Turns out, property taxes aren't the only way to fund a government. 

Sean Phelan joins Andrew Hollister for this episode of RFNY to talk about whether or not laws can save lives. 

The NYS Legislature voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday just past midnight to give Governor Cuomo broad sweeping emergency powers to deal with the COVID-19 virus. Was this a necessary measure to keep a disease in check or did we just create a dictatorship?

https://amp.democratandchronicle.com/amp/4936360002

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-cuomo-coronavirus-20200303-5kxocftsvrhptolsu32ipzznvi-story.html

Andrew and Bob go over some of the results from Super Tuesday Democratic Primary Process. 

Zoning isn't the sexiest topic, but it's one of the most pervasive parts of government happening at the local level. It controls what you can build on your own land, how you can build it,  what it looks like, and what you're allowed to do there. Your town, village, or city has a complex network of rules about all of these things in their zoning code. We wanted to do an introductory show on zoning with Rochester area developer and zoning aficionado Matthew Denker, owner of LBLD Living. 

We cover a lot on this show, but if you want to do a deeper diving into zoning history Matthew Denker wrote a great series on zoning here:

Andrew talks about the government imposed barriers on being an entrepreneur. 

There's a new bill in NYS to teach sex education to Kindergartners. There are other bills that would allow kids to get STD treatment and vaccinations without parental consent.  It's even upsetting some Democrats including Rochester Mayor Warren. Andrew and Kevin talk about some of the details of the bill and whether NY is stripping the rights of parents with these bills. 

Mayor Lovely Warren opposes this

Text of the Vaccine Bill:

Text of the STD Bill:

After taking a little detour to talk about some local political processes, Andrew and Kevin talk about the pardon power. What does it mean, how can it be used, and how have Presidents used it in the past. Then we they talk about Trump's pardon of Blago, possible pardon of Stone, and his pardon of people caught up in the war on drugs. Is Trump just pardoning his buddies or is he advancing criminal justice reform?

Andrew discusses the wild Las Vegas debate from last week. 

Andrew, Kevin, and Bob were all in studio today to talk about Sanctuary Counties for the 2nd Amendment in New York. How do they work? Are they legal? Plus, Fake News Friday.