Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Aileen Gunther

Aileen Gunther

  • Legislature MIA on Oversight of Covid in State Psychiatric Hospitals

    The New York State Senate (photo: NYS Senate Media Services)


    As with every wave, the Omicron variant stirred a swell of infections and death in New York State's psychiatric hospitals, where some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers are living in congregate settings that heighten the risk of COVID-19.

    The state's 24 facilities, run by the Office of Mental Health (OMH), house roughly 4,400 patients. At least 55 patients and 12 employees have died of COVID-19 since the virus was first detected in New York, a relatively high patient covid fatality rate. ...

  • Everyone Agrees Albany Needs Ethics Reform, Except the People Who Matter Most

    three men at a table

    Heastie, Cuomo, Flanagan (l-r) (photo via The Governor's Office)


    "Top of my agenda is going to be ethics reform," said Governor Andrew Cuomo, speaking on NY1 on Jan. 3. "We have done a lot in Albany, but we haven't done enough. And I'm going to push the legislature very hard to adopt more aggressive ethics legislation, more disclosure, more enforcement, etcetera."

    While the governor

    ...