There’s growing opposition in the legislature to Governor Cuomo’s top end of session priority, enacting a new agency to curb abuse of the mentally and physically disabled at state run centers. Opponents, though, say the proposed new entity does not go far enough.

More than 400 physical therapists from around New York are joining forces to create legislation that will place a cap on high co-pays. 

According to healthcare officials, it's not uncommon for specialist co-pays to be $50 per visit and physical therapy care usually requires 10 or 12 sessions per month.

Matt Hyland is the President of the New York Physical Therapy Association. He  says  high co-pays are placing an unfair burden on patients.

"The first visit most patients say 'I can't afford to come more than a couple of times.' The physical therapist may be prescribing a course of care twice a week for two or three weeks but the patient can't afford to come as prescribed," says Hyland.

Students at a Massachusetts High School have demonstrated their love for Wegmans with a live musical – and now you can watch some of the highlights online.

Performers from Algonquin Regional High School in Northborough, MA created the show with their drama teacher’s guidance.

Northborough welcomed Massachusetts’ first Wegmans store this past October.  The grocery chain helped the production by sending props for the production including Wegmans signs, shirts, hats and  two Wegmans shopping carts.

The MetroWest Daily News has more background on the musical production.

IBM's Watson already has Jeopardy! under its belt.

Now Big Blue is turning to the University of Rochester's Simon School of Business for ideas on what to do next.

Manoj Saxena, the general manager of IBM's Watson Solutions unit, says the goal is finding ideas that will "take Watson from a Jeopardy-playing machine to a business-grade decision support system."

Twenty-five Simon MBA students were the first in the nation to partner with IBM on tackling that charge.

Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks’ State of the County Address will be heard live on WXXI-AM 1370 and online at WXXI.org.  Brooks will deliver the speech at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 23 at Cleary Auditorium on the campus of St. John Fisher College.

This will be Brooks’ first State of the County speech since she announced her run for congress challenging longtime incumbent Louise Slaughter.

The former Libyan intelligence officer who was the only person ever convicted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, has died.

Family members tell The Associated Press and Reuters that Abdel Baset al-Megrahi died at home after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 60.

Al-Megrahi had been held in a prison in western Scotland after being convicted in 2001 for the bombing that killed 270 people. He returned to Libya in 2009, released on humanitarian grounds after a diagnosis of terminal cancer. At the time, the AP notes, doctors predicted he had only three months to live.

Rochester Mayor Tom Richards outlined his budget for fiscal 2012-13 today, and his plan to close a projected deficit.

He made the presentation to Rochester City Council after the city held a series of Voice of the Customers sessions earlier this year to gather ideas from the public on what programs should be spared, and what should be cut.

Included in the mayor's budget plan is a call for city employees to start paying part of their health insurance premiums.

Click on the audio player above to listen to Mayor Richards’ remarks to City Council.

A transcript of the mayor’s speech can be found below:

A Rochester film production company has reached an exclusive worldwide distribution deal.

"Second-Story Man" was filmed in and around Rochester two years ago.

Scott Lancer, the film’s producer, says it's a psychological thriller. Lancer says financing for movie projects is always the most difficult, longest part of the process and filming in Rochester during the winter presented some continuity problems.

"Second-Story Man" was shown at the Little Theatre and Lancer is hoping to get it on screen there again. He's also in discussions with the Cinema Theatre in Rochester.

Meanwhile, his production company is in the financing stage for their next movie "The Lighthouse."

In recent years, donut shops, car dealerships and doctor’s offices have received tax breaks from industrial development agencies in western New York.

Now, first-term Assemblyman Sean Ryan (D-Buffalo) has crafted a bill to halt such deals. He joins a growing chorus of critics who argue IDAs have lost their way since being created in the 1960s to generate high-paying manufacturing jobs.

Ryan hopes the legislation becomes a model for the rest of the state. But it’s far from being put to a vote.

Governor Cuomo announced Thursday that he’s rescinding a state regulation that requires food stamp recipients be fingerprinted, saying the poor and hungry are not criminals.

Governor Cuomo, speaking by phone to a gathering of advocates for the poor, says he’s rescinded a 14 year old state regulation that required food stamp recipients be subject to fingerprinting before receiving benefits.  

“Poverty and hunger are not crimes,” said Cuomo. “So we shouldn’t treat the poor or the hungry as criminals.”

The governor says he doesn’t think the finger printing deters fraud.

“It’s not necessary,” Cuomo said.