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Grant is "game changer" for survivors of domestic violence, says Willow CEO

Willow Domestic Violence Center is in the process of interviewing attorneys. A $556,063 grant from the New York State Office of Victim Services will allow the organization to hire, for the first time, an in-house attorney to help survivors of domestic abuse with their legal needs free of charge. Civil cases can include divorce, immigration, and custody. "Oftentimes the abusers will use the court system as a tactic of control,” said Willow president and CEO Meaghan de Chateauvieux, “calling...

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opendoormission.com

Beds are already full at the Open Door Mission

www.wells.edu

NPR's Claudio Sanchez talks about higher education challenges during Finger Lakes visit

What do you want to ask the congressional candidates?

25th Congressional District candidates Joe Morelle and James Maxwell will have a debate on October 25 before the general election. What questions would you like them to answer?

Ask your question

Interview: the incoming CEO at Constellation Brands talks about future plans

By • 8 minutes ago
Constellation Brands

Newlands, who was brought on board in 2015 as an executive vice president, indicates that the announcement this week that he will take over as CEO of Constellation Brands next March was all part of the succession plan.

Current CEO Rob Sands will then assume the role of executive chair.

Newlands says he’s known the Sands family and been familiar with the operation for more than 20 years, since he used to do consulting for them.

And while Newlands home is in the Chicago area, he is well acquainted with the Finger Lakes, having grown up near Corning.

“I know the upstate new York area pretty well because I spent my entire growing up days an hour-plus outside of Rochester, so I know the area pretty well as well, and we certainly expect, especially given the founding foundation right there literally on the lake, that Victor is going to continue to be the headquarters of the company.”

Connections: The new documentary, "Dialogue in Metal"

By & • 1 hour ago

WXXI has produced a new documentary that unites master fabricator Jesse James with one of his heroes, the great metal sculptor Albert Paley. The two men collaborated on pieces of art, and the documentary, "Dialogue in Metal," unveils the results.

We talk to both James and Paley, and we discuss how this remarkable program came together with WXXI's own Todd McCammon and Tom Dooley.

The film debuts on WXXI-TV on November 5 at 9 p.m., and will be screened at The Little Theatre on October 26 at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Both James and Paley will participate in post-screening Q&As that evening. 

Connections: Jeremy Cooney, candidate for State Senate, District 56

By & • 1 hour ago

This hour, we hear from Jeremy Cooney. He’s a lawyer and he’s running for State Senate in the 56th District as a Democrat. We talk to Cooney about his platform, his priorities for the district, and more.

His opponent, Senator Joe Robach, did not respond to invitations to join this discussion.

Connections: Jen Lunsford, candidate for State Senate, District 55

By & • 1 hour ago

This hour, we hear from Jen Lunsford. She's a lawyer and a mother, and she's running for State Senate in the 55th District as a Democrat. We talk to Lunsford about her platform, her priorities for the district, and more.

Her opponent, Senator Rich Funke, declined to come on the program before the election.

Beds are already full at the Open Door Mission

By Alex Crichton • 2 hours ago
opendoormission.com

The Open Door Mission is gearing up for what promises to be a very busy winter season.

That's the word from Executive Director Anna Valeria-Iseman, who says the shelter has been unexpectedly full this fall.

"Which is actually not consistent with years previous, so that's a little bit of an alarm to us that we're going to have a really, really busy winter.  So we are doing what we can, we're staffing up, we're making sure that we have enough people on during the day as well as overnight," she said.

NPR's Claudio Sanchez talks about higher education challenges during Finger Lakes visit

By • 3 hours ago
www.wells.edu

Reporter Claudio Sanchez, who appears regularly on NPR programs like Morning Edition and All Things Considered, is taking part in the 150th anniversary kickoff at Wells College in Aurora, in Cayuga County on Thursday.

He’ll be part of a discussion on a wide range of topics, including the future of higher education in America.

Grant is "game changer" for survivors of domestic violence, says Willow CEO

By • 3 hours ago
freeimages.com/Johanna Ljungblom

Willow Domestic Violence Center is in the process of interviewing attorneys.

A $556,063 grant from the New York State Office of Victim Services will allow the organization to hire, for the first time, an in-house attorney to help survivors of domestic abuse with their legal needs free of charge. Civil cases can include divorce, immigration, and custody.

New York state conducting black bear survey

By The Associated Press • 4 hours ago
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

New York environmental officials are conducting a black bear survey in an effort to set appropriate population levels of the animal for various parts of the state.

Questionnaires are being sent this fall to about 11,000 randomly selected landowners across the state in both rural and urban areas in an effort to get a better handle on the public perception of the black bear population.

Coming up on Connections: Thursday, October 18

By & • 6 hours ago

First hour: State Senate candidates Jen Lunsford and Jeremy Cooney

Second hour: The new documentary, "Dialogue in Metal"

Canada legalizes marijuana, but little changes on the U.S. border

By • 8 hours ago

Marijuana sales and consumption became legal across Canada overnight. But in the U.S., nothing changed – including rules at its northern borders.


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News from NPR

Poll Finds Wide Partisan Gaps On America's Biggest Problems

By • 33 minutes ago

Especially as the midterm elections approach, there's an unavoidable stream of news about politics in crisis: words like "polarization" and "tribalism" paint a portrait of voters retreating intransigently to their respective corners (or, more accurately, social media bubbles).

A new poll gives a clearer picture of what that "tribalism" looks like: Americans differ not just on their ideology or political team, but on the issues they view as problems.

Pew presented registered voters with 18 issues, asking those voters how big of a problem each issue is.

Why Stay During A Hurricane? Because It's Not As Simple As 'Get Out'

By • 48 minutes ago

Brock Long was frustrated. Yet again, the FEMA administrator said, people in the path of a powerful hurricane had ignored evacuation orders.

Hurricane Michael had leveled the small Florida city of Mexico Beach and destroyed large parts of nearby Panama City. The death count was rising as search and rescue workers pulled bodies from the rubble.

In Japan, A Strange Sight: Cherry Blossoms Blooming In The Fall

By • 53 minutes ago

In Japan, the springtime bloom of cherry blossoms is an annual rite of celebration, accompanied by picnics and parties under the flowering canopy.

But this week, an odd thing happened: Some of the trees bloomed again. In autumn.

Trump Intervened In FBI HQ Project To Protect His Hotel, Democrats Allege

By • 1 hour ago

President Trump intervened in a big federal building project to help protect business for his hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, a group of House Democrats alleged on Thursday.

Trump wants to demolish and rebuild the FBI's headquarters, the Democrats say, to preserve the site's government ownership and deny any potential competitors to the Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office Pavilion up the street.

The Democrats called that an abuse of power and a violation of the regulations that are supposed to protect such arrangements from political influence.

More news from NPR

From the Inclusion Desk

Young Kim loves her job and it shows

By • Oct 9, 2018
Beth Adams/WXXI News

In celebration of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, a local nonprofit is recognizing a long-time employee.

Young Kim is 37 years old. She's been working at Unistel Industries on Blossom Road in Rochester since 2002.

Unistel is a nonprofit that provides job training and placement for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Young and her colleagues work on assembly lines at the company, which is the country's number one supplier of spices for the U.S. military.

Viral haircut sparks conversation about disabilities in the media

By • Oct 4, 2018
Veronica Volk / WXXI News

You may have seen pictures of two local men go viral: a barber giving a man a haircut on the sidewalk because the shop wasn’t accessible by wheelchair.

But since the story went national, it’s raised questions about how people with disabilities are covered in the media.

Devin Hamilton is 30 years old. He's an engineer working in Webster, and he has cerebral palsy. He says one day, he decided to get a haircut at Joe's Upscale Barbershop, a few blocks from where he works. But when he rode his wheelchair over there, he didn't see a ramp.

Connections: Former Senator Tom Harkin and the ROC EmployABILITY Conference

By & • Oct 3, 2018

We're joined by former Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, who authored the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Research shows that among similarly sized cities, Rochester is the single worst in the country when it comes to employment and poverty for people with disabilities. 

Harkin is the keynote speaker for the upcoming ROC EmployABILITY conference, which is focused on increasing employment opportunities and reducing poverty among people with disabilities. We preview that conference. In studio:

Intelligent Lives: young adults with disabilities shift paradigms, challenge stereotypes

By Beth Adams • Oct 2, 2018
INTELLIGENT LIVES

In Rochester, the graduation rate for students with disabilities is 22 percent* compared to 40 percent nationally.  The median individual earnings for those with disabilities is $14,450. This is $4,000 below the national median.  That means Rochester’s disabled community is the poorest in the nation when compared to the 75 largest metropolitan areas.

Despite the systemic challenges of educational segregation and stereotypes, adults with intellectual disabilities are challenging the perceptions of intelligence as they navigate high school, college, and the workforce.

More stories from the Inclusion Desk

A wide-reaching epidemic

WXXI, in partnership with public broadcasting stations across New York state, is airing special programming examining the opioid crisis.

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