2016: The year so far

The year isn’t even over yet, but it feels like we’ve had enough news for two or three of them. The leaders of the two state legislative bodies at the beginning of last year, Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos, were convicted this year on federal corruption charges. While they both hold a glimmer of hope for a successful appeal, the two former titans of New York have hit their low points.

At the same time, two other New York titans have spent the year ascending in the presidential campaign. The Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton, the former U.S. senator from New York and a Westchester County resident, while the Republicans chose real estate developer and TV star Donald Trump, a lifelong New Yorker. Philadelphia beat out Brooklyn to host the Democratic National Convention, but New York held center stage for a week or two. With both parties having uncharacteristically long nomination fights, the New York primary mattered, and candidates descended upon the Empire State in April for good old-fashioned rallies, speeches and knish factory visits.

Another couple of titans seemed to be under constant attack – and not just from each other. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his administration faced multiple investigations into the very way business was being conducted at City Hall, particularly its fundraising methods. De Blasio has also lost a number of key figures in his administration, with NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton, Counsel Maya Wiley and Press Secretary Karen Hinton all moving on to other jobs.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, too, was under the microscope. Two of his former aides, Joe Percoco and Todd Howe, are under federal investigation in a wide-ranging probe into state contracts and improper benefits. To date, nobody in either the de Blasio or the Cuomo administrations has been formally accused of wrongdoing.

Cuomo, though, was extremely proud of the accomplishments in the legislative session. The state passed a $15 minimum wage, to be phased in over several years, virtually tying the state of California as the first state to implement the new progressive battle cry of a $15 minimum wage. The state also passed what is perhaps nation’s most comprehensive paid family leave law.

Those laws were all passed under a Republican majority Senate, though in a special election to fill Skelos’ Senate seat, Democrat Todd Kaminsky won, inching the chamber closer to Democratic control and setting up an important battle for control of the Legislature in the November elections.

OUR COVERAGE: City & State kicked off the year with an exhaustive assessment of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign pledges and ran out a three-part series on neglect and abuse in New York nursing homes.