBANY -- Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is poised to announce today that he is broadening his probe into alleged abuses of the state pension fund to include not just school districts, but towns and villages as well.

Cuomo already was looking into how some school districts have put outside contractors, particularly lawyers, into the state retirement system.

That's allowed some attorneys to rack up significant retirement credits, which Cuomo said could be illegal because, in his estimation, these outside lawyers aren't employees.

Now, Cuomo is turning his attention to local governments, which, like many school districts, also use lawyers on a retainer or contract basis.

One of the lawyers who benefited from that system, James Roemer, accrued a taxpayer-funded pension worth more than $80,000 a year working for various cities, towns, counties and villages in the Capital Region, in addition to being in private practice.

Roemer, according to a person familiar with Cuomo's investigation, is among the dozens of lawyers who has been subpoenaed.

The Albany-based Roemer also represents several school district attorneys who have been named in Cuomo's investigation.

Roemer, who wouldn't comment Monday, was the subject of a 1997 Times Union article outlining how he acquired his pension credits.

At the time, then-state Comptroller Carl McCall said the deal was bothersome but not illegal as far as he could see.

Cuomo last week said he has subpoenaed 90 lawyers, 70 of them from upstate, in the school district probe.

The attorney general is also looking at more than 180 school districts, including 150 upstate and 30 on Long Island, as well as 11 BOCES organizations, that may have put their outside attorneys in the pension system.

[Livyjr]

IF GEORGE W. BUSH CONSIDERS A SCHOOL TEACHER TO BE "HIGHLY QUALIFIED" SIMPLY BECAUSE THE HAVE A BACHELOR'S DEGREE, I WONDER WHAT HE DEEMS TO BE "QUALIFIED", THEN ....

AN EIGHTH GRADE DROP-OUT, PERHAPS, WHO HASN'T A CLUE AT ALL?

"Number of 'highly qualified' teachers increases in NY schools"

Associated Press

Last updated: 5:33 p.m., Monday, April 14, 2008

ALBANY -- State education officials say New York raised the percentage of core academic classes taught by "highly qualified" teachers in all subjects between 2005-2006 and 2006-2007.

The State Education Department says New York City has shown major improvement, with nearly 91 percent of core classes taught by highly qualified teachers in 2006-2007.

That's up from 87 percent in 2005-2006, and 79 percent in 2004-2005.

Science is the subject area still most lacking, with over 16 percent of earth science classes in the state taught by teachers who aren't highly qualified.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act defines highly qualified teachers as teachers who have a bachelor's degree, meet state certification requirements and can prove they know each subject they teach.

[Livyjr]

"Schumer 'sold' on AMD plans for Malta site - U.S. senator says company president remains upbeat about $3.2 billion chip-fab plant"

By ERIC ANDERSON, Deputy business editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, March 26, 2008

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer made his first visit to the Luther Forest Technology Campus Tuesday morning to tell local officials and residents he believes a $3.2 billion Advanced Micro Devices Inc. plant will be built there as planned.

"AMD has had a rough year -- five quarters -- where they've lost money," he said.

But, "AMD and most of their analysts regard this as a bump in the road."

Schumer instead focused on what's at stake in Luther Forest: a manufacturing plant that would make AMD's semiconductors -- the brains of computers and other advanced electronics -- more competitive with those of rival Intel Corp.

"'If our company has any future, it's here,' " Schumer quoted AMD CEO Hector Ruiz as telling him during a conversation on Friday.

"I'm completely sold on the fact that AMD is going to be here," Schumer added.

State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand joined Schumer at the Tuesday morning press event at a small office building on the Luther Forest campus.

AMD has been offered state incentives worth up to $1.2 billion toward the $3.2 billion cost of the plant.

Schumer said the incentives were "worth every penny."

"Intel 1Q profit meets subdued forecasts, revenue hits record - Intel 1Q profit matches Wall Street's subdued forecast in sign core business remains healthy"

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:42 p.m., Tuesday, April 15, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO -- Intel Corp.'s first-quarter profit matched Wall Street's subdued expectations, a sign the company's core microprocessor business remained healthy amid fears of a broader slowdown in technology spending.

The stock jumped about 7 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday after the technology bellwether forecast higher profit margins in the second quarter and signaled that it is thriving while its smaller rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., continues to stumble.

Santa Clara-based Intel said Tuesday that its net profit for the three months ended March 29 was $1.44 billion, or 25 cents per share.

That represents a 12 percent decline from the year-ago period, when Intel earned $1.64 billion or 28 cents per share.

But it was in line with the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Intel's sales of $9.67 billion -- a 9 percent improvement over last year and a record for the first quarter -- came in slightly higher than Wall Street's estimate of $9.63 billion.

Intel's chief financial officer, Stacy Smith, said the results reflect the company's ability to overcome slumping prices in some segments of the semiconductor market with a new chip-making process that lowers the manufacturing costs for each chip.

"What we're seeing is the strength of the core business is offsetting that weakness," he said in an interview.

Intel warned in March that a steeper-than-expected drop in prices for a type of memory chip called NAND flash -- commonly used in digital cameras and MP3 players -- hurt profits more than anticipated.

Analysts lowered their estimates.

Memory chip prices have been under pressure because of oversupply and fierce competition, a trend that has cut deeply into the profits of companies like Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest memory chip maker.

It was a surprise that Intel, whose primary business is making microprocessors -- a different type of chip that acts as the brain of personal computers and servers -- was hurt so badly.

Intel is the world's No. 1 maker of microprocessors with about three-quarters of the worldwide market.

AMD, which has been dragging under the weight of heavy acquisition costs and fierce competition, is No. 2.

Intel began making NAND flash in 2006 under a joint venture with Micron Technology Inc. to cash in on growing demand for the most popular type of memory for consumer electronics, a move that some analysts now say was ill-timed considering the price plunge for those chips.

Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini said the joint venture is rethinking how much factory space it wants to devote to making NAND flash and has delayed construction on its new factory in Singapore for the memory chips as a result.

He added that economic jitters didn't appear to have harmed Intel in its major markets during the latest quarter.

Microprocessor prices were flat in the first quarter and unit sales declined from the fourth quarter.

Smith said those results were in line with seasonal trends in the semiconductor industry.

The company forecast second-quarter sales of between $9 billion and $9.6 billion, which was in line with analyst expectation.

Intel's gross profit margin -- a key measure of its ability to control the cost of making its chips -- is expected to be 56 percent, plus or minus a couple percentage points, higher than the gross profit margin of 53.8 percent in the first quarter.

Intel and AMD have both been hurt by their intensifying competition.

AMD is scheduled to report first-quarter results Thursday.

The Sunnyvale-based company warned last week that sales across all business units were lower than expected and that it plans to cut 10 percent of its global work force, or about 1,600 workers.

Analysts are expecting a loss of 51 cents per share on $1.51 billion in sales.

Intel finished cutting about 10,500 workers, or 10 percent of its own work force, last year in a move to shore up profits amid fierce competition with AMD.

Intel shares rose $1.51, or more than 7 percent, to $22.42 in after-hours trading.

They closed Tuesday up 22 cents at $20.91 before the results were released.

[Livyjr]

NY TIMES EMPIRE ZONE

April 28th, 2007 5:28 pm

It is not reported on down here in NYC, but on the day that the trooper died, and the state police did whatever they did, a call went out for reinforcements, and those reinforcements were not all troopers!

And as a result of those reinforcements being called out, hasty phone calls were made to parents and loved ones: “got called out, have to go to Catskill, might be gone three hours, might be gone three days, don’t know!”

And that was that!

And then, the waiting began, and for those so inclined, the praying!

And for some of us, the wondering ….

And suppers were eaten in silence, no words being spoken, lest the devil’s attention be drawn to your own loved one ….

And then, about 8:00 P.M. or so, the quick call: “We’re on our way back, I’m safe, just wanted to let you know!, talk later!”

And you can tell right from the sound of the voice that things had gone real bad down there ….

And then, later, the “decompression”, the “down-load” ….

“So, what really did happen down there?”

“Were you there for the fire?”

And the story emerges ….

And a trooper is dead because of “tactical blunders”!

And there a lot of people up this way who are real upset right now, to be truthful, that any of this happened at all, and especially the call-out of these other police to go down to Catskill, and the emotional distress that that wrought in our community, for nothing, since the perp was already dead!

But the state police apparently did not know that, which is both incredible and impossible to believe!

Do these guys shoot with their eyes closed, or what?

Up here, people are saying, “My God, that sounds like an Iraqi Army operation”, which has provoked a real fierce debate up here as to whether the Iraqi Army might actually have done a better job of it!

And people up here who were emotionally impacted by this call for reinforcements are disappointed that at that Felton news conference, no one asked him to repeat himself when he said the troopers had fired 70 shots!

“At exactly what?”

And if we were to have our own news conference with this Mr. Felton, what we would ask him is this:

“Mr. Felton, if you had a gun, or in the case of a rifle, a weapon in your hands, and you fired it once, or twice, or five or ten or fifty times, would you have any idea at all where any of those rounds had gone?”

And we would give him plenty of time to answer us, certainly more than 60 seconds, anyway ….

And we would be very interested in what his answer might be ….

Very interested indeed ….

Since one or more of his troopers shot a lone man in the face and twice in the chest, and yet no one down there, including the senior command staff, had any idea at all that they had just killed the heavily armed man that all these other police had been called out for!

Emotional distress, and for nothing!

Incredible!

And so …

— Posted by Livyjr

http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/0...-fire/#comments

NY TIMES EMPIRE ZONE

May 1st, 2007 8:13 am

The City of Albany Police Dept., to the north of here, can be said to have as much or more of a problem with both guns and gun-slingers as the NYSP do, and the City of Albany has a SWAT team, and while you never hear much about them, in fact, they are fairly active, and the reason that you never hear about them is because they do nothing spectacular as they calmly and methodically go about their business of apprehending perps with guns!

And there is no rocket science in involved in any of this, nor do the team members have to be rocket scientists, although if you cannot shoot straight and hit what you aim at, you are re-directed over to SCUBA, maybe, or traffic tickets, where you won’t be a danger to your fellow team members with a gun or weapon in your hands!

Which is to say that there is a rigorous process by which SWAT team members are picked in the first place, and you can know the Mayor, and then God, in that order, and if you cannot shoot straight and pass the other requirements, which are in place to protect the public and the team members, then you just are not going to be a member of that team, plain and simple!

And the Albany SWAT team is continually training and honing their skills, which really are based on the use of applied psychology, as opposed to macho!

Arrogance gets people killed!

And arrogance is instilled into members of the NYSP from the first moment that they enter the training academy!

And arrogance may indeed have played a factor in the death of that trooper the other day, although that yet remains to be determined!

And with respect to things that are “yet to be determined”, along with the question of the role that arrogance may have played in this fiasco, in the upstate Albany TU article “Killed in the crossfire - State Police fired nearly 70 times in shootout with fugitive, and one of those rounds hit trooper” by BRENDAN J. LYONS and CAROL DeMARE, Staff writers, first published: Saturday, April 28, 2007, it is stated:

“Three other troopers, also members of the unit, were downstairs at the vacation house in Arkville, Delaware County, but did not fire a shot.”

And I can assure you that up here, that statement has really caught the attention of people who have loved ones or relatives on other SWAT teams who had to be called out to go down to the Catskills that fateful day!

What exactly were these other three doing downstairs?

Making sandwiches?

Checking out the pool table and the wide-screen TV?

Or what?

And how was it that they did not fire a single shot in what the state police themselves have called a “melee”?

And these thoughts must be cast against the backdrop of the fact that when the other police SWAT units arrived down there as reinforcements, ALL state police were out of that structure and had essentially surrendered tactical control of the situation to the perp by vacating the premises, and pulling back from the structure themselves!

SO?

When the shooting erupted upstairs, where it now looks like the trooper who was killed had himself killed the perp before he himself was killed by his fellow troopers, what did these three downstairs who never fired their weapons do?

Panic?

Run like Hell for the exits, which presumed maneuver by these three has the wags up here calling that a “tactical Felton”?

“Uh-oh, he has a gun, we better Felton the hell out of here, and fast!”

Or did one of those three who stayed downstairs and never fired his weapon tell the other four who did go upstairs to go up and take a look around, but that it was unlikely that Trim would still be in the building, with that many state troopers around?

A cardinal rule of SWAT work, as I understand it, is never separate your team, and yet that is one of the first things the NYSP apparently did upon entering the structure!

Yes, for the protection of the lives of the public, and the members of other police departments who must be called in to pull the fat of the NYSP out of the fire when they botch the job themselves, a sweeping top-to-bottom review of the management structure of the NYSP is required, and it is required now, not next week, not next month and not next year, but now!

And so …

— Posted by Livyjr

http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/0...-fire/#comments

"NY senate plans to confirm new state police superintendent"

By JESSICA M. PASKO, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:03 p.m., Tuesday, April 15, 2008

ALBANY -- The New York Senate is expected to confirm Gov. David Paterson's nominee for superintendent of state police on Wednesday.

Harry Corbitt, 60, would replace acting superintendent Preston Felton, who played a role in a political scandal involving former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

Felton resigned in March shortly after Paterson became governor following Spitzer's resignation amid accusations that he'd patronized a high-priced prostitute.

Corbitt, a former deputy superintendent of internal affairs for the state police, retired as a colonel with the agency in 2004.

In his 26-year career, he also held command positions with Troop E in central New York and with the Thruway troop, and was once in charge of the Basic School at the State Police Academy in Albany.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said he expects Corbitt's nomination to be confirmed when it goes to the Senate Wednesday.

He would be the state's first black state police superintendent.

His annual salary would be $136,000.

Felton became embroiled in scandal when two of Spitzer's executive aides were accused of misusing state police records to embarrass Bruno.

Felton, 49, was criticized for having state police recreate records to provide information about the Senate Republican leader's use of state aircraft on trips that involved GOP fundraisers.

Corbitt told the Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee Tuesday that he would take steps immediately to prevent similar things from happening again.

He said he'd conduct an extensive audit of the executive security detail, and make sure state police continue to cooperate with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's investigation.

"I think we are going to be issuing some protocols as a result of the final investigation of executive services," said Corbitt, who was unanimously confirmed by the committee.

New York State Troopers Police Benevolent Association President Daniel De Federicis said the organization looks forward to working with Corbitt again, and they feel he has the potential to be a great superintendent.

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"Paterson gains some support in call for true spending cuts - Gov. Paterson makes expanded bottle bill a goal to generate revenue for tight New York budget"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:52 p.m., Tuesday, April 15, 2008

ALBANY -- Just a week after the current state budget was passed, Gov. David Paterson is pushing his idea to cut next year's state budget by 5 percent to 10 percent.

The Democrat in just his fifth week in office said declining revenues in a recessionary economy will force "serious cutbacks" in a year.

The $121.7 billion state budget passed by the Legislature last week, much of it agreed to by Paterson, increases spending more than 4 percent and adds a record $1.75 billion to school aid despite a projected deficit this election year.

He said last week that the "hard-core cutting" will mean a 5 percent to 10 percent cut "off the top."

That's rare even for a pledge in Albany, where "cuts" usually refer to reduced growth in spending.

Some recent budgets included spending increases near 10 percent.

"It's an ambitious target," said E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, part of the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute.

"If you don't propose an ambitious target and you don't propose an actual budget reduction, you will not have the kind of spending restraint you need to avoid big increases in taxes."

McMahon said former Republican Gov. George Pataki proposed cuts in his first two executive budgets in the mid- to late-1990s.

That forced cuts or negligible increases even after the Legislature acted on the budget.

Since then, however, state spending has often been at two or three times the inflation rate.

"I think the signals a governor sends are very important," McMahon said Tuesday.

"So far, he's sending the right signal and he's sending it consistently."

The Democratic governor met behind closed doors Tuesday with the Senate's Republican majority and found a partner in taking a rare, hard look at how the budget is spent, said John McArdle, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

"We're going to do something in the next several weeks to focus on the spending side," McArdle said.

He said that will involve following the money to see if there is waste and duplication of services.

"We're going to work with the governor," McArdle said of Paterson, the former Democratic leader of the Senate.

The Democrat-led Assembly will also consider Paterson's call for cuts.

"We'll have to look and see what the economy does," said Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chairman Herman "Denny" Farrell, a New York City Democrat.

"And then we'll deal with it."

On Tuesday, Paterson also gave some hints as to who would -- and who wouldn't -- pay the price for the drastic pledge in worsening fiscal times.

Paterson told cheering environmental activists Tuesday that he would make a goal of passing a bigger bottle bill that would require consumers to pay deposits for non-carbonated beverages such as bottled water.

The anti-littering bill would also provide millions of dollars to the state revenues by collecting unredeemed nickel deposits.

"We want to pass a bigger, better bottle bill this session," Paterson said.

The legislative session is scheduled to end June 23.

Although the proposal has been blocked for years by the bottling industry and the Republican-led Senate, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said that might change.

"Some people will say all it does is increase prices, it doesn't clean up trash, and others say it gets some of the trash out of the landfills and recycled," Bruno said Tuesday.

"So it's one of the issues we have to consider."

The Democratic governor also made it clear Tuesday that Albany's powerful unions wouldn't be targeted.

"We are going to have to address what has been mismanagement and, at times, recklessness in the assembling of our budget," Paterson said.

"We are going to have to make some serious cutbacks."

"We are going to have to address these issues to save our economy."

"But we cannot do it by balancing it on the backs of individuals who go to work every day."

He was drowned out by cheers from hundreds of members of the Transport Workers Union and who Paterson called its "great leader," President Roger Toussaint.

Tussaint and his union marched off the job in 2005 in an illegal strike, halting buses and trains in New York City at the height of the Christmas shopping season.

A judge fined the union $2.5 million and Toussaint spent 3 1/2 days in jail for contempt.

Workers were docked six days' pay.

Paterson wouldn't explain his plan further on Tuesday.

For the second straight day, he refused to answer reporters' questions.

He refused to respond to questions before, after and as he walked between meetings with the lobbyists on why he contributed just $150 of his and his wife's $269,815 salary to charity in 2007.

The disclosure was made Monday as part of the tradition of statewide elected officials releasing their income tax returns.

"It may be that that he's ridiculously busy," said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

"It's only a concern if it's a pattern."

------

AP Writer Jessica M. Pasko contributed to this report from Albany.

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"Cuomo expanding pension fraud probe to all local governments"

Associated Press

Last updated: 2:22 p.m., Tuesday, April 15, 2008

ALBANY -- Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says he's expanding an ongoing pension fraud probe to include all local governments across the state and all types of professional consultants.

The investigation started with findings that some Long Island school districts were listing outside lawyers as employees, allowing them to qualify for public pensions while their private practices collected millions of dollars in legal fees.

Now Cuomo is seeking information from more than 4,000 of the state's county governments, villages, towns, and special districts about their employment arrangements.

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"State: North Greenbush ignored overruns"

By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 2:36 p.m., Tuesday, April 15, 2008

NORTH GREENBUSH -- A new state comptroller's audit slams the town government for providing little oversight on a water district project that is expected to be more than $800,000 over budget.

The audit, released Tuesday by the state Comptroller division of local government and school accountability, said costs on the $7.1 million project to bring water to District 14 began to exceed what was approved in 2005, but the costs were never conveyed to the Town Board, nor did the Town Board inquire about project updates.

From the beginning of the water project in 2003, town officials didn't properly plan and manage the construction project and there was little if any coordination between the Board, town comptroller's office or the building department in monitoring the project's budget, the audit states.

"Unfortunately, this project was mismanaged almost from the beginning,'' state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli in a written statement.

Costs began to stretch past the $7.1 million mark when there was additional rock excavation, difficulties in obtaining property easements and a wetter than normal season that required additional backfill.

The additional costs were allegedly discussed with the former town comptroller in 2005, but there was no indiciation the Town Board was ever advised or approved the additional costs.

The changeover that resulted from a new supervisor, several town board members and a new comptroller in January 2006, in addition to the resignation of the comptroller in September 2006, made town officials unsure of their legal duties and responsibilities over authorizing expenditures, the audit says.

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"Budget built on borrowing, fees - $121.7B spending plan also depends on taxes and one-time revenues"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, April 10, 2008

ALBANY -- Lawmakers completed a $121.7 billion state budget Wednesday that includes substantial borrowing and that budget critics say is precariously balanced on one-time revenues and more than $1 billion in increased taxes and fees.

The budget raises spending 4.9 percent from the $116 billion spent last year.

Paterson said the budget is imperfect and spending habits will have to change drastically, given the nation's faltering economy.

Assemblyman James Hayes, R-East Amherst, said the measure needed more paring.

"The money is simply not there," he said, predicting "a crushing blow that will come later."

"Fed: economy weakened further in the spring as shoppers buckled under multiple strains"

By JEANNINE AVERSA, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:05 p.m., Wednesday, April 16, 2008

WASHINGTON -- The country's economic health deteriorated further in early spring as shoppers buckled under the strains of the housing and credit debacles and a weaker employment climate.

Manufacturers and others businesses, meanwhile, were walloped by zooming prices for energy and other raw materials.

However, their ability to jack up retail prices to customers was mixed, with some companies restrained by competitive pressures, according to the Federal Reserve's new snapshot of nationwide economic conditions released Wednesday.

"Economic conditions have weakened," the Fed report stated.

Many analysts believe the economy has fallen into a recession, predicting that economic activity contracted in the first three months of this year and is still ebbing.

Even Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke recently acknowledged for the first time that a recession was possible.

That was a rare utterance of the "r" word for a Fed chief.

The government later this month will report on the economy's first-quarter performance.

Janet Yellen, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said in a speech Wednesday that the economy "has all but stalled and could even contract over the first half of the year."

On Wall Street, investors -- buoyed by upbeat earnings reports from JPMorgan Chase, Intel Corp. and Coca-Cola Co. -- looked past the downbeat economic news.

The Dow Jones industrials jumped 256.80 points.

The Fed report underscored the challenges facing Bernanke and his colleagues as they fight to keep the economy from sinking into a deep recession, while at the same time avoiding a flare-up of inflation.

The report will figure prominently when the Fed meets April 29-30 to decide its next move on interest rates.

The Fed, which has been cutting rates since September to bolster the economy, turned much more forceful in January, when conditions took another turn for the worse.

Many economists believe the Fed will lower rates yet again at the April meeting to help shore things up.

The Fed snapshot "either portrayed a slowdown in already subpar economic growth or a deepening recession," said Michael Gregory, economist at BMO Capital Markets, who predicted a quarter-point rate reduction.

Even with the rate reductions, though, consumers have turned more cautious, the Fed report suggested.

Consumers are major shapers of the economy because their spending accounts for such a big chunk of overall economic activity.

"Consumer spending was characterized as softening across most of the country, with some districts reporting year-over-year declines in retail and or auto sales," the Fed report said.

Merchants -- other than auto dealers -- reported sales were "sluggish or declining" in 10 of the Fed's 12 regions, the report said.

With inventories of unsold goods starting to pile up, retailers in the Richmond, Va., and San Francisco regions have canceled orders, the report noted.

Lofty energy prices are squeezing businesses' profits and pinching consumers, leaving them with less money to spend on other things.

That is putting a damper on economic growth and adding to inflation pressures.

Oil prices briefly topped $115 a barrel for the first time Wednesday.

Gasoline prices have soared, too, marching toward $4 a gallon.

Businesses must cope with higher prices for food, fuel and energy products and many raw materials, the Fed report said.

"Most manufacturers have or are planning to increase prices" in response to such rising costs, the Fed said.

However, the response of companies in the service sector has been more mixed, the Fed said, "in part due to differences in competitive pressures."

Overall, most of the Fed's regions reported "little change in retail price inflation," the Fed report said, suggesting that producers -- and their profits -- are getting hit by rising energy and raw material prices.

The government reported Wednesday that consumer prices went up by a relatively modest 0.3 percent in March.

Producer, or wholesale, prices, meanwhile rose a lot faster -- by a whopping 1.1 percent.

On the manufacturing front, activity varied across the country.

The Fed regions of Chicago, Boston and Richmond, for instance, reported factory activity was rising -- but not substantially.

But the regions of New York, Kansas City, Philadelphia and Dallas all reported weakening factory production.

The regions of St. Louis and Cleveland saw activity hold steady, while the regions of Atlanta, Minneapolis and San Francisco said it was mixed.

Nonetheless, most Fed regions saw a "continued slide" in demand for goods related to housing construction, the Fed said.

Uncertainty about economic conditions, the Fed added, is leading to a "generally subdued" outlook for manufacturers.

In a separate report Wednesday, the Fed said big industry production nationwide rose 0.3 percent in March, an improvement from a drop of 0.7 percent in February.

The housing market remained stuck in a rut.

Home building stayed sluggish throughout the nation, although "there were few signs of any quickening in the pace of deterioration," the Fed said.

Declines or downward pressure on home prices were reported in many Fed regions.

And the regions of New York and San Francisco noted "some incipient price declines in areas that had previously shown resilience."

The Commerce Department, in yet another report Wednesday, said home building sank in March to its lowest point in 17 years, fresh evidence of the depth of the housing market's woes.

The Fed's survey is based on information supplied by the Fed's 12 regional banks.

The information was collected before April 7.

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"Archivists are seeking more records from former New York Gov. George Pataki"

By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:06 p.m., Wednesday, April 16, 2008

NEW YORK -- Any time former Gov. George Pataki feels like turning over correspondence from his 12 years in office, archivists will be happy to receive it.

Fifteen months after leaving office, Pataki has handed over press releases and files relating to legislation but not letters and e-mails, state archivist Christine Ward says.

"We're always hopeful," Ward said Tuesday.

"Normally at the end of an administration, records are transferred to the archives."

"We would be happy to have additional records transferred."

Prior New York governors dating back to the 19th century turned over their official correspondence, said James Folts, chief of reference services at the archives.

A spokesman for Pataki, David Catalfamo, said the former governor was reviewing what additional materials he may turn over to the archives, which are used by scholars and journalists.

Ward said state law is unclear regarding what documents a governor must make public.

"We do not have a statute in New York that defines clearly what governors' records are public records," she said.

"We need to have a statute that makes that clear."

A bill to clarify a governor's obligations to provide records has passed the Democratic-controlled state Assembly several times but stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate.

The bill would empower archivists to take control of documents considered of historical value and would require the release of documents concerning appointments and other privileged information no later than 15 years after a governor leaves office.

"It would bring the standards for the governor's papers to the level of the Library of Congress," said Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, the Buffalo Democrat who has sponsored the legislation.

Hoyt said he hopes the bill passes this year.

Ward said Pataki, a Republican, delivered press releases and bill jackets, or folders with letters and memos pertaining to the history of bills that he signed or vetoed.

In Pataki's first month in office, in January 1995, he signed extradition papers returning convicted murderer Thomas Grasso to Oklahoma, where he was executed within weeks.

In his second year, he signed a bill into law requiring that the mothers of infants who test positive for AIDS or HIV be notified of the test results.

In 2003, he signed a bill sent him by the Legislature to ban smoking in virtually all workplaces in the state.

The next year, he signed a bill easing the harsh Rockefeller-era drug laws.

Pataki also was in office during the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack on the World Trade Center and when, three years later, the cornerstone was laid for the new Freedom Tower at ground zero.

Much of the correspondence from Pataki's three terms consists of e-mails, and Ward said state law is not clear about how to determine what materials out of the volume of e-mail should be made public.

"We need to have in New York state a better way of identifying what of all that e-mail that's created is a record," she said.

"We're working on that."

Pataki left office on Dec. 31, 2006.

He abandoned a campaign for the Republican nomination for president in the spring of last year.

[Livyjr]

"Fed: economy weakened further in the spring as shoppers buckled under multiple strains"

By JEANNINE AVERSA, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:05 p.m., Wednesday, April 16, 2008

WASHINGTON -- The country's economic health deteriorated further in early spring as shoppers buckled under the strains of the housing and credit debacles and a weaker employment climate.

"Economic conditions have weakened," the Fed report stated.

The Fed snapshot "either portrayed a slowdown in already subpar economic growth or a deepening recession," said Michael Gregory, economist at BMO Capital Markets, who predicted a quarter-point rate reduction.

The Fed regions of Chicago, Boston and Richmond, for instance, reported factory activity was rising -- but not substantially.

But the regions of New York, Kansas City, Philadelphia and Dallas all reported weakening factory production.

The housing market remained stuck in a rut.

Declines or downward pressure on home prices were reported in many Fed regions.

And the regions of New York and San Francisco noted "some incipient price declines in areas that had previously shown resilience."

"Capital Region foreclosures jump in quarter - Mortgage lenders file 646 notices, up from 162 in year-ago period, as homeowners struggle with debt"

By CHRIS CHURCHILL, Business writer, Albany, New York Tims Union

First published: Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The number of Capital Region households facing foreclosure continues to increase as more families struggle with debt and rising mortgage payments.

Lenders issued 646 foreclosure notices during the first three months of the year, up from 162 during the year-ago quarter and 467 in the fourth quarter last year, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.

The numbers don't surprise bankruptcy lawyers and housing counselors, who say they are busier than ever helping families struggling with credit and mortgage payments.

"It seems like every third day we have to drop everything in order to prepare a petition to stop a foreclosure," said Guy Criscione, a bankruptcy attorney in Albany.

The RealtyTrac numbers, released Tuesday, also are consistent with a February report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which warned many holders of subprime loans in the Capital Region were dangerously behind on payments.

The report said many of those loans contained adjustable rates that would demand more of borrowers in 2008 and 2009.

In the face of rising foreclosures, the Legislature and Gov. David Paterson last week included $25 million for housing counseling and legal services in the state budget.

But to the chagrin of some housing advocates, that amount was far lower than the $180 million plan initially proposed by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan.

The original plan would have set aside $150 million in grants to homeowners facing foreclosure, and Ellie Pepper, assistant director of Better Neighborhoods Inc. in Schenectady, said she was disappointed the money was not allocated, as it could have helped homeowners needing a temporary boost.

Others, though, argue that borrowers who made poor mortgage decisions don't deserve taxpayer-funded assistance.

Existing state programs for distressed homeowners don't seem to be helping.

The state has made $100 million available to help homeowners facing foreclosure refinance their mortgages.

But only three households have reworked their mortgages under the program called Keep the Dream, said Philip Lentz, spokesman for the State of New York Mortgage Agency, known as SONYMA, which administers the program.

Lentz said four other loans are in the works.

But with 5,088 foreclosure notices mailed statewide just in March, according to RealtyTrac, the loans made by Keep the Dream seem far less than a drop in the bucket.

Limitations on the program are hindering it, Lentz said.

Rules don't allow aid to homeowners who are "underwater," which means a home is worth less than its mortgage.

And homeowners who are more than 60 days past due on mortgage payments are excluded.

"A lot of people don't come to us until it is too late," Lentz said.

Housing counselors say the same, adding that many homeowners don't seek help until foreclosure proceedings are well under way.

Still, many counseling agencies say they are being swamped by homeowners seeking assistance, leading to hopes the $25 million included in the budget can help the groups expand their services.

"It's been proven, both in the Capital District and nationally, that homeowners are more likely to get a good result from their lender if they're working with a housing counselor or legal-services attorney," said Kirsten Keefe, an attorney at the nonprofit Empire Justice Center in Albany.

Though the RealtyTrac numbers show foreclosure filings in the Capital Region on the rise, the company also says the rate of such filings here is relatively low compared to other metropolitan areas.

Foreclosure filings are defined as default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.

RealtyTrac reported 15,192 such filings statewide in the first quarter, up from 13,411 the same period in 2007.

Foreclosure filings in New York rose 37 percent in March alone from a year ago and fell 3 percent from February.

The state ranked 30th overall in the rate of filings, RealtyTrac said, with the worst of the problem concentrated in states such as Florida, Nevada and Ohio.

Nationally, 691,337 foreclosure filings occurred during the first quarter, up from 437,497 for the same period a year earlier, RealtyTrac said.

Chris Churchill can be reached at 454-5442 or by e-mail at cchurchill@timesunion.com.