Press Release, NYS Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt

Photo courtesy of NYS Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt: Rob Ortt and Republican state senators in Albany on Monday presented a plan to reduce energy costs.

ALBANY – Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt along with Senator Mario Mattera, Senator Tom O’Mara, Senator Steve Chan, and members of the Senate Republican Conference today unveiled a package of legislation aimed at addressing New York’s outrageous energy costs and offsetting the effects of costly energy mandates out of Albany.

The legislative package, “Affordable Energy, Not Albany Mandates,” is part of the Senate Republican Conference’s broader 2026 legislative agenda entitled “Save New York,” a plan to improve affordability, enhance public safety, and build a stronger New York for today and future generations.

Several proposals in the legislative package would deliver immediate financial relief to New Yorkers by lowering utility bills.

“Just last week a newspaper article highlighted how more than 400,000 customers have had their gas or power cut because they can’t afford to pay their bills – numbers that are much higher than during the great recession,” said Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt. “This is completely unacceptable, and a direct result of Albany Democrats’ out-of-touch Green New Scam policies. The New York State legislature must start acting on behalf of all of our constituents, instead of passing feel-good policies that do nothing to save the planet and only serve to please radical environmentalists, while making the rest of the state suffer.”

New Yorkers are currently weathering some of the highest energy rates in the nation. Residential electricity rates in New York are 50% higher than the national average and rose 7.6% in the past year, faster than the national average. Since New York Democrats passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), electricity rates in New York have increased 45% – leading New Yorkers to pay 30-40% higher rates than our neighbors in Pennsylvania.

Among the goals of the legislative package are to provide immediate ratepayer relief, increase cost transparency, and repeal costly mandates:

Immediate Ratepayer Relief

• S8461A (O’Mara) – Requires any surplus or unspent ratepayer funds remaining in NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Fund or any unspent funds collected by utilities be sent back to ratepayers as a bill credit. This bill would result in lowering New Yorkers utility bills by $2 billion at a time when New Yorkers are facing skyrocketing utility bills.
• S8463 (Rolison) – Provides a one-year utility bill tax and surcharge holiday and two-year green energy tax holiday. Government taxes and fees account for between 25 to 50% of a customer’s utility bill. This bill would provide meaningful and immediate relief to ratepayers as they face skyrocketing energy costs.
• S7075 (Walczyk) – Repeals the system benefit charge. The system benefit charge is a fee imposed on all ratepayers that provides money to NYSERDA and the PSC. Repealing such fees would lower utility bills.

Cost Transparency

• S1031 (Rolison) – Directs the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Comptroller to determine the cost of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) mandates for each ratepayer and to establish a credit for ratepayers and businesses to cover those costs.
• S1414 (Tedisco) – Enacts the Utility Ratepayer Protection Act, which requires legislative approval of increases in utility charges.
• S5515 (Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick) – Relates to providing transparency to residential utility and municipality ratepayers on the cost impact of the climate action council’s scoping plan.
• S5611 (Mattera) – Establishes the Climate Action Cost Council, which must meet quarterly and report on any CLCPA cost associated with any action taken by the Council.
• S6412 (O’Mara) – Establishes the “Ratepayer Disclosure and Transparency Act,” which requires annual reporting on state mandated energy programs.
• S6790 (Griffo) – Requires the superintendent of financial services to examine the Green Bank at least once every calendar year.
• S8447 (Walczyk) – Requires a fiscal note when a bill enacts or amends a law impacting the cost of utility services.
• S8936 (Rolison) – Increases transparency and accountability in utility billing by requiring all electric utility corporations, energy services companies, and municipalities to provide customers with a clear, itemized breakdown of their monthly bills.

Repeal Green Energy Mandates

• S1167 (Mattera) – Repeals All Electric Buildings Act.
• S3652 (Ortt) – Repeals the Electric Vehicle mandate.
• S4748 (Borrello) – Repeals the zero-emission school bus mandate.
• S8607 (Walczyk) – Repeals the $15 billion per year Cap-and-Invest program that will act as a tax on New York consumers.
• S7710 (Chan) – Prohibits the construction of certain energy storage systems within five hundred feet of a school or dwelling in New York City.

Backyard chickens, loom weaving, alternative home construction, woodworking and sourdough making among topics

Photos courtesy of Orleans County Master Gardeners: Master Gardener Eileen Sorochty talks about straw bale gardening at last year’s Homestead sampler event. Sorochty will be one of the panelists for the “Sustainability for the Home” class offered on Sept. 19.

Contributed by Lydia Fernandez, Master Gardener

KNOWLESVILLE – This month, the Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners are launching the Homestead Educational Series, a set of monthly classes dedicated to self-sufficiency and sustainability. The series is open to adults interested in learning a variety of practical skills and approaches for the home. No experience is necessary.

Many of the classes provide hands-on learning opportunities. Topics include backyard chickens, loom weaving, alternative home construction, woodworking and sourdough making.

The first class in the series will be on Saturday, February 21st on “Rain Barrels and Water Storage.” Participants will be able to make their own rain barrels to take home.  The full list of dates and topics is available by clicking here.

“This Homesteading series is for people to learn money-saving skills and build community,” says Kathy Contrino, co-chair of the Homesteading Educational Series committee.

Last year, the Master Gardeners hosted a day-long sampler on homesteading skills that drew a huge response.

“We now know the public interest is strong, and it was clear we needed a larger series to better serve our community,” Contrino said.

Fees for the classes vary and cover the cost of supplies for each project. Spots are limited, and advance registration is required in order to ensure enough materials for each participant.

“Today is the right time to re-introduce these skills,” says Eileen Sorochty, co-chair of the Homesteading Educational Series. “Hopefully through our series, we will pique more interest in such topics and offer future workshops that will be helpful to our community.”

The Homestead Educational classes take place at 10 a.m. on the third Saturday of each month in the Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension Education Center, 12690 State Route 31, Albion. To register, call (585) 798-4265 ext 125 or email klo54@cornell.edu.

Master Gardener and avid quilter Brenda Radzinski will be leading the class on “Naturally Made Fabric Dyes” on July 18.

Press Release, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Office

ALBANY – Governor Kathy Hochul on Friday signed legislation that will allow medical aid in dying to be available to terminally ill New Yorkers with less than six months to live.

This historic bill signing comes after careful reflection and deliberation with the sponsors of the bill, advocacy organizations, and everyday New Yorkers brave enough to share their personal experiences in order to get this legislation across the finish line.

“Our state will always stand firm in safeguarding New Yorkers’ freedoms and right to bodily autonomy, which includes the right for the terminally ill to peacefully and comfortably end their lives with dignity and compassion,” Governor Hochul said.

The bill, as passed by the Legislature originally included a number of protections in order to ensure that no patient was coerced into choosing medical aid in dying and that no health care professional or religiously affiliated health facility would be forced to offer medical aid in dying.

“This journey was deeply personal for me,” Hochul said. “Witnessing my mother’s suffering from ALS was an excruciating experience, knowing there was nothing I could do to alleviate the pain of someone I loved. It took years of intimate discussions with our bill sponsors, health experts, advocates, and most importantly, families who have similar firsthand experiences. New Yorkers deserve the choice to endure less suffering, not by shortening their lives, but by shortening their deaths — I firmly believe we made the right decision.”

The Governor worked with the Legislature to include additional guardrails that will make sure people won’t be taken advantage of, while still ensuring terminally ill New Yorkers have the choice to die comfortably and on their own terms, including:

• A mandatory waiting period of 5 days between when a prescription is written and filled.
• An oral request by the patient for medical aid in dying must be recorded by video or audio.
• A mandatory mental health evaluation of the patient seeking medical aid in dying by a psychologist or psychiatrist.
• A prohibition against anyone who may benefit financially from the death of a patient from being eligible to serve as a witness to the oral request or an interpreter for the patient.
• Limiting the availability of medical aid in dying to New York residents.
• Requiring that the initial evaluation of a patient by a physician be in person.
• Allowing religiously-oriented home hospice providers to opt out of offering medical aid in dying.
• Ensuring that a violation of the law is defined as professional misconduct under the Education Law.
• Extending the effective date of the bill to six months after signing to allow the Department of Health to put into place regulations required to implement the law while also ensuring that health care facilities can properly prepare and train staff for compliance.

In December, the Governor joined the bill’s sponsors, supportive advocates and New Yorkers with lived experience at a press conference announcing the agreement reached with the Legislature to make medical aid in dying available to terminally ill New Yorkers with less than six months to live.

Compassion & Choices Senior Campaign Director Corinne Carey said, “We are deeply grateful to Governor Hochul for listening to families navigating the realities of terminal illness, to our legislative champions for their steadfast leadership, and to the advocates — many of whom did not live to see this day — whose courage made this moment possible. This law is the result of more than a decade of steady, persistent advocacy by thousands of New Yorkers who shared deeply personal stories and helped move this conversation forward across our state. The Medical Aid in Dying Act affirms a simple but profound principle: that everyone deserves compassion and the freedom to make deeply personal decisions about their own body and their own care at the end of life.”

Photos and information courtesy of Medina Mustang Boosters: The varsity winter guard unit from Medina is shown during Saturday’s performance in Batavia.

BATAVIA – Medina’s winter guard units competed Saturday in Batavia, the fourth competition so far this season for Medina.

A total of 23 guards competed in various classifications. In the Cadet class, which included four guards in total, Medina’s JV guard took 2nd place with a score of 52.42.

Medina’s varsity guard competed in the A1 class and earned 2nd place with a score of 58.62.

Their next competitions are Feb. 28 in Lancaster, March 7 in Greece and Medina’s home show on March 14.

The junior varsity winter guard competed in the cadet class at Batavia.

Cold weather advisory in effect until 10 a.m. Monday

Photo by Tom Rivers: A sign for “Hope,” a road at Mount Albion Cemetery, is shown on Wednesday during a day in the deep freeze.

The area will get a much-needed reprieve from the deep freeze on Tuesday when the high is forecast to reach 36 degrees in Orleans County.

Today is only going to reach a high of 9 degrees with a wind chill at 10 below zero, according to the national Weather Service.

There is a cold weather advisory for Orleans County and much of Western New York until 10 a.m. on Monday with dangerously cold wind chills as low as 20 below zero.

The high will get up to 20 on Monday, then 36 on Tuesday, 30 on Wednesday, 25 on Thursday and 27 on Friday.

Due to the bitter cold weather and wintry conditions, the following churches have announced they will not be having services on Feb. 8.

• First Baptist Church of Albion
• Gaines Carlton Community Church
• Eagle Harbor Methodist Church
• Trinity Lutheran Church in Medina
• Barre Center Presbyterian Church – The scheduled annual meeting and breakfast are postponed until next Sunday, February 15.
• Disciples United Methodist Church in Clarendon
• Canalside Community Church in Albion with online message at 10:30 a.m.