Governor Paterson has reportedly decided not to seek election this fall. Multiple media reports this morning indicated that Paterson had decided not to run for a first full term as governor, but that he will serve out the remainder of his term. The governor has been under fire for allegedly contacting a woman who had accused one of his top aides, David Johnson, of domestic violence. Paterson said earlier this week he was instructing State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to investigate the conduct of his administration and the State Police in the domestic dispute case involving Johnson. Paterson kicked off his campaign just last weekend on Long Island and at that time vowed to “press on.” The 55-year-old Paterson took office two years ago after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer.
If Congress does not act, over a half-million New Yorkers will lose their unemployment benefits. Five-hundred-75-thousand New Yorkers will see the end of benefits without an extension. Acting State Labor Commissioner Colleen Crawford Gardner says for every six people who are unemployed, there is only one job opening. She also said that the average length of unemployment is about 30 weeks. She is hopeful that the U.S. Senate will vote to extend the benefits.
A woman from Town of Boston who had not been seen since Monday has been discovered alive. She was found in her vehicle on the parking ramp at Women & Children’s Hospital Thursday evening. Erie County sheriff’s officials say 50-year-old Sandra M. Biggerstaff had last been seen by her family on Monday morning. She was seen on a gas station surveillance tape getting fuel shortly before nine that morning. She is being evaluated at Erie County Medical Center.
A group of students at Orchard Park Middle School are being disciplined for their involvement in a Facebook network which leveled threats at school teachers. Six students are being disciplined for either creating or taking part in the network which was orchestrated by two students at home on February 18th during winter break. Superintendent Joan Thomas says four other students put comments on the page.
During Thursday’s bi-partisan Health Summit in Washington, DC, a comment concerning a Buffalo family raised a lot of eyebrows. There are many poor people across the country who have no health insurance and Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter relayed a story about a Buffalo woman who is so poor that she used her late sister’s dentures. Slaughter’s comment caused a stir on the Internet with one blog calling the false teeth story the quote of the day. An official at Slaughter’s office said the legislator from Fairport learned about the story from Buffalo from a doctor at the Community Health Center of Buffalo.
Having made national headlines as prosecutor who worked the so-called “Lackawanna Six” terrorism case, William J. Hochul has been approved by a Senate panel as U.S. attorney for Western New York. Hochul won unanimous approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee. He had been lead prosecutor in the trial involving a group of Muslim-American men from Lackawanna who had trained at a camp in Afghanistan which was run by the al-Qaeda terror group.
The Buffalo School Board has agreed to pay the legal bills for a teacher’s aide acquitted of sexually abusing an autistic student. The board, on Wednesday night, gave the green light to pay out more than 44-thousand dollars in lawyer’s fees for 62-year-old John Colazzi. The teacher’s aide at the Discovery School was accused of sexually abusing a four-year-old student in the bathroom of the school in November of 2007. He was found not guilty in a non-jury trial. The school board’s attorney says state law requires the board to pay for the defense costs. Colazzi has been reinstated to a teacher’s aide position but in a different school.
Hockey enthusiasts in West Seneca are trying to convince the town board to build a new facility with two ice rinks. At Wednesday’s council meeting, several proposals were put in front of the governing body. Supporters presented options ranging from a new dual rink at Centennial Park to just simply repairing the current facility at that location. Repairs could cost two-and-a-half million dollars while the two rink idea could be nearly 14-million dollars. Those in favor also floated the idea of building the twin rinks at the old Seneca Mall site. Supporters say the new rinks would give kids more ice time to become better hockey players and would keep thousands of dollars in ice rental fees from leaving the town. Local hockey groups say they currently have to seek ice time from East Aurora to Fort Erie. They say the new facility could be a revenue generator from hosting tournaments.
