WCDO Radio News

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, chair of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee, announced that historic reforms are in place in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act:

(Gillibrand 12-7-22)

Gillibrand said that last year’s defense bill did make some important changes, but still left many critical powers with commanders, which she has been fighting to change for the last 10 years.

P.M. NEWS THURSDAY 9-22-22

With residential energy costs expected to rise nationwide this winter, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is calling for emergency supplemental funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program or "LIHEAP":

(Gillibrand 9-22-22)

Senator Gillibrand said that over 1 million New York households get LIHEAP support to heat their homes, but additional funding is needed with the rising prices. Gillibrand said she favors the idea for the state to go back to a program where families that received help through SNAP, would automatically get LIHEAP assistance, without extra paperwork or bureaucracy.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced $6.2 million in federal funding for local fire departments. Locally, the Norwich Fire Department will receive $150,000, the funding will be used to buy new equipment and boost training.

U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced $5.4 Million dollars in federal funding for 3 Central New York and Southern Tier airports. Greater Binghamton/Link Field will get about 2.2 Million Dollars to reconstruct airfield guidance signs and to reconstruct or replace the airport lighting vault.

New York State has about 170,000 Monkeypox vaccines that are ready to be distributed, about 80,000 will go to the upstate counties, According to US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand:

(Gillibrand 8-3-22)

Symptoms of Monkeypox include a new, unexplained rash that develops into hard, round, fluid-filled skin lesions, along with Fever, Swollen lymph nodes, Muscle aches & Chills, over 1300 cases have been found in New York, about a quarter of all nationwide cases. Vaccine locations can be found at health.ny.gov.

What seemed like a slam dunk passing of legislation to cover Military Veterans for illnesses they received by exposure to burn pits while deployed all over the world, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand told WCDO News how that bill failed in the Senate today:

(GILLIBRAND 7-28-22)

Between 2007 and 2020, 12,582 veterans claimed conditions related to burn pit exposure, they will wait to see if the legislation is passed in a slightly altered form in the coming weeks.

The Affordable Care Act’s premium tax credits are set to expire in the coming months, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is urging her colleagues to extend this coverage and save millions of Americans from losing their health care coverage:

(Gillibrand 6-23-22)

Gillibrand said that the tax credits were included in the American Rescue Plan Act, the credits are due to expire at the end of 2022.

US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's bill expanding health care and benefits for veterans exposed to toxic military burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan passed the U.S. Senate on Thursday, Gillibrand has been pushing for this bill for several years:

(Gillibrand 6-16-22)

The Senate Passage sends the legislation back to the House for final approval before moving to the president's desk for signature into law.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand highlighted provisions of her federal gun trafficking bill that were included in the bipartisan gun safety framework. Gillibrand said that in New York, 75% of the guns used in crimes are coming from other states with limited gun laws, so a federal law is needed to help stop gun trafficking into New York:

(Gillibrand 6-14-22)

Senator Gillibrand said that this package of bills is the most significant package of gun safety legislation in about 30 years.

The Delaware Valley Humane Society Pop Out program continues tomorrow in Sidney, Society Director Erin Insinga said that the program has gone well so far:

(Erin Insinga 5-19-22)

Insinga said that tomorrow's Pop Out event will be at Curtis Lumber in Sidney from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, with Smoke Out Barbecue donating 10% of food sales to the Delaware Valley Humane Society.

A.M. NEWS Thursday 5-19-22

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced the introduction of the Emergency Infant Formula Act, to try to increase domestic production and expand sourcing of formula in order to alleviate the current crisis and prevent future shortages.

(Gillibrand 5-18-22)

Senator Gillibrand said that following a recall at Abbott Nutrition, roughly 40% of formula nationwide is out of stock, compounded by supply chain disruptions as a result of the pandemic, The FDA gave Abbott the go-ahead to begin producing formula again at the Sturgis Michigan facility, but it will likely take many weeks to get shelves filled again at retail stores throughout the state.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced that she will vote in favor to codify the Roe Vs. Wade Supreme Court decision, when it comes up for a vote today:

(Gillibrand 5-11-22)

Senator Gillibrand said that she doesn't expect that the legislation will pass the 60 vote threshold in the Senate today, she said that she supports the State Legislature's efforts to have New York State continue to allow for Abortions in spite of the expected Supreme Court's actions.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is once again pushing to fully fund the USDA Rural Broadband Program for Fiscal Year 2023 at $350 million:

(Gillibrand 5-5-22)

Gillibrand said that about 17% of rural residents nationwide still do not have reliable broadband, which left many rural students behind when remote learning became a necessity during the pandemic.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who is chair of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee held a hearing on suicide in the armed forces, as the rates of suicide among active military people & Veterans has quadrupled since 2001:

(Gillibrand 4-6-22)

Following the hearing, Senator Gillibrand said she sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin calling for details on the department’s actions to address lapses in delivering timely access to mental health care for service members.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced the reintroduction of her Postal Banking Act, legislation that would re-establish postal banking to provide financial security to millions of Americans in low-income and rural communities.

(Gillibrand 3-30-22)

Gillibrand said that the Postal Service has offered money orders for decades, and served as a banking facility in many communities for over 50 years, More information is available at gillibrand.senate.gov.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced the introduction of the "Rural Prosperity Act" today to stream line local governments ability to access federal programs that are spread out & inefficient:

(Gillibrand 3-23-22)

Senator Gillibrand said that currently, there are more than 400 federal programs dedicated to helping rural communities, spread across 13 departments, and over 50 offices and sub-agencies. This bill would cut federal red tape by establishing the Office of Rural Prosperity, a permanent office in the White House tasked with coordinating federal efforts to support and connect New York’s rural communities to federal programs.

A.M. NEWS WEDNESDAY 3-23-22

State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said that she doesn’t expect to see a “steep surge” in COVID-19 cases as a new omicron subvariant grows more prevalent in the state. Dr. Bassett said that the BA.2 variant comprises about 42% of all New York State cases, the positivity rate of COVID tests on Monday was back up to 2.36%.

A.M. NEWS THURSDAY 3-17-22

US. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who is the chair of the Subcommittee on Personnel, conducted a hearing Wednesday on the negative health effects of burn pits on military veterans. Gillibrand said Wednesday that if they served, they should be covered & treated:

(Gillibrand 3-17-22)

Senator Gillibrand's “Presumptive Benefits for War Fighters Exposed to Burn Pits and Other Toxins Act” passed in the House of Representatives two weeks ago as part of the Honoring our PACT Act, she is working to get it passed in the Senate.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand visited the Center of Excellence at Binghamton University to announce her bipartisan "Made in America Manufacturing Communities Act of 2022" , which incentivizes private-public partnerships by empowering the Secretary of Commerce to designate “Manufacturing Communities,” which would be eligible for federal financial and technical assistance. The bill would also help strengthen the U.S. manufacturing base and help local businesses cut through bureaucratic red tape to address ongoing pandemic-related supply chain disruptions.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced the reintroduction of the STOCK Act 2.0 earlier today. The original STOCK Act strengthened disclosure rules and prevented public servants, including members of Congress, their families, and their staff, from using their access for self-enrichment. The STOCK Act 2.0 would impose additional disclosure requirements and restrictions for high level officials to ensure that members of Congress and public servants aren’t lining their pockets with taxpayer dollars.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced her plan to introduce the Heating and Cooling Relief Act of 2022, which would invest $40 billion in annual funding to expand access to the Low Income HEAP program and eligibility criteria so households never pay more than 3% of their annual income on energy costs. Gillibrand said that HEAP is a severely underfunded program that has only been able to reach approximately 16% of eligible households in recent years.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced $420,000 in federal funding to develop and implement regional economic development strategies throughout New York State. The funding was allocated through the Economic Development Administration and will promote public-private partnerships to diversify and strengthen regional economies in New York. The Southern Tier East Regional Planning Development Board receives $70,000 for the Development and implementation of economic development strategies for 8 counties, 129 towns, 54 villages and the cities of Binghamton, Ithaca, Cortland, Oneonta, and Norwich.

A.M. NEWS WEDNESDAY 1-19-22

State Police at Sidney are looking to identify a white male subject, who was caught on a surveillance camera at the Bainbridge Coin Laundry on West Main Street in the village of Bainbridge November 20th, and is a suspect in a larceny investigation. Anyone with information asked to call State Police at (607) 561-7400, pictures can be viewed on the state police Facebook page.

As the rise of the Omicron variant continues to threaten the safety of our nation’s health care workforce, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is calling on the Biden administration to continue and make permanent the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) emergency COVID-19 protections for health care workers, after OSHA let the temporary requirements to lapse:

(Gillibrand 1-12-22)

Gillibrand said that the safety measures must be re-instated as soon as possible, as more than 120,000 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 nationwide, further straining overworked health care workers and hospitals facing severe staffing shortages.

A.M. NEWS WEDNESDAY 1-12-22

The Chenango County District Attorney's Office reported that Cody Coleman of Smithville Flats, appeared in Chenango County Court on December 20th to accept that plea bargain, for the murder of his 16 year old Girlfriend Amelia Wakefield in May of 2019. The case was scheduled to go to trial in May of 2020, but was delayed by the COVID 19 pandemic. Chenango County District Attorney's office offered a plea deal, the charge was lessened from murder to manslaughter, Coleman is scheduled to be sentenced on February 28th in Chenango County Court.