After a day of protests, New York has a new state budget.
The Wall Street Journal has the details:
Just after midnight Thursday, Mr. Cuomo and lawmakers approved a budget that lowers total spending by about 1%, but counts on billions of dollars in cuts that have yet to be spelled out. It does not contain any major new taxes or borrowing.
But passing the budget wasn't without its fair share of craziness. A protestor was arrested for "hitting a legislative staffer with a cymbal."
And as New York State Public Radio's Karen DeWitt reports tensions really came to head when state officials tried to shut down a pizza delivery:
The protesters, who intended to stay overnight at the Capitol, were counting on the delivery of 70 pizzas to sustain them through the long evening hours. But state troopers, who allowed legislative staff to get food delivered, at first denied the pizza delivery, leading to chants of, "equal treatment under law" and "no pizza, no peace."
When it was all said and done, the protestors got their pizza, but not the millionaire's tax or the increased school aid they were demanding.
Education cuts
The Buffalo News is reporting that state-wide aid to local schools will drop by nearly $1.3 billion in the coming year.
Tom Precious breaks down how the new budget will affect Western New York.
While pieces of the budget have trickled out in recent days, the most secretive part -- individual school district aid levels -- was not made public until just before 9 p.m. The school cuts include a reduction of 2.3 percent, or $12 million to Buffalo from the current state aid funding, to drops of more than 10 percent for some suburban districts.
On-time budget
Unlike last year - where the budget was four months late - state lawmakers just missed passing an early budget for the first time since 1983. But Stateline reports that it was still the first on-time budget in five years.
The New York Times reports that the $132.5 billion budget is a "huge political victory for the governor."
Governor Cuomo took to Livestream this morning. He has a message for you.
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