Morning News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on October 14, 2022
Having trouble paying back your student loans? New York State now has a little bit more debt relief. Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill Thursday ending the practice of charging an additional fee to debtors when collecting outstanding debts owed to the state from educational expenses. Before this bill, a fee of 22% was added by state law in addition to the total debt due. The governor said that students who are already having trouble paying back their loans shouldn’t be hit with additional fees.
A new poll has been released involving the race for New York governor and it shows one candidate has a solid lead over their opponent. According to the Marist College survey, Democrat and incumbent Governor Kathy Hochul has a 10-point advantage over her Republican challenger, Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin. But, Hochul’s lead is only eight points among those who say they’ll definitely vote. Hochul is looking to win a full four-year term in office while Zeldin is hoping to become the first Republican since George Pataki to be elected governor. Election Day is coming up on Tuesday, November 8th.
Former WROTB CEO Michael Nolan says he will appeal the decision throwing out his lawsuit against the gambling corporation. The decision was thrown out because Nolan didn’t file soon enough after he alleged his First Amendment rights were violated by WROTB by firing him in retaliation for speaking to federal investigators.
In Elba there is a new Sheriff’s deputy in the schools. Deputy Ryan Young, a 6 year veteran of the sheriffs office will be assisting in keeping the kids safe at the schools. In BOCES Deputy Kyle Tower will be on duty. Deputy Jordan Alejandro has been assigned to Oakfield Alabama. These School resource officers are there to provide security and safety services for the faculty and students. Elba didn’t have an SRO until now and the Sheriffs office is pleased to be helping out there as well.
Parents in New York are asking the state to pass a bill which will change how schools handle discipline. Specifically, they want schools to stop suspending and expelling students. Often schools can’t handle bad behavior in house so they send the kids home. Most of the kids who are kicked out are teens but in the upstate area over 600 pre-k through 3rd graders were suspended or expelled in the 2020-2021 year and over 15 thousand kids were kicked out in total. The data showed black and Hispanic students, students with disabilities, and economically disadvantaged students, were suspended at higher rates than their peers. The parents want the state to pass the Children’s Agenda which will implement alternative methods, solutions not suspensions, the NYS Culturally responsive sustained education framework, and provide additional funding for more solutions to be found.
In Rochester the Police aren’t the only ones who show up to an emergency call. The Person in Crisis team was formed in 2021 to deal with mental health situations that the police might not be trained to handle. In the beginning these crisis counselors would respond to 15-20 calls a day. Now its up to 150 calls a week. Response times are usually measured in the minutes when an ambulance might take almost an hour to arrive. In the city people can call 988 or 211 for mental health emergencies.
The Sabres started off slow but came back to pick up the win in their season opener against the Ottawa Senators Thursday night. Captain Kyle Okposo lead the Buffalo team to a 4 to 1 win after Ottowa scored their only goal in the first period. Peterka, Dahlin and Olofsson scored for the Sabres. Next up is a home game against the Panthers Saturday at 1pm.
The Buffalo Bills will be hitting the road this weekend to battle the team that’s eliminated them from the playoffs the past two seasons. The Bills are taking on Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Buffalo is coming off of a 38 to three victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers last week that improved their record this season to four wins and one loss. Kickoff for Sunday’s contest is scheduled for four-25 p-m.
