• In a Letter to the Editor published last Friday, LAC President/Director Paul N. Samuels applauded the New York Times Editorial Board's strong stance on prison closures and reiterated the importance of New York State’s alternative-to-incarceration and re-entry programs.

State

• Governor Cuomo's Medicaid panel approved a package designed to reduce health care spending by $2.3 billion, which included spending caps and funding decreases for all Medicaid providers.

National

• While the House of Representatives voted to defund the health care law, a federal judge upheld its constitutionality on Tuesday.
• The New York Times reported on states looking to close budget gaps using inmate labor, and explored the ramifications of mental health services' budget cuts on the criminal justice system.

• The New York Association of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Providers released its budget paper.
• The AIDS Alliance hosted a conference call on the current status of the 2011 federal budget and the release of the president's budget.