The investigation “found that the executive chamber under former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo … subjected female employees to a sexually hostile work environment”

By Brendan J. Lyons, Times Union

ALBANY — The U.S. Justice Department on Friday announced it had reached an agreement with the New York governor’s office “to resolve the department’s claims that the executive chamber under former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo engaged in a pattern or practice of sexual harassment and retaliation” in violation of civil rights laws.

The agreement memorializes reforms that were enacted by Gov. Kathy Hochul and also institutes additional reforms that federal prosecutors said are intended to prevent sexual harassment or retaliation in the executive chamber. The investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office had not been made public until the office announced the agreement on Friday.

But it’s unclear how thorough of an investigation the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn conducted or whether the outcome relied largely on the report issued by the state attorney general’s office in August 2021. That report concluded Cuomo had sexually harassed or acted inappropriately with 11 women. That report also found that Cuomo and some of his top aides had cultivated a toxic workplace.

Read the full story here

If you liked this post, you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed daily with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.

By Rosemary Misdary, Gothamist

As New York City and the state begin enforcing stringent new climate laws this year, the oldest form of heating – wood-burning – has been excluded from the regulations.

Fireplaces and wood stoves aren’t mentioned in the final rules that went into effect this month for the city’s Local Law 97, which forces buildings to cut their carbon emissions. They also were left out of the rules of the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, or CLCPA, which are expected to be finalized this year.

Raya Salter, a member of the New York State Climate Action Council that helped craft the CLCPA, says that’s by design.

“Wood-burning for residential use is a massive source of emissions in New York state, and also to human health,” said Salter, the executive director of the Energy Justice Law and Policy Center.

“This is concentrated in the rural areas, largely upstate where it’s very cold, where folks are actually burning wood for primary and secondary heating,” she added. “But nobody’s banning wood-burning stoves because there’s a really important understanding that folks are using this because they need it because it’s cold.”

Read the full story here

If you liked this post, you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed daily with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.