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bail reform

Bail reform letter to the editor

On bail reform To the Editor: The 2019 Bail Reform Bill is probably better called a Criminal Justice Reform Bill. It did much more than just make changes to the bail laws in New York. We have all heard numerous outcries that many of those changes were too much, and that a new reform bill is required.  I agree that parts of the 2019 bill are not improving the system. However, I would not vote to repeal the bill, as many Republicans…
March 31, 2022

Calculus, chaos, Cuomo

Calculus, chaos, Cuomo An opinion column It was just one month before COVID shut the world down in 2020 and tempers were short in New York’s state Capitol. I don’t remember exactly why the governor and legislature were sniping back and forth, but I do recall sitting down for a mid-February meeting with one of Governor Cuomo’s top policy people. “I know it’s chaos around here,” I said to her, sympathetically. “Thank you for taking the time to meet with…
March 24, 2022

Otsego County’s DA calls discovery, bail ‘form over function’

Otsego County’s DA calls discovery, bail ‘form over function’ Otsego County District Attorney John Muehl is stark and passionate about New York State’s criminal justice reform to the point where — absent modification to the new laws — he won’t seek reelection in 2023. He’s on the record with that pronouncement from late last year, frustrated that from his point of view, New York’s bail and discovery statutes don’t let him do his job. “With the combination of bail and…
February 3, 2022

Views Around New York State: July 8, 2021

Views Around New York State Suing Georgia over voting rights is just the start From The Albany Times-Union: Georgia was among a host of GOP-controlled states that in the aftermath of Republican Donald Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden for the presidency have intensified efforts to pass laws brazenly aimed at suppressing votes by people of color. Georgia and its defenders offered the weak defense that some of the provisions it passed will expand voting rights, as if a little…
July 8, 2021

Views Around New York: May 13, 2021

Views Around New York Albany should make jail reform a priority From: Sochie Nnaemeka and TeAna Taylor. special to the Utica Observer-Dispatch. There’s no doubt that Albany is undergoing a transformation. Voters across the state turned out in record numbers to elect Democratic and Working Families champions to the Legislature last year, winning super-majorities in both houses. And this April, the results were made clear: New York passed a budget that provides historic funding to our public school students, tenants,…
May 13, 2021

Fight Isn’t Partisan; It’s Upstate, Downstate

EDITORIAL Fight Isn’t Partisan; It’s Upstate, Downstate If you’ve lived a while, how often have you heard predictions about the extinction of one party by the other? After Richard Nixon’s rout of George McGovern in 1972 and Ronald Reagan’s two terms, the Democrats. After LBJ overwhelming Goldwater in 1964, Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection and Barack Obama in 2008, Republicans. Only one Democrat was elected president between the end of the Civil War and Woodrow Wilson, 47 years later. Only one…
November 12, 2020

Salka Press Conference Topic: Jail Reform Repeal

Salka Press Conference Topic: Bail-Reform Repeal COOPERSTOWN – Assemblyman John Salka, R-Brookfield, has scheduled a press conference for 11 a.m. Wednesday to discuss his bill, which would “completely repeal” last year’s Democratic bail reform. He will be joined by county Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr., as well as Republican Assemblymen Chris Tague, Robert Smullen and Brian Miller, who are all seeking reelection on Nov. 3.…
October 27, 2020

Bail-Free, 2 Skip Trials

They Don’t Show, May Never Show, Prosecutor Asserts With No Bail, 2 Skip Trials By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – If Monday, Oct. 19, was a test-run on whether the accused would show up for trial under the state’s new bail reform, Otsego County failed. “We’re two-for-two on no-shows,” said District Attorney John Muehl. “I knew this is exactly what was going to happen.” Neither Joseph Mitchell, 36, New York City, or Eddie Holton, 35, Binghamton, showed…
October 22, 2020
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PUTTING THE COMMUNITY BACK INTO THE NEWSPAPER

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