Stephen Reader

With the Tuesday announcement of a bipartisan compromise on property tax cap legislation, Governor Andrew Cuomo looks to be on the way to securing two out of three of his big-ticket priorities for the legislative session.

Is this a war to be won by improving or changing political culture in Middle East?...Conservatives have to look at that and see how would you affect such a thing, what are steps t...

As Jon Huntsman announced his campaign for the presidency, recovery was the theme, both fiscal and psychological. Huntsman noted that even in these dark times, America still accounts ...

Need help figuring out what to think of Jon Huntsman? You're not alone! Apparently, few people really know what to make of the Republican presidential hopeful, who will officially announce his candidacy on Tuesday. Coverage has vacillated between calling his campaign a pipe dream to noting that he's the candidate Democrats fear most.

If you make these capital standards high enough and burdensome enough, then firms aren't going to grow larger. If you know that you have to hold a lot more capital because you have so...

If we are going to permit marriage equality for same sex couples, it seems to me somewhat problematic if we're then going to turn around and impose restrictions on the ability for tho...

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are questioning the constitutionality of U.S. military involvement in Libya, providing yet another case study in the muddled logic and language of what constitutes an American war.

In a move that's becoming increasingly familiar across the country, Governor Chris Christie is asking public employees to contribute more of their income to their pensions and health care. New legislation could force towns and school districts to purchase private health plans, rather than participate in a government program which critics allege has lost over $200 million in recent years.

But unlike other states, the proposal in New Jersey is bipartisan, sort of: the plan represents a compromise between Republican Governor Christie and Democratic State Senate President Stephen Sweeney.

And now state unions are targeting them both as the New Jersey legislative nears its budget deadline at the end of the month.

The system is about to go bankrupt. If the governor doesn't get a compromise with Democrats in the legislature, and the system goes bust, you can forget about running for president. A...

I stated quite clearly that I would not play any games or gimmicks. Other states aren't funding their pension plans, as if that's savings. Well, that's not really savings. The obligat...

All of a sudden it looks like Albany might actually pass a gay marriage bill, maybe. Ever wondered how many same sex couples lived in the state, or how many out-of-state couples would feed New York's economy if they got married here? Maybe you're just curious how much a wedding costs in the Big Apple (hint: it's cheaper to elope). Whatever happens in the legislature this week, here's a look at gay marriage by the numbers.

He's walking into a lot of issues which will resonate with how his presidential campaign develops. People don't vote for President in Puerto Rico, but they do raise money and they sen...

[Gay marriage is] clearly not going to pass without Republican assistance because there are only 30 Democrats, one of whom will never in a million years vote for gay marriage, and tha...

»» Join It's A Free Country Tonight at 8pm for a Live Online Chat as You Watch The Debate

After months of spring games and fan meet-and-greets, today is Opening Day in New Hampshire. Seven Republican contenders are facing off tonight in the first primary debate in this first primary state.

And in case you’ve been distracted by contests that are actually consequential at this point, like the Sox and the Yankees for example, here’s a guide to the curveballs CNN’s John King is likely to throw out.

 

 

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is playing up the similarities between his plans for pension reform and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's.

What happens when you attain power is more people become attracted to you, and the paradox and irony of that is when people are attracted to you because of your power, you never trust...

It was hot at Ground Zero. A rally was scheduled to begin at noon, the exact moment that the sun would finish climbing over the skyscrapers and flush out the shade. Inside the Federal Building in downtown Manhattan, officials with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Inititative (RGGI, or "Reggie") were auctioning off carbon permits—the price for businesses to release CO2 into the atmosphere

Private health plans got at least 600,000 new customers in the past year: under-26-year olds suddenly allowed back on their parents’ plan. If a goal of reform was to expand coverage, ...

Anthony Weiner isn't resigning post-sex-scandal, and he's far from the first to try to keep his office in the wake of public shaming. He might want to take lessons from this list of pols who got tangled up in sex-scandals and ended up bruised, but not destroyed. Here are eight political careers that went on despite scandal.

In one of the more head-scratching resolutions to a political sex scandal in recent memory, Anthony Weiner today admitted that he did in fact send lewd photos of himself to women he'd met on the internet.

In an emotional and bizzare press conference at the midtown Sheraton this afternoon, Anthony Weiner admitted that he had contact through social media with several women from around the country. He reiterated several times that he had never met any of these women in person, but that his actions constitute "a personal failing" that will no doubt cast his political future into question.