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STAN DAKOSTY has been named interim head coach for the Colgate football team for the 2021 season. He has served as associate head football coach at Colgate since 2017 and first joined the football staff in 2007. Dakosty recently coached the secondary and previously was the program’s recruiting coordinator. He has been a part of […]
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STAN DAKOSTY has been named interim head coach for the Colgate football team for the 2021 season. He has served as associate head football coach at Colgate since 2017 and first joined the football staff in 2007. Dakosty recently coached the secondary and previously was the program’s recruiting coordinator. He has been a part of seven of Colgate’s 10 Patriot League football titles, both as a player and a coach. Dakosty began his coaching career as an undergraduate at Colgate, serving as a student assistant and assistant video coordinator in 2003 before working with the tight ends in 2004. He worked with the team’s tight ends and fullbacks over the first three seasons before switching to the secondary. Prior to coaching, Dakosty played two years of varsity football for the Raiders, helping them to the 2002 Patriot League championship before he suffered a career-ending injury. Dakosty graduated from Colgate in 2005 with a degree in history and educational studies. After graduation, he went to work for Division III Amherst as a running backs coach for two years. While on the Amherst staff, he earned a master’s degree in education in addition to his social studies teacher’s certification at the University of Massachusetts in 2006. As interim head coach at Colgate, Dakosty replaces Dan Hunt who stepped down on May 17 as head football coach to “address personal issues, following the discovery of violation of university policy not involving students.” Hunt had been Colgate head coach since 2014.
Weekends on Walton outdoor dining returning June 4-5
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Outdoor dining in Armory Square known as “Weekends on Walton” will resume on Fridays and Saturdays beginning the weekend of June 4-5.
City of Oswego awards $225K to small businesses in COVID-19 grant program
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The City of Oswego has awarded more than 30 businesses funding in its COVID-19 REVIVAL grant program. Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow on
OPINION: How Much Will New York’s ‘Green New Deal’ Cost Taxpayers?
Predictably, a public hearing on the implementation of the State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) yielded little information about how much the massive environmental bill is going to cost New Yorkers. The size and scope of the bill is enormous, and the measures contained would completely overhaul the state’s energy sector. Members of the Assembly
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Predictably, a public hearing on the implementation of the State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) yielded little information about how much the massive environmental bill is going to cost New Yorkers. The size and scope of the bill is enormous, and the measures contained would completely overhaul the state’s energy sector. Members of the Assembly minority conference have been asking for answers about the cost of the act’s implementation since it was passed in 2019, but so far those efforts have been repeatedly rebuffed. The recent hours-long hearing was no different.
The practice of determining the cost to implement any piece of legislation, especially one as far-reaching as this, should not be controversial. The CLCPA completely upends New York’s energy grid. How can you pass a law with such significant financial impacts without first establishing the assumed cost increases for New Yorkers? Everyday New Yorkers don’t buy groceries, clothing, appliances, or pay their bills without first knowing the price. It’s inconceivable that Democrats still fail to understand, or admit, that the state’s middle-class families don’t make purchases without knowing how much they will affect their pocket books.
Estimates of the annual price tag to implement the CLCPA are in the billions. Taxes and utility bills are expected to dramatically rise and the costs associated with retrofitting energy systems will mount. Per the Empire Center, preliminary estimates for generating the 9,000 megawatts of wind-borne electricity needed by the year 2035 are $50 billion, and $4 billion more would also be needed to cover subsidies and operating costs. Most of the burden is expected to fall on ratepayers outside of New York City, many of whom are already struggling with high bills, taxes, and energy costs — of course, these are just guesses since no one took the time to initially study the actual fiscal impacts — short-term and long-term.
New York’s economy isn’t exactly thriving, particularly after the unprecedented year we all just endured. And yet, as prices increase, inflation rises, and taxes go up, taxpayers will now be asked to cut a blank check for these new regulations? This is unfair and illogical lawmaking, particularly for everyday New Yorkers in a struggling economy.
In an effort to protect ratepayers and get answers to the questions we’ve been asking for almost two years, Assemblyman Phil Palmesano (R,C,I-Corning), the minority conference’s ranking member on the Energy Committee, and members of our conference introduced legislation to direct the Public Service Commission to conduct a full cost-benefit analysis of the CLCPA. There is simply no excuse for not providing a full, transparent cost-benefit report detailing exactly how much the CLCPA will cost.
The radical measures in the CLCPA are not only going to be costly, but it is unclear if they are even needed in the first place. The act has been billed as “New York’s Green New Deal,” despite the fact that New York only contributes about 0.5 percent of carbon emissions globally and approximately 3 percent in the U.S. We all want a cleaner environment, but we also need sustainable and affordable energy. It is unclear at this time if this new law will provide either of those things, and that is unacceptable.
William (Will) A. Barclay, Republican, is the New York Assembly minority leader and represents the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. Contact Barclay at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us.
OPINION: Supporting Our Health-Care Heroes
For more than a year, our state, and indeed the world, has been fighting against a pandemic in a way that has not been seen in over a century. This time, we have the benefit of countless experienced and professional medical personnel to guide us through it. Doctors, nurses, EMS workers, custodial staff, and many more employees
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For more than a year, our state, and indeed the world, has been fighting against a pandemic in a way that has not been seen in over a century. This time, we have the benefit of countless experienced and professional medical personnel to guide us through it. Doctors, nurses, EMS workers, custodial staff, and many more employees throughout the health-care enterprise have worked day and night throughout this pandemic, and we owe them a debt of gratitude for their service to our communities.
For many of us, the question of how we can further show our support for transitioning out of this pandemic has been a big question. First, there are a few preventive items I wanted to share. Everyone who is comfortable doing so can get vaccinated to help reach herd immunity. For those people who still have reservations about the vaccine being on an emergency-use authorization, I get that too, and do not think the state has the authority to mandate vaccinations. Both you and I can also continue to follow the safety protocols lined out by the Centers for Disease Control, including social distancing, and using lots of hand sanitizer. This is the best thing we can do for our health-care heroes, keeping the COVID-19 positivity rate down and reducing the burden on our health-care system.
A second consideration is blood donation. New York has never had a great record for blood donation, but due to the pandemic, blood shortages have reached an all-time high. Organizations like the American Red Cross help to facilitate blood donations, so if you are particularly inclined, it would be a commendable way to support our health-care workers. I can tell you from personal experience that blood donation is smooth and efficient, thanks to the hard-working health-care professionals who facilitate it.
Finally, as part of an ongoing initiative to help revitalize local economies, I’d recommend shopping at and supporting local institutions and businesses and partnering with them to show support for our health-care heroes. Part of showing our gratitude comes from our commitment to our localities and neighbors, which can be in the form of financial support and neighborly kindness. If we take some of these steps on for ourselves, I believe we’ll see a rapid turnaround for our community and will have properly honored the sacrifices made by our health-care heroes.
As the pandemic ends and we adjust to the coming summer, the way we transition can greatly ease the burden on our health-care system and the dedicated people who have served our communities. For each of these hometown heroes, please thank and recognize their efforts with the gratitude we all feel. And we also must ensure that the hard work they put in was not in vain as we begin to enjoy the post-pandemic life. Let’s stay vigilant and take responsibility to keep pace with the fight against this virus, and not let each other down.
Robert Smullen is the Republican representative of the 118th New York Assembly District, which encompasses Hamilton and Fulton counties as well as parts of Herkimer, Oneida, and St. Lawrence counties.
OPINION: We’re Stronger as a Country When More People Vote
There is a fight going on over the heart of our democracy, and I worry that democracy is losing. Over the last few months, several states have moved decisively to make it harder for their citizens to vote, and more are on tap. It’s hard to tell yet whether this is just a blip or an actual
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There is a fight going on over the heart of our democracy, and I worry that democracy is losing. Over the last few months, several states have moved decisively to make it harder for their citizens to vote, and more are on tap. It’s hard to tell yet whether this is just a blip or an actual reversal of America’s long trend of expanding voting access. Either way, it’s cause for attention.
The earliest moves this year came in Iowa and Georgia, which made absentee voting harder and shifted some control over election processes from elections officials to partisan politicians themselves. Florida recently cut back on drop boxes and ratcheted up ID requirements for requesting an absentee ballot. Texas’s legislature is moving forward with a bill that would hand power to partisan poll watchers, bar elections officials from mailing out absentee-ballot applications, and impose other limits. Ohio legislators want to limit drop boxes and reduce early in-person voting. Republican legislatures in Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming have enacted restrictions, as well.
Over the long course of American history, we have tended to move the opposite direction: toward expanding people’s ability to vote. Indeed, significant parts of our history revolved around who should be able to vote, since politicians always want to tilt the field in their favor. Originally, of course, the franchise was limited to white men with property. Then, over time, white men without property, Black men, women, Native Americans, non-English speakers, and citizens between the ages of 18 and 21 won the right to cast ballots.
To be sure, there are still plenty of people who are barred from voting by state laws. Some states don’t let convicted felons vote; many states deny the vote to people with psychiatric disabilities — and sometimes, poll workers impose their own competency standards, regardless of what the law says. Most states impose a residency requirement —often, you must have lived there at least 30 days — and though all states allow homeless people to vote, sometimes they have trouble meeting the registration requirements.
These days, the battles tend to revolve less explicitly around who should be able to vote and more around ease of voting. There is a strong argument to be made that this is just a different way of restricting the vote. Democrats made effective use of absentee ballots in the 2020 elections, for instance, so Republican legislatures have imposed limits on their use for next time — though there are states, like Florida, where absentees were a prime GOP electoral tool in earlier elections.
In general, voting-rights advocates argue that making voting harder means that people who have historically turned out in smaller percentages will once again be at a disadvantage. Many people — over the course of a long career in politics, I’ve seen this first-hand — are intimidated by the voting process. That includes showing up at a precinct, passing through a gauntlet of campaign signs and people with handouts, getting checked in, facing the prospect that they’ll be humiliated by being turned away. Without encouragement, they opt not to show up at all. There are politicians who know this and take advantage of it.
By now, my view on this ought to be obvious. As a democracy, the United States is stronger when as many people as possible can vote and the electorate reflects the actual makeup of the population. This has two beneficial effects: it ensures that our elected representatives reflect who we are; and it helps Americans not only feel a stake in the system but believe that their voices are represented in the corridors of power. The opposite is also true. When people feel that efforts are being made to deny their participation, they write off the process and begin looking for other ways to affect politics and policy, including taking to the streets or developing sympathy for more authoritarian approaches to governing.
It is too early to say how this year’s voting-restriction laws will turn out; many of them will likely end up in court. But even if the urge to limit voting is hardly new, it’s dismaying that, well over two centuries since our founding, it remains so pervasive.
Lee Hamilton, 90, is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years (1965-1999), representing a district in south central Indiana.
People news: Community Bank adds Gorski as VP, commercial banking officer
DeWITT, N.Y. — Community Bank N.A. announced that Alexandra Gorski has joined the bank as VP and commercial banking officer in DeWitt. Gorski has 30
AAA expects big rebound in Memorial Day weekend travel, compared to 2020
More than 37 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home during the Memorial Day holiday weekend period between Thursday and
Owens takes over as CEO of NYSTEC
ROME, N.Y. — The New York State Technology Enterprise Corporation (NYSTEC) announced Wednesday that its board of directors recently selected Kevin Owens as the company’s
Ithaca College alumna tells graduating class to see gifts in their pandemic experiences
ITHACA, N.Y. — An Emmy-nominated television creator and producer told about 1,300 Ithaca College graduates that the “beauty in life comes in the questions and
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