After 20 years of writing its own history, you’d think people could talk or write about Blackberry Smoke without referencing The Allman Brothers Band. Or Lynyrd Skynyrd. Or The Marshall Tucker Band.

Charlie Starr pays no mind to our need to place his band in such a box.

“Not really,” says Blackberry Smoke’s lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter. “Because I love those bands, so dearly.”

One man’s heaven is another man’s hell.

“It’s like, ‘Well, it could be worse, you know,’” Starr concedes. “They could say, ‘You guys remind me of the Bay City Rollers.’”

Rochester’s festivals are back, and with them comes a new batch of city dollars.

The National Women’s Hall of Fame has a new executive director.

The Seneca Falls-based museum has named Jennifer Gabriel to the newly created position.

Gabriel most recently headed up development and community relations for Hospicare & Palliative Care Services, based in Tompkins and Cortland counties.

Gabriel grew up in Ithaca, and she said that one of her goals is to get more people, both locally and nationally, to learn about the Finger Lakes connection to women’s rights as well as the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

Officials have announced that the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester recently saw the birth of two male Red Panda cubs.

The birth, from the zoo’s 4-year-old panda, Starlight, happened on June 20 and was just announced on Saturday. It is the first Red Panda birthing in the 128 years of the Seneca Park Zoo.

“The birth of the two Red Panda cubs is exciting for the Seneca Park Zoo and our community, and is encouraging news for ensuring the sustainability of red panda populations,” said Monroe County Executive Adam Bello.

As a line of golf carts wound their way around the Sunshine Camp in Rush on Monday, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul stopped and got out so she could take in the view from the camp's new treehouse.

"This is incredible," Hochul said after walking up a ramp and making her way to the treehouse's large deck.

She was visiting the camp for children with disabilities on the Americans with Disabilities Act's 31st anniversary.

A statewide group that provides services to people with developmental disabilities is calling on lawmakers to take action to address what they say is a severe staffing shortage and pay inequities.

“We're at a crisis point, really, we're unable to hire and retain people into these positions,” said Wendy McCarthy, executive director of the Developmental Disabilities Alliance of Western New York, or DDAWNY.

She said the developmental disabilities service system is in an emergency because of the inability to recruit and retain direct support professionals.