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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Saving New York's Green (in more ways than one)

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Thursday, January 17, 2008   

New York, NY - Governor Spitzer will have to find almost $4 billion in budget cuts this year, and a report being released today says New Yorkers could save plenty if they fix some runaway tax incentive programs. The report, called "Wasted Green" looks at how state policies impact both the economy and the environment. Rob Moore with Environmental Advocates of New York says it finds the Empire State is losing revenue by giving tax breaks to companies for jobs like environmental cleanup that don't get completed.

"A lot of the state's programs are not getting the desired economic impact they were designed to get, and at the same time they are also contributing to environmental degradation. So, we end up wasting green in a lot of different ways."

Moore says what's particularly troubling is that some of the programs target money to smaller environmental cleanup efforts in relatively well-to-do areas, instead of targeting the most-polluted sites in economically troubled areas like upstate, where the help is needed most.

Moore says the tax credits for the state's "brownfields" cleanup program need to be fixed so that the benefits go to more and dirtier sites instead of to developers.

"We're realizing that the tax incentives are not spurring cleanup in the areas that most need it, and they're not economically sustainable. So right now, there are 54 sites that have currently qualified for the tax incentives in New York state and the tax incentives are estimated to be as high as one billion dollars in lost revenues."

The "Wasted Green" report also found similar problems with the way tax incentives are doled out under New York's Empire Zones program. Moore says while the program's original goals to spur economic development are laudable, the Empire Zones have become a corporate welfare source for some of the state's worst polluters.


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The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

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Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

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Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

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Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

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Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

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New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

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Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

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Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

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