Noelle E. C. Evans

Auditory processing disorder, or APD, can cause language delays, affect learning, and make it harder for kids to interact with others. One Rochester-based audiology office is trying out an unusual approach to help children get tested for APD, with an interactive mural. 

Those with APD can be hypersensitive to stimulation - like sounds, textures, and light. This makes it harder to test kids in order to complete a diagnosis.

If you look at a public school textbook, chances are you won't see much written from Native American perspectives. As Thanksgiving approaches, librarian Amerique Wilson at Roberto Clemente Elementary School 8 in the Rochester City School District attempts to address that.

Instead of teaching Thanksgiving from a textbook, she's working from a speech written by the late Wamsutta Frank B. James, a Wampanoag Native American activist.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced supportive housing and homeless shelter funding recently. Three organizations in Monroe County have been awarded a total of more than $6 million through the Homeless Housing and Assistance Program. 

The Catholic Family Center, Volunteers of America, and the Dimitri House will receive state funding for homeless shelters and supportive housing projects. 

Several people upset about a program that is supposed to cut down on gun violence in Rochester protested outside against it in downtown Rochester on Monday. 

Outside the Holiday Inn on State Street, a group of seven people stand holding signs reading ‘End Project Exile’ behind Juma Sampson. In 2000, Sampson was sentenced to 25 years and sent to a prison in Pennsylvania, far from family and his infant son.

The Montgomery Neighborhood Center held the 34th annual Rosa’s Thanksgiving dinner on Monday. 

For 34 years, Rosa Wims has been hosting the event every November. This year, 213 people attended. Joan Parham with Lifetime Care Home Health was one of those visitors.

“I think that something like this brings people together. And it shows that yes, there are caring people who think about us in this community,” Parham says.

Last Thursday, in Wayne County, Everardo Donoteo-Reyes was sentenced to 20 years in state prison and five years probation for the murder of his girlfriend Selena Hidalogo-Calderon and her infant son, Owen. Both Calderon and Reyes were undocumented immigrants. While their families and communy continue to grieve, soon a contested new law could help undocumented domestic violence victims get to safety.

This week’s news that the Rochester Human Trafficking Intervention Court is expanding services across Monroe County to aid victims of sex trafficking comes after a failed attempt to decriminalize prostitution in New York state. 

The court admits people charged with prostitution crimes and gives them an opportunity to vacate those charges if they are victims of human trafficking.

The Rochester Human Trafficking Court is expanding its services to include towns and villages around Monroe County, with the help of a federal grant. 

Judge Craig Doran says that several years ago, the state’s former Chief Judge Jonathan Lipmann opened his eyes to a serious concern that was going under the radar.

"The city of Rochester has a disproportionately high number of low-level prostitution arrests," Doran says. "And Judge Lipmann indicated that it was his experience that that is an indication in a community that there is a human trafficking problem."

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced state funding for 63 projects across four counties along the Lake Ontario shoreline on Wednesday. It’s part of the Lake Ontario Resiliency and Economic Development Initiative, or REDI.

Cuomo said flooding along the lakeshore is the new reality, and plans to rebuild should account for higher water levels. Severe floods damaged homes and businesses in 2017, and again this year.