In his State of the Union address, President Obama issued a challenge: “Tonight, let’s declare that in the wealthiest nation on earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour.” On this he finds support from Governor Cuomo, who proposes increasing the […]
Minimum wage
Posted inNews & Opinion
Poll: Public backs increase in the minimum wage
The public is behind Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to raise the state minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.75 per hour, according to one statewide poll. Cuomo proposed the increase during his State of the State address last week. A Siena College Research Institute poll, conducted on January 10 and January 13 to 15, says that […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Going Dutch
Sugar, spice, everything nice, and a tendency to break into cartwheels, song, and dance… that’s what the girls in the after-school double Dutch program at School 30 are made of. And maybe a little more spice than most. A group of about 15 first to fifth graders gather in the School 30 gym at 36 […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Send out the troops
It was the most heavily scripted, carefully choreographed Democratic convention I can remember. The signs, the chants, the singing, dancing delegates; all were made for TV, though TV, for the most part, was ignoring them. But I’ll tell you what: there were exquisitely inspiring speeches, and genuinely emotional moments. There were times when you felt […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Little political party is winning big
Brightly-colored T-shirts and posters adorn the walls of the Working Families Party’s small offices at 681 South Avenue. Flyers of the group’s main campaign of the summer, “Defeat Bush,” are stuck in a row on the front window. They sport a grimacing face of President Bush that stares at visitors and passers-by. The room and […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Payback billionaire?
You could have seen it coming. Back in November, WXXI Public Broadcasting aired a locally produced documentary that, according to promo material, explores the life of Paychex billionaire and free-spending ex-gubernatorial candidate Tom Golisano. The documentary, which “highlights his achievements,” was WXXI’s first in-house production to be shown on WXXI-HD 21.1, the station’s high-definition channel. […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Cultivating a collection
Librarian Carolyn VanNess wants to take the Rochester Civic Garden Center Library off any “best-kept secret” lists. She wouldn’t mind a few more people knowing that over 4,000 horticultural volumes are tucked into the second floor of RCGC’s home in the Warner Castle. The collection was begun in the late ’40s, and includes books […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
News briefs 12.10.03
Pain reliever Hasaan Mackey never stays in one place long. Since Mackey’s mom died 13 years ago, a life of shuffling between relatives’ and friends’ homes has saddled the 24-year-old with an unsettled feeling. Just like his life, his music demands constant adaptation. Mackey’s freestyle rap, in which he improvises rhymes to changing hip-hop […]
