WCDO Radio News

Only 2 in 5 New York state high-school students are ready for college-level work, according to College Board test results. Of the 154,809 members of the Class of 2014, who took the Scholastic Aptitude Test, only 60,611 students, or 39.2 percent, met the SAT’s benchmark for college and career readiness. Overall, New York trails the national average, in which 42.6 percent made the grade.

A public hearing about the proposed closure of the Broome County Mental Health Clinic is set for 6:00 tonight, at the Broome County Public Library at 185 Court Street in Binghamton.   The recent budget proposal from Broome County Executive Debbie Preston aims to cut more than 20 mental health positions at the clinic, the county legislature’s finance committee has set a public hearing on the mental health office’s budget (http://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/local/2014/09/24/buzz-comment-broomes-budget/16160557/) on October 22nd at 4:30 at the 6th floor legislative conference room of the County Office Building at 60 Hawley Street in Binghamton.

Governor Cuomo today launched new “GLOBAL NY” initiatives – including a $35 million Development Fund and trade missions to Mexico, Canada, Italy, China, and Israel – to help create new jobs in New York and attract international business investment to New York. The new initiatives include $35 million to help small- and medium-sized New York companies tap into global markets to grow their exports and create new jobs. For more information go to governor.ny.gov.

State Senator James Seward announced $273,000 in state grants for local schools. The funding included $38,000 to support Milford Central School’s Career Opportunities in Rural Education Initiative. Seward also announced $25,000 general assistance grants for Charlotte Valley, Cooperstown, Franklin, Laurens, Margaretville and Morris Central Schools. The CORE program is designed to assist local schools and provide rural students with additional academic opportunities to help them compete with their metropolitan counterparts.

An information session for young people interested in the Young Entrepreneurs Academy will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. today at Hartwick College in Oneonta. The program, presented through the Otsego County Chamber of Commerce, guides middle and high school students through launching and running a business or social movement. Sessions will begin Nov. 4 and continue through May.   For more information call the chamber at 432-4500.

State Police have released details of the double homicide and subsequent Broome & Cortland Counties high speed chase that ended Sunday .  Police reponded to the reports of gunfire at  844 Pennsylvania Avenue in Palenville, troopers dsicvered Daniel Brennan of Schenectady &  Pammi Mroczek of Palenville dead from gunshot wounds inside.  Police began searching for Mroczek’s estranged husband & suspected killer 46 year old Robert Mroczek, who was found on I-81 in the town of Chenango.  Mroczek fled, with a high spped pursuit into the Town of Cortlandville in Cortland County. The pursuit  ended with the deployment of stop sticks causing Mroczek’s vehicle to travel off the east shoulder of the roadway. Mroczek was pronounced deceased at the scene from an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound to the head.---------------------------------------------

Tioga County Republican Denver Jones is facing stiff oppositions in his bid to take on state senator Tom Libous in a Republican primary.  Libous' campaign challenged the 1,700 petition signatures Jones submitted, and the state Board of Elections tossed almost 800 signatures, leaving Jones about 30 shy of qualifying.  Jones filed suit in State Supreme Court to have his petitions restored, that was followed another 15 signatures being tossed by the court itself.

Governor Cuomo will lead a delegation of state officials and business leaders to Israel as a show of “solidarity” this week. This is Cuomo’s first international trip since taking office as governor in 2011, with plans to take a commercial flight to Tel Aviv tomorrow. The delegation will include Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos and Senate Independent Democratic Conference Chairman Jeff Klein. The trip comes amid a continuing conflict between Israel and Palestinians that has been waged for more than a month

The City of Oneonta parking garage will be closed for maintenance two days this week. All three levels of the parking garage will be swept and striped. The garage will be closed from 4 a.m. Thursday until 6 a.m. Friday. All other municipal parking lots, including lots at Dietz Street, Wall Street and Westcott, will remain open as usual.  During the closure of the parking garage, people may park in the Clarion Hotel parking lot, which can be accessed from South Main Street or Market Street.

Federal officials are seeking a psychiatric evaluation for Brandon Correa of Rochester following death threats made online President Obama, Governor Andrew Cuomo and Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy & Rochester mayor Lovely Warren.  Correa sites biblical passages with his threats on social media, he is being held in a Rochester area jail while the federal investigation is continuing.

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman & 29 other state attorneys general sent a letter urging the FDA to strengthen its proposed regulation of electronic cigarettes, with the goal of protecting young people from the harms of nicotine. The attorney generals pressed the FDA to prohibit flavors in e-cigarettes, and to restrict advertising and marketing for e-cigarettes in the same manner as cigarettes. The FDA issued proposed regulations deeming e-cigarettes “tobacco products,” which puts them under the FDA’s regulatory jurisdiction.

Oneonta Police & State Police responded to a report Friday of 2 subjects fleeing from a stolen vehicle and jumping into the Susquehanna River.  Police received a report of a vehicle stolen from the municipal parking garage in Oneonta which matched the description of the vehicle that the subjects had fled from before jumping into the river.  Police arrested 22-year-old Ryan Van Allen-Cichielo of Cape Coral, Florida; and 21-year-old Eric Moore of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, they were charged with 4th degree Grand Larceny.  Both are Hartwick College students, they were arraigned in the City of Oneonta Court and remanded to the Otsego County Jail to appear at a later date.

Bassett Medical Center has notified the State Office of Mental Health that due to severe provider shortages, they plan to discontinue inpatient psychiatric services. In the interim, the services will be maintained.  Bassett’s emergency department will still care for patients with mental health issues; plans are underway to transition crisis center services from the hospital to a mobile crisis program.  Patients currently in Bassett’s inpatient psychiatry unit will remain until they are ready for discharge. Patients needing longer-term services will be transferred to another psychiatric in Binghamton, Schenectady or Utica. Approval of the formal closure plan is expected from the state in 1 to 2 weeks.

New York’s asthma-related Medicaid expenditures rose more than 26% in the last 5 years, as the state’s overall annual asthma bill topped $1.3 billion for medical costs and lost productivity, according to a report released Friday by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.  1.7 million people in New York suffer from asthma, according to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New York’s $55 billion Medicaid program enrolls approximately one in four New York State residents, including 559,000 diagnosed with asthma, and spent $532 million on asthma care in 2013.