Breaking News

Coronavirus coverage

Some New Yorkers traveling hours for vaccine

ALBANY (AP) — Some New Yorkers are driving hours to get the COVID-19 vaccine because they are unable to find appointments closer to home through a state website. Residents of the Albany and Buffalo areas in particular have complained on social media and to their local lawmakers that they have had to resort to signing up for appointments in Utica, Rochester, Binghamton or Syracuse. Jessica Muenter, 48, said she lives a short drive away from the SUNY Buffalo site, but instead resorted to booking an appointment in Rochester, which is over an hour away. She was one of several millions of ...

Highlights of COVID-19 relief bill progressing in House

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Democratic-led effort to pass a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package has passed its latest challenge with House committees advancing measures that will soon be combined into a single bill expected to clear the full House by the end of February. Democrats beat back ...

Community Foundation addresses child care crisis

Families across Western New York know the pressure of securing quality child care, often times being placed on waiting lists before their children are even born. In Chautauqua County, that pressure has led to the region being referred to as a child care desert, a census area with over three ...

COVID-19 Nursing home answers needed

Democrats in the state Legislature have been unwilling to use their power to investigate what happened inside the state’s nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Maybe the admission of a cover-up will be enough to spur Democrats into action. Late Thursday night, the New York Post reported that an aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo admitted to Democrats in the state Legislature that the state hid the death toll from COVID-19 in nursing homes because it was feared President Donald Trump would use the numbers against the state in court. The Post was given a tape recording of the phone ...

Third round of WNY Fund microgrants supports 36 grants, $45,000 in COVID-19 relief

For the third time since the beginning of the pandemic, philanthropic leaders in Cattaraugus County helped facilitate the distribution of microgrants from the WNY COVID-19 Community Fund Response Fund to organizations working on the front lines to provide relief to those most impacted by the ongoing pandemic, culminating in 36 grants totaling $45,000. The Western New York COVID-19 Community Response Fund was created by the philanthropic community to support nonprofits addressing immediate needs in response to the COVID-19 crisis in the eight counties of Western New York. In the prior ...

Low COVID rates seen at SUNY

Two weeks into a the spring semester and both Jamestown Community College and the State University of New York at Fredonia are reporting low numbers of new coronavirus cases. From Jan. 30 to Friday, there were a total of 26 positive cases — four from JCC and 22 at Fredonia. “Weekly testing of all students and employees is a tremendous undertaking, but several areas and departments across campus have worked collaboratively and exhaustively to make it happen,” said Fredonia President Stephen H. Kolison Jr. at the start of the semester. “Fredonia showed it can take the precautions ...