Government
Proposed constitutional amendment would ensure abortion rights in New York
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In 1970, after New York became the first state to legalize abortion, an estimated 200,000 women came from other states to have the procedure here.
WSKG (https://wskg.org/category/news/health/)
In 1970, after New York became the first state to legalize abortion, an estimated 200,000 women came from other states to have the procedure here.
“This is a national emergency. Babies have become sick and have died. We need access to high-quality formula and we need to do it immediately,” Gillibrand said.
“We’ve had less time with things being frozen. So we’re having a longer growing season.”
“I can only speculate that people are tired of this, I’m tired of it, but the virus, unfortunately, doesn’t get tired.”
“Demand on frontline workers has been extraordinary.”
While some symptoms like sinus or upper respiratory issues can be the same with allergies and COVID-19, there are also some distinct differences.
The study shows an estimated 7,000 deaths a year due to occupational disease.
The governor says $10 million dollars will also be available to increase security protections for clinics.
James said it’s even more urgent after the leaked draft opinion suggesting the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade.
Experts raise staffing, funding and infrastructure concerns as the official launch approaches.
“We watched our daughter suffer. It was horrible. And she asked and asked and asked for medical aid in dying.”
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.
If conservative judges on the U.S. Supreme Court follow through with a draft opinion leaked earlier this week striking down abortion rights, then as many as 26 states may also outlaw the procedure.
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.
More than 50 protesters rallied in downtown Binghamton Tuesday in support of abortion rights.
Environmental regulator issues violation notice to the Village of Johnson City.
Vaccine protectiveness waned by 6% to 20% each time antibiotics were prescribed, resulting in vulnerability to diseases like whooping cough and pneumonia.
According to the proposal, the Ithaca Dedicated Encampment Site would house up to 50 residents experiencing homelessness.
The virus is spread through bird droppings, especially from migratory waterfowl like ducks and geese.
“We had one call, [the dispatcher called] 23 agencies, and no ambulance was available. To the point where the dispatcher called the house back and said, ‘We’ve got nothing. You have to find your own way to the hospital.’”
Cornell University is expanding a massive underground research facility. A partnership with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory is developing new lightweight materials for use in military aircraft.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday that new variants of COVID-19 are spreading in New York, but there’s no reason to be alarmed.
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.
UVC radiation has been used for decades as a disinfectant, but the FDA says its effectiveness in killing SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is unknown. What is known is that direct exposure to UVC lamps can cause eye injuries and skin burns.
“What was being asked for wasn’t the moon. It was what was needed.”
“We are starting to see shortages in especially our rural areas. Positions for school psychologists left open year after year with no one to fill them.”
A month ago, the county was reporting 20 to 40 daily positive cases. Now, county officials say they’re seeing around 100 cases a day.
“The cost of labor and the fact we can’t find people continues to be a problem.”
Once the thermometer reaches about 45 degrees the ticks begin to emerge and latch on to humans or pets, anything that provides them a blood meal.
“Providers statewide, including at the state’s mass vaccination sites, are ready to administer second booster doses for eligible New Yorkers.”
The law creates minimum staffing ratios and requires that nursing home residents get at least 3.5 hours per day of direct nursing care.
More than half of New York’s counties lost population due to more people moving out than moving in since that last census.
The jobs come with benefits and pay is higher than what many private home health agencies offer. But the county hasn’t gotten many applicants yet.
Just as the reforms were about to go into effect, Gov. Kathy Hochul put them on hold, citing an ongoing shortage of health care workers.
Outgoing director John Collins says prices are a ‘red flag’
“There is no transparency here, with this contract.”
Under the proposed contract, Centers for Care would be first in line to buy the Willow Point Nursing Home, if Broome County decides to sell it.
Wait times for nurses were among the longest in much of the U.S.
“This is an emergency. Please, people need to act like it’s an emergency.”
“Up to 100,000 people in the state that are actively seeking home health care cannot get it, because we do not have the supply of workforce in the state.”
New York’s mask mandate for schools will end on Wednesday, March 2, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Sunday.
The need for doctors, nurses and other workers poses challenges for hospitals.
An emergency declaration passed by the sewage board allows it to make purchases and sign contracts outside normal procedures.
When you look at just the opinions of parents who have children in kindergarten through high school, they are more closely divided.
The school board at Chenango Forks Central School District voted unanimously to end the district’s mask requirements as soon as the statewide mandate is lifted.
Senator Schumer said The Affordable Insulin Now Act is being met with bipartisan support and he anticipates it will pass within the next several months.
“When everyone in our community is healthy, our state will be healthy, and our nation will be healthy.”
The challenge in finding instructors can be even greater for rural school districts.
“As we continue to come out of this pandemic, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to not just get back to normal, but truly transform our county.”
Plant officials say the new facility is still processing sewage and residents should be unaffected.
A federal grant funds the ‘AgriSafe Helpline’ effort.
The proposed agreement between Broome County and Centers for Care, a large health care company, has some legislators concerned.
“I’m a nurse and I didn’t see it. I didn’t see diabetes, because we don’t have it in our family and that’s what you automatically think.”
The library is piloting a peer counseling program focused on mental health.
Protestors gathered in front of Binghamton’s state office building, calling for an end to mask mandates in schools.
Advocates are hopeful to see needed funds during Gov. Tom Wolf’s final year in office.
“If you vote yes and extend the emergency order and keep our kids in masks, you can go to bed at night considering yourselves child abusers.”
There have been nearly 50 overdoses since this year began, more than half in the past two weeks.
As the pandemic continues to strain the nation’s health care workforce, the National Guard has increasingly been called on to bridge the gaps.
The statewide mask mandate will end Thursday.
“There has been no decision made on a date on which the mask mandate in schools will end.”
“This could force the shuttering of food pantries and the closure of AIDS clinics statewide.”
“I’m going to continue to head in that direction. We are hoping to get to that. That is our goal. But I am going to continue looking at the metrics.”
“Those families never received an apology. No one’s ever been held accountable. They were told ‘who cares’ by the last governor.”
The Food and Drug Administration recently limited certain monoclonal antibody drugs used to treat COVID patients, because they don’t seem to be effective against the omicron variant.
The plan includes spending money on workers and a property tax subsidy for lower-income homeowners and renters.
Broome County is still reporting hundreds of positive COVID-19 cases each week, but numbers have continued to fall.
“We’re not taking our foot off the gas when it comes to fighting the pandemic,.”
“The graduates will be able to assist anywhere we need them in a medical capacity will be available starting in early February.”
Governor Kathy Hochul said New York’s health care workforce was short-handed before the pandemic, and now it’s even worse.
The activists say women and pregnant people at the jail are being denied access to medications, nutrition and medical care and subjected to voyeurism from the guards.
The House and Senate’s top GOP budget negotiators say the state’s $7.76 billion in extra relief and tax money can’t be stretched too thin.
Some Ithaca residents say they worry about another potential spike in the county’s COVID-19 positivity rate. So far, that increase hasn’t materialized.
The request will be reconsidered Friday by a panel of judges from the court, and could ultimately be reversed.
The mandate “is a law that was promulgated and enacted unlawfully by an executive branch state agency, and therefore void and unenforceable.”
“If they were to take a taste of it accidentally, not a problem, could be a little bit irritating, but not a real big issue.
“Our maternal mental health conditions are largely underreported, and symptoms often go unaddressed.”
“We’re kind of hoping, and we’re being promised that these test kits — over the counter test kits and antigen test kits — are going to become more readily available.”
“Blood donor turnout has really plummeted because of the variant that has affected this region and across the country.”
Heating equipment is the second-largest cause of home fires nationally. They tend to occur in winter as people try to get the chill out of their homes.
A nationwide survey sheds light on how self-reporting can predict infection rates.
The National Federation of the Blind says inaccessibility is keeping millions of Americans from proactively protecting their own health.
Residents can use their county’s online portal to report at-home COVID-19 test results, and access isolation order paperwork to provide to their employer.
“The big change for New Yorkers is that if you test positive, you should no longer expect a call from your health department.”
“Ideally, every visitor would be vaccinated and boosted, but we don’t have the authority to create that restriction.”
Students at Binghamton High School returned to class last week to a few changes.
“We want this for people especially with the food prices raising,” said General Manager Kinya Middleton. “This will definitely stretch someone’s budget.”
Broome County continues to see record numbers of COVID-19 cases, with 3,250 new cases in the past week. But County Executive Jason Garnar says for now, hospitalizations don’t seem to be increasing at the same rate.
Thousands of cars lined the streets leading into Otsiningo Park on Wednesday. County officials had set up a drive-thru site to distribute 10,000 at-home COVID tests.
Campuses across New York state will begin hosting free COVID testing for the general public this week.
Schumer said New York’s current allocation of anti-viral drugs used to treat COVID-19 will not be enough to meet current needs.
A New York bill allowing air ambulances to carry blood for emergency transfusion was signed into law last week. Local officials say the measure is a crucial step toward saving lives.
Cayuga Lake has struggled with harmful algal blooms or HABs in recent years, but in 2021 unseasonably warm temperatures and heavy rainfall may have extended their prevalence late into the year.
“The next month will likely be the most difficult month that we’ve ever seen in the pandemic.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul said New Yorkers should prepare for a “January surge” in COVID-19 cases.
As the new variant spreads, rapid at-home COVID tests are becoming more important in the fight against the virus.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she’s committed to seeing students return to school next week as planned, as state health officials are pushing for more children to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
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.
Given the spike in COVID-19 cases, county officials are advising residents to make sure they stay safe during holiday gatherings.
“Once again, the January Regents exams cannot be safely, equitably and fairly administered across the state.”
“Of course she is vaccinated and boosted, so this would be a breakthrough case, but she is feeling fine.”
Counties will have broad authority to decide where the money goes.
The governor gave updates on the current mask mandate, hospital capacity and testing, in the midst of a surge in COVID-19 cases across the state.
Concerns about the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus are growing, as the more contagious strain is beginning to take hold in New York.
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.
For New Yorkers experiencing so-called “COVID fatigue,” a sense of hopelessness as the pandemic wears on, there’s more bad news: there’s no end in sight.
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.
“We are racing against the clock now. It’s important that when people want to get vaccinated or they want to get boosted, that they can do that immediately.”
“People were seeing their colleagues right across the street getting recognized for what they had been doing in the pandemic. And the state is saying ‘sorry, we can’t do that for you,.”
Since the statewide mask mandate was announced last week, New York’s counties have grappled with how to implement it. Certain counties have embraced the mandate. Others have refused to carry it out.
“These services which we need to live and thrive and achieve our greatest potential can be very confusing.”
Hemp processing licenses are once again moving forward with New York state certification, after some were delayed for months following the overhaul of the state’s cannabis law, earlier this year.
Tompkins County currently has more than 1,100 active COVID-19 cases. The vast majority of them, nearly 900, can be attributed to Cornell University students. But the county only has nine hospitalizations.
“We have to get a point of rational discussion about this, and it’s not about scoring political points or getting headlines to call out the governor on an issue.”
“I’m going to monitor what’s going on in the various counties, but I’m not attempting to be heavy-handed.”
“We don’t have the staff…they have Covid overload. We don’t want to send the sheriff’s out after anybody, we don’t want to send probation after anybody.”
“Some of these programs will be going on for years without the kind of review that they should be having.”
Facing a winter surge in COVID-19 infections, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday that masks will be required in all indoor public places unless the businesses or venues implement a vaccine requirement.
The City of Ithaca will soon begin a guaranteed income pilot program. It’s intended for lower and middle-income residents who are primary caregivers.
A total of 12 cases have been detected in New York state so far. Nineteen states across the U.S. have reported cases of Omicron.
“The plants literally drowned and died because the roots couldn’t get any oxygen.”
“The first tenet in medicine is to do no harm. Suing people, filing liens on their homes, ruining their credit… that’s doing harm.”
“We knew the Omicron variant was coming and we expect to see more cases. But let me be clear: We are not defenseless.”
Across the state about one in every seven positive COVID-19 tests is sent to a lab to be screened for variants. But some counties, like Tompkins, are able to screen nearly all of their tests.
The National Guard will be deployed to fill staffing shortages at Willow Point Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Vestal.
“I’m not prepared to shut down schools or the economy at this time. That would be considered an overreaction.”
“Forty-five percent of the people that shop here at the Greater Good grocery are on SNAP benefits. This will benefit a whole ton of people on the North Side of Binghamton.”
“Sadly, New York has been making the same mistakes over and over again on COVID.”
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 court will hear arguments Dec. 8 in order to make a final decision.
Despite an increase in COVID-19 cases, fairly low vaccination rates and widespread booster rollout, the Southern Tier still has no state-run mass vaccination site.
Hochul predicts a surge in the infection rate over the next few days.
“So we know people are not wearing masks, and we know people are gathering and we know people are in close quarters.”
Newly-public data shows outbreaks among staff and residents throughout the pandemic.
COVID-19 rates are spiking in many parts of upstate New York. So far, local governments have been left to manage the spread of the disease on their own. Now, some county leaders are looking to the state, and Gov. Kathy Hochul, for more help.
Staffing shortages at Broome County’s Willow Point Nursing Home have forced officials to declare a state of emergency.
Broome County continues to see a spike in COVID-19 cases, with 138 new cases announced on Friday. The county currently has over 900 active cases, and a 7% positivity rate.
The big issue for the Northern Border is the expensive and time-consuming requirement for a PCR COVID-19 test for Americans or Canadians to enter Canada.
The City of Binghamton and Johnson City will not receive state funds to cover legal fees associated with settling disputes with contractors for the Binghamton-Johnson City Joint Sewage Treatment Plant restoration and rehabilitation project.
“There has never been a problem at the United States and Canadian border. We are deeply dependent on each other for our economic viability.”
Much of the rest of upstate New York has a positivity rate of 5% or more, higher than it was in the fall of 2020.
“Now every time we see it rain, or flood warning, we get scared and we flee our house.”
“It’s not because the volunteers aren’t trying, they’re doing the very best they can. But the number of volunteers are dwindling.”
“I’m directing our state mass vaccination sites to open their doors to the youngest and most recently eligible New Yorkers.”
County officials attributed the rise in cases to residents socializing over Halloween weekend.
“We want to help offer these necessary health screenings to members of the community so that we can begin to address these various health and social needs, because they’re not separate, they’re actually connected.”
“I think we failed our mental health community in the last few years, in many ways, I really do. We have so much more work to do.”
The lower-dose Pfizer vaccine has arrived at health departments and pediatricians’ offices across the region.
“We will be selecting 50 names of children who will be receiving a full ride to a SUNY or CUNY institution.”
While the stresses of the pandemic led some nurses to quit or retire, others are getting ready to step in.
Just like foreign travelers, Canadians will need to show a negative COVID-19 test at the border to re-enter their country.
The measure would allow students to take a rapid test every day for a week, rather than quarantine, after potential exposure to COVID.
“You could probably assume that we have the same type of vaccination rate that the rest of Broome county does. So about a third of our sixteen to seventeen hundred employees are probably not vaccinated.”
“They’ll have an argument with the parent right in front of you where the parent says no and the child says yes.”
“We’re all just trying to get through a global pandemic. But definitely, they need some [additional] instruction when they get back.”
Such programs already operate in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Scranton.
“The data clearly shows that we have a vulnerable population in our seniors, even if they’re vaccinated. So the rest of us need to do everything possible to help protect them.”
Longtime nurse Lolita McComb came to work early to support her picketing coworkers. But when she clocks into her night shift at 3:00 PM, she said it is likely she will be the only nurse on a floor with 41 patients.
“I want to empower parents and schools to do the right things first but if we’re not seeing adequate compliance…I will have no choice.”
“If you’re disabled, and you don’t get to speak for yourself, then you lose your voice.”
While plans for the new Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences facility pre-date the pandemic by several years, its opening comes at a time when many hospitals face nursing shortages.
The regulations follow guidelines set by the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, which allows three mature plants and three immature plants per person.
The Wolf administration could implement new oversight of recovery homes by mid-2022, though challenges could cause delays.
“This is something that’s with us every single day. It affects our relationships, it affects our behavior, and it will continue to for quite some time.”
“We’re at higher risk of these issues by virtue of seeking health care in a system that does not serve us.”
Educators say there’s a clear choice: Limit the spread of the virus, or risk going back to online and hybrid learning.
“Your community, your neighbors, are working in those ERs around the clock, and they are tired, and they are getting really taxed.”
The IBEW’s now outspoken support of Greenidge indicates that opponents may face a broader front in their efforts to pass legislation implementing a moratorium on cryptocurrency mining.
“It’s important, again, that we use these funds to provide lifesaving drugs, and lifesaving treatment.”
“I apologized for the pain that those poor families had to endure. It was a very emotional meeting.”
“At the end of the day, it was getting resources to counties that were struggling each and every day.”