President Barack Obama will travel through New York and Pennsylvania today and tomorrow on a two-day bus tour to talk about affordable higher education for the middle class. Today the President will deliver remarks at the University at Buffalo, and Henninger High School in Syracuse. Tomorrow on Friday, the President will participate in a town hall event at Binghamton University, and will deliver remarks at an event at Lackawanna College in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
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Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that $71 million is now available through New York State Homes & Community Renewal for shovel-ready projects to build affordable housing units across the state. Of the new $5 million allocated for Community Investment Fund awards, 60% percent will be allocated to projects in urban areas of New York State, and the remaining 40% will be allocated to projects in rural areas of the State. Governor Cuomo also announced that FEMA has approved New York’s request for an extension for ongoing Public Assistance outreach in counties affected by the late June/early July flooding this summer. FEMA initially granted the Governor’s request for Public Assistance eligibility for Allegany, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Franklin, Herkimer, Madison, Montgomery, Niagara, Oneida, Otsego, and Warren counties on July 12th and later amended the list by adding Broome, Chautauqua, Clinton and Essex counties on July 26th. Public Assistance is for emergency work and the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged facilities.
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The City of Norwich will be closing Cole Drive today for paving. No traffic will be permitted on Cole Drive for the better part of the day. Also, Starting at 5 pm on Friday, New York State DOT will be completely closing the Spring Brook Bridge on State Highway 12 between Brisben and Greene. It is expected to be closed through Wednesday, August 28th. During this time State Highway 12 will be completely shut down to all but local and emergency traffic, up to the bridge project. Travelers should use County Road 32 as an alternate means of travel around this area.
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The race has been set for the Office of Otsego County Treasurer this November. Representatives for Republican Edward Keator Jr., the Treasurer for the Village of Cooperstown, and acting County Treasurer Henry “Russ” Bachman, an independent running with support from the Democratic Party, said the two hopefuls have collected the needed number of signatures to be placed on the November ballot. County Treasurer Dan Crowell will also be on the ballot because he did not announce his plans to leave office at the end of the current year until after it was too late to have his name scrubbed from the ballot. Crowell is currently on active duty with the U.S. Army. Bachman will be listed as the candidate for the Otsego First party, while Keator, who stepped into the race after Crowell signaled he would not seek re-election, is running as the candidate for Common Cents. Meanwhile, three candidates will be seeking two Oneonta town justice seats. Dawn Oliver will run on the independent Citizens for Oneonta line and on the Democratic Party line. Also running will be Sean Farrell, a Republican who previously announced his candidacy, and incumbent Bruce Smith, a Republican who has served four terms. Two Oneonta town justices will be elected in November.
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The Bainbridge-Guilford School Board will hold a special meeting this evening at 6:30pm in the district conference room. They will move into executive session to discuss several personnel items and they may convene in open session to approve the items.
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A new hiking trail along the Pepacton Reservoir is set to open next week just outside the village of Andes. The Shavertown trail is 5.2 miles long, with the trailhead located near the kayak/canoe storage area off of County Route 1, six miles south of Andes. The trail will officially open next Friday, August 30th.