Statewide, there were 33 school districts designated in fiscal stress, according to State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.  This year, 4 districts are categorized as being in significant fiscal stress, including the Norwich City School District.  Local districts that were listed as susceptible to fiscal stress were the oxford Academy, & the Schenevus Central school district.  The report also noted that the Southern Tier was the only region with a decrease from the previous school fiscal year in the number of districts in fiscal stress. Central New York and the North Country regions had the largest percentages of districts in a fiscal stress category.

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Governor Cuomo has proposed spending 10 million dollars to make sure that the Census takers count every individual living in the state to be counted:

(Cuomo 1-23-20)

Those who would like to be census takers can sign up at 2020 census.gov.

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The proposed budget announced by Governor Cuomo this week has a 6.1 billion dollar gap, about 1/3 of that from Medicaid Spending, Local Assemblyman John Salka comments:

(John Salka 1-23-20)

Lawmakers have until April 1st to get a budget passed, the budget proposed by the Governor total 173.8 Billion Dollars.

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The Greater Oneonta Historical Association announced today that the Friends of the Oneonta Theater are looking to revitalize the building. Society Executive Director Bob Brzozowski explains:

(Bob Brzozowski 1-23-20)

The Theater was built in 1897 & has been dormant for the last several years; more information is available at the oneontahistory.org.

Governor Cuomo today announced legislation in the Executive Budget to make New York’s fracking ban permanent. The measure would restrict the Department of Environmental Conservation from approving permits that would authorize an applicant to drill, deepen, plug back or convert wells that use high-volume hydraulic fracturing as a means to complete or recomplete a well.

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State Senator Fred Akshar released his latest Community Voice Survey on the controversial new bail reform law that went into effect at the beginning of the year.  The poll found 49% of respondents said the changes were bad for New York while 37% said they were good for the Empire State.  Akshar supports a full repeal, he has also introduced legislation to fix key parts of the bail reform law, including a bill to restore bail for several violent crimes & he also introduced legislation to remove the option of cashless bail if the arrested individual has been convicted of a felony in the past 10 years.

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Citizens Energy Vice President Michael Kennedy will dedicate a major solar array in the town of Chenango today to provide green power to subscribers of the company’s JOE-4-SUN program.  Citizens Energy has partnered with Southern Tier Solar Works, a non-profit program of the Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition, to bring clean energy to the region. The event will take place at 11:00 AM at 400 WEST CHENANGO ROAD in CASTLE CREEK.

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The American Red Cross will hold another Blood drive today in Otsego County.  The drive will be held at the Foothills Performing Arts Center on Market Street in Oneonta, from 1:00 to 6:00 PM, Walk-ins are welcome,  appointments can be made using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or enabling the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device,

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