Morning News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on October 25, 2022
Governor Hochul announced Monday that New York is sending out 28 million dollars to cities such as Buffalo and Rochester to combat gun violence. Each city can get up to 4 million dollars to be used as part of project RISE. RISE, which stands for Respond, Invest, Sustain and Empower is a community center based program meant to help youth and families in areas where there is more gun violence. Community centers can each receive up to 500K dollars. Hochul is saying that these community centers and initiatives will combat the root causes of gun violence and create safer neighborhoods.
A man claiming to be a police officer was detained by actual police Tuesday night behind TOPs Friendly Market in Batavia. The police responded to a call of someone who may have a gun chasing people in the area of Rite Aid on west Main and Lewiston Rd at around 9pm. The suspect is described as a thin white male wearing jeans and a red windbreaker with a black and blue baseball cap. No further details about him are available at this time.
Buffalo police are continuing their investigation into a crash that resulted in the deaths of four teenagers. According to officials, there were a total of six people inside of the stolen vehicle when yesterday’s accident happened at the entrance to the westbound Scajaquada Expressway from the westbound Kensington Expressway. Three of the victims died at the scene and the fourth passed away at a nearby hospital. The two people who survived, including the 16-year-old driver, were also hurt. The driver was taken into custody but there’s no word what charges they’ll face.
The “Nation’s Report Card” is painting a grim picture of the state of schools in the U.S. The National Assessment of Education Progress found that math scores for both fourth and eighth graders declined by record levels. Between 2019 and 2022, math scores fell by five points for fourth graders and eight points for eighth graders. 46.6% of students tested statewide were proficient in English, while 38.6% were proficient in math, the data show. Reading scores also fell, but the declines weren’t as steep.
Multiple Upstate New York school districts are among those with the slowest internet speeds in the state, according to a recent list from Stacker. Nearly 28 million students nationwide lack the internet speeds they need for digital learning, Stacker said. A total of 275 school districts in New York fail to meet minimum thresholds measured by megabytes per second. In the lowest 10 are districts like Victor and Canandaigua.
Last week the Centers for Disease Control voted to include the Covid-19 vaccine in the recommended vaccine schedule for 2023. The vote does not mandate the vaccine for anyone, including children attending public school. That decision is left up to individual states. Governor Hochul, when asked if kids in schools would have to get the shot to attend school, didn’t give a clear answer. Instead she said if it was to be made mandatory the decision would have to go up through the legislature in consultation with the Commissioner of Health. Zeldin has released a statement saying he is against mandating the vaccine for school children. Parents are on both sides of the issue, some saying they would feel safer if all kids had to be vaccinated against COVID and some pointing to children and teens suddenly developing heart problems and several athletes suddenly dying due to heart issues in recent months are reasons they are not vaccinating their kids.
If you go to buy beer this week you might see a sticker you hadn’t seen before on the box. It will read “Warning! It is illegal for any person 21 or older to purchase or provide alcohol to minors. Fines up to $1,000 and/or 1 year in jail.” This sticker is placed by Batavia High and Notre Dame students for Operation Project Sticker Shock as part of Red Ribbon Week. The week is sponsored by the DEA in honor of special agent Enrique Camarena who was tortured and killed by a cartel in Mexico in 1985. The red ribbon is a pledge to live drug free. Students will also be participating in activities at Recovery Station.
With just two weeks left until Election Day, the two candidates in the race for New York governor will be holding their first and only scheduled debate tonight. Incumbent Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul and her Republican challenger, Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin, are going to discuss issues that are important to voters at Pace University. Recent polls have shown that while the governor is leading the race, Zeldin has gained some ground in the contest. Hochul is hoping to win a full four-year term in office while Zeldin wants to become the first Republican since George Pataki to be elected governor.
Frontier Field in Rochester may be getting a new moniker. Monroe County Executive Adam Bello is recommending county legislators authorize an amendment to the contract with Frontier Communications regarding naming rights for the stadium used by the Rochester Red Wings. Under the amendment, Innovative Data Processing Solutions, a Henrietta-based company that specializes in cloud services and consulting, would take over the stadium’s naming rights. If the amendment is passed, the stadium’s name would change to Innovative Field. The stadium has been known as Frontier Field since its inception. Frontier purchased naming rights in 1994, with the stadium opening in 1996. Frontier’s current contract runs through 2025.