“Inside City Hall,” an hour-long look at New York politics, can be seen on NY1 News weekdays at 7 and 10 p.m.

Last night, the three Republican candidates for U.S. Senate engaged in a lively debate.

Watch the entire debate above.

Tonight’s program: A debate with four Democratic candidates for a new Congressional seat in Queens.

Watch this morning’s Political Buzz with NY1 Political Bob Hardt discussing some of the stories making news today below:

New York Times

Thomas Kaplan notes: “The three Republicans hoping to challenge Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand fought to stress their differences in a televised debate on Sunday, seeking to draw attention to a primary campaign that has provoked little enthusiasm among voters.”

Danny Hakim reports: “Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders reached a deal Sunday night to create a new state agency to police abuse and neglect of more than one million New Yorkers with developmental disabilities, mental illnesses and other conditions that put them at risk, state officials said Sunday.”

Leland & Moynihan write: “In a slow, somber procession, several thousand demonstrators conducted a silent march on Sunday down Fifth Avenue to protest the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policies, which the organizers say single out minority groups and create an atmosphere of martial law for the city’s black and Latino residents.”

David Chen reports: “Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg built a $1 billion bet into his proposed $68.7 billion budget proposal: that the city would be able to sell 2,000 new yellow taxi medallions as part of a plan to expand street hail service throughout the five boroughs. But a judge’s ruling two weeks ago temporarily blocking the taxi plan, on a jurisdictional question about whether such policy should be set by the Legislature or by the City Council, has thrown the budget into flux, with two weeks to go until the start of the next fiscal year on July 1.”

New York Post

Fred Dicker reports: “State lawmakers will have a six-figure reason to be thankful this holiday season. A deal to approve lawmakers’ first pay raise since 1999 calls for legislators’ base $79,500 salary to jump to more than $100,000 starting Jan. 1, sources said. Members of Gov. Cuomo's Cabinet will also be celebrating, as the deal calls for their first raise in 13 years.”

And in his column, Dicker notes: “The high-stakes political battle over public disclosure of newly required teacher evaluations goes down to the wire today with the possibility that no agreement will be reached, The Post has learned.
Gov. Cuomo is pushing for legislation that would require easy and quick disclosure of all teacher-evaluation information, except the name of the teacher involved. Teachers’ names, along with the evaluations, would be available to parents of students in a teacher’s class.”

Josh Margolin writes: “Gov. Cuomo is so angry about his dad being dissed by Mayor Bloomberg, he’s holding funding for the 9/11 Museum hostage until a new mayor is elected, sources told The Post. Officials close to Cuomo said it all became personal because of how his father — former Gov. Mario Cuomo — was treated by the mayor’s people at Ground Zero ceremonies last Sept. 11.”

Erik Kriss notes: “Gov. Cuomo yesterday submitted a bill supported by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos to have the state take over the New York Racing Association for three years.
In that time, the state is expected to clean up the scandal-scarred franchise, which operates Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga.”

Bennett & Campanile write: “Here’s an inconvenient truth: New York is greening the wallet of Al Gore. Embattled city Comptroller John Liu has delivered a $16.56 million contract to the former vice president’s environmentally friendly investment firm, Generation Investment Management, to help manage hundreds of millions of dollars in city pension funds, The Post has learned. The Comptroller’s Office had previously awarded Gore’s firm $12.8 million in pension-fund business under Liu’s predecessor, Bill Thompson.”

New York Daily News

Reuven Blau notes: “More than 700 retired cops and firefighters have switched their pensions to a special 9/11-related disability status since the state permitted them to do so in 2006, the Daily News has learned. Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request reveal for the first time the demand for the World Trade Center disability benefit, which gives a pensioner three-quarters of their final pay per year, largely tax free.”

In his column, Ken Lovett writes: “Mindful of recent history, several state Senate Democrats say they would prefer continuing in the minority over kowtowing to four dissidents. The Dems insist they are more than willing to welcome back the four breakaway members of the Independent Democratic Caucus, especially if it helps them take back the majority from the GOP.”

Wall Street Journal

Sophia Hollander reports: “There will likely be no changes this year to the most contentious aspect of New York's 2010 divorce-reform package because a report analyzing its impact has been delayed again, officials and lawmakers said. State legislators said they were relying on a report from the independent Law Revision Commission to guide any attempt to adjust a law that transformed temporary alimony awards as part of a package of legislation best known for making New York the last state to have no-fault divorce.”

Until tomorrow.

Bob Hardt