WASHINGTON - New York's Senior Sen. Charles Schumer played an integral part in Monday's festivities as chairman of the Inauguration Committee.

It was therefore his duty to open and guide the 57th inaugural ceremonies.

"No matter how many times one witnesses this event, it...never fails to make ones heart beat faster," he said.

Schumer is also using the opportunity to promote New York products, including many made right here in our area. The menu for the day included Fage Greek yogurt from Johnstown, Saratoga Water and pie with apples from Golden Harvest Farms in Columbia County.

The National Rifle Association said the secretive negotiations and lightning-fast passage of New York’s tough new gun control laws squelched the powerful gun lobby’s ability to mount opposition.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he had to engineer quick enactment to prevent a counterproductive buying spree of now-outlawed guns.

The legislation was negotiated over the weekend, introduced on the first day of the 2013 legislative session and signed into law the next day.

The NRA, which has thwarted such restrictions nationwide, had members working the phones but didn’t have enough time to coordinate a public rally. The gun-rights group and some New York lawmakers say the rushed legislation also undermined public input and meaningful debate.

ALBANY - Assemblyman Jim Tedisco (R - Glenville) was not happy that no one from the New York State Thruway Authority responded to his request to participate in a public hearing Assembly Republicans held. "Mr. Director, we had a hearing Wednesday, which we asked you or any of your staff people to show up," Tedisco said to Thruway Executive Director Thomas Madison. "You use transparency a lot. That doesn't sound like transparency to me."

"Thruway Authority expenses have grown at a faster pace than Thruway Authority revenue has for at least the last ten years," noted Assemblywoman Jane Corwin (R - Clarence).

Since toll revenue is almost the only source of money to operate and repair the Thruway, spending more than you take in year after year is a formula for just the situation top executives now find themselves in.