People come to the US to escape extreme poverty and violence, said one Upstate New York immigrant farmworker after hearing President Obama’s immigration speech last week. “We’re here to do the right thing and provide food for everyone,” he said. “I didn’t come to this country to produce weapons or smuggle drugs. I produce food.” […]
Tim Louis Macaluso
I was born and raised in the Rochester area, but I lived in California and Florida before returning home about 12 years ago. I'm a vegetarian and live with my husband and our three pugs. I cover education, health care, and local politics for City.
Posted inNews & Opinion
Human toll of school suspensions is devastating
Should a student be suspended for tugging on a teacher? What’s the likelihood of a student returning to school after a multiple-day out-of-school suspension? Are special-needs students able to make up instruction time lost to suspensions? And how long should it take for school officials to notify parents that their child has been arrested and […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
City schools’ suspensions challenged
A new report examining student conduct and discipline shows that suspensions continue to be alarmingly high in the Rochester school district. More than 54,600 days of instruction were lost due to suspensions during the 2012-2013 school year, the report says. And most of the suspensions were for minor offenses. A second finding is equally disturbing: […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Republican wins aren’t a mandate for more wars
Despite the anguish that many Democrats are feeling over the midterms, the Republican takeover of the US Senate may not turn out to be an unmitigated disaster. There could even be some benefits. The GOP will finally have to do something besides criticize President Obama and question his citizenship. Should we be concerned about Supreme […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Researchers rattle the tin cup
For much of the last century, the US was unquestionably the world’s economic leader — and not by accident. The economic engine was powered by the resolve of government leaders, particularly after World War II, to invest in research and development. Most basic scientific research, roughly 55 percent, is conducted at a core group of […]
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New teachers face a hostile environment
Out of the roughly 150 people who attended a community forum last night called “Why Would Anybody Want to be a Teacher Today?” more than half were students from area colleges preparing to enter the tumultuous world of public education. The forum was put on by Writers & Books and partners. The data on new […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Good souls: Cemetery care often falls to volunteers
Peggy Byrd crosses a thick mat of grass in Mount Hope Cemetery on her way to a large monument next to a tight row of small headstones. One of the stones is engraved, “Margaret Van Ingen Weston 1902-1990.” “There’s my Aunt [Margaret],” Byrd says. “By just going into the cemetery office and asking where my […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Ebola: Not worried, but getting ready
Strong Memorial Hospital is well prepared to both identify a patient infected with the Ebola virus and to provide treatment, says Dr. Michael Kamali, chair of the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Department of Emergency Medicine. “Much of our direction is coming from both the Centers for Disease Control as well our internal folks — […]
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RCSD and non-teaching staff fight over wages
More than 400 members of the Board of Education Non-Teaching Employees union and the Rochester Area Paraprofessionals union protested at last night’s city school board meeting over contract negotiations with the district. The unions, which represent a wide range of often lower-paid non-teaching employees – bus drivers, food servers, clerical support staff, custodians, security guards, […]
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ROC the Future is moving forward
Some of what panel members at ROC the Future’s second “State of Our Children” discussed at a breakfast meeting this morning would not have surprised a lot of people. The challenges that many Rochester students and their families face as well as students’ low performance in key areas of early childhood development and education are […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Keep Louise Slaughter
Calling Congress member Louise Slaughter a progressive is an understatement. She’s one of the most liberal and loyal members of the Democratic Party, and a political rock star in her home district. She’s also a tenacious and scrappy fighter who has survived numerous Republican attempts to unseat her, probably few more qualified than her last […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Cuomo deserves our vote
(As in September’s Democratic Primary, City’s editorial staff is divided on its endorsement for governor. Endorsements from both sides follow, with the staff majority first.) Andrew Cuomo isn’t a perfect governor, and some of his shortcomings are as serious as his critics say. We, too, are disturbed by his meddling in the work of the […]
