Karen DeWitt
Capitol Bureau Chief, New York State Public RadioKaren has covered state government and politics for New York State Public Radio, a network of 10 New York and Connecticut stations, since 1990. She is also a regular contributor to the statewide public television program about New York State government, New York Now. She appears on the reporter’s roundtable segment, and interviews newsmakers.
Karen previously worked for WINS Radio, New York, and has written for numerous publications, including Adirondack Life and the Albany newsweekly Metroland.
She is a past recipient of the prestigious Walter T. Brown Memorial award for excellence in journalism, from the Legislative Correspondents Association, and was named Media Person of the Year for 2009 by the Women’s Press Club of New York State.
Karen is a graduate of the State University of New York at Geneseo.
-
A new poll by Siena College finds Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul leading Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin in the 2022 race to hold New York's top elected post. -
Public safety issues are dominating the governor’s race in New York in recent days as Republican candidate Lee Zeldin calls for repealing the state’s bail reform laws and Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul tells police chiefs that she supports more funding for law enforcement. -
The troubled state Joint Commission on Public Ethics, or JCOPE, went out of businesses earlier this month, after Governor Kathy Hochul and the state legislature agreed to replace it with a new ethics panel, but progress has been slow. -
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the state will spend $70 million for improving child care services in New York State, as part of a plan that ends the state sales tax on baby diapers. -
New York Governor Kathy Hochul will soon be appointing a new chief judge for the state, now that Janet DiFiore has announced she’s leaving at the end of the summer. Hochul has an opportunity to remake the court. -
Questions have been raised over campaign donations made to New York Governor Kathy Hochul by a small, family-owned company during a time when they were paid over $600 million to deliver COVID tests to the state. But the governor said there’s no pay to play going on. -
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the state is prepping for a possible new surge of COVID-19 this fall, adds no new rules like indoor masking are anticipated right now. -
Governor Kathy Hochul’s opponent in the race for governor, Lee Zeldin, said Hochul is stalling a review of the state’s COVID-19 policy decisions, including the deaths of thousands of nursing home residents, in order to gain political advantage. -
The New York State Legislature was voting Friday on bills to address two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings on gun safety and abortion rights. The measures include new restrictions on carrying a concealed weapon and a constitutional amendment protecting abortion. -
Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature are meeting in a special session to address the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the state’s 100-year-old law limiting the carrying of concealed weapons. Lawmakers had agreed on the parameters of a new bill on Thursday afternoon but were still nailing down details.
