Good morning. It's Tuesday, and good to be back. Today we'll look at how well Gov. Kathy Hochul has done at changing the culture in Albany. We'll also find out about a species of ants that really, really likes it here. |
 | | Benjamin Norman for The New York Times |
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When she became governor almost 11 months ago, taking over after Andrew Cuomo's resignation, Kathy Hochul said she would "focus on open, ethical governing." She promised a "new era of transparency." |
The term no longer applied after Andrea Stewart-Cousins became the Senate majority leader in 2019, but my colleague Jay Root says the decision-making seemed to change little under Hochul. |
Jay says that term limits for statewide elected officials, which Hochul mentioned in her inaugural address, were never considered. She pushed for legislation for $10 billion in state tax subsidies to draw semiconductor manufacturers to New York, and the State Senate and Assembly approved them without public hearings. Another big government giveaway — a $600 million state subsidy for a $1.4 billion football stadium in Buffalo, her hometown — was worked out after private negotiations the governor's office was involved in. |
Her pledge of "ethical governing" lost some of its luster after Brian Benjamin, the state senator she chose to be lieutenant governor, was arrested on federal corruption charges. (Hochul later acknowledged that the vetting process that led to Benjamin's appointment was flawed. He has since been replaced, in office and on the ballot, by Antonio Delgado — through a maneuver that critics contend was an abuse of power.) |
And in Ms. Hochul's first state budget, she exempted a huge amount of money from independent oversight by the state comptroller's office and from competitive bidding rules — 5 percent of the $220 billion budget, or $11 billion, according to the office of the comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli. Much of the $11 billion was allocated for pandemic expenses and "unanticipated emergencies," but can be redirected at the pleasure of the governor and her budget director, officials said. |
Hochul and her aides defended her efforts to make Albany more open and accountable. |
Aides pointed to Hochul's success in replacing the troubled Joint Commission on Public Ethics with a new group subject to open records laws, among other changes. Hochul has also instructed agencies to stop routing their Freedom of Information Law requests through the governor's office, a Cuomo administration practice that often kept damaging state records out of public reach, sometimes for years. |
Hochul has defended the semiconductor and stadium deals, saying they would give the upstate economy big boosts. She also noted that the semiconductor subsidies would end up costing taxpayers money only if chip makers built facilities in the state and met job targets. |
Diane Kennedy, who lobbies for open government and press freedoms as president of the New York News Publishers Association, which represents the state's newspapers (including The New York Times), gave Hochul credit for seeing public meetings remained accessible during the pandemic. She said it was also nice to be treated with respect after years of bullying by many Cuomo officials. |
"To me this seems like a much brighter day," Kennedy said, adding that "people are still kind of traumatized" by what they experienced under Cuomo and his aides. |
Prepare for a chance of showers and thunderstorms where temperatures will fluctuate near 90 during the day, dropping to the mid-70s at night. |
In effect until Aug. 15 (Feast of the Assumption). |
The state's top judge quits |
She said that no one event had prompted her decision to resign from the Court of Appeals. "I've made my contribution," said DiFiore, 66, adding that did not have another job lined up but felt that this was a "comfortable moment" to move on. She said there would be "another chapter in my professional career"— although "what that is, at this very moment, I'm not certain." |
She will be remembered for a 32-page opinion handed down in April that concluded that new congressional and State Senate districts laid out by Democratic leaders were unconstitutional. The opinion, for a four-judge majority, also said that congressional districts designed by Democrats violated a state ban on partisan gerrymandering. |
The decision enraged Democrats, who accused DiFiore of an extralegal power grab. |
She is leaving a court that could serve as a bulwark against rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court, which recently overturned abortion rights and curtailed a New York law that regulated the carrying of concealed weapons. She will be replaced by an acting chief judge, selected by the six other judges on the court, until a successor is named by Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, and confirmed by the State Senate, which has a Democratic supermajority. |
 | | David Dee Delgado for The New York Times |
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The ants that call your home their home |
 | | Evelyn Freja for The New York Times |
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Sometimes reporters discover stories close to home. My colleague Dodai Stewart discovered a story in her home — ants. One day they paraded across the living room in single-file formation. Apparently someone had called a convention under the couch, and it wasn't Dodai. |
It turned out they weren't just any ants, but a species that is relatively new to New York. "Relatively new" means that they arrived more than a decade ago, according to researchers Dodai interviewed. I talked to her about their findings, and hers. |
New Yorkers always say we put up with so much in our daily lives. But ants? You wrote that you've lived here for decades and had never seen ants in your apartment. |
We all tolerate a lot, but ants are taking things too far. |
Seriously, there is an ant Wikipedia. It has a map showing where this insect lives. It's so striking to see that it's all over Europe, but on this entire continent, it's only in New York. It moved here and decided to stay. It's clear that it's enjoying the city as much as any newcomer. What can you say? If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere, even if you're an ant. So researchers who study ants have nicknamed it ManhattAnt. |
Why are these ants here and nowhere else in North America? |
Researchers assume that this type of ant, from a species called Lasius emarginatus, came with some shipment or something. The biologists I spoke to said it was first spotted here in 2011. But it was already established by then. It had to have come maybe five years earlier to be in a position to really establish itself, but nobody seems to know when or how it got here. |
Not many people study the Lasius emarginatus. One who does is Samantha Kennett, a graduate student at Kennesaw State University in Georgia in Dr. Clint Penick's social insects lab. She was here in April and May, but she has gone back to Georgia, so she's not seeing what ManhattaAnt is doing year round. |
She found Lasius emarginatus in trees all up and down Broadway, including Times Square. She says they are everywhere, including, apparently, the upper floors of apartment buildings. |
And how is your apartment? |
It is ant-free, except for that one in the little box, which I'm saving in case it's needed for future scientific research. Or additional investigative journalism. |
A glossy, cherry-red Vespa had been parked at the same corner in my Bensonhurst neighborhood for at least a year, through rain, snow and sun. |
It had been there every time I passed by on my way home from a morning run. I always wondered who owned it and whether it got ridden enough. |
Then one morning, I heard the buzz of an approaching scooter as I was heading home. It was the cherry-red Vespa. |
The driver wore a matching glossy, cherry-red, half-face helmet, a leopard-print jumpsuit, a red backpack and aviator sunglasses. Curly auburn hair trailed behind her. |
She made a right turn and disappeared. |
Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B. |
| Melissa Guerrero and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. |
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