pandemic

The Rochester Fringe Festival revealed its modified 2020 schedule. Festival producer Erica Fee has been in contact with many people in the arts community, and there has been some debate and confusion about safety.

We discuss the decision-making process in a major festival during a pandemic, and we explore the questions that some in the arts community are expressing. Our guest:

• Erica Fee, producer of the Rochester Fringe Festival

For the first time in about two decades, the Buffalo Bills will not train in Pittsford, and both sides wish it wasn’t so.

The NFL has decided that all training camps must happen at team facilities this year. That’s a break from tradition for the Bills, who’ve held their camp at St. John Fisher College for two decades. They typically arrive in mid-July.

The pandemic is forcing small businesses everywhere to reimagine how they operate, and Laughing Gull Chocolates in Rochester is no different. 

The East Main Street shop is owned by three young moms: Karla Boyle, Allison Zukoski and Lindsay Tarnoff. Tarnoff said the business relied heavily on in-store chocolate- and truffle-making workshops, which had to end when the pandemic hit.

Last month, state elections officials canceled the Democratic presidential primary, citing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres ruled that the primary must happen on June 23. 

It's the latest shift in an unusual election season, leaving Board of Elections officials like LaShana Boose scrambling to adapt.

With a little over a month before early voting starts, Boose said the board was already planning to send out absentee ballot applications to all registered voters as a result of an executive order from Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Even with the pandemic, some business will still go on with their expansion plans. In the latest WXXI Business report, see what Greater Rochester Enterprise thinks about expanding in a pandemic, plus, Constellation Brands keeps increasing their stake in a Canadian pot-producing company.

Jared Valentine used to own a restaurant, and he has marketing experience, but in recent years, he’s been working gigs whenever he can get them. 

After he lost his seasonal job in Zagster’s operations department due to the bike-share company leaving Rochester, he found himself looking for work immediately. 

He recently answered an ad for a per diem position called "COVID relief" with Rochester Regional Health. He said he wanted to pitch in on the front lines of the pandemic. 

His interview started with a phone call.

India Hedman’s daughter, Kaia, is sleeping. It’s Wednesday afternoon, and the 14-month-old is down for a nap.

Hedman picks her up out of her crib. Kaia’s head lolls against her mom’s shoulder. Her eyes stay closed.

“When she sleeps, she sleeps,” Hedman said.

The U.S. census, that constitutionally mandated once-a-decade count of every resident, is still being conducted this year -- though it’s not going according to plan.

Jim Malatras with the New York State Complete Count Commission said the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected what was already a difficult year for the 2020 census. 

He said he doesn’t believe that the federal government had done enough before the pandemic to ensure an accurate count, particularly in states with large immigrant populations and communities of color, like New York.