Facing a massive budget deficit this year, the Governor and state legislature passed a budget containing dozens of revenue enhancers. Among them, a tax hike on cigarettes, and a plan to collect taxes on those cigarettes sold to non-indians on tribal lands.

Now that it appears the state won’t be getting revenue from the Indian sales – owners of corner stores and mom and pop shops say they’re facing a crippling disadvantage.

Jim Calvin is the President of the New York Association of Convenience Stores. He joined Liz Benjamin in studio Thursday to talk more about the issue.

For the past several years, a group of upstate business and trade organizations have teamed up to try and convince Albany lawmakers to pass legislation making it easier to do business. They call themselves Unshackle Upstate.

Despite their best efforts, they say things have actually gotten worse. And now, the group representing more than 70 thousand companies is fed up. For the first time, they are going to endorse candidates in this year’s election. But before they do that, they have released their scorecards for all the members of the state legislature.

Brian Sampson, the groups Executive Director, joined Liz Benjamin from Rochester Monday to talk more about the report.

Thursday marked the 90th anniversary of National Women’s suffrage… the day the 19th Amendment was passed – stating “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

In conjunction with the historic anniversary, the University of Rochester’s Susan B. Anthony Center has launched a first of its kind online tool. It’s a searchable database with stories about the first women elected to office in each county across the state.

Another day, another ethics bombshell for Governor David Paterson.

Former Chief Judge Judith Kaye says the governor made inaccurate and misleading statements to the Public Integrity Commission about his intention to pay for Yankees World Series tickets. She suggested Albany County District Attorney David Soares consider criminal charges. Paterson’s attorney insists the governor did nothing wrong.

Liz Benjamin spoke to our legal expert, Paul Derohannesian, to break down the report and explain what consequences the governor could face, if charged.

Primary day in New York is less than three weeks away now and arguably the most exciting race to watch will be the 5-way contest for the Democratic attorney general nomination.

The party chose not to name a designee at the state convention – opting to instead to calculate committee votes in order to allow each candidate a spot on the crowded ballot.

On September 7th, we’re teaming up with the New York Times to bring you a live televised debate between all five Democratic A-G wanna-be’s.

But first, we’ve invited each of the candidates for a one-on-one interview. We’ve already caught up with Senator Eric Schneiderman and Assemblyman Richard Brodsky. Wednesday, Liz Benjamin sat down with former state Insurance Superintendent superintendent Eric Dinallo to get an update on his campaign.