Gov. Andrew Cuomo today signed the "Public Integrity Reform Act of 2011," which creates a new ethics watchdog panel and requires additional disclosures from lobbyists and lawmakers alike.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics will replace the Commission on Public Integrity. A spokesman for the CPI told me that things would transition smoothly over to JCOPE. That means a few high-profile possible investigations of accused corruption in the north country will go along as planned (JCOPE, like its predecessor, won't be able to comment on whether they're investigating any particular case, hence the "possible" caveat).

Thousands of readers like you have made Northern New York Newspapers the number one ranked website* for local news and sports coverage in the north country.

You can continue on to this article in a few seconds, or you can visit one of our websites:

• Watertown Daily Times
• The Ogdensburg Journal
• Daily Courier-Observer