Brianne Simonds of Masonville has entered a contest with the Grand Ole Opry, where she ended up being a top ten finalist.  Brianne told WCDO News about the contest:

(Brianne Simonds 3-10-14)

People can vote once every 24 hours though Wednesday at opry.com/actin, the grand prize winner is expected to be notified late Wednesday.

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Delaware County Deputies arrested 24 year old Amy Gilles of Kortright on an Arrest Warrant for 2 counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance, and possession of a hypodermic instrument. Gilles was taken into custody and turned over to the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office for processing.

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Governor Cuomo is waiting to see who the Republican Party nominates to run against him in the primary.  Cuomo compared the situation to 2010, when former GOP congressman Rick Lazio was the first to announce, Democrat Steve Levy made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nod and Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino won the nomination. A Wall Street Journal/Marist College poll shows that current Westchester County Executive & Gubernatorial Candidate Rob Astorino is behind Cuomo by 35% points.

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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman released the list of the top 10 consumer fraud complaints received by his office last year. Internet-related complaints topped the list, followed by automobile-related scams and credit-related complaints that involved debt collection, credit card billing and identity theft. In addition, the Attorney General’s Office continues to receive a large number of mortgage-related complaints. For more information go to oag.state.ny.us.

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The state’s NY-Sun initiative has awarded $28.6 million to 37 projects across the state, including 29 photovoltaic projects that will add 33.6 megawatts of solar power generation capacity. Governor Cuomo said that the NY-Sun initiative offers a total of 299 megawatts of solar capacity that has been installed or is under development in the past two years.  The Solar Foundation, an independent, nonprofit research organization, ranked New York fifth in the nation in the number of solar jobs per capita, with more than 5,000 jobs in 2013.

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Governor Cuomo has yet to solicit requests from colleges interested in a plan to provide free courses to prisoners. When the governor last month proposed to use state funds to pay for the program, his office signaled a formal request for proposals would be opened March 3rd. His office also hasn’t estimated how much the program would cost in the budget. The requests and the funding for the program are still being developed. It would cost the state $5,000 per inmate who participates in the college program, which would be available at 1 prison in 10 separate regions of the state.

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There is a push to ban e-cigarette marketing campaigns targeted at children.  US Senator Charles Schumer said companies are marketing their battery-powered nicotine devices directly to children by adding flavors such as vanilla, bubble gum, or cotton candy to the products. He is co-sponsoring a bill that would require the FTC to ban such marketing.   A recent study found middle and high school students, who smoke e-cigarettes, are 7 times more likely to smoke traditional cigarettes

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