Governor Cuomo today announced a statewide initiative to combat the rise of heroin use, which includes the addition of 100 investigators to the State Police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team.  The State will make supplies of the heroin antidote “Naloxone” available to all first responder units in the State; Cuomo also announced a targeted awareness campaign that will take place on all on all public college and university campuses.
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State Police from Oneonta arrested 19-year-old Matthew Hill Jr. of Oneonta for 3^rd degree Assault.  Troopers responded to a report of a dispute at a residence on Orchard Street in Oneonta, where Hill is accused of injuring the victim.  Hill was issued a ticket returnable to the Town of Oneonta Court on June 17^th.

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9 of the top 10 finalists from this year’s season of American Idol will be visiting NYSEG Stadium for the Binghamton Mets game on Tuesday, June 17^th at 6:35 PM. Fans can interact with the group at a pre-game meet & greet from 5:15 PM to 6:00 PM at the stadium. The singing stars will throw out the first pitch prior to the game and sing the National Anthem as a group.  The American Idol Live! Tour opens on Tuesday, June 24 in the Southern Tier at the Broome County Veteran’s Memorial Arena.

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Chobani is laying off production workers while adding positions at its headquarters in New York City as part of a company-wide restructuring. Chobani is eliminating fewer than 100 jobs,  mostly production workers, at its South Edmeston plant. Meanwhile, more than 100 new jobs are being added at the company headquarters in Norwich, and at its sales and marketing hub in New York City. Chobani officials declined to disclose the exact number of people who are losing their jobs or its total number of remaining employees. Chobani also established a business service center at its Norwich headquarters, to provide better support and service to its operations

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This year’s state budget saw changes to the Estate Tax that was blamed with preventing family farms from being passed down form generation to generation.  New York Farm Bureau President Dean Norton explains:

(Dean Norton 6-11-14)

Previous estate tax laws and inflationary increases in the value of land, often appraised farm land at millions dollars in value, making it almost impossible to the next generation to pay millions in estate taxes to keep the same operation going, resulting in the loss of farmland permanently.

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SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher will head a national group of college leaders that will promote  the Common Core standards across the country. She said the tougher testing is needed to prepare students for college, but this year, State leaders made modifications to the program following widespread complaints from educators, parents and students. More than 200 college and university leaders from 33 states will form the “Higher Ed for Higher Standards.” Promotion.

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The state’s top teachers union, which is suing New York over its property tax cap, is now saying the state’s property tax freeze plan is also unconstitutional. NYSUT filed suit against the state in February of 2013 over the property tax cap. Now it said the freeze plan, which offers rebates to those in localities, which stay within the cap, is unfair to districts whose residents vote to exceed the cap since they won’t get the rebate.  The Cuomo Administration responded to the request, to have the State Supreme Court consider both the state’s tax cap, and property tax freeze in the same case; the tax cap has reigned in property tax increases to at or below the rate of inflation.