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July 23, 2025 - For rural communities, a physician assistant is the first and last source of available medical care. We talk about these important health care providers and expanding their capacity with Katie Compagni, a PA in central New York. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=true&chapters-image=...

July 23, 2025 - New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Jackie Bray discusses federal cuts to emergency services and considers a future without FEMA. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=true&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=tr...

July 22, 2025 - State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli visits the studio to discuss increasing overtime hours and costs from the state workforce, the distribution of unclaimed funds, and whether state policymakers should be tapping into reserve funds to offset federal cuts. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=tr...

July 22, 2025 - The "Big Beautiful Bill" adopted in July could have massive ramifications for New York's health care system, according to Paul Francis, chair of the Step Two Policy Project. We explore cuts in federal aid to health care providers, New Yorkers losing their state-provided health insurance, and how state policymakers might respond to this new landscape. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widge...

July 21, 2025 - Dan Egan, the outgoing head of Feeding New York State, reflects on the demand for food assistance over the last six years and considers how hungry New Yorkers will be affected by changes in Washington D.C. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=true&chapters-image=true&episode_image_...

July 18, 2025 - We check in with Adam Herbst, a former top health official in the state and now a partner with Sheppard Mullin, who describes the funding demands and other implementation challenges for the state master plan on aging. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=true&chapters-image=true&ep...

July 18, 2025 - State Health Commissioner Jim McDonald and State Aging Director Greg Olsen explain how the state's master plan on aging came together, the process of evaluating proposals, and why federal spending cuts could impact implementation. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=true&chapters-imag...

July 17, 2025 - On this excerpt from Dispatches from Planet Albany, we talk with Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest, a Brooklyn Democrat, and NYC DSA Co-Chair Grace Mauser about the Democratic Socialists rallying behind Zohran Mamdani's mayoral campaign and how they build support for his agenda in Albany. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&...

July 16, 2025 - Assemblymember Micah Lasher, a Manhattan Democrat, talks about legislation empowering the state attorney general's office to go after unfair business practices and addresses a critique that the measures doesn't go far enough. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=true&chapters-image=tru...

July 16, 2025 - We check in with Benjamin Pomerance, deputy counsel at the state Department of Veterans' Services, to discuss services for marginalized veterans, addressing the risk of suicide among veterans, and closing holes in the social safety net. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=true&chapter...

July 14, 2025 - State Office of Victim Services Director Bea Hanson swings by the studio to explain how the Hochul administration plans on spending record levels of funding for crime victims and discusses the challenges of getting this money to the right people. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=true&a...

July 14, 2025 - Business Council of New York State Vice President Ken Pokalsky reflects on the manufacturing landscape in the Empire State and considers why the industry looks the way it does. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=true&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=...

July 14, 2025 - Earlier this year, state Office of General Services Commissioner was tasked with overseeing the improvement of government services. So we're checking in with OGS Commissioner Jeanette Moy on these efforts, including the launch of a new state office. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=tru...

July 11, 2025 - In response to the demand for more mariners the state has launched a revolving loan fund to help cover the cost of hands-on training needed for U.S. Coast Guard license. We talk about this investment with SUNY Maritime President John Okon. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=true&chap...

July 11, 2025 - Politicians on both sides of the aisle talk about their support for low-income families, so why is it so hard to get major policy and spending initiatives enacted in Planet Albany that demonstrably improve their lives? We try to answer that question on Dispatches from Planet Albany with Jenn O'Connor, who has been working on these issues for years and launched her own consulting fi...

July 9, 2025 - Siena College Research Institute Director Don Levy breaks down a recent survey of New Yorkers, who weighed in on the end of the legislative session and their potential gubernatorial choices for 2026. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=true&chapters-image=true&episode_image_positio...

July 10, 2025 - The federal spending legislation approved by Republicans in Washington D.C. over the July 4th holiday looks to dramatically cut federal support that makes its way to Planned Parenthood chapters. We discuss the ramifications of funding reductions, which are being challenged in court, with Robin Chappelle Golston, president & CEO of Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts. ESCUCHAR...

July 10, 2025 - The State Birding Trail has been updated with 12 locations, so we explore this resource designed for bird watchers of all experience. Our guests are Erin McGrath, New York state policy director for the National Audubon Society, and Laura McCarthy, senior manager of network engagement for the New York and Connecticut offices of the National Audubon Society. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https:/...

July 10, 2025 - Environmentalists are hoping the governor will sign legislation overwhelmingly approved by the legislature that is designed to expand the proliferation of crossbows. We hear the case for the measure from Paull Gallery, stewardship manager for the Nature Conservancy in New York, and Bill Cooke, a policy advisor with the Nature Conservancy in New York. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widge...

July 9, 2025 - We check in with the Randy Simons, commissioner pro tempore at the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, to discuss an updated map of state resources, the planning for a major golf tournament on Long Island, keeping an eye out for sharks, and preparing for the country's 250th birthday. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&am...

July 9, 2025 - Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, a Brooklyn Democrat, makes the case for preventing utilities from spreading out the cost of hooking up new customers who want to connect to a natural gas line within 100 feet of their homes. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=true&chapters-image=true&...

July 8, 2025 - Assemblymember Gabriella Romero, an Albany Democrat, makes the case for expanding the authority of the state attorney general's office, including streamlining and defining powers. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=true&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-log...

July 8, 2025 - Hotels are supposed to be a last resort for housing the homeless in New York, but they're becoming a key solution for upstate communities, according to Spencer Norris, an investigative reporter for New York Focus and ProPublica. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=true&chapters-image=t...

July 8, 2025 - Katherine Haas, a staff attorney with the prisoners' rights project at the Legal Aid Society, provides an update on the court battle to reverse the Hochul administration's suspension of a law governing the use of solitary confinement in prisons. ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&playlist=show&playlist-continuous=true&amp...

July 8, 2025 - After months of build up, Gov. Kathy Hochul directed state energy officials to get the ball rolling on developing a new upstate nuclear power project. We consider what the implementation could look like with Gavin Donohue, president and CEO of the Independent Power Producers of New York ESCUCHAR RADIO  👉https://widget.spreaker.com/player?episode_id=70730354&theme=light&play...