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Binghamton residents hold vigil for victims of Buffalo shooting
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Over 100 people gathered in downtown Binghamton to light candles and ready supplies to send to Buffalo.
WSKG (https://wskg.org/category/news/crime-and-justice/)
Over 100 people gathered in downtown Binghamton to light candles and ready supplies to send to Buffalo.
Investigators say they are looking into a document published online filled with rants about race and the “replacement” theory.
“The hate has not just infected our society and how people think. It’s literally been weaponized.”
The district attorney insisted that law enforcement had followed proper procedure, and that nothing else could have been done to intervene, under current law.
Broome County District Attorney Mike Korchak said the alleged shooter did not make any direct threats to the Susquehanna Valley High School or students.
Conklin residents say they are shocked one of their own is the suspect of the shooting in Buffalo. But some Black residents in nearby Binghamton are less surprised.
“We’re trying to remember the 10 people who did not come out of that grocery store. The 10 people whose lives ended because they went grocery shopping.”
“This coward manifested white supremacy in a violent and tragic way.”
Residents of Conklin, New York, are surprised the teen accused of a mass shooting was a neighbor. People of color in Binghamton have a different view.
“I want them to have … a system that would immediately alert individuals.”
The small, mostly white town is just outside of Binghamton. Conklin residents are trying to make sense of the shooting.
A lone gunman, said by witnesses to be heavily armed, entered a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo Saturday and opened fire.
“How many times do survivors have to relive their trauma at a press conference or in front of legislators before you take action?”
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said some Supreme Court justices lied during confirmation hearings about whether they would overturn Roe v. Wade.
The decision protects the right to an abortion up to 24 weeks into pregnancy. A recently leaked draft of an opinion appears to throw out the landmark case.
But Gillibrand said several Supreme Court justices, including Justice Alito, who authored the draft opinion, stated during their confirmation hearings that they would not overturn Roe v. Wade. “Every single one of them said they would not undermine a settled precedent, every single one of them said under oath, that they would actually preserve Roe,” Gillibrand said. “So the fact that they all lied, is shocking.”
Gillibrand said the U.S. House of Representatives oversight committee should hold hearings on the issue, and review testimony made by justices. “I hope we have hearings, because I don’t know how you can accept Supreme Court justices who lied in order to be confirmed,” Gillibrand said.
New York lawmakers and abortion-rights supporters hope to push three bills through the state Legislature that aim to protect health care practitioners who provide abortions for patients from out of state.
“You don’t want to mess with the state of New York. And I assure you that this is fight you will not win.”
GOP Gubernatorial candidates strongly support keeping or expanding abortion restrictions, while legislative leaders aren’t ruling out bills to do that.
For this election cycle, the rule applies only to Benjamin, who was indicted April 12 on federal corruption charges and resigned later that day.
“It’s always in the back of your mind as a law enforcement officer that that danger is real and it’s out there.”
The Garcias have been without water since the start of February, when their landlord, Douglas Ritter, turned off the service to their upstairs apartment on Mary Street.
“We’ll be paid back many times over with greater peace in our communities, less violence in our communities.”
Alderperson Cynthia Brock said she’s working with the Tompkins County Ethics Board to open an investigation into the former mayor.
“We seriously disagree with the proposition that this was an egregious gerrymander. We don’t believe it was a gerrymander at all.”
Voters increasingly disapprove of how the governor is handling a number of issues like crime and the economy.
Syracuse police are releasing new information amid public outcry, after a viral video showed an upset 8-year-old boy being put into a police car for allegedly stealing chips from a Dollar General store.
The Southern Tier region will receive about $4.8 million from the settlement in 2022. The initial payout on Tuesday totaled about $759,000 for the region.
A day after her lieutenant governor’s arrest and resignation, Gov. Kathy Hochul is trying to manage the fallout.
New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin has resigned after being arraigned Tuesday in federal district court on bribery and conspiracy charges.
A Pennsylvania court is holding up the regulation that would let the state join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
Lawmakers on both sides of the issue said public safety changes were the biggest hurdle to clear in budget negotiations.
Van Houten said the Reimaging Public Safety working group lacked full understanding of Ithaca’s existing criminal justice system when it authored the report.
“A number of comments and emails that we received recently made me feel like I was living in some alternate universe,” said Alderperson Ducson Nguyen.
April is recognized nationally as Second Chance Month.
The city wants to pay for the vehicles using federal stimulus funds.
“We’re talking about reimagining public safety. And we’re still hiring more [armed] officers,” said Common Council member Phoebe Brown.
Holland said she was put in solitary confinement, denied medical treatment, housed in the men’s facility and harassed.
Data analysis suggests the Southern Tier saw a slight increase in racial equity since bail reform was first passed, but also more re-arrests.
A grand jury charged brothers Yaron and Leor Kweller with rape in the first degree, a more serious felony charge than the one they were given upon arrest.
Marvin Mayfield with the Center for Community Alternatives blamed law enforcement and some politicians, who he said deliberately spread misinformation.
Mayor Kraham said doing so will reduce the time and money needed to safely inspect the properties, and help the city enforce code violations.
It’s not yet clear if Hochul’s proposals will become a part of the upcoming budget, though she has backing from some moderate Democrats and many Republicans.
Since mid-February, Binghamton’s code enforcement office and the Broome County Supreme Court have continued to order Ritter to restore water service to the second-floor apartment.
A 10-point memo written by Hochul would make changes to the state’s bail reform laws has done nothing to ease agitation over rising crime rates.
“The conditions here, they’re not acceptable.”
Kathleen Kane was involved in an accident Saturday evening in her hometown of Scranton.
The judge also ruled that the city must “preserve and maintain” the statue for the rest of its useful life.
Conviction records follow people around long after they are released from prison, keeping people from finding work and housing. New York’s Clean Slate Act would seal most people’s conviction records.
People running for precinct committee or county party spots can now ask for nomination signatures until March 15.
Enacting these initiatives would use roughly $200,000 of the city’s ARPA funds.
The proposed Department of Community Safety would oversee the current police force, as well as a new division of five unarmed responders.
Police took Brooklyn resident Leor Kweller into custody, days after arresting his brother, Yaron Kweller, who is a part owner of The Colonial.
The arrests come as a result of an ongoing police investigation into allegations of sexual assault.
City officials have voiced concerns about state preemption, or that the still will overrule the bill if passed over issues of jurisdiction.
Justices can now either endorse a map chosen by a lower court, choose from the other options, or appoint an outside expert to draw a completely different one.
On the third anniversary of the passage of New York’s Child Victims Act, supporters of a measure that would give the same rights to adult survivors of sexual abuse said it’s time for the New York State Legislature to pass it.
The bill was modeled after the Child Victims Act, which created a temporary look back window for victims of child sex abuse to bring civil claims against abusers.
Cuomo’s personal attorney said the former governor will personally file the complaint against James with one of the state’s Attorney Grievance Committees.
One person was shot and another stabbed at McKinley High School in Buffalo late Wednesday afternoon.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will pick the final map.
“The real question is whether courts are going to be willing to wade into that.”
The Commonwealth Court ruled a key provision of the state’s last major election law overhaul unconstitutional.
The Proposal Comes After the Deaths of NYPD Officers Wilbert Mora and Jason Rivera.
Mail voting will remain in place in Pennsylvania for the time being as Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration appeals the decision to the state Supreme Court.
Dozens of tenants’ rights activists gathered outside Ithaca City Court Thursday to call for the city to pass a “Right to Renew Leases” bill.
Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia McCullough spent nearly all of Thursday hearing from groups that drew those maps during proceedings in Harrisburg.
Parents of biracial students at Bainbridge-Guilford High School said their children regularly experience racist bullying and the video was not a one-off incident.
The request will be reconsidered Friday by a panel of judges from the court, and could ultimately be reversed.
“Part of my frustration is that when anything bad that happens, it’s got to be bail reform’s fault.”
The mandate “is a law that was promulgated and enacted unlawfully by an executive branch state agency, and therefore void and unenforceable.”
“I think that our work moving forward is to dispel the sort of lies about Jewish people.”
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court temporarily blocked the inspection.
“The litigation has absolutely complicated matters, slowed things down, and I think kind of dragged out the division in the community and the hurt.”
Troutman is the second Black woman to serve on the high court.
“I would argue that the victims of all of these crimes we’re talking about, they are victims of color and minorities in many, many cases.”
Two Binghamton restaurants, whose owners are part of an ongoing police investigation, reopened over the weekend.
Students at Binghamton High School returned to class last week to a few changes.
“This would be such a vast improvement over the disaster that is JCOPE.”
“Consensus among voters is really clear. Most voters do not want to see that happen again.”
A student at Binghamton High School was shot Thursday morning in an altercation near school grounds, according to a statement released by the Binghamton City School District.
The Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection was the culmination of deliberate lies and misinformation that involved dozens of Pennsylvanians.
Even though students are back in person again, school leaders say 18 months of remote learning has taken a toll on students’ social and emotional development.
Some people in the Southern Tier say supervised drug-injection sites can save lives. Others say it enables drug use.
Binghamton police and the Broome County District Attorney’s office are continuing to investigate allegations of sexual assault involving the owners of three downtown restaurants. Binghamton Mayor Rich David is acknowledging his ties to the owners of those restaurants.
Counties will have broad authority to decide where the money goes.
Former President Donald Trump is suing New York Attorney General Letitia James in an attempt to halt her office’s investigation into his past business practices by framing the probe as politically motivated.
New York’s bail reform law does not allocate any additional funds for treatment centers and similar programs, which has been a bipartisan critique of the 2019 policy.
“Our main focus is public safety, protecting people where they live, and finding all of the opportunities to do that, and make sure it makes sense.”
The board agreed to look into a plan to provide additional security at the building that houses the health department. Currently, visitors to the building must pass through a metal detector and a security guard.
Students at Binghamton High School will move to remote learning and it’s not because of COVID-19. The shift online is in reaction to recent behavior issues among students.
Students at Binghamton High School were evacuated Wednesday morning after a small fire was discovered in a restroom.
Gov. Tom Wolf created the panel, known as the State Law Enforcement Citizen Advisory Commission, in July in the wake of racial justice and police accountability protests.
More than 100 protesters rallied in Binghamton Saturday night, after allegations surfaced online, accusing the owners of several downtown businesses of sexual assault.
Officer Cory Minor with the Binghamton Police Department said no arrests have been made in relation to the allegations as of Friday morning.
Last week, investigators released emails and text messages from Malatras mocking Lindsey Boylan, an ex-aide to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, after she called the work environment toxic in 2019.
An investigation by the New York State Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation (OSI) found the shooting of Tyler Green by police was justified to prevent the death of his child.
“It would be an act of insanity to touch a woman’s breast and make myself vulnerable to a woman for such an accusation.”
The findings are contrary to messaging from the Ithaca Police Department and its labor union, the Ithaca Police Benevolent Association.
The Binghamton City School District is expecting to hire two youth advocates to work in their high school and middle schools with funding recently awarded to the city for gun violence prevention.
The justice disqualified current Broome County District Attorney Mike Korchak from prosecuting the case, citing a potential conflict of interest.
The court will hear arguments Dec. 8 in order to make a final decision.
The moderate increase to the police budget comes as Ithaca, like many other municipalities in the region, struggles to fill its existing vacancies.
A bill to allow people to carry concealed weapons without a permit was passed by a divided Pennsylvania House on Tuesday, but faces a veto threat from the governor.
“It is much harder to protect our communities due to the handcuffs that are being put on judges, district attorneys, and police officers.”
The Southport Correctional Facility near Elmira is one of six prisons throughout New York state that will close.
“I’ll work with the Legislature to address this … to make sure their needs that they hear from their constituents just as much as I do, and we’ll get it done.”
The PSERS board is debating how much to share with the public, how soon to share it — and how to cope with a pushback from employees.
Now a private citizen, Andrew Cuomo continues to deny that he ever touched anyone inappropriately.
“The effects of bail and discovery reform and the dismantling of our criminal justice system, has effected every New Yorker and made them less safe.”
The Southport Correctional Facility in Chemung County and the Willard Drug Treatment Campus in Seneca County are among six prisons closing.
This doesn’t get rid of bail reform, said Congressman Katko, but gives more power to judges to consider this dangerousness concept when considering bail.
A bomb threat at Cornell University on Sunday led to the evacuation of four buildings on the Ithaca campus.
“Everything else will unfold with or without my commentary, and that’s just fine with me.”
“Governor Cuomo has never assaulted anyone, and Sheriff Apple’s motives here are patently improper. Sheriff Apple didn’t even tell the District Attorney what he was doing.”
Millions of dollars from special interests are pouring into the election, a clear sign of the potential future decisions that could hang in the balance.
The Chemung County district attorney’s office may raid a cannabis-gifting establishment in Elmira practicing “gifting.”
“We will take every complaint of harassment and discrimination seriously.”
The governor and Democratic lawmakers want to make affirmative consent policies standard practice at Pennsylvania colleges and universities.
“(The state attorney general) had a motive to draw every possible inference against the governor, who was a political rival.”
“We know that the vast majority of people who go through the criminal court system in New York State, are lower income individuals.”
“At the end of the day, it was getting resources to counties that were struggling each and every day.”
The decision only allows health care workers to request religious exemptions to the mandate, for the time being.
“We must never allow this unprecedented abuse of power to happen again.”
The law will require better addiction treatment for prison inmates, and divert some offenders into rehab programs instead of jail.
Newcomb said she wants to prioritize transparency, especially with the county correctional facility, as well as increase community outreach initiatives.
“Prisons are a hotbed of infectious disease transmission they have been for since they’ve been designed and utilized.”
Texas-based pipeline builder Energy Transfer faces 48 criminal charges related to construction of its Mariner East pipeline project.
Cuomo never submitted the book contract to the panel, and the full commission never voted to approve the arrangement.
Upset at leaks about a federal investigation of the PSERS pension fund, board leaders have cut off other board members from legal briefings.
The fire last weekend is considered suspicious, and investigators are looking into it.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has widened the federal scrutiny of Pennsylvania’s mammoth public school pension plan.
The cause of the fire is listed as suspicious but still under investigation. Cameras reportedly showed a person on the back porch.
“They can be prosecuted up to 25 years in prison if they’re convicted of running a trafficking ring. So it puts teeth.”
The FBI and federal prosecutors launched a criminal probe of the $70 billion PSERS plan in March.
The Rochester police served the officer with departmental charges, but it was not specific about what kinds of charges were filed.
About 7,000 prisoners will still be counted as residents of the districts where their prisons are located.
“We’ve ended AAUCONNECT’s fraudulent practices and run out the clock on their illegal operation.”
“If you’re watching the national news, the scariest announcements coming out every morning are the number of children contracting Covid.”
“We believe this step will result in a flurry of attempts to circumvent the well-reasoned vaccination requirement.”
“And unfortunately, the vast majority of the changes have been for the worse, not for the better.”
The Watertown base transformed from a peacetime installation of the 1990’s post-Cold War era, to a deployment hub on a war footing.
“These are people that wrote the bill. They should’ve had these people in mind when they wrote those statutes.”
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo may be out of office, but his legal troubles aren’t over just yet.
In the past, Hochul has been a supporter of gun rights, even earning a favorable rating from the National Rifle Association
“The attorney general’s report was designed to be a political firecracker on an explosive topic.”
“Do you think it would be good or bad for our democracy if the events that took place at the capitol on January sixth happened after every election?”
The Assembly dropped the probe on Friday after advice from attorneys that it wouldn’t be legal to impeach Cuomo after he’s left office
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to partially lift a ban on evictions for renters in New York state, which was set to expire this month.
“People are gonna take a bed or a floor, kind of wherever they can get it. Usually it’s going to be in an unsafe environment.”
“I’ve been in this business long enough to know that it’s not in the purview of the New York State governor to dictate to the New York State Assembly.”
“There is a lot there. You know, we didn’t just investigate sexual misconduct allegations like the Attorney General. We have investigations in several other areas that are pending.”
“I’m certain that we would be open to it if that’s their decision.”
Current Sheriff David Harder announced he plans to retire at the end of this term.
“You want to make sure things are right, but also done in an expeditious manner. And, you know, I believe that this is going to be dealt with in weeks.”
“When those lines are crossed people must be held accountable.”
“There has been no open-minded fact-finding in this case.”
“It was the right thing to do. The governor needs to be held accountable.”
Despite warnings from good-government advocates and even some inside the Capitol that the state’s reimbursement systems are ripe for abuse.
“We will cooperate fully with the Albany sheriff and turn over all evidence related to this complainant.”
Organizers say the governor’s executive order to reform police last year didn’t go far enough in curbing discriminatory policing against Black New Yorkers.
“I think it’s extremely realistic for the committee to be considering articles of impeachment by early September. And then the Assembly would have a vote.”
Municipalities face a choice: take the funds, and agree to drop their lawsuits, or fight the drug companies in court.
“I will not be distracted from that job. We have a lot do to. We still have to manage the Covid beast. It is not dead yet. It is not over.”
“The Governor’s conduct in this regard is unremarkable: Democratic and Republican politicians, male and female alike, use handshakes, hugs, and kisses to connect with others.”
“No elected official is above the law. The people of New York deserve better leadership in the governor’s office. We continue to believe that the Governor should resign.”
Democrats will decide whether to move forward with impeachment charges against the governor. They’ve been building their own report to determine whether that’s the right move.
“These interviews and pieces of evidence reveal a deeply disturbing yet clear picture.”
It’s unclear if the attorney general’s report will be a catalyst for the Assembly’s investigation, prompting impeachment, or not.
Survivors say it’s not too late to file a claim, but some would like another legal window sometime in the near future.
Among prison staff, 5188 have tested positive since last March and eight have died of COVID.
Court documents unsealed Tuesday showed the alleged crimes occurred on multiple occasions between 2016 and 2019.