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Kavanaugh Accuser Open To Testifying About Sexual Assault Allegations

Updated at 8:20 p.m. ET Attorneys for Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a high school party in the 1980s, have begun discussing terms of her appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week. "She wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety," Debra Katz, Ford's lawyer says in an email to committee aides first reported in the New York Times and...

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Cuomo's former closest aide gets 6 years for bribery

Fred SanFilipo / for WXXI News

Fringe Festival Day 9: Garth Fagan Dance & The North Star

Connections: What does it mean to graduate with a degree in sustainability?

By & • 44 minutes ago

St. John Fisher College has launched a new major: students can now graduate with a degree in sustainability. The program links the campus to the community in an effort to ignite conversations about sustainability across industries.

We discuss the program, what it means to graduate with a sustainability degree, and how students can apply that knowledge after college. In studio:

  • Michael Boller, Ph.D., associate professor in biology, and director of the sustainability program at St. John Fisher College
  • Patricia Donahue, senior pollution prevention engineer, and manager of the sustainable supply chain program at the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute
  • Julia Greene, St. John Fisher College graduate with a degree in psychology and a minor in sustainability
  • Evan Bourtis, senior at St. John Fisher College majoring in biology and media communications and minoring in sustainability

Connections: How data can help reform America's criminal justice system

By & • 51 minutes ago

The leader of a local nonprofit says her group is fixing a barrier that stands in the way of meaningful criminal reforms: a data gap.

Measures for Justice President Amy Bach says America’s justice system needs better data to determine if the money spent on the system is effective in reducing crime and improving fairness. Bach joins us to discuss her research.

Pittsford family supporting its YMCA in a big way

By Alex Crichton • 1 hour ago
Conceptual Imagery

The YMCA of Greater Rochester is celebrating the largest single capital donation in the organization’s 164 year history.

Peter and Susan Schottland of Pittsford have donated $3.5 million dollars to support the construction of the new Y at Jefferson Road and Clover Street.

The Schottland family have been members of the YMCA for more than 30 years.

YMCA of Greater Rochester CEO George Romell says this new Y is much more than a “gym and a swim.”

Miner doubts Democrats' stories about mailer

By • 4 hours ago
Matt Ryan, New York Now

Former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner is running a long shot independent campaign for governor of New York. Miner, who was co-chair of the state Democratic Party under Andrew Cuomo, is now challenging him for the job. She talked with WXXI's Karen DeWitt for public radio and TV about her strategy for the weeks leading up to the November 6th voting.

Coming up on Connections: Friday, September 21

By & • 4 hours ago

First hour: How data can help reform America's criminal justice system

Second hour: What does it mean to graduate with a degree in sustainability?

The NYS Attorney General to investigate the death of India Cummings

By • 6 hours ago
WBFO-file photo

(AP & WXXI News) The New York Attorney General's office is investigating the death of a 27-year-old Rochester woman whose health spiraled while she was held in a Buffalo jail for 16 days. 

The investigation was requested by Erie County District Attorney John Flynn following a critical state report in June. It said India Cummings' 2016 death should be ruled a homicide due to medical neglect. 

Sheriff Timothy Howard's office didn't immediately respond to Thursday's announcement by Attorney General Barbara Underwood.

Fringe Festival Day 9: Garth Fagan Dance & The North Star

By • 6 hours ago
Fred SanFilipo / for WXXI News

It took 4½ decades for Garth Fagan Dance to get around to writing a piece about Frederick Douglass. But the wait is nearly over.

The nationally recognized Rochester contemporary dance ensemble is airing a few sections of the new work on the iconic Rochester abolitionist at this year’s KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival. Along with right-hand man Norwood Pennewell’s new work in progress, “Distant Kin,” it’s clear that Garth Fagan Dance is not leaping on its laurels. 

WATCH: Alison Arngrim performs at Fringe; Behind the music with Jessica Ann Best

By • 19 hours ago

She’s one of the most memorable characters in television history. But it’s her real life story - a memoir-turned one-woman-show being performed here in Rochester that will you take you inside an intriguing, comedic, and jaw-dropping world filled with lots of confessions. Actress and author Alison Arngrim (a-k-a Nellie Oleson of Little House on the Prairie) joins this edition of Need to Know.

Also on the show, she’s a mezzo soprano to be reckoned with. We go behind-the-music with Jessica Ann Best, a local performer inspiring audiences around the country.

Cuomo's former closest aide gets 6 years for bribery

By • 22 hours ago

Governor Cuomo’s former closest aide received a prison sentence today of six years after being convicted of  illegally gaining over $300,000  in  bribery schemes.

Judge Valerie Caproni sided with the wishes of federal prosecutors, who sought five or more years in prison for Percoco , following his conviction on three counts of bribery for participating in two illegal schemes to enrich himself while offering illegal services to a power plant company and an Syracuse development firm.

Kavanaugh Accuser Open To Testifying About Sexual Assault Allegations

By & • 23 hours ago

Updated at 8:20 p.m. ET

Attorneys for Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a high school party in the 1980s, have begun discussing terms of her appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week.

"She wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety," Debra Katz, Ford's lawyer says in an email to committee aides first reported in the New York Times and confirmed by NPR.

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Rosenstein Denies That He Discussed Recording Trump, Invoking 25th Amendment

By & • 11 minutes ago

Updated at 3:24 p.m. ET

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein denied an explosive report on Friday that he discussed secretly recording President Trump at the White House and that he might seek to recruit members of the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment in order to remove Trump.

Rosenstein called the story "inaccurate and factually incorrect."

Suge Knight Faces 28-Year Prison Term In Plea Deal Over Fatal Hit-And-Run

By • 2 hours ago

Marion "Suge" Knight faces 28 years in prison after pleading no contest to "running over a man and killing him in a restaurant parking lot three years ago," according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Knight, 53, is the co-founder of rap label Death Row Records. He agreed to a plea deal that includes "one count of voluntary manslaughter and admitted a special allegation that he used a deadly weapon, a truck," the DA's office said.

Before the agreement, Knight had been facing charges of murder and attempted murder.

Remembrance For Walter Mischel, Psychologist Who Devised The Marshmallow Test

By Julie Carli • 3 hours ago

Walter Mischel, a revolutionary psychologist with a specialty in personality theory, died of pancreatic cancer on Sept. 12. He was 88.

3 Babies, 2 Adults Stabbed At Queens Day Care

By • 4 hours ago

Three infants and two adults were stabbed in an early Friday morning attack at a day care in the Queens borough of New York City, according to police.

Officers who arrived at the house found multiple people with stab wounds, including three babies ranging in age from 3 days to 1 month old.

One woman suffered multiple stab wounds to the torso, and a man was stabbed in the leg. The man is the father of one of the injured babies, and the woman was an employee of the day care.

All of the injured were taken to area hospitals in critical but stable condition.

More news from NPR

From the Inclusion Desk

Wegmans provides a new app to help shoppers who are blind or have low-vision

By • Sep 3, 2018
Aira/Wegmans

Wegmans is partnering with a high-tech company to offer a new option for people who are blind or have low-vision.

The Rochester supermarket chain is working with a California-based tech company called Aira, a firm that uses artificial intelligence and augmented reality to remotely assist people who are blind or have low vision with a variety of tasks.

New center helps adults, children who have autism

By • Aug 30, 2018
Tianna Manon/WXXI News

The old Gates police substation in Westgate Plaza has sat empty for roughly a decade. But on Thursday, the Autism Council cut the ribbon for the station’s new life as the Autism Family Information and Referral Services Center.

The center is a one-stop shop for families, educators and people with autism who need help with education, employment or wellness. It doesn’t provide specific services, but staff there meet with drop-in visitors to send them where they need to go.

ID cards coming for people with developmental disabilities

By • Aug 28, 2018
nysenate.gov

People with special needs will have access to new ID cards that state Sen. Pam Helming says will help them communicate with emergency responders.

City adopts construction guidelines for accessible homes

By • Aug 24, 2018

The City of Rochester has adopted new, accessible construction guidelines.

Stephanie Woodward is the Director of Advocacy at the Center for Disability Rights in Rochester.

"It was certainly a windy road to get here, but the point is that we got here."

Woodward says the CDR has been working tirelessly with the city in order to make sure people with disabilities have access to accessible, affordable, and integrated housing in Rochester.

More stories from the Inclusion Desk

What's the ripple effect of the opioid crisis?

WXXI News looks at the people, places, and issues indirectly affected by the opioid crisis

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