Hey! It’s Tim again. Whew, the week is over but we’ve got some good stuff today.

Thumbing through the list of Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act projects, I came across a few things that surprised me about where and what projects received funding, so far.

Next up, it looks like married, middle-income tax filers are still leaving New York. That matters because personal income taxes account for more than half of all state tax revenue.

There are two primary recount votes happening today. Depending on the results, the state could elect its first nonbinary person to the state Legislature, if they are triumphant on Friday and win in November.

Finally: What do Kodak, Gov. Thomas Dewey and the Declaration of Independence have in common? They all made their mark in New York this week.

When New York voters approved the $4.2 billion Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act in 2022, they were promised sweeping investments to protect drinking water, strengthen communities against climate change and preserve natural resources. 

Nearly four years later, the largest individual Bond Act commitment to a single project isn’t restoring a river or conserving open space: It’s a $100 million overhaul of the Empire State Plaza’s aging central air conditioning plant in Albany, part of the state’s long-term effort to decarbonize its flagship government complex.