In the first meeting of the Rochester Anti-Poverty Task Force, members of the community provided a context justifying the existence of such a coalition. Leaders of institutions throughout the city, private and public, volunteer and for-profit, brought up some of the ugliest attributes of the city and laid out the barriers to prosperity faced by a third of Rochester residents every day.

Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul was in Rochester on Thursday to attend the first meeting of the Rochester Anti-Poverty Task Force, which began discussions on how to advance plans to combat poverty and fight inequality in the Rochester area.

Stressful factors in childhood can greatly increase the risk of adult illness and premature mortality. 

Nearly 40 percent of Americans had one or more childhood experiences that negatively affected their adult health, according to the results of a recent poll commissioned by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Doctor Jeff Kaczorowski is a Pediatrician and the President of the Children’s Agenda. He explains many chronic conditions later in life have their roots in childhood toxic stress.

  NEW YORK (AP & WXXI News)  Cardinal Edward Egan, the former archbishop of New York who oversaw a broad and sometimes unpopular financial overhaul of the archdiocese and played a prominent role in the city after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, died Thursday. He was 82. 

Egan died of cardiac arrest at a New York hospital, the archdiocese announced. He had survived polio as a child, which affected his health as an adult, and also used a pacemaker. 

As part of his budget plan, Governor Cuomo wants to raise the minimum wage to $10.50 across the state and $11.50 in New York City. He says raising the minimum wage doesn't just help workers on a personal level, it will also immediately impact the economy.

"You know, when you raise the minimum wage, the workers who receive the raise spend it. Why? Because they need it. They're literally living paycheck to paycheck. So you raise the wage, and it will be an economic stimulus because three billion dollars is a significant amount in the state economy."