Following last week's tragic shooting death of City of Poughkeepsie Police officer John Falcone at the hands of a suspect, New York Senator Greg Ball is renewing his calls for the death penalty for cop killers.

"I pushed for this bill even in the Assembly just a few years back and I'll be introducing it, sponsoring it on the Senate floor, to bring about the death penalty for cop killers and terrorists," said Ball.

The Senator says he realizes the death penalty may not have served as a deterrent in this instance, "But if it saves even just one life," he said, "We've gotta get it done."

In 2004, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that the procedure for imposing the death penalty in New York violated the State Constitution. Then-Governor George Pataki criticized the ruling and promised to amend the wording, but that never came to pass.

Ball says he's hopeful that state lawmakers will ensure that  the wording of any future death penalty legislation stands up to judicial scrutiny, "Our law enforcement personnel fight for us every single day putting their lives on the line.Their family members don't know when they walk out the door  if they're every going to return. It's a travesty that we as a Legislature have allowed this to be held up in the courts for this long."

Officer John Falcone was the brother-in-law of Senator Ball's cousin.

With the State Senate poised to vote today on Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposed 2% Property

Tax Cap, Senator Greg Ball is urging residents to call their state lawmakers and urge bi-partisan support for the measure as well as mandate relief.

Got some cost-cutting ideas for Albany? Newly-elected State Senator Greg Ball wants to hear from you.

Sen. Ball announced today, along with several fellow State lawmakers, the creation of a new website, www.youcutalbany.com, an on-line tool designed to enable taxpayers throughout the state to cast votes for specific wasteful spending items they would like to see eliminated from the State budget. Said Ball, "It's time to focus like a laser on waste and duplicative services and get government out of the way so our beleaguered entrepreneurs and small businesses, not government, can begin to once again do what they do best, which is create private sector jobs."

Ball was joined by freshman State Assemblyman Steve Katz,who echoed the sentiment saying "Reducing the size and cost of state government is imperative to get our state's economy back on track, balance the state budget, reduce the tax burden on homeowners and businesses and improve the efficiency of the state to meet the needs of New Yorkers."

Reaction to the Governor's first-ever State of the State address is largely positive.

Republican State Senator Greg Ball said he liked what he heard and said he supported the Governor on such issues as a property tax cap.  Said Ball, "Hopefully that message will make its way into law and tax relief and doing what needs to be done. This state is hemorrhaging jobs, we're hemorrhaging people, folks are voting with their feet, and they need a governor and legislature to work together to get this state back on track." 

Several Westchester County lawmakers were sworn in to office New Year's Day.Newly-elected  40th District State Senator Greg Ball (R-C Patterson) took the oath of office at the Putnam County Courthouse in Carmel today. Ball succeeds former State Senator Vincent Leibell.

Former State Senator Vincent Leibell is  due in Federal Court in White Plains Monday where he's expected to plead guilty to corruption charges.

Last week, Leibell announced he will not take the oath of office as the new Putnam County Executive come January.  He did not give a reason. Leibell also suddenly resigned from his State Senate Seat.

Leibell was spotted in White Plains on Friday where sources say he was working out details of a planned plea bargain agreement in which he will serve two years in prison in exchange for his guilty plea on money laundering, bribery and tax evasion charges.

Leibell is due in Federal Court in White Plains  at 9:30 for what officials say is a proceeding relating to a public corruption matter. A news conference is slated for 12 noon.

Federal investigators were in Putnam County on at least two occasions this year. One was  to serve a subpoena  on the Town of Carmel seeking records related to legal services provided by the law firm Servino, Santangelo and Randazzo which had offices in Carmel, White Plains and Hawthorne. It later reformed with attorney Anthony Mangone as a partner.

Political newcomer Dr. Nan Hayworth scored an upset victory over incumbent Democratic Congressman John Hall in the 19th Congressional District race Tuesday night. Hayworth defeated Hall 53-47%. During her victory speech in Fishkill, Hayworth promised to hit the ground running, saying "The Federal government that has been weighing on us like a stone is gonna be lifted. We are gonna shrink it and get it tamed and under control."

During his concession speech, Congressman Hall vowed to help Hayworth make a smooth transition, saying, "After the dust has settled and we've gotten some rest, my staff and I would be happy to hand off to her and her staff any ongoing casework or projects that we had in the works, something that was not offered to me by my predecessor, but should be to all incoming representatives in the interest of the people."

The 37th State Senate District race between longtime incumbent  Suzi Oppenheimer and Bob Cohen is too close to call. At last look with 80% of the precincts reporting, the two were tied at 50%, with Oppenheimer leading by a slim 180 point margin.  Cohen addressed his supporters late Monday evening, "We  are very hopeful that we are going to finish this out sometime tonight  or maybe in the next couple of days, but whatever," adding, "I've waited eight months,I could wait another couple or three days."