A local volunteer organization is sponsoring its second annual ROC Transit Day set for June 20th. 

It's designed to encourage people to try the public transit system for a day and it coincides with national "Dump the Pump" day, asking residents to take the bus and save money on gas. Rochester area employers can request free all-day bus passes for their employees. 

Reconnect Rochester is sponsoring the effort. 

The body regulating water levels on Lake Ontario, the International Joint Commission (IJC), has released a proposal for a new management plan. Lake levels have a significant impact on the economic and environmental viability of harbors in upstate New York and Canada.

Who remembers what school lunches were like?

Well, the Rochester City School District is taking strides to improve its lunch meals by offering healthier options to  elementary students.

Members of the legislature’s Black and Hispanic caucus and their allies made a last minute push for a bill to decriminalize the public possession of small amounts of marijuana, saying current laws unfairly target young black and Latino men.

Assemblyman Karim Camara, who chairs the caucus, says the bill to decriminalize public possession of small amounts of marijuana is needed partly to fix an ongoing problem with the New York City Police Department’s Stop and Frisk policy.  He and other supporters gathered outside the Senate chamber, to call for a vote.  

The wet weather we've had so far this month is causing headaches for some farmers and other growers.  That according to Bob King, who heads up the Agriculture and Life Sciences Institute at MCC.

He says the saturated soil could cause problems for people who grow early varieties of strawberries.

King does note that there is still a lot of growing weather to come, so things could  improve  as the summer progresses. On Thursday, more than an inch of rain fell in many parts of the Rochester area with some flooding reported around the region.

The lengthy dispute over casino royalties was resolved in Niagara Falls on Thursday with the signing of new deal between the state of New York and the Seneca Nation of Indians. 

This deal is the third in 30 days between the state and upstate Indian nations since the governor launched his initiative to push for additional casinos (or as he calls them "resort destinations"), in upstate.

What's in it for the Seneca? Support from Albany to uphold their rights to run exclusive gaming operations in western New York.

Women’s groups have agreed to amend abortion rights  language in a women’s equality bill to clarify that a late term abortion procedure that opponents call partial birth abortion  will continue to be illegal in New York.

Several Republican Senators said they couldn’t support a proposal to codify into New York State law the abortion rights afforded to women in the federal Roe v Wade decision. They said they feared it would promote late term abortions, including partial birth abortion, which are currently illegal in the US.

The heavy rainfall is forcing officials with the the New York State Canal Corporation to take actions in advance of the large storm system affecting much of the eastern United States.

Several locks have been closed, including those between Waterford and Mays Point on the Erie Canal. Several locks on the Champlain and Oswego Canals are also closed.

Canal staff is helping move some vessels to more secure locations, while helping other boaters with access to electricity, water and other services.

Officials from the Urban League of Rochester Economic Development Association, and the city of Rochester were on hand at a soggy construction site in Corn Hill Thursday to introduce Greig Square.

It's eight new town homes for first-time homebuyers.

The Association is offering up to 35-thousand dollars in grants for qualified buyers, while the city is helping with up to 6-thousand dollars in assistance for down payments/closing costs.

Atlas Builders, LLC is building the town homes on Santiago Street in Cornhill, the city's oldest residential neighborhood.

Human genes cannot be patented the US Supreme Court ruled Thursday, in a decision that could have a major impact on genetic research.

The unanimous ruling on the Myriad Genetics case struck down two patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, mutations of which are linked to a hereditary risk for ovarian and breast cancer.