News

MOORE, Okla. (AP)  The state medical examiner's office has revised the death toll from a tornado in an Oklahoma City suburb to 24 people, including seven children. 

Spokeswoman Amy Elliot said Tuesday morning that she believes some victims were counted twice in the early chaos of the storm. Authorities said initially that as many as 51 people were dead, including 20 children.

Teams are continuing to search the rubble in Moore, 10 miles south of Oklahoma City, after the Monday afternoon tornado.

(CNN, NPR & AP ) Clinging to the hope of finding more survivors, rescue workers scoured mountains of rubble Tuesday where houses and schools once stood.

But as they searched through the night and Tuesday morning, the sobering death toll continued to climb in this city far too familiar with nature's wrath.

RIT officials are providing a few more details about an incident Monday night where Haz-Mat crews responded to the Colony Manor apartments.Initially, it was reported one student was taken to the hospital.

Now, RIT officials say that nothing was found in the unoccupied apartment that would have caused someone to become ill.

That apartment will remain closed until all personal belongings are removed and the apartment is cleaned.

The Colony Manor apartment complex is open to residents.

The Green Party of Monroe County has endorsed Emily Good to run for Monroe County Sheriff.

She is the activist who made national headlines  a couple of years ago when she was arrested for obstruction of governmental administration after video-recording Rochester Police officers while they were carrying out a traffic stop.

Suburban voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide on their district's school budget and elect school board members.

The executive director of the Monroe County School Board Association, Jody Siegle, says budget discussions have been difficult this year. She says that's because of rising rising pension and benefits costs, limited state aid and the state's new property tax cap.

Monroe Community College has announced new scholarships designed to increase student interest in welding careers. 

When it comes to state government, voters have two different answers right now.
A Siena Poll asked voters if they agree with Governor Cuomo's statement that "New York State Government is Working Again."

50 percent agreed, 36 percent disagreed, and 13 percent neither agreed nor disagreed.
Pollster Steve Greenberg adds Siena wanted to know how voters feel about certain fiscal issues and ethics and whether state government is working.

They found that a majority feel the state government is working when it comes to safeguarding the rights of all New Yorkers.

Rochester Police Chief James Sheppard says citizens need to work with police to put an end to the streak of violence plaguing Rochester the past few days.
Speaking after a weekend of violence near the Lilac Festival that led to 20 arrests, Sheppard is calling on the community to step up and help.

As for the spate of recent violence, Chief Sheppard says he strongly believes that there is nothing that happens in this city that somebody doesn't know about prior to, during, or after it happens.
And he's calling for the community to step up.

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court is taking a new case on the intersection of religion and government in a dispute over prayers used to open meetings in a Western New York town. 

The justices said Monday they will review an appeals court ruling that held that the town of Greece   violated the Constitution by opening nearly every meeting over an 11-year span with prayers that stressed Christianity. 

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the town should have made a greater effort to invite people from other faiths to open its monthly board meetings. 

(AP) Testimony is set to begin in the trial of two people charged with killing a Fairport high school teacher as she rode her bike along a Penfield road last summer. 

Both 23-year-old Mark Scerbo of Penfield and 24-year-old Meagan Merkel of Ontario, Wayne County are charged with manslaughter and driving while intoxicated for hitting Heather Boyum with their vehicles last July.