The New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services announced a new, multi-year program to train counseling professionals to better enable them to deliver treatment for those with gambling addictions. Many individuals seek private practitioners for help to address problem gambling and this new training program ensures that private practitioners are knowledgeable about problem gambling and will increase access to treatment and support services. New Yorkers struggling with problem gambling, can find help and hope by calling the State’s HOPEline at 1-877-8-HOPENY .
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Governor Cuomo today announced New York state parks, historic sites and campgrounds hosted another successful season, with 65.3 million estimated visits in 2015. Park attendance increased 5% from 2014 to 2015, it was boosted by a variety of factors, including national exposure for Letchworth and Watkins Glen State Parks, which were ranked first and third best state parks in the nation by USA Today; and favorable weather throughout the summer and late into the fall.
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The 2015 New York hunting season proved to be one of the safest on record and yielded the first year without a hunting-related shooting fatality since the 1950s, The DEC reported only 23 hunting incidents, the third lowest number on record, with 10 incidents self-inflicted and 13 two-party incidents. 2015 also continued the trend of declining incidents with New York’s hunting-related shooting incident rate, declining almost 80% since the 1960s.
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Attorney General Eric Schneiderman joined the Federal Trade Commission, the other 49 states, and the District of Columbia in announcing the successful conclusion of the largest multistate charity fraud action to date. 2 nationwide sham cancer charities are being dissolved and their president is banned from profiting from any charity fundraising in the future. Cancer Fund of America and Cancer Support Services and their leader, James Reynolds, claimed to help cancer patients, but instead, the majority of donations benefited the operators, their families and friends, and employee fundraisers. The complaint was filed in May 2015, targeting 4 sham charities run by Reynolds, which bilked more than $187 million from donors, including nearly $3 million in New York State.
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The deadline to apply for scholarships for Sidney High School Seniors is this Sunday, Tracy Young is part of the Sidney Dollars for Scholars program:
(Tracy Young 3-30-16)
The Website to make the profiles & apply for scholarships is scholarshipamerica.org.
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Practices will start this Friday at I-88 Speedway in Afton, for the upcoming racing season, track spokesperson Denise Paige explains:
(Denise Paige 3-30-16)
Paige said that the racing season begins April 15th and runs through the weekend of October 8th & 9th.
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The state learned that hundreds of faulty bolts were discovered within the reactor at the Indian Point Unit 2 Plant, the latest in a series of incidents that raise concerns about the management, maintenance and equipment standards at the plant. Governor Cuomo stated that there was no immediate danger to public health and safety, but the Governor said that he believes that the plant should NOT be re-licensed.
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New York State’s unemployment rate dropped 1/10th to 4.8% in February. Locally, Chenango County’s rate was 5.8%, Delaware County at 6.5% and Otsego County at 5.6%.
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A federal jury on Tuesday convicted 25-year-old Antonio Ballard of Binghamton, for engaging in a sex trafficking and prostitution business involving minors. Ballard faces sentencing on July 27th.
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Former New York state Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver was disbarred Tuesday by the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court in Manhattan. Silver was convicted for abusing his power while serving as Speaker of the State Assembly from 1994 until last year. He faces sentencing in a couple of weeks.
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