Karen DeWitt

Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday that she doesn't believe health care workers in New York should be able to cite a religious exemption to avoid getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

The governor, who held a briefing on the status of the coronavirus in the state, was reacting to a court decision temporarily upholding the rights of some health care workers to refuse the vaccine on religious grounds. 

A new report by the state’s comptroller finds that despite years of government programs, 1 million New York households still have no access to the internet, and many in rural areas have limited access to inadequate services.  

Gov. Kathy Hochul, responding to strict new abortion laws in Texas, said Monday that she’ll make New York a safe legal haven for women’s reproductive health.

“We have to stop extremists from taking women's rights away,” Hochul said at an appearance with U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and other female state and local leaders at the Women's Rights Pioneers Monument in New York City’s Central Park.

Kathy Hochul was sworn in as New York’s first female governor at midnight, early Tuesday, after a disgraced Andrew Cuomo resigned to avoid impeachment by the State Legislature. 

Hochul faces multiple challenges, including rising COVID-19 rates due to the delta variant of the coronavirus and stagnating vaccination rates, as well as a looming eviction crisis.

New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who will become governor on Aug. 24 after Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s planned resignation, said Thursday that she will run for election to the post in 2022.

Hochul made the remarks to Savannah Guthrie on NBC’s The Today Show, who asked Hochul if she will seek election next year.

New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, in her first remarks since Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that he’s resigning, said Wednesday that she intends to be a fighter for New York.

She also acknowledged that there will be turnover in what is now a tainted administration after the state’s attorney general found Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women, and that key staff members were complicit in some retaliatory actions against an accuser. 

With Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigning, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul is preparing to take over as New York's governor. Cuomo resigned a week after a devastating report by New York Attorney General Letitia James found he broke federal and state laws when he sexually harassed 11 women. 

"I agree with Governor Cuomo's decision to step down. It is the right thing to do and in the best interest of New Yorkers," Hochul said. "As someone who has served at all levels of government and is next in the line of succession, I am prepared to lead as New York State’s 57th Governor."

In the space of just over a year, N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo went from a pandemic "hero," watched daily by millions of people, to a flattened politician under intense pressure to step down after 11 women came forward to accuse him of unwelcome touching and inappropriate comments.

The Democrat tried to hang on amid an intensifying scandal until N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James released an exhaustive report detailing the allegations of sexual harassment.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that he is "doing the right thing" and will be resigning from office, effective in 14 days, making Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul the first female governor in New York's history.

The New York State Assembly’s Judiciary Committee met Monday and said articles of impeachment against Gov. Andrew Cuomo could come as early as later this month. 

The decision comes six days after New York Attorney General Tish James found Cuomo violated multiple state and federal laws by sexually harassing 11 women, and in one case, sexually assaulting a woman.