Environmentalists said yesterday that New York’s program to cleanup contaminated sites is lax and polluted land is still a health danger even after it has been “cleaned.”

New York students’ scores improved in a periodic national assessment of math and reading proficiency.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s administration a forum yesterday to get input from business and community leaders on upstate economic development. Empire State Development Corp. is holding a total of seven sessions in different parts of upstate New York.

Spitzer threatened to sue the Bush administration yesterday for failing to cover crucial care for new immigrants, and for interfering in the state’s plan to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

A task force led by Lt. Gov. David Patterson released findings yesterday about difficulties New York faces in developing renewable energy technologies.

Some people are questioning whether the background and ties of some nominees for the new state Commission on Public Integrity are appropriate to serve on the ethics panel because of some of the issues members may have to rule on.

A panel studying ways to reduce traffic congestion in busy parts of Manhattan held its first meeting yesterday. Fare and toll hikes, proposed by Mayor Mike Bloomberg, are under consideration.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear some New York cases in the coming term, which begins next week.

Two Rochester-area Special Olympians headed to Shanghai to compete in the 2007 World Summer Games received a special citation from the governor yesterday.

  There seems to be some serious difference of opinion among Senate Republicans about whether Gov. Eliot Spitzer has done the right thing in allowing illegal immigrants to get drivers’  licenses.

  While Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno gave the idea a tepid endorsement Monday, today two of his colleagues blasted the plan.

  “The tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, of which New York was at the epicenter, taught us that we must be vigilant in order to keep our state and country safe,’’ aid Sen. Stephen Saland, R-Poughkeepsie. “The simple precaution of requiring a Social Security number to prove one’s legal status in this country is a common-sense way of helping prevent terrorists from obtainingone of the most routinely accepted forms of identification used in this country.’’

     Bruno said he didn’t think it made sense to deprive those illegal aliens here of a document they need to live a normal life. But he said the country needs to crack down on letting any more in.

  Sen. Vincent Leibell, R-Patterson, Putnam County, who is also against the idea, said he is considering holding hearings or suing the governor.

At its third meeting on Troopergate, the Senate Investigations Committee voted to issue subpoenas to state officials who refuse to attend willingly. First in line could be Acting State Police Superintendent Preston Felton, who declined an invitation to the meeting yesterday. Felton said in a letter that he was waiting for the Ethics Commission (now the Commission on Public Integrity) to complete its probe of Troopergate. The scandal involved aides to Gov. Eliot Spitzer gathering and releasing details of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno’s use of state aircraft.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced yesterday that he was launching an investigation of social networking Web site Facebook,  saying undercover investigators posing as children were solicited by sexual predators.

The state Thruway Authority may have to raise tolls 20 percent over four years because higher-than-expected gas prices have slowed traffic growth.

In Putnam County, at least 200 people protested the county executive’s proposed 40-percent budget increase. State Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Patterson, hosted the protest.

Monroe County finds itself in familiar fiscal trouble and has to close an annual budget gap of about $50 million.

Nassau County is considering a law to bar anyone under 18 from buying cough medicines, which are often abused by youngsters.

The president of Iran stirred controversy at Columbia University last night, where he said the Holocaust should be treated as theory, not fact, and that there are no homosexuals in his country.

 Voters wil be asked to decide on Nov. 6 whether the state should swap one acre of land deemed forever wild  in the hamlet of Raquette Lake in the heart of the Adirondacks for 12 other acres that would be added to the forest preserve, where all development is prohibited.     The hamlet needs the land for the water that lies underneath it – a reservoir it had been using hasn’t provided enough clean water for residents and they want state approval for a well already dug to supply water to residents.     The common-sense swap has sparked virtually no opposition. Yet it must be approved by voters statewide because no land in the three-million-acre Adirondacks forest preserve can be given away without amending the constitution. The vote is the last stage in the process – the Legislature has already approved it twice.    There’s no estimate on how much the vote will cost – polls in most of the state will be open that day anyway for local elections – but John Sheehan of the Adirondack Council thinks it will be money well spent.   “We really want the state to be careful about how it treats the forest preserve,’’ he said. Requiring a vote by the people before any land can be taken out of it assures that it will not be done for anything less than a very good reason, he said.

 Most citizens probably think that the Legislature convenes at the Capitol to work our agreements on important issues, like taxes, economic development and health care.   Most citizens, of course, are wrong.   That was highlighted this week when Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver refused to follow the lead of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and commit his house to returning to the Capitol for a special session on Oct. 22.    “The Assembly will reconvene when we have agreements on important issues with the Senate,’’ Silver said.   In other words, agreements are hammered out first – in private, by staff members typically who then present them to Silver to sig off on – before lawmakers rubber-stamp them. If deals are reached before Oct. 22 in this manner, lawmakers will return. If the’re not, the Assembly members will stay home.    Not exactly the way the system is described in civics textbooks. Â

 Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno threw a curve today at those who expected him to join with other Republicans and the state Conservative Party by blasting Gov. Eliot Spitzer for last week’s decision to allow illegal aliens to get drivers’ licenses.    “We have hundreds of thousands of aliens here,’‘ Bruno told reporters today. “I’m not sure it serves the public good to deprive them of their ability to go to school, go to work, to do the kinds of things you have to do to lead a normal life.’’   When the decision was announced last week, Seb. Dale Volker of Erie County, like Bruno  a Republican, denounced it as a potential security threat. The state Conservative Party made a similar criticism.   Bruno said the state and federal governments should concentrate on doing all they can to try to stop others from coming into the state illegally.   “Our challenge is to make sure the immigrants we let in are legal,’’ he said. Â

Despite a state Senate press release this morning to the contrary, the state Assembly said it hasn’t agreed on a date to return to session.

Assembly officials said while Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has notified his members to keep open the week of Oct. 22, they have not formally agreed to come back until it’s clear that agreements on outstanding issues have been reached.

There’s a whole host of issues out there, from campaign finance reform to reforming the Wicks Law.

Still, the Senate seems more confident about returning.

“I have spoken this morning with Speaker Silver and he has agreed to bring the Assembly back into session on October 22 as well,” Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said in a statement.

All eyes are again on Albany today as the Senate Investigations Committee holds its third meeting on the Troopergate scandal, in which aides to Gov. Eliot Spitzer released information aimed at discrediting the political reputation of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Rensselaer County Republican. Acting State Police Superintendent Preston Felton, whose agency helped Spitzer aides gather information about Bruno’s flights on state aircraft, is not going to appear at the meeting, and senators will vote on whether to subpoena him.

This is comes in the wake of Albany County District Attorney David Soares’ report Friday that found Spitzer staffers did not break any laws in Troopergate.

Spitzer announced Friday that the state Department of Motor Vehicles no longer would require Social Security numbers as a required form of identification to get a driver’s license. This was hailed by advocates for immigrants’ rights and decried by people who think giving licenses to illegal aliens is a threat to homeland security.

The Senate said Friday it would hold public hearings on two of three nominees for the State University  of New York Board. New members, who were nominated by the governor in June, can’t start serving until they are confirmed by the Senate.

The governor on Friday announced appointments to the new state Commission on Public Integrity, which replaces the Ethics and Lobbying commissions. The Ethics and Lobbying panels officially went out of business on Friday.

State Sen. Dean Skelos, R-Suffolk County, unveiled a proposal to make all public-school teachers state employees as a means to control skyrocketing property taxes.

Bomb threats have been taking a toll on school budgets.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, Rensselaer County, just announced the Senate will return to Albany Oct. 22 “to address a number of unresolved issues involving economic development, jobs, tax relief and confirmations.” Bruno said he spoke with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, and he has agreed to convene a session in the Assembly that day too.

Following a deal crafted in July allowing New York City to pursue a traffic-reduction plan, Bruno said the compromise forged as part of the agreement included giving $200 million in property-tax credits to moderate-income homeowners over 65 and spending $300 million on economic-development projects. Gov. Eliot Spitzer said at the time those issues were not done deals.

On confirmations, there are about 75 Spitzer nominees who haven’t been confirmed by the Senate (out of more than 200). Bruno said many of the nominations came in days before the legislative session ended in June and the Senate has needed time to vet all the candidates.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno just issued a statement on Albany County District Attorney David Soares’ Troopergate report. Here’s what he said:

“The report issued today does little to lift the cloud over the Capitol in regard to the conduct of the Governor’s administration. We now have a report issued by the Attorney General that raised serious concerns about the abuse of government power and recommended disciplinary actions against the Governor’s aides, and a second report by the Albany County District Attorney that came to a different conclusion. However, the District Attorney did not put anyone under oath, nor did he pursue private emails that could shed more light on the scandal.

“There is still an ongoing investigation that will move forward under John Feerick and the Commission on Public Integrity, and the Senate Investigations Committee will continue its discussions of a legislative response to prevent these type of abuses of government power from happening again. The people of this State are demanding the truth, they want people to testify under oath and until that happens, there will continue to be a cloud over this administration.

“In the meantime, the Senate is going to move forward and govern. We are holding roundtables on strengthening the Upstate economy; we will hold hearings on some of the Governor’s nominees; including nominees for SUNY and the MTA; we will review and discuss the Governor’s recommendations for the racing industry; and we will continue to press the Governor and Assembly to agree to important capital investments to create jobs and to give more property tax relief to senior citizens.”