After economic development corruption scandals, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli have finalized a plan to restore the comptroller's auditing powers over economic development contracts.

In 2011, Cuomo persuaded the state Legislature to agree to limit the comptroller's oversight ability for some economic development projects. They included the $750 million subsidy for the Solar City project, as part of an initiative Cuomo called the Buffalo Billion.

New York state is launching a statewide survey to pick a new license plate design.  Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the survey on Monday, and his website will allow New Yorkers to choose among five proposed designs.

Voting will also be available to the public at the governor's exhibit at the Great New York State Fair starting Aug. 21. The license plate with the most votes will become the state's official license plate and will be available to customers beginning April 2020.

There’s a change in ownership coming for the del Lago Resort & Casino in Seneca County.

The Wilmot family, Rochester-based developers who operate Wilmorite, have owned half of that casino in the town of Tyre.

The casino concept was something long championed by Wilmot Chairman Tom Wilmot, and del Lago opened two years ago.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed legislation Thursday to impose a penalty of life in prison without parole for acts of domestic terrorism, including mass shootings.

Cuomo said his bill is the first in the nation to define a mass shooting as a hate crime if the shooter acted against a group of people based on their race, national origin, religion, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation.

The governor, in a speech before the New York City Bar Association, said punishment could include a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole. 

Sturgeon are an iconic species of the Great Lakes -- with their long noses and whiskers, and bony plates down their backs, they can grow up to 7 feet long and their ancestors date back hundreds of millions of years.

But these days, they’re threatened.

"Lake sturgeon are kind of the aquatic version of the buffalo," said Jeff Miller, a senior conservation expert with the Center for Biological Diversity, a national nonprofit that works to save species that are threatened.

The state ethics commission has settled with a former Assembly member and a former Senate staffer in two cases involving sexual harassment. 

The case against former Assembly member Angela Wozniak from the Buffalo area dates from 2016, when she was accused of harassing a male staffer, after Wozniak, who was married, had a brief consensual romantic relationship with her employee.

Kevin Higley can't remember if it was the summer of 1987 or the summer of 1988, but he does know he was 14 years old and serving as an altar boy at St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Scottsville.

He said a parish priest, Father Paul Cloonan, asked him to go with him to visit a nearby monastery.

"And in the car on the way back from the monastery, he asked me if I could help him with a medical issue," Higley said.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)  Victims of workplace harassment in New York will no longer have to prove the conduct was "severe and pervasive" to make their case in court.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a new legal standard for harassment Monday.

It eliminates the "severe and pervasive" standard that employment attorneys and victim advocates said made it hard to file a successful claim.

The new law makes other changes to laws dealing with harassment and discrimination, including prohibiting employment contracts requiring mandatory arbitration of discrimination claims.

New York’s senior U.S. senator said that he will push for legislation in the upcoming federal budget to provide funds for local boards of elections to harden their security against potential threats by foreign governments.