Tagged: albany

The New York DREAM Act would make it easier for undocumented immigrants to pay for higher education by giving them access to state aid programs.

"I'm not illegal; I'm undocumented," says Yelky Ramos, a 20-year-old immigrant on the front lines of the DREAM Act debate.

Activists had pushed hard last month in an effort to get the bill included in the 2013 budget. That push fell short, but supporters of the state DREAM Act are still fighting for its passage.

The Innovation Trail's Marie Cusick takes an in-depth look at how the debate is unfolding.

The New York state capital, Albany, is a gathering place for the state's most powerful people.

But in the city's poor and predominately black South End neighborhood, many residents once felt powerless.

They had repeatedly asked for better public transit for South End, an area plagued with poverty and crime not far from New York's gated governor's mansion.

Today, the city's Route 100 bus glides easily up Morton Avenue, a steep hill in the South End neighborhood. Many feel there would be no Route 100 if not for the efforts of local resident Willie White.

White grew up on Morton Avenue and has spent most of his 52 years climbing the hill.

In a flurry of late night (and early morning) activity, lawmakers in Albany passed a bill that will bring about a major expansion to New York's DNA databank.

The new legislation covers all state felonies, and penal law misdemeanors. It requires people convicted of everything from animal cruelty to felony D.W.I., to turn over a DNA saliva sample.

It's expected to add 46,000 people a year to the DNA databank, which is housed at the State Police Forensic Investigation Center in Albany.

Governor Andrew Cuomo made the DNA bill one of his top priorities for the year, and he's had broad support from district attorneys, law enforcement, and victims' advocacy groups.

Supporters have argued that DNA not only helps solve crimes, but it can exonerate the innocent, and even prevent crime - since serious offenders often start out small.

Correction: We originally wrote that Yelky Ramos came to Queens as a teenager - in fact, she came to the Bronx. The Innovation Trail regrets the error.

Hundreds of people gathered for a rally outside the state Capitol on Wednesday, pushing for legislation to help undocumented immigrants go to college.

New York’s DREAM Act would give young people who were brought into the country illegally by their families access to the state’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP).

Yelky Ramos, a 20-year-old undocumented immigrant, helped to lead the rally.

When Ramos came from the Dominican Republic to the Bronx at a teenager, she didn’t speak any English, but she still managed to graduate as the valedictorian at her high school. She’s now a college senior with plans to attend graduate school and become a lawyer.

Yesterday Time Warner Cable announced plans to cut 155 jobs at an Albany call center.

The company will eliminate telemarketing positions in Albany, and relocate its sales operations to Raleigh, North Carolina.

This week's New York NOW features a one-on-one interview with longtime Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan).  

This week he put out a proposal that would raise New York's minimum wage to $8.50 per hour in January of 2013. It will surely pass his chamber, but is the governor on board?   

Silver sat down with Karen DeWitt of New York State Public Radio. He also talked about why he's pushing for a pay raise for his fellow lawmakers.

Watch the preview below, and tune in for the full interview this weekend on your local PBS station: