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Electoral Votes Sample

Electoral Vote Popular Vote Senate Trends House Trends
290Trump
Clinton228
270 needed to win
60,072,551Trump
Clinton60,467,601
50%
51Republicans
Democrats46
50%
239Republicans
Democrats192
50%
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How the New York state budget affects Long Island

EducationBoost for LI schools; college tuition help

The budget approved over the weekend by the State Legislature includes a $1.1 billion increase in school aid that boosts funding by more than 6 percent statewide. Long Island schools will get an extra $129 million in state financial aid for the 2017-18 academic year. Statewide, the budget includes $800 million to expand half-day and full-day prekindergarten in high-need school districts. The budget also allocates $35 million in new funding to create 22,000 more spots in after-school programs in communities with high rates of poverty. The state budget also includes $400,000 to award to at least 60 teachers, for use in their professional development training. The budget contains Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s “college affordability” proposal, which will mean families with income of under $125,000 will get the balance of public college tuition paid after federal student aid is factored in, and private college students will get more Tuition Assistance Plan money. The plan requires the colleges themselves to cover some costs, and doesn’t cover room, board and fees. Also, SUNY tuition was increased by $200 a year for 3 years from the current $6,470. — SCOTT EIDLER

Criminal justiceShielding youth from adult prisons

The budget contains a provision to “raise the age” of criminal responsibility in New York from age 16 to 18 for all but the most violent crimes. New York and North Carolina had been the only two states that set it at 16, meaning suspects that young would be handled in adult criminal courts. Those who supported the change say that handling 16-year-olds in an adult court too often means they will wind up in adult prisons — such as Rikers Island — where they can be abused and be on their way to a life of crime, recidivism and neglect, without any real chance for rehabilitation and improving one’s life. Under the new provision, all misdemeanor cases involving 16- and 17-year-olds will start in Family Court. All nonviolent felonies will go to a newly created “youth court,” which will be a wing of criminal court. Unless a district attorney makes a motion to keep the case in youth court within 30 days, it will go to family court. Youth court will contain social-services representatives. Violent felonies will begin in youth court. But to stay in the criminal court system the case must involve either a deadly weapon, significant physical injury or criminal sexual conduct. Suspects in youth court can be sentenced as adults, although judges will be required to consider the age of the defendant in sentencing. — YANCEY ROY

EnvironmentLI clean water research gets funding

The budget includes $2.5 billion for the Clean Water Infrastructure Act, which will help local governments pay for wastewater and drinking water infrastructure improvements, including treatment systems to remove contaminants. The investment includes a $75 million rebate program to update and replace septic systems and cesspools, which contribute to nitrogen-loading and damage area waterways. The act also includes $110 million for land preservation aimed at protecting water quality, $130 million for hazardous waste cleanup and $20 million to replace lead pipes. The budget also gives $300 million to the Environmental Protection Fund, which pays for solid waste, parks, recreation and open space programs. It also funds climate change mitigation and resiliency programs. On Long Island, $1 million will go to the Center for Clean Water Technology at Stony Brook University to research methods to remove 1,4-dioxane from water supplies, $2 million to Long Island’s central pine barrens, $1.5 million for Suffolk County sewer improvements, $5 million to Nassau County for the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant and $250,000 for the Long Island Commission for Aquifer Protection. — EMILY DOOLEY

EnergyA focus on clean energy

The budget provides for $15 million in additional funding into an existing $30 million fund for communities statewide affected by power-plant closings, said Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale), chair of the Assembly energy committee. The so-called electric generation facility cessation mitigation program is designed for communities facing closure of plants that pay millions in payments in lieu of taxes. The budget also includes a $500,000 plan backed by Assemb. Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) to bring green-energy funds to public housing to encourage a level of independence from the grid. The budget also includes an additional $2.1 million for a federal-state program to maintain a former nuclear-fuel processing plant in upstate West Valley, said Morris Peters, a state budget office spokesman. The budget includes $23 million for clean-energy tax credits to “encourage progress toward our energy goals,” said Assemb. Fred Thiele (I-Sag Harbor), while extending an Alternative Fuels and Electric Vehicle Recharging Property Tax credit for an additional five years. The budget also provides for establishment of an Indian Point Closure Task Force to “assess the various impacts of the plant’s closure . . . ,” Thiele’s office said. — MARK HARRINGTON

EconomyMajor overhaul to workers' compensation

Efforts to expand Long Island’s biotechnology industry got a big boost in the 2017-18 state budget, executives said. The spending plan committed $620 million in tax breaks and grants over five years to biotech startups, drugmakers and producers of medical devices across the state. Area leaders have identified biotech as a sector deserving of state support because of its high-paying jobs and the potential to form startups based on research from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Stony Brook University, Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and others. Some executives also lauded changes in the budget to workers’ compensation, which they said would reduce the costs to employers by more than $350 million per year. The changes, the first major overhaul of the comp system since 2007, include limits on temporary benefits paid to injured workers, updated guidelines for medical impairment determinations and ways to reduce prescription drug costs. Despite their earlier criticism, state lawmakers agreed to $750 million in state tax credits and grants to be awarded through Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Councils process, now in its seventh year. An additional $100 million will be doled out in the second Downtown Revitalization Initiative. — JAMES T. MADORE

TransportationUber, Lyft authorized -- with a catch

The budget includes funding for several new transportation initiatives throughout the state and to save some Nassau bus service that was on the chopping block. The budget increased transit operating aid by 2 percent above Cuomo’s proposed executive budget, which kept it flat. The boost provides an extra $1.3 million to Nassau County — enough to spare three of the 10 NICE Bus routes previously pegged for elimination. The budget also authorized ride-sharing services, such as Uber and Lyft, on Long Island, but does not earmark user surcharges to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority or local transit agencies, as some advocates lobbied for. It also allows big municipalities such as Nassau and Suffolk to opt out of the ride-sharing authorization. Also included in the budget is $564 million to reconfigure the Van Wyck Expressway, including at the Grand Central Parkway; $700 million for the transformation of Penn Station and expansion into the Farley Post Office building across Eighth Avenue; $130 million to speed up planned improvements to the Nassau Expressway (Route 878) in Nassau, including to reduce flooding; and $120 million for various Long Island Rail Road improvements, including $80 million to renovate 16 stations. — ALFONSO CASTILLO