Alex Crichton

Rochester-based Intervol just returned from Haiti where the group is helping victims of the devastating earthquake in 2010.

Intervol is a nonprofit organization that sends teams of health care volunteers to countries with significant medical needs.

Click on the audio player above to listen to WXXI’s Alex Crichton interview co-founder Dr. Timothy O'Connor during Wednesday’s Morning Edition on WXXI-AM 1370.

Voters in area suburban school districts went to the polls to vote on school budgets Tuesday and all in Monroe County were approved.

This was the first school budget vote since a property tax cap was enacted last year.

The only district in the region to see its budget rejected was in the Wyoming Central School District.

Its proposed budget exceeded the cap limit and thus required a 60 percent super majority of voters in order to pass.

A new program aims to train people to become early detectors of signs of the emerald ash borer infestation in ash trees in Western & Central New York.

The insect has killed millions of ash trees, and is spreading in western New York.

Cornell University's Mark Whitmore, a forest entomologist, is training people to be first detectors of the bug, so they accurately report it, and educate others.

Whitmore says communities need to be engaged in the battle against the beetle.

The training sessions will cover the biology of the insect and the signs and symptoms of ash tree infestation.

Whitmore says there were false reports last summer in the area, and people need to be able to accurately identify signs and symptoms on the trees themselves.

A new survey indicates most school districts are proposing tax levies that meet or fall under the property tax cap limit enacted last May.

But to do so, an overwhelming number of districts are reducing programs and staffing in the next school year, according to Michael Borges, executive director of New York State Association of School Business Officials.

His group and the State School Boards Association surveyed districts statewide and found over 400 districts will eliminate over 4,200 positions.

Borges says nearly all districts are dipping into their unappropriated fund balances to meet their needs to provide a sound, basic education.

Borges says while property tax cap legislation was passed, it wasn't accompanied by mandate relief.

The number of people classified as "food insecure" is on the rise in the Genesee Valley and Finger Lakes region.

Food insecurity means not always knowing where the next meal is coming from. Using data compiled from the Census Bureau, the Department of Agriculture and other sources, the organization Feeding America reports food insecurity affects 159,190 people, or 13% of the population in the ten county region that includes Rochester.

Tom Ferraro, executive director and founder of Foodlink, says the data allows them to target areas where the food supply chain has broken down, and present a case to donors and food manufacturers.

Ferraro adds the number of people who are "food insecure" keeps growing even as sources of food are being exhausted.

Rochester's water is the best tasting in the state, according to a competition held by the New York Section of the American Water Works Association.

Tap water from here and five other cities was used in a blind taste test at the group's annual conference.

The water was judged by a panel on taste, odor, clarity, feel in the mouth, and aftertaste.

Rochester came in first, followed by New Rochelle, and Canandaigua tied for third.

Mayor Tom Richards said Hemlock Lake has been providing the city with high quality water for 136 years, and it's an honor for Rochester's water to be named New York's best.

One of the polar bears at the Seneca Park Zoo may be expecting, and if she is pregnant, it could mark the first successful artificial insemination of a polar bear.

The procedure was performed by the Seneca Park Zoo, in conjunction with the Cincinnati Zoo's Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife, or CREW.

County Executive Maggie Brooks says the results could be groundbreaking.

Brooks says, if successful, the procedure will put the Seneca Park Zoo in the forefront of preservation of the world's polar bears. Polar bears are an endangered species.

Dr. Jeff Wyatt, Director of Animal Health and Conservation at the Zoo, says there is no pregnancy test for a polar bear, and only time will tell if Aurora is pregnant.

New York State’s resident Canada Geese population is around 200,000, despite the annual harvest of about 50,000 of the birds during hunting season.

And the state DEC says the birds, while a valuable natural resource, can become a problem because of the droppings they leave behind.

DEC Waterfowl specialist Brian Swift says there are ways to discourage geese from becoming settled or familiar on your property. That includes using persistent chasing techniques, using loud noises or a border collie or other breed of dog that would chase the geese without harming them.

Swift adds if people are concerned about geese nesting on their property, there are ways to treat the eggs so they won't hatch. So-called egg addling requires a permit, however.

It was another down quarter for Eastman Kodak. The company, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January, lost $366 million in the first three months of the year. Revenues also fell 27% to $965 million.

Democrat and Chronicle business reporter Matt Daneman says much of the drop in revenues can be attributable to losses in Kodak's Consumer Segment, as it gets out of the digital camera business.

Daneman says as Kodak gets out of the digital camera business, profitability is expected to improve in subsequent quarters, because Kodak won't have the costs associated with that business.

Kodak says it reduced selling and administrative costs by $84 million compared to a year ago. Kodak filed for Chapter 11 protection in January.

Rochester Fire Chief John Caufield says he's leaving the department in good hands, because of the team that is in place, and it's a better department now than when he started as chief in 2007.

Caufield's last day on the job is Friday, before starting his new post with the National Fire Protection Association.

He says during his tenure, the department had to change its way of doing business, because of economic demands and shrinking budgets.

Caufield says he feels he met the challenge of providing the best fire protection and emergency services to the citizens of Rochester, despite budget cuts and reductions in personnel.