Jack on the go?
County Exec
Jack Doyle has drawn news attention and speculation ever since he took office, and that
didn’t end with his announcement that he’s retiring.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Among the predictions about his
future: that he’ll run for Congress, seeking the seat currently held by Amo
Houghton of Corning. If he does, the City of Rochester will lose one of its
most high-profile residents. Doyle will have to move; his Park Avenue
neighborhood house isn’t in Houghton’s district.
Falcon watch
The five Peregrine Falcons recently
hatched and fledged from the Kodak Office tower are now flying on their own.
One or more of these exciting and beautiful birds (pictured) can usually be
seen from the pedestrian bridge at High Falls at almost any time of day. They
are at their seeable best while the parents are still leaving food for them on
the Kodak tower. As the juveniles learn to hunt for themselves they will stray
farther and farther from home base. This is a rare opportunity to see the
“bird of kings” under ideal conditions with minimal effort on your
part. You don’t even need binoculars — but take ’em if you’ve got ’em. If you
do go, let us know what you see.
Byline:
— Warren Wightman
Tracking ATEC
With the downtown transit center fast becoming a reality, rumors began
circulating last week that Monroe Community College might choose to locate its
downtown Advanced Technology Center — and its downtown Damon campus — in the office tower that is supposed to
be built in conjunction with the transit center.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย But MCC is holding strong on its
promise not to debate sites until state funding for the ATEC project is
secured. And Heidi Zimmer-Meyer, head of the Rochester Downtown Development
Corporation, knew nothing of the rumors.
Catholics relent on EC
The Catholic Church accepted a meaningless amendment and dropped its opposition
to a bill mandating that emergency
contraception be provided to rape victims in hospital emergency rooms. The
bill passed both houses of the state Legislature and was signed by the
governor, capping a three-year effort by Democratic Assemblywoman Susan John of
Rochester and others.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The New York State Catholic
Conference dropped its opposition to the bill when an amendment was added
stipulating that EC would not have to be given to rape victims who are already
pregnant. As City previously reported
(see “EC to the rescue,” February 19 and 26, 2003), a pregnancy test taken
within 72 hours of the assault, the timeframe during which EC is effective,
would not indicate whether the victim is pregnant as a result of the assault or
not. Furthermore, even if the woman was pregnant before the assault, EC
(essentially a high dose of birth control pills) would do no harm to a
developing embryo attached to the uterine wall.
This article appears in Jul 23-29, 2003.
