New York could borrow billions of dollars to address its urgent budget shortfall and a financial review board would be established to impose new discipline on future spending under a five-year financial rescue plan that Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch will present Wednesday.

Will New York attempt to borrow its way out of the latest financial mess? It's emerging as a possibility as Gov. David Paterson's handpicked lieutenant governor, Richard Ravitch, prepares to present a five-year borrowing plan to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Republicans are having a second thought about gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio. His name is Steve Levy.

The Republican nomination for governor, which had for months seemed all but locked up by former United States Representative Rick A. Lazio, became a more unsettled contest on Tuesday when top New York Republicans met with the Suffolk County executive, Steve Levy, as a potential challenger to Mr. Lazio.

One week to the day after the announcement of State Police Superintendent Harry Corbitt's retirement, his second-in-command Pedro Perez said he will leave the force in much the same way: under a cloud.

WASHINGTON — Gov. David Paterson said Tuesday he will call a special election "as soon as possible" to fill the 29th Congressional District seat. That means western New York and Southern Tier residents of the eight-county district could have a new congressional representative to succeed former Rep. Eric Massa of Corning as soon as next month.

WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Eric J.J. Massa acknowledged Tuesday he had groped a male member of his staff, but denied anything sexual about the episode; later said he never had groped anybody in the first place.

It was late on Tuesday afternoon of last week when a lawyer turned to a man named Matthew Nelson, who had been testifying under oath at the office of the State Commission on Public Integrity. "I think that's it," said the lawyer, Jeffrey Schlanger. "Thank you very much for coming in."

General Electric Co. and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency laid out two very different strategies for the next phase of PCB dredging on the Hudson River, a massive project which is slated to resume in 2011 and run for five years.

AEG's bid to run video slots at Aqueduct looked ready to be put down yesterday. Queens minister Floyd Flake and rapper Jay-Z bailed out as key local partners in the Aqueduct Entertainment Group, while Gov. Paterson's office threatened to kill the deal.

High school graduation rates are continuing their upward climb statewide, but remain precipitously low at some local school districts.

After months of wrangling, state officials have agreed to let New York City finish building — and paying for — Brooklyn Bridge Park, in the hope of speeding its progress.

A study released on the eve of the 2010 Census has some eye-opening news about the count's importance for Floridians: In a national ranking, the amount of Census-based aid flowing to the state and the three-county South Florida region puts both in the bottom five.

In Michigan, where many enterprises are struggling to survive, the renowned University of Michigan is in the midst of a construction boom and hiring spree. Michigan State University, on the other hand, plans to lay off faculty and cut programs, blaming state funding that is lower than it was a decade ago. Flagship universities in other states are also prospering, while their lesser-known counterparts suffer from vanishing state appropriations. 

So, why not change the arrangement and require big-name universities to take responsibility for their own financing, leaving more state money to support the other state schools? As legislatures face their toughest budget year since the recession began, the idea of giving a few universities autonomy to control their own finances has some appeal.