For the second time in 8 months, a court has said former Gov. George Pataki erred when he tried to keep sex offenders locked up even after their criminal sentences. The decision doesn’t set the convicts free; it mandates they be given a hearing to determine if they can be released.

As expected, the Democrat won a special Assembly election in Manhattan.

Gov. Spitzer named some Democrat heavyweights to the SUNY board.

Despite a push from Spitzer, the Senate appears unlikely to go along with a plan to provide paid family leave.

Spot inspections show that 1 in 6 schools surveyed did not properly secure Regents tests and answer keys.

A report questioning the effectiveness of large-scale dredging apparently won’t impact dredging of the upper Hudson River.

2. For the second time in 8 months, it ruled that former Gov. George Pataki erred when he invoked a provision in the state’s mental hygiene law to keep sex offenders locked up even after they’ve completed their criminal sentences. However, in the interim, Gov. Spitzer and lawmakers have enacted a law that provides for so-called ``civil confinement.’’

3. It through out the conviction of a Binghamton-area Boy Scout leader accused of ``forcibly touching’’ a teenage boy he had taken into his home. Essentially, the court said the local DA had used such a broad, vague time range to describe the alleged acts that it undermined Stephen Sedlock’s ability to present a defense.

The prime sponsor is a freshman, Sen. Joe Griffo, R-Rome, but the measures have the blessing of Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, who has served in his post for 13 years.

When the bills were introduced in April, the 78-year-old Bruno acknowledged such a change wouldn’t impact him: ``Term limits doesn’t mean much to me at this stage of my life. So it’s not hard to say `sure.’‘’

Bruno’s counterpart, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, has expressed no interest in either bill.

A Rochester-area political leader had a scuffle with a client.

N.Y. tourism ads won’t feature the governor’s mug.

Senate Democrats and activists are pushing for a new fund for affordable housing.

Thanks to a boom in natural gas drilling, the tax base of this Steuben County town is growing.

In a roughly 45-minute address and a follow up Q-and-A period, the judge did not make news. But he kept the crowd of about 100 entertained with his explanation of why the Constitution revolves around one word: democracy. He used two case examples—his vote to say government can regulate campaign contributions and his vote to protect affirmative action programs.

In fact, Senate Majority Leader Bruno, R-Rensselaer County, again was critical of the governor when asked how things were going. Asked if the governor has, in Bruno’s view, sufficiently pushed the Democrat-led Assembly on key issues, the senator said: ``No. I haven’t seen it.’’

Assembly Speaker Silver, D-Manhattan, said the two houses will probably have to go to conference committees (a bipartisan panel of Senate and Assembly members) if they are to resolve their differences on a DNA crime database bill. The Assembly wants to allow criminal defendants more access to DNA evidence than Bruno or Spitzer.

Gov. Spitzer wants panel to build a better SUNY.

Hecklers razzed Guiliani about 9/11 attacks during a campaign swing. And in Monroe County, Congressman Randy Kuhl got an earful from folks upset about his Iraq war votes.

The Legislature gave final passage to a bill to increase penalties for human trafficking.

The Assembly passed a measure that would effectively kill the state’s ticket-scalping law.

A government watchdog group, in a bit of surprise, backs a Republican to fill an open Assembly seat.

Finally, check out this quirky one: the Adirondack Park Agency says a houseboat is legal—unless it is moored.

Here’s a profile of the 18-year-old running for Westchester County Legislature.

Why are pro-labor bills that the Legislature routinely passed in previous years—only to be vetoed by Gov. George Pataki—now stalled?

Oft-troubled Vernon Downs escaped the guillotine one more time.

Sen. George Winner, R-Elmira, said Thursday he’d introduce a bill that would require convicted felony drug dealers to register with the state for up to 10 years, notifying the Dept. of Criminal Justice Services of any address changes. The list would also be available on the Internet.

Winner has not yet found an Assembly member to sponsor the measure in that chamber. He said similar legislation is pending in New Mexico and Maine.

The rhetoric between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno keeps getting harsher.

Meanwhile, opponents of the proposed expanded bottle-deposit bill are helping Bruno with a fundraiser.

State Education Commissioner Richard Mills disclosed he has prostate cancer and will take a short leave of absence.

The field of candidates for Utica mayor gets bigger.

The state issued updated advisories on fish caught in N.Y. waters.

Indian Point nuclear plant agreed to pay a fine and update its emergency siren system.

The tribe would give up its claim to 64,000 acres in Seneca and Cayuga counties and instead take just 10,000 acres. The two counties would get up to $15.3 million annually as a share of revenue from the casino.

The proposal must obtain approvals from both counties, the federal government and Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the state Legislature. If all that goes smoothly and quickly, a lawyer for the Cayugas said the casino could be up and running in two years.

Take your pick of what’s the most intriguing finding:

The state added more names to the police memorial, while politicians debated the death penalty for cop killers.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has drafted a new soldier in the battle to revive the upstate economy: his wife. Later, the governor and his wife held a barbecue for the ``Mansion neighborhood’’ in Albany.

Former Gov. George Pataki’s ``hearings on a proposed power-transmission line.

In an unrelated note, two weeks ago hundreds of bikers jammed downtown Rochester to protest the acquittal of a former Monroe County sheriff’s deputy on manslaughter charges in the death of a local biker. The deputy was convicted of two DWI-related misdemeanors.

A former court clerk in Syracuse alleged she was ousted because she refused to participate in a conspiracy to discredit a judicial candidate.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will deliver a lecture at the Court of Appeals in Albany.

A look at how public meetings in Albany don’t go so well.

State environmental and parks officials took to the road to promote an expanded bottle-deposit bill.

Former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato got a fat contract to lobby for a local off-track betting entity.

Is it the twilight of the Hudson River shad fishermen?

The backbiting started just two minutes into Wednesday’s public meeting of Gov. Eliot Spitzer and legislative leaders. They bickered over the agenda, the microphone and the point of the whole affair.

Here, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno gets into it with Spitzer over whether its a waste of time to allow rank-and-file members to make speeches about an agreement on a new human trafficking law.

 [audio:http://lohud.com/audio/politics/leadersclip1.mp3]

 And here, about an hour into session, Bruno and the governor get into again. This time, Bruno says all they’re doing is talking, not accomplishing anything.

[audio:http://lohud.com/audio/politics/leadersclip2.mp3]

The tribe said it won’t harass motorists but will bill the state beginning Friday. It said it would erect signs notifying drivers they are entering Indian territory and alerting them to the fee.

 The action comes in the wake of Gov. Eliot Spitzer saying he wants to enforce a law that says tribes must collect sales taxes on gasoline, cigarettes and other goods sold on reservations to non-Indians.

While Gov. Spitzer was announcing a business expansion in Montgomery County, Senate Republicans called for more upstate tax breaks.

At the debate among GOP presidential candidates, Rudy Giuliani dished it out and took it too.

The state named a new regional environmental director for the lower Hudson Valley.

A look at the new push to clampdown on state authorities.

In Rochester, the Monroe County Republicans picked a slate of candidates, led by County Exec Maggie Brooks while the Dems are still searching.

Miami drivers are meaner than NYC.

On the GOP side, Rudy Giuliani will be in the cross hairs tonight as the field of 10 Republican candidates hold their second debate, in South Carolina.

And another Republican, N.Y. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says one more time: I’m not running. He also tried to sell legislators on his plan to ease NYC gridlock and pollution by implementing congestion pricing for commuters.

The state Senate passed a bill to reinstate the death penalty for cop killers, even though the Assembly says it has no interest.

A rookie Democratic congresswoman has been in office just five months yet GOP rivals are already targeting her.

This Rochester man is still struggling a year after he was freed after serving 10 years in prison on a wrongful conviction.  

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg didn’t wait for the question to be asked at a news conference this afternoon. He jumped right in, cutting off the political speculation, while answering a question about his plan for congestion pricing cars entering NYC.

Bloomberg was giving his assessment of his meetings today with legislators and whether Albany sounded amenable to the plan.

``Given that I have 965 days left on the job (pause) ... and I am not running for governor and I am not running for president,’’ Bloomberg began. Later when pressed about Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno touting Bloomberg as gubernatorial material, the mayor said: ``I think Senator Bruno was joking about it. I am not running for governor. Never—I have the greatest job in the world …’’

Similarly, Bloomberg said U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., ``was probably joking’’ when he suggested the mayor run for commander in chief.

 SPITZER:

 —Campaign-finance reform.

 —Overhaul and shrink public authorities.

 —Streamlined guidelines for siting and building power plants.

 —Wicks Law reform (public construction contracts).

 —Restrictions on violent video games.

 —Money to expand Sematech, the computer-chip manufacturer consortium facility in Albany.

 —A ``healthy schools’’ act to improve nutrition.

  —New crackdown and penalties for human trafficking.

 —Wider use of DNA database and DNA evidence by law enforcement and defense attorneys.

  

SEN. JOE BRUNO, R-Brunswick.

  —Death penalty for cop killers.

 —Billions of dollars for capital projects around the state.

 —Property-tax rebates for senior citizens.

 —High-speed rail.

  —Broadband Internet access for underserved upstate areas.

  —A new operator for the state’s 3 thoroughbred horse racing tracks.

  —New laws for redeveloping ``brownfields.’’

  —Revisit ramifications of hospital closing commission.

   ASSEMBLY SPEAKER SHELDON SILVER, D-Manhattan.

  —Reform of the ``Empire Zones’’ tax-break program.

  —Renewal of ``Power for Jobs’’ tax-break program.

  —Further gun restrictions.

  —Loft law renewal (for NYC).

  SEN. MALCOLM SMITH, D-Queens.

  —Renewal of ``Mitchell-Lama’’ affordable housing program.

  —Crackdown on predatory lending.

  —Strengthen abortion rights.

   ASSEMBLYMAN JIM TEDISCO, R-Schenectady.

  —Streamline guidelines for siting and building power plants.

  —Create ``alternative fuel fund’’ to encourage new power sources.

  —Cap school spending.

   —Death penalty for cop killers.

   —Provide planning experts and financial incentives for local government consolidation.

   —A new ``chronic criminal’’ act. 

  

Critics said the state’s two major economic-development programs (Empire Zones and Industrial Development Agencies) are lousy at creating jobs. One assemblyman went so far as to say the Empire Zone program should be halted at once.

A shift in the state Senate lineup has triggered a major abortion-rights group to team with Senate Democrats and target some select Republican incumbents.

As long expected, Gov. Spitzer will endorse Hillary Clinton for president next week. And Clinton pours on the charm in Iowa.

The state canceled a $175,000 grant for Yonkers because of the involvement of a local GOP chief.

The National Abortion Rights Action League just completed a news conference (with Senate Democrats) calling on the state Legislature to back a bill it says would reinforce abortion rights in New York. The key to their strategy is getting the Republican-led Senate to back the bill. Toward that, the group said it would target four GOP senators: Kemp Hannon, Carl Marcellino and Cesar Trunzo of Long Island and Robach, R-Greece.

``We intend to have their offices flooded with phone calls, asking where does the senator stand?’’ said Kelli Conlin, director of NARAL’s N.Y. chapter. She characterized Robach as having an ``anti-choice’’ record.

The news conference was politically significant for this reason too: it’s the first time Conlon or others could remember that NARAL stood with Senate Democrats. For years, they’ve been on friendly-if-not-cozy terms with the GOP because some of its more liberal members (Nick Spano of Yonkers) had the clout in the Republican-controlled chamber to get some abortion-rights bills through.

But Spano lost last fall. And Democrats won a special election to fill a Long Island vacancy in February, cutting the GOP’s edge in the Senate to 33-29—putting the majority in question for the 2008 elections. Further, from NARAL’s view, no Republican has picked up the reins from Spano.

So now NARAL and other abortion-rights groups are fleeing to join the Dems—and will target Republican incumbents in Democratic-leaning districts like Robach.

Gov. Spitzer headlined a fundraiser for Senate Democrats in Manhattan.

AG Andrew Cuomo is investigating a possible scandal involving top deputies of former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi.

Rochester-area Assemblyman Joe Morelle is the frontrunner to become Insurance Committee chairman, but the trial lawyers’ association opposes him.

Syracuse-area Assemblyman William Magnarelli (a Democrat) will run for Onondaga County executive.

Jeanine Pirro, the former Westchester County DA and the GOP’s attorney general candidate last year, will soon begin taping a pilot for a TV show.

A foreclosure ``crisis’’ could emerge over the next two years because of predatory lending practices, legislators warn.

A Rockland County power plant that has failed to install new pollution-reduction technology is now in talks with the state to avoid a possible shutdown.

Revenues at a Sullivan County racino (combination horse race track and video slots) are down significantly.

The state Senate will pass a bill today to reschedule the contests to the third Tuesday of September, rather than the customary second Tuesday, for this year only, making primary day Sept. 18. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has already introduced a similar measure in his house, making its approval appear certain. Here is what Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno had to say:

  “The New York State primaries are an important symbol of the democratic process which was attacked on that horrible day. However it would be unfitting to hold any event which would distract from the mourning process we undergo each year in honor of those who gave their
lives on 9/11.’‘