News

On this edition of Need to Know Rochester:

• A look at the potential charter school boom in Monroe County and how that may impact students and the Rochester City School District
• A profile of Hope Hall, a local private school that caters to students with special learning needs
• A new behind-the-scenes look at sculptor Albert Paley’s latest work

A glory lilac tree on a Pittsford elementary school yard has been dedicated in honor of a first grader who was tragically killed in the Newtown, Connecticut Shooting.

The Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival Ticket shop opens Tuesday, May 28th at 10:00 a.m.

It's located at the corner of East Avenue and Gibbs Street, and it's a place for festival-goers to pick up tickets for headliners, exchange club pass tickets for a laminated pass (from June 17th on), and get an official festival brochure and schedule.

This year's jazz fest runs from June 21st to the 29th, and features over 1200 artists performing in more than 300 concerts.

The hours for the ticket shop are:  

If you missed Monroe County Executive Maggie Brook's State of the County address, you can watch it here:

A key member of the Senate’s Independent Democratic Conference says the group does not foresee joining with the rest of the Democrats to overcome Republican resistance to a number of end of session issues, including public financing of campaigns.

Senator Diane Savino, a Staten Island Democrat, is part of the Independent Democratic Conference, a breakaway faction of Democrats that has formed a governing coalition with the Senate’s Republican members.

Governor Cuomo has been traveling the state promoting a plan to allow new businesses to go tax free for up to a decade if they locate near a State University campus.  The plan, which is yet to be drafted into bill form, has raised some questions.

Governor Cuomo has been to several key upstate cities in recent days, promoting a plan to declare tax free zones around state college campuses, in hopes of attracting new businesses.

There are reports that there may be a buyer for Bausch & Lomb. The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and The New York Times are among the media reporting that a Canadian company called Valeant Pharmaceuticals is getting close to finalizing a deal to buy the Rochester-based eye care company for about $9 billion.

B & L is now owned by the private-equity firm Warburg Pincus, which had entertained offers for the company earlier this year.  

The impact and severity of weather events like the tornado that hit Oklahoma City earlier this week are increasing due to a changing global climate, according to research from the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

“We get more extremes everywhere, so really it’s climate disruption, the term global warming is not really the best term to use because what we’re seeing, and what we’re expecting to see from all the models, is a lot of extreme events. Not per se the number, but the extremity of them,” says Laurie Johnson, chief economist for the NRDC’s climate and clean air program.

And, she says, more of the related economic fallout from these disasters is being carried by taxpayers.

A research team at the University of Rochester Medical Center is about to begin a three-year study to determine more effective treatment plans for impoverished women experiencing depression.  

(AP)  The New York state attorney general's office is warning New Yorkers against scam robocalls targeting seniors and offering free medical alert equipment with back-end fees for monitoring. 

The agency says it received consumer queries about a scam targeting seniors by saying they have been "approved'' for the equipment at "no charge". 

The calls warn of injuries and deaths because of delayed responses to medical emergencies, fires, burglaries and falls.