In his presentation of the budget on Monday evening, City Schools Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard said there may be some additional help from the federal stimulus package and state aid once that budget is passed. But he hasn't counted on...

Saul Maneiro has stepped up to run for Jose Cruz's seat in the County Legislature.
The announcement came from Maneiro, a Democrat, and not from the Democratic committee, which suggests that he still has to make it through the committee...

It sure didn't take long.
Bumpers of cars and trucks are already sporting messages like "Impeach Obama" and "Praise Allah and Obama." While Obama has been meeting heads of state in Europe, mending relationships with Russia, and reassuring the...

The landscape has been telling the story, and now a Brookings Institution study of the country's top 98 metro areas quantifies it: Jobs in Rochester have been moving farther away from the city.
Between 1998 and 2006 (the latest figures in the...

With the state budget out of the way, Democrats in the State Senate are now focusing on IDA reform.
The Dems sent out a press release late yesterday to announce that they've moved an IDA bill, sponsored by Senator Antoine Thompson, a...

Friends of the Rochester Public Library hosted a presentation on land value taxation and a discussion with Joshua Vincent, executive director of the Henry George Foundation of America, yesterday.
The foundation is a think-tank for the study of...

To understand why Representative Eric Massa is campaigning against Time Warner's proposed tiered, usage-based high-speed Internet plans, it helps to understand how he frames the issue.
Massa is taking the Chuck Schumer-approach: using the...

Democracy, it's nice to see you in action.
More than 25 speakers addressed the Monroe County Legislature last night. There was no one issue that brought everyone out, but several ongoing matters. Here's a summary of what they had to...

Representative Chris Lee says that the federal government should get involved with Time Warner's broadband rate change only as a last resort.
He's looking into Time Warner's proposal and is aware that there's broad concern over it. Public...

Consider this post a little food for thought.
Last night, the local Sierra Club held its annual Environmental Forum and the focus was on local and sustainable food.
How we choose to produce, purchase, and consume food has a major impact on the...

With pirates attacking ships off the coast of Africa, you might think you're caught in a time warp.
But no.
Governor David Paterson has drawn our attention to another present-day concern.
He introduced a bill in support of marriage equality...

It's Earth Day: when a broad spectrum of people and groups embrace all things green.
But one of the big criticisms of this kind of thing is that, come tomorrow, most people will go back to their normal lives and enviro-action again takes a...

Problems with the City School District's military recruitment policy have resurfaced.
Military recruiters have argued that the district's policy is not in compliance with federal laws.
During a presentation last night to members of the...

Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter is moving from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party.
That's good news for the Democrats, who are now only one shy of the 60 votes they need to prevent a filibuster in the Senate. (And assuming that Al...

The American Lung Association has released its annual State of the Air report, which measures how metro areas across the country fare with things like ground-level ozone and particle pollution.
Monroe County got an F in the ground-level ozone...

Barack Obama's pre-election speeches, often playing to themes of hope and change, seemed like clever marketing at the time.
His words, 100 days into his presidency, seem to hold even more meaning than before.
As conservatives lob every attack...