Oneonta Police & State Police responded to a report Friday of 2 subjects fleeing from a stolen vehicle and jumping into the Susquehanna River. Police received a report of a vehicle stolen from the municipal parking garage in Oneonta which matched the description of the vehicle that the subjects had fled from before jumping into the river. Police arrested 22-year-old Ryan Van Allen-Cichielo of Cape Coral, Florida; and 21-year-old Eric Moore of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, they were charged with 4th degree Grand Larceny. Both are Hartwick College students, they were arraigned in the City of Oneonta Court and remanded to the Otsego County Jail to appear at a later date.
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Bassett Medical Center has notified the State Office of Mental Health that due to severe provider shortages, they plan to discontinue inpatient psychiatric services. In the interim, the services will be maintained. Bassett’s emergency department will still care for patients with mental health issues; plans are underway to transition crisis center services from the hospital to a mobile crisis program. Patients currently in Bassett’s inpatient psychiatry unit will remain until they are ready for discharge. Patients needing longer-term services will be transferred to another psychiatric in Binghamton, Schenectady or Utica. Approval of the formal closure plan is expected from the state in 1 to 2 weeks.
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New York’s asthma-related Medicaid expenditures rose more than 26% in the last 5 years, as the state’s overall annual asthma bill topped $1.3 billion for medical costs and lost productivity, according to a report released Friday by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. 1.7 million people in New York suffer from asthma, according to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New York’s $55 billion Medicaid program enrolls approximately one in four New York State residents, including 559,000 diagnosed with asthma, and spent $532 million on asthma care in 2013.
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