Weekend News Brief
Written by Dan Fischer on July 12, 2024
Governor Kathy Hochul is signing off on a series of lithium ion battery safety bills. One of bills sets a battery standard that retailers must meet, which will ban refurbished lithium ion batteries. Another new law will require retailers to provide an operating manual on how to safely charge the batteries and store e-bikes. Batteries commonly used in e-bikes have been a big problem, causing 268 fires in New York City alone last year. Meanwhile, Hochul also signed several bills aimed at improving pedestrian safety when it comes to e-bikes.
The Rochester Institute of Technology is now the subject of a civil rights lawsuit. The legal action is being taken by a group called the Equal Protection Project. It’s alleged RIT illegally discriminated against students based on their sex and gender identity when determining eligibility for scholarship money. The school says it won’t comment on this litigation.
Governor Kathy Hochul is announcing almost a half a-billion dollars in funding for bridge rehabilitation across the state. Western New York is one of the regions that will benefit. Over $3 million will go towards replacing the Glenwood East Concord Road Bridge over Sprague Brook in Erie County. Over $18 million will go to the New York D-O-T to replace the Belt Parkway bridges over Ocean Avenue and Bedford Avenue and the Town of Brookhaven, Long Island is getting almost a million for the replacement of Barton Avenue culvert carrying Swan River Stream. The State’s Bridge NY initiative supports projects that will reduce the risk of flooding and improve the resiliency of structures.
Starting this weekend, visitors can interact with turtles, sturgeon, and more diverse species native to the Great Lakes at a brand new exhibit opening in the Niagara Falls Aquarium. The Great Lakes exhibit is part of the Niagara Halls Heritage Gateways project that works to stimulate reinvestment in the city. Several grants helped to create the aquarium’s latest addition. A $1 million dollar capital grant from I LOVE NY’s Market New York program and a grant of $675,000 by Empire State Development supported the aquarium’s expansion. Great Lakes 360 is located near other Niagara Falls attractions including the Niagara Gorge, State Parks, and the New York Power Authority.
New York’s Cannabis Control Board is taking steps to move forward with both regulation and enforcement following problems connected to its troubled rollout. Governor Hochul announced the state has approved 109 more adult-use licenses, bringing the total to 730 so far. Meantime, state enforcement reports the seizure of nearly $30 million worth of illegal product while padlocking 164 stores statewide. Hochul says the state is building a robust, equitable legal market that’s driving significant economic growth for communities. The state now has over 144 operating adult-use dispensaries.
Organizers have announced who is going to be serving as the headline act for this year’s Rochester Fringe Festival. Former Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson is going to perform at Kodak Hall on Friday, September 13th at 7:30. The full lineup for this year’s festival will be revealed during a news conference on July 23rd. Tickets are available right now for the festival, which is happening from September 10th through the 21st.
The annual Crossroads House Tent Sale is scheduled for Wednesday, July 24th. There will be many household items, as well as furniture, collectibles and toys to choose from. The preview and pre-sale is from 9am until 1:00 on the 24th; there’s a $5 entry fee and kids under 16 admitted free. The full sale starts July 25th from 9am until 6pm. For event details, go to www.crossroads.com/events.
The Genesee County 4-H Market Animal Auction will be on Thursday, July 25th starting at 6:00pm at the Genesee County Fair. The sale features animals raised by local 4-H members. You can bid online; head on over to www.williamkentinc.com.
The Genesee Valley Civil War Roundtable will meet on Wednesday, July 17th at the Pavilion United Methodist Church, at the corner of 63 & 19 in Pavilion. The public is welcome.
LeRoy-Stafford Senior citizens are hosting a luncheon on Wednesday, July 17th at 12:30, at Our Lady of Mercy Parish Center, 44 Lake Street, LeRoy. Lunch will be provided along with a dessert, at a cost of $5 per person. Please bring along your own beverage. Entertainment will follow lunch. For more information, please call 506-5233.
NBC News Features:
AT&T believes a hacker has stolen records of calls and texts from almost all of its wireless customers. The company announced this morning that the stolen data doesn’t include the content of calls or texts, or personal info like Social Security numbers or birth dates. It does include which numbers a customer interacted with, and data like how long a call lasted. It affects customers who were subscribed from May 1st through October 31st, 2022 and a small potion of customers in January 2023. AT&T said it’s working with law enforcement and at least one person has been apprehended.
This summer marks the ten-year anniversary of the ALS ice bucket challenge. The campaign saw people around the world dumping ice water on their heads to raise money for care and research into ALS – also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The ALS Association credits the global effort with “forever changing the future and trajectory of ALS.”
The IRS says it has collected more than a billion dollars in past due taxes from millionaires since last fall. The announcement made today was credited to funds provided by the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress nearly two years ago. IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel says while the agency clearly knew the taxes were owed, they simply hadn’t had the staffing or resources to go after scores of wealthy individuals.
Multigenerational living arrangements are increasing in the U.S. and the data says that may be a good thing. A Harris poll found that 45-percent of adults in their twenties are living with their parents-making it the most common living arrangement for that age group for the first time since just after the Great Depression. While this might initially seem like over-dependence among a generation, turns out it’s beneficial for all parties. The “boomerang kids” are contributing to household income and household labor. It was only after World War II that federal programs such as the GI Bill gave young people the incentive to buy their own house, but with people living longer and delaying maturity benchmarks like marriage and children, the parent/child relationship is evolving into adulthood.
Consumers lost over a billion dollars to romance scams in 2023. That’s according to the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC found that about 40-percent of people who said they lost money to a romance scam in 2022 said the contact started on social media. Median losses per person amounted to two-thousand dollars, and almost three-quarters of those who had scammed were men. So-called romance scams involve building a relationship and trust with the victim so that the target willingly provides access to their accounts or transfers money to the criminal. If you suspect a romance scam you can report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, or by contacting the F.B.I.
