GOP HOUSE MEMBERS HIT GAS BAN: The Republican House members from New York are unsurprisingly not thrilled with the passage of a ban on gas in most new buildings. They want Hochul to “reverse” the law approved by the state Legislature as part of the budget. “Natural gas appliances give hard-working families an affordable way to cook their meals and heat their homes,” states the letter signed by Reps. Elise Stefanik, Andrew Garbarino, Nick Lalota, Nicholas Langworthy, Mike Lawler, Brandon Williams, Anthony D'Esposito, Marc Molinaro, Claudia Tenney and Nicole Malliotakis. “Not only are natural gas appliances the preferred appliances for many New Yorkers, they also are reliable and can be critical during emergency situations.” The zero-emission requirement for new buildings includes exemptions for emergency generators. Most gas furnaces do not work without electrical service. The state’s building codes council is tasked with implementing the new requirements that will begin to go into effect for single-family new homes in 2026. — Marie J. French REAL ESTATE: The median asking price for a home in New York City surpassed $1 million this April for the first time since 2018, according to a new report from StreetEasy. At $1,049,000, the median asking price was up 7.6 percent from April 2022, while the number of listings that went into contract was down 29 percent over the year. Kenny Lee, an economist at StreetEasy, wrote that given high mortgage rates, “it’s no surprise that sales this year have been more modest compared to 2021 and 2022, when unusually low mortgage rates led to surging buyer demand.” Still, he noted buyers remain active in the market, leading to “one of the strongest sales markets so far this year compared to the past decade.” — Janaki Chadha EDUCATION: A number of school districts were not in compliance with the state Education Department’s 2020 data privacy regulations to protect students, teachers and principals’ personal data, according to an audit by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office. About 30 percent of school data breaches reviewed by DiNapoli’s office were not reported to SED within 10 days as mandated, according to the audit. And in 40 percent of cases, it was unclear if affected individuals were informed as incident reports often did not include the date of notification. Tina Kim, deputy Ccmptroller of state government accountability, said SED and school districts had responsibility to protect student data and systems well before the Covid-19 pandemic but remote learning increased reliance on information technology services, apps and third party programs. Schools, she said, were not prepared for “the heightened cyber risks.” “Cyber security incidents at New York’s schools more than tripled over the last 3 years, resulting in personal information of students, families or teachers being compromised,” Kim said in a statement. “Whether through human error, data breaches or costly ransomware attacks, when personal information is on the internet, it is at risk for identity theft and other types of fraud.” The audit covered the period of March 2020 through November 2022. — Madina Touré HOSPITAL STAFFING: NYC Health + Hospitals spent $549 million on temporary nurses in 2022, officials testified Tuesday at a City Council budget hearing. Nurses made an average of $120 per hour under contracts that typically lasted 12 to 16 weeks. The previously undisclosed figures shed light on the extent of the public health system’s staffing woes during the Covid surge prompted by the omicron variant and even after cases subsided. The spending on temporary staff is driving Health + Hospitals’ shortfall for the 2023 fiscal year, executives said earlier this year. — Maya Kaufman
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