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The Syracuse Common Council has temporarily pulled the "Ban the Box" legislation in order to conduct more public outreach and rework the legislation.

On a residential street outside of Albany, there is a discreet red-brick building. There’s no sign telling drivers that the flow of all the electricity in New York state is being controlled inside. The organization at the controls is the New York Independent System Operators (NYISO). They’re a non-profit created after New York’s energy markets were opened up in the '90s.

When he was 15, Guy Stern emigrated from Germany to the United States in order to escape the Holocaust. He then returned to Europe following D-Day, as a U.S. Army interrogator. After the war, he became a distinguished scholar of German studies and literature. In this edition of the Campbell Conversations, Guy describes his emigration and his war experiences.

Central New Yorkers want a public park available to everyone along Onondaga Lake. That was the upshot from the latest survey on the future of what was once the most polluted lake in the nation.

An advisory group looking at strategies for rejuvenating New York state's "legacy cities" says collaboration and coordination with the governor's Regional Economic Development Councils are crucial for upstate cities dealing with declining populations and job opportunities.

3D printing technology has been working its way into a multitude of sectors - from manufacturing, to printable electronic circuits.

No state spends more on Medicaid than New York, earning it the nickname of the Cadillac of Medicaid programs. But that may soon end. One of the reasons the state spends $54 billion a years on the federal health care program for the poor, are 31 optional services that the state can sign on for -- ranging from transportation, to prescription drugs, to private nurses.

Starting this weekend, the mental health component of the New York Safe Act, the state's new gun control law, kicks in. It will require mental health care providers to notify law enforcement officials if they know of anyone who could be a danger to themselves or others. Law enforcement then compares names to gun registration databases, and if there's a match, confiscate guns or revokes a pistol permit. While many mental health professionals are say they are ready for the paperwork, they aren't convinced it will do any good.

State lawmakers are hurrying toward getting a budget agreement in place, with a stepped-up schedule of conference committees and meetings with Gov. Andrew Cuomo. But the governor is throwing cold water on striking a deal by the weekend.

Maple producers across New York will throw open their doors to visitors this weekend and next for the state’s 18th annual Maple Weekend. 

Updated, Thursday 5:50 p.m.: Local police officers were "overwhelmed" as they raced from scene to scene yesterday morning in pursuit of a shooter who first set his home on fire and then killed four people and wounded two others at two different locations in Herkimer County.

Several local community organizations have joined forces to create the Central New York Coalition for Immigration Reform.  This group will push a comprehensive immigration reform agenda, with an emphasis towards towards family unity, an improved visa system, and a path to eventual citizenship for undocumented immigrants living in this country now. It's the only hope one undocumented immigrant who lives in Syracuse has of staying in this country.

One of the areas of disagreement in the state budget centers on funding for services for New York’s developmentally disabled people. 

New York state is poised to become one of the nation's leading economic beneficiaries of a burgeoning domestic drone industry, according to a new report from an industry trade group.

A team of Rochester Institute of Technology students has created a system that allows travelers to get real-time updates on the location of their luggage by way of an embedded device in their suitcase.

The New York State Senate has included raising the state’s minimum wage in its one-house budget resolution. But that’s not necessarily a signal that a wage increase is moving forward in the state spending plan.

A pledge of new investment from its parent company and news of a newly secured military contract have workers at Remington Arms a little more optimistic their jobs will be staying in upstate New York.

A new Siena College poll finds a slight drop in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s popularity for the third month in a row. The poll finds the governor’s popularity has dropped to 64 percent -- still higher than most politicians in the country -- but an eight point slide from a 72 percent approval rating in  December.

The hearings are over; the New York State Assembly and Senate have put together their respective spending plans. Now this week, lawmakers in Albany get down to the details of hammering out a state budget that both chambers can agree on. Senate Finance Committee Chairman John DeFrancisco of Syracuse believes it can be done before the April 1 deadline.

Job figures are on the rise across New York state,  however private-sector jobs in some upstate areas have declined according to the state Department of Labor’s latest jobs report.

School districts across New York state are in the midst of their budget process right now, with many facing dwindling state aid and more state mandates.  A weekend legislative conference in Syracuse focused on the story that doesn't seem to change.

Matt Driscoll was mayor of Syracuse from 2001 to 2009. Since then, he's been the President of a state public authority, and most recently a member of Governor Cuomo's cabinet. In this edition of the Campbell Conversations, he discusses the environmental issues he became known for as mayor, economic development, and the current Syracuse mayor's disagreement with the governor over public pensions.

The reported cure of a baby girl born with HIV in Mississippi has sparked excitement in the medical community. Doctors say the apparent disappearance of her infection is due to very early treatment of the infant with standard drug therapies. They say the case is a proof of concept that HIV infection could potentially be curable in infants.

Western New York has missed out on being the setting for a major motion picture, but Republican state Senator Patrick Gallivan hopes the loss of the movie “Draft Day,” starring Kevin Costner, will help push along a bill that would offer tax credits for films to be shot in New York state.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he is unlikely to send an emergency message that would allow state lawmakers to bypass a three-day waiting period for the state budget.

The regional airports in Ithaca and Binghamton would both lose their air traffic controllers if federal budget cuts known as sequestration take full effect. The first round of closures begins April 7.

Advocates for the disabled will be out in force in Syracuse Friday, rallying against Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed cuts to the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities. The six percent across-the-board budget proposal would mean major cuts to the agencies across the state that provide support and services for the developmentally disabled. Many families are afraid of what will happen if those services go away.

Second Amendment rights advocates, who have held rallies in Albany recently, are not the only group upset with portions of the state’s recently enacted gun law.  Some people with mental illnesses believe the law unfairly stigmatizes them.

The Watertown City Council has received a lot of pushback and even ridicule in the media recently for passing what's being referred to as a “roommate ban.” Last month, in response to a neighbor dispute, the City Council removed language from the zoning code that allowed the renting out of rooms in single-family homes. But city planning officials say the regulatory change is completely unenforceable.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has launched a service to streamline regulatory processes for New York’s $22 billion alcoholic beverage industry. The one-stop-shop initiative is designed to give producers a single point of government contact for licensing, regulatory, and incentives issues.