Cuomo watch: Economy taking center stage

There can be no mistaking Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's increasing focus on the state economy, just two months before he proposes a new budget. He has been sounding the alarm about New York's growing budget gap. Projected at $2.4 billion just a few months ago, it's now $3.5 billion, the governor says.

"The situation is somewhat worse than what you read in the newspapers," Cuomo told the state Democratic Committee Thursday. "We have a problem that's worse than a budget gap. We have a stalled economy."

Halfway into the fiscal year, revenue is about $350 million less than originally projected, he said. (There are legislative estimates both higher and lower than Cuomo's.) Still, jobs are increasing: New York has 63,500 more private-sector jobs than in October 2010, up a modest 0.7 percent. -- Yancey Roy