(New Hartford, NY – April 30, 2010) Holy Cross Academy will hold its 13th Annual Mother’s Day Plant Sale from Thursday May 6 to Sunday May 9 at the Macy’s parking lot at Sangertown Mall in New Hartford. Hours on Thursday through Saturday are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
There will be a wide variety of hanging plants, annuals, and perennials available.
For further information, please call the Academy at 315.363.1669.
UTICA, New York - A new Zogby Interactive survey shows the political dangers of opposing financial regulation, with likely voters slightly more likely to vote for a party that is anti-Wall Street over a party that is anti-federal government.
The poll of 1,993 likely voters was conducted from April 23-26. It found that:
New Hartford, N.Y. – Girl Scouts in fourth and fifth grades will become star gazers during a program on Friday, May 21 at Trenton Town Park from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and search the sky during a program on Friday, May 28 at Herkimer County BOCES from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Pre-registration is required and new members are welcome.
During the Star Gazers program, girls will answer questions such as what stars do we see in the night sky and why do we see fewer stars today than we did years ago? Girls will also meet the girls in the Girl Scout Astronomy Club who traveled to NASA and spent a week learning all about the stars. Weather permitting, girls will also put together a telescope and be able to look at the stars. The fee is $6 per girl and the registration deadline is Monday, May 17.
During the Sky Search program, girls will visit the planetarium at Herkimer County BOCES and explore star maps, constellations, learn how to find constellations using the North Star, find planets, and learn about moons, meteors and comets. Girls will also make a craft. The fee is $8 per girl and the registration deadline is Monday, May 17.
To register for these programs or for more information, contact Karen Lubecki at (315) 733-2391, ext. 28 or klubecki@gsneypnn.org.
(Rome, NY) The YMCA of the Greater Tri-Valley, with branches in Rome and Oneida has formed a partnership with the National Center For Missing & Exploited Children to host a benefit concert in support of the Foundation’s “Take 25” event on May 23 at Staley Upper Elementary School in Rome.
The YMCA is one of the largest providers of school age child care programs in Central New York and has been working on a training partnership with NCMEC for several years. The Y program serves 24 elementary schools with before and after school programs in the area.
NCMEC is responsible for the Ride For Missing Children, Amber alerts and prevention training in the schools.
“We felt the partnership with this wonderful organization was a great fit for us”, said Hank Leo, CEO of the YMCA. “They provide excellent training in many of the areas our staff need information. We have even brought the concept to the rest of the YMCAs in New York State and they are interested as well.”
The concert will feature three nationally-known artists: Denise Morgan, the lead singer of the Motown Group, the Marvelettes; teen fiddle prodigy and New Orleanian Amanda Shaw, and Yolanda Androzzo, a spoken word artist from Los Angeles. The Y has engaged all three in their YMCA Center For the Creative Arts recording project, which is in process to complete its sixth recording entitled “Hope Is In Me- A Musical Journey.”
The YMCA is also the subject of a nationally-televised Fox documentary about the recording project and its interaction between local student musicians and nationally recording artists. The Y kids have recorded with Grammy winners Jennifer Warnes, Bill Medley, Joanne Shenandoah, Bob Mintzer, and dozens of others. The project has benefited the birth of a new Gospel Choir at the Y, in partnership with many local churches.
“We approached the Rome City School District as we wanted to hold the event there and provide the middle school students with an opportunity to learn about safety and prevention, while also providing entertainment in the form of great music”, added Leo.
The concert will also feature local bands Seven Bridges, The YMCA Gospel Choir, and Jennifer Bernstone, an actress/singer from Oneida.
Tickets are free to children under 12, $5.00 for students with ID and seniors, and $10.00 for adults and are available by calling the YMCA in Rome at 336-3500 or Oneida at 363-7788, or online at www.ymcatrivalley.org.
(Utica, NY) Mohawk Valley Community College, in Utica and Rome, has announced the names of students in the Airframe and Powerplant Technician program whose high academic performance has qualified them for recognition as members of the President’s List or Vice President’s List for the recently completed fall 2009 semester.
Added to the vice president’s list were:
Samantha M. LaMondie-Karnuth, Rome NY
Edward Dani Wittmann, Rome NY
The President’s List includes 27 students who achieved a grade-point average of 3.75 or higher (of a possible 4.00). The Vice President’s List includes 5 students who achieved a grade-point average of between 3.50 and 3.74.
(Utica, NY) Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS) reminds the community that the deadline for the next round of Community Health Awards is May 1, 2010.
Community Health Awards are grants of up to $4,000 to nonprofit groups for programs that improve the health and wellness of the community. Awards are made twice yearly – in January and July. Since their inception in 2000, more that 200 awards have been made totaling nearly $585,000.
If your organization is interested in applying for this award cycle, please contact Excellus BCBS at 315.792.8897 or by email at Stephanie.davis@excellus.com. Applications received after the May 1 deadline will be held for the next award cycle.
Legislation puts state on path to responsible budgeting
Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito (D-Rome) joined state Senator Liz Krueger (D/WF-Manhattan) in sponsoring a bill that requires the state to prepare its budget in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) – a measure that would force the Legislature to make a more realistic assessment of the state’s financial situation (A.10637).
“The state has maintained a very flexible budget process by operating on a cash basis,” Destito said, adding that under this system, bills are recorded as paid when funds are spent, not when a liability is incurred. “Currently, the state’s misleading accounting practices allow the state to claim a balanced budget when in reality debt is just being pushed onto the next year’s budget. This legislation will clean that up.”
Destito said with the recent string of fiscal crises, the threat of the state running out of cash is very real, and must be taken seriously.
“Our budgeting system needs reform and it’s essential we adopt the standards outlined by the GAAP,” Destito said. “The tradeoff is a different kind of flexibility – one that affords lawmakers a clearer picture of the current financial situation and the time to make necessary adjustments.”
A new Excellus BCBS report examines impact on upstate New Yorkers
(Utica, NY) The incidence of gonorrhea among 15- to 19-year-olds in upstate New York exceeds the state average, with 377 cases per 100,000 teens compared to 314 cases per 100,000 statewide. That’s just one of the disturbing facts in a new report on sexually transmitted diseases issued today by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield.
“STDs affect upstate New Yorkers of every age, sex, race, and socioeconomic status,” said Dr. Frank J. Dubeck, Jr., Excellus BCBS vice president and chief medical officer for Medical Policy. “Yet because of the stigma surrounding the diseases, it’s the one epidemic no one talks about.”
Determining health care costs directly related to all STDs is difficult, as experts believe many cases go undiagnosed and/or unreported. The most recent nationwide look at the economic burden of STDs upon teens and young adults ─ conducted in 2000 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ─ placed the lifetime cost for 15- to 24-year-olds at $6.5 billion.
The Excellus BCBS study, Reported Sexually Transmitted Diseases, analyzed the rates of infection of the five most commonly reported STDs among teens and adults ─ chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV and AIDS ─ during the period 2005 to 2007.
Chlamydia was the most commonly reported STD across upstate New York, where rates ranged from a low of 181 infections per 100,000 people in the Utica region to a high of 407 per 100,000 in the Finger Lakes region.
Reported rates for gonorrhea, the second most commonly reported STD, varied across regions. The highest reported rates were among teens in the Western New York region, at 583 infections per 100,000 people, and the lowest were in the Utica region, at 84 per 100,000. Rates for the total population mirrored the incidence among teens, with the highest reported rates in the Finger Lakes and Western New York regions and the lowest rate in the Utica region.
The reported rate of syphilis infections per 100,000 people varied across upstate regions, from 0.9 in the Southern Tier and Utica to 2.1 in the Finger Lakes region.
HIV and AIDs rates were relatively low in upstate New York. The Finger Lakes region had the highest reported rate for newly diagnosed HIV, with 9.5 infections per 100,000, while the lowest rate was in the Utica region at 3.9 per 100,000. Similar rates of reported AIDs infections prevailed, with the highest rate in the Finger Lakes region at 9.3 per 100,000 and the lowest in the Utica region at 4.7 per 100,000.
STDs are primarily transferred through sexual activity. Some are passed from mother to child during pregnancy, at birth or through breastfeeding. Most STDs show no signs or symptoms, so testing is often the only way to diagnose infection.
“Discussions around sexual health are never easy or comfortable,” said Dubeck. “Until we start increasing awareness around the importance of regular screenings for at-risk individuals, many undiagnosed infected individuals will put their health at risk by going untreated and will threaten the health of others by unknowingly spreading their infection.”
Bacterial infections, such as gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis can be treated and often cured with antibiotics. Viral infections, such as HIV/AIDS, genital herpes, hepatitis B and human papillomavirus (HPV) are incurable but can be managed with medication.
Left untreated, STDs can lead to increased risk of HIV transmission, pregnancy complications, infertility and reproductive tract cancers.
The CDC recommends that individuals protect themselves from STDs by practicing abstinence or limiting sexual partners, using condoms consistently and correctly, and getting screened regularly.
“The takeaway from this report is that there are serious long-term health consequences resulting from undiagnosed and untreated STDs,” said Dubeck. “It’s time to stop being embarrassed and start talking ─ especially to young people ─ about safe sex and, if appropriate, about getting tested and treated.”
A full library of reports and fact sheets, including the report on STDs, is available on the Web by going to excellusbcbs.com and clicking on “About Us” at the bottom of the page. Then select “Fact Sheets, Surveys & Reports.” Topics include high blood cholesterol, leading causes of death, diabetes, smoking and obesity.
April 27, 2010 (Utica, NY) — Gap Inc. is hosting another fundraising weekend to support the local Big Brothers Big Sisters program. On Friday, April 30 through Sunday, May 2, Gap and Gap Kids at Sangertown Square in New Hartford will offer 25 percent off all regular priced merchandise with a $5 in-store donation to Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Oneida and Herkimer Counties is an affiliate of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the premier mentoring organization in the country. Big Brothers Big Sisters matches adult volunteers with children from single-parent homes. The Big Brothers and Big Sisters serve as mentors and role models to school-aged Little Brothers and Little Sisters. The funds raised by the Gap and Gap Kids promotion will be used by Big Brothers Big Sisters to recruit, enroll, and supervise matches made within the local program.
Big Brothers Big Sisters will also have representatives at the Gap locations in Sangertown Square throughout the weekend to answer questions about becoming a mentor. For more information about the event, contact Kathy Hartnett at (315) 724-6907.
A Legislative Column by Assemblyman Dave Townsend (R,WF-Sylvan Beach)
Taxes affect economic decision-making. The higher the taxes, the more distortion you get in market feedback and information. According to this logic, a lower tax rate gives individuals and businesses an advantage: low levies create predictability that companies can leverage to hire more workers or raise salaries for existing employees. It stands as great timing then, that an idea to reduce the payroll tax burden on New York’s businesses has arrived.
As part of the federal government’s jobs efforts, the state Department of Labor last week introduced the Hire Act calculator, an online tool to help businesses assess the benefits of hiring unemployed workers in this year and next. Unfortunately, companies are still reluctant to take on new operating costs in the midst of a protracted economic recovery. The Hire Act calculator, however, allows these businesses to more accurately predict the money they can save with new employees. I encourage businesses to take advantage of this new information; if past trends are any indication hiring will be fast and furious once the economy regains its footing. Small businesses can use the Department of Labor’s tool to increase their chances of making smart hiring choices.
Unemployment in our region is still too high. According to the most recent data, the jobless rate in Oneida County is 7.7 percent and 10.8 percent in Oswego County. Nationally, the number of people that have been out of work for six months or more is the highest it has been since the 1940s. A shaky housing market and higher prices at the pump only compound the problems. Understandably, business owners have been hesitant to take on greater financial risks in such an unpredictable economic environment. The federal payroll tax credit reduces that risk.
Thanks to the state Department of Labor’s tax-credit calculator, qualifying employers can know how much money they stand to save in payroll taxes. These business owners can receive a 6.2 percent payroll tax cut, effectively exempting them from paying FICA taxes on that employee’s wages. Companies may also be eligible to receive a $1,000 tax credit for each worker employed more than a year.
This credit promotes stable, long-term work, not temporary jobs. In order to qualify, the new employees must have been jobless for at least 60 days.
Want to improve your bottom line while reducing the numbers of those who are unemployed in Central New York? The state Department of Labor’s Hire Act calculator can help. Visit www.labor.ny.gov/HireActCalculator.shtm to find out more about this important online resource today. The economic recovery cannot begin without you.
