Cuomo watch: News release shows 'historic' restraint

At least they didn't call it historic.

During a slow holiday news week, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's office touted the opening of a "Taste NY" store at the Chittenango rest area on the New York State Thruway between Utica and Syracuse.

The administration, which likes to pepper its major news releases with "historic," "landmark" and similar adjectives, routinely finds no item too small to plug.

In the past two months alone, the governor has announced that nine Long Island chefs agreed to use more New York-made products; that a law firm opened new offices in Buffalo and that a state Web page now lists farmers' markets -- and reminded homeowners to test their smoke detectors.

-- Yancey Roy