New York

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has named Jennifer Freeman director of communications. She will begin Monday at a salary of $145,000.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s Board of Commissioners approved a new architectural design developed for the exterior cladding system that will cover the 185-foot tall secure base of One World Trade Center.

The Empire State Development Corp. has named a review committee that will hear presentations of final strategic plans proposed by officials from 10 regions throughout New York.

Weak and unsettled economic conditions worldwide have darkened New York’s fiscal outlook, the Division of the Budget said in the midyear update to its fiscal 2012 financial plan.

The board of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority discussed the proposed four-year budget and capital plan for 2012 to 2014 on Wednesday amid the hovering shadow of labor negotiations.

Westchester County, N.Y., is maintaining its rainy-day fund to protect its triple-A status from all three major bond rating agencies, county Executive Robert Astorino said in his $1.7 billion budget presentation to the Westchester legislature.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York plans a sale of $135 million revenue bonds under its school districts revenue bond financing program Wednesday, after a one-day retail period.

The New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority expects to issue $450 million of new bonds Tuesday.

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the underlying general obligation rating of Lancaster County two notches to A1 from Aa2, affecting $268 million of parity and debt.

Nassau Off-Track Betting Corp. has filed an appeal in its prolonged legal fight with New York harness tracks, Newsday reported, quoting OTB officials.

Standard & Poor's has lowered the long-term general obligation debt of Amityville to A-minus from A, with a negative outlook.

The New York City Transitional Finance Authority sold $900 million of future tax-secured, fixed-rate new money subordinate bonds on Wednesday. They consisted of $600 million of tax-exempt bonds, $200 million of taxable bonds, and $100 million of taxable qualified school construction bonds.

Mike Spano will become the next mayor of Yonkers, N.Y., which saw a two-notch downgrade to its bond rating last month.

Supervisors and workers in a signal construction unit at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Metro-North Hudson and Harlem commuter train lines have manipulated the payroll system by abusing overtime rules that inflate their salaries and pensions, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a forensic audit of overtime practices released Wednesday.

New York City reported a $5 million surplus in its general fund for the 31st straight year, but warning signs hover, Comptroller John Liu said in his annual analysis of the city's finances.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday announced his appointment of Leecia Eve to deputy secretary for economic development and his recommendation of Gil Quiniones to be president and chief executive of the New York Power Authority, pending legislative approval. Quiniones is currently acting president.

With the appointments two weeks ago of Joseph Lhota and Patrick Foye as heads of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, respectively, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has his own people in charge of the two major agencies.

Hispanics are among the most potent market forces in the American economy, yet inadequate access to capital constrains them, New York City Comptroller John Liu said at a banking conference last week.

Time is running short for Nassau County officials to have a new arena in place for the New York Islanders, National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman implored last week.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $30.1 billion of outstanding debt contains about $5.2 billion of variable-rate debt, of which $3 billion is in synthetic fixed-rate mode achieved through interest-rate swaps, according to a derivatives portfolio report.