Winter weather started sooner than expected today. This morning, an advisory said the snow would go from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m.
But the snow came sooner.
The National Weather Service tweaked a winter weather advisory to start at 11:30 a.m., 5 1/2 hours earlier than initially reported. The advisory continues until 8 a.m. Saturday with 2 to 6 inches of snow expected in Orleans, Niagara, northern Erie and Genesee counties.
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Press Release, Orleans County Department of Social Services
ALBION – The Orleans County Department of Social Services’ Safe Harbour Program has announced the winners of its poster contest for students in grades 7-12 to raise awareness on the issue of human trafficking. The theme was “Spot the Signs – Stop the Traffick.” Three winners were chosen.
“We were so impressed by the number and quality of posters we received from students across Orleans County for this year’s contest, more than double from last year,” said Cynthia Stumer, Orleans County Deputy Commissioner of Social Services and the Safe Harbour Coordinator. “Students got very creative in helping draw attention to the signs of trafficking and exploitation.”
The winners were Michael Girangaya, 1st place, Holley; Inez Stangler, 2nd place, Kendall; and Kelli Dingle, 3rd place, Albion.
The Safe Harbour program is designed to be a safe place for teens and young adults (12-21 years of age). In addition to providing education and awareness on sex trafficking, sexual exploitation and healthy relationships, Safe Harbour provides lessons in life skills to promote a strong foundation to help children launch into their future.
For more information on Safe Harbour or how you can get your child involved in the program, email SafeHarbour@orleanscountyny.gov or contact Heather Jackson at DSS at heather.jackson@orleanscountyny.gov or (585) 589-2837.
If you suspect that a child or adult is being trafficked, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
Return to topPress Release, Albion Central School
ALBION – Things will look a little bit different for Albion Central School’s budget vote and Board of Education elections for the 2024-25 academic year.
Every May, the district asks the community to vote on the annual budget and board election for the upcoming school year. This year, the vote will happen on May 21at the Hoag Library rather than in the district’s conference room like in years past.
“With the increase of people on campus this year, due to the ongoing capital project, we made the decision to move the annual school budget vote and Board of Education election to the Hoag Library,” Superintendent of Albion Central Schools Mickey Edwards said. “We are excited for the opportunity to partner with the Hoag Library and we thank them for their support as we work to ensure a seamless voting process for the community.”
The annual district art show will also be on display at the library this year. In order to keep the food at the proper temperatures, voters that participate in the annual FFA barbecue dinner will still need to pick their meals up from Albion High School.
Please stop by on May 14 at 6 p.m. for the public hearing on the budget which will be held in Albion High School’s LGI. The budget vote and election will be May 21 from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Hoag Library.
For the most up to date budget information, click here.
Return to topA winter weather advisory has been issued for Orleans County from 5 p.m. today until 8 a.m. Saturday.
The National Weather Service in Buffalo said 2 to 5 inches of snow is expected with ice accumulations of a tenth of an inch or less.
The advisory also includes Niagara, Genesee and northern Erie counties.
“Periods of snow, sleet or freezing rain will result in slippery roads and limited visibilities,” the Weather Service said. “Slow down and use caution while driving.”
The high temperature today will be 31 followed by highs of 33 on Saturday, 35 on Sunday and 47 on Monday.
Return to topALBION – Hoag Library will be hosting two lectures before the total eclipse on April 8.
The first lecture will be this Saturday at 1 p.m. Anna Siebech-Larsen, PhD, will give a presentation, “The Black Hour: Eclipses in the Middle Ages.” Siebech-Larsen is director of Rossell Hope Robbins Library and Koller-Collins Center for English Studies at the University of Rochester.
The second lecture will be at noon on April 5 and be given by Tyler Lucero, an environmental science educator. His presentation is entitled, “From Afraid to Awed: Eclipses in Myth and Culture Through Time.”
The lectures are free and the library will be giving away eclipse glasses to attendees.
Return to topALBION – As part of their mission to encourage people to take better care of themselves, Community Action of Orleans County has partnered with several health organizations to bring preventative scanning to Orleans County.
In addition, Community Action is offering free food vouchers to those who sign up for health screenings.
As the result of research by Jeanette Worsley, lead case manager/health coach at Community Action, several programs are in the works or up and running to bring preventative medicine to Orleans County.
“We are really excited about bringing the Eddy Unit from Roswell to Orleans County,” Worsley said.
Eddy stands for “Early Detection Driven to You,” Worsley said. “This will be the first time the unit has been in Orleans County.”
She explained the state-of-the-art mobile unit is equipped with a low-dose CT scanner which screens for lung cancer in less than 10 minutes. An outreach specialist will be at the pop-up food distribution from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. April 15 at 155 S. Platt St. to screen individuals for eligibility and schedule appointments. Someone will also be available at the Eastern Orleans Community Center at a date to be determined.
The Eddy unit will be in Albion May 21, 22 and 23, and location will be announced. Reservations must be made by calling Worsley at (585) 866-5494 or via e-mail at JWorsley@caoginc.org.
To be eligible, an individual must have a history of cancer of the lung, esophagus, head or neck (excluding thyroid) or, one of the three following factors:
The University of Rochester Mobile Mammogram Unit will be at the Albion Pop-Up food distribution at 11 S. Platt St. on April 15 and at the Main Street Corner Thrifts, Gifts and More at 131 S. Main St. from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 15 and at the Main Street Corner Thrifts, Gifts and More from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 22. on April 22. Registration for these screenings must also be made by called Worsley at (585) 866-5404.
As part of their preventative medicine program, Community Action is offering $200 fresh food Rx vouchers, while supplies last, which can be redeemed at farm markets across Orleans County to incentivize people to participate in preventative healthcare. The vouchers will be reserved at the time individuals sign up for the health scans.
To schedule a mammogram women must be 40 or older, have been at least 365 days since their last mammogram and have no new issues. The procedure is covered by most insurances, and grant funds are available so nobody pays for screening.
Another service will be provided by the Fidelis StreetSide RV, a mobile service which will also be present at the pop-up food distribution from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. April 15. Insurance specialists will be available to answer questions about insurance enrollment and renewal, and will also provide educational information regarding breast cancer, lung health, nutrition, Lunchology menus and children’s health.
Community Action also partnered with the University of Rochester in February to bring their mobile mammogram unit to Holley Gardens and provided up to $200 in food vouchers to each of the 19 women who got mammograms.
In March, Community Action provided $10 vouchers to people who received monthly blood pressure screenings at the Eastern Orleans Community Center.
The mobile mammogram unit will return several times in April, and one is nearly all booked up, Worsley said. They have the capability to do 20 mammograms per day.
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BATAVIA – School districts in Orleans County will be sending students to Genesee Community College for the second annual GLOW With Your Hands: Healthcare.
The event will show many of the career opportunities in local healthcare. There are 575 students from 31 school districts expected to meet with businesses and organizations from the healthcare industry in the four rural counties – Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming.
There will be about 200 representatives from workforce, education, first responders, and healthcare training providers across the GLOW region.
In addition to hands-on demonstrations and face-to-face interactions with healthcare organizations, students will each participate in two self-selected healthcare career workshops in fields including EMS, nursing, surgery, research science, pharmacy and several others.
The event is made possible by GLOW region workforce development leaders, educators, and community organizations and sponsors, led by Double Platinum sponsor ESL Federal Credit Union, and Platinum sponsors Wyoming County Community Health System and Rochester Regional Health United Memorial Medical Center.
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Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden are the front-runners for the Republican and Democratic nominations, respectively.
Early voting starts on Saturday for the presidential primary for both the Democratic and Republican parties and continues each day until March 30. The presidential primary will be April 2.
President Joe Biden, the Democratic incumbent, and former President Donald Trump, the Republican challenger, already have gained enough delegates to secure their parties’ nominations.
The ballots in the primary in New York State will include Biden and Trump, as well as other names who ended their campaigns after the state’s filing deadlines.
For the Democratic Party, besides Biden the ballot will include Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips.
For the Republican Party, in addition to Trump, the ballot will include Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie and Nikki Haley.
Early voting will be at one spot in Orleans County – The Board of Elections Office at 14016 State Route 31, Albion NY 14411.
Early voting dates and hours:
The Democratic primary also four delegates from the 24th Congressional District for the National Convention: Dia Carabajal, Daniel Farfaglia, Lorie Longhany and John Hurley.
The 24th District in Orleans includes Albion, Barre, Clarendon districts 2 and 3, Ridgeway and Shelby.
In the 25th District, there are seven candidates to be delegates for the National Convention. Voters will elect four from the seven. Those candidates include Shelly Clements, Anthony Plonczynski-Figueroa, Yversha Roman, Jamie Romeo, Adam Bello, Samra Brouk and Stephen Gregory Devay.
The 25th District in Orleans includes Carlton, Clarendon district 1, Gaines, Kendall, Murray and Yates.
Return to topPress Release, State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt
Photo from NY State Senate Republican Conference: State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt speaks at a news conference on Wednesday in the State Capitol.
ALBANY – Members of the State Senate Republican Conference on Wednesday were joined by New Yorkers for Affordable Energy Executive Director Daniel Ortega at a Capitol press conference to call for a cost-benefit analysis of New York’s climate policies and to oppose a costly new mandate, the New York Heat Act.
Since Democrats passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in 2019, Republicans have demanded answers about its cost, expressed concerns about its mandates and questioned if its goals were realistic or achievable.
Further, the Senate Republican Conference has unanimously opposed new energy costs and mandates such as the NY Heat Act/Affordable Gas Transition Act. These policies will raise rates for at least 75 percent of New Yorkers, eliminate thousands of good paying union jobs and slap up to $50,000 in costs on homeowners who may be forced to transition from natural gas to electric heat.
“There is no better example of how glaringly out of touch Albany Democrats are than their extreme, unrealistic energy policies that will continue to hike costs for ratepayers and take reliable energy sources offline. The latest example is the NY Heat Act – the Senate passed it last year, and again yesterday, and the Senate and the Governor both have versions of this bad policy in their budgets,” Ortt said. “The bottom line, this is another extreme energy policy that will raise rates, eliminate jobs, limit access to a clean, reliable energy source. Not to mention it will force huge costs on homeowners to transition from natural gas to electric heat.”
New Yorkers are already struggling to pay high utility bills, largely driven by policies conceived by Democrats. Even before CLCPA was passed in 2019, 25 percent of the delivery charges on utility bills were made up of New York State taxes and fees.
Since then, things have only gotten worse. According to an analysis by the Empire Center for Public Policy of the first CLCPA report published by the Department of Public Service last summer, rates have already been driven upward by as much as 9.8 percent.
Passing the NY Heat Act would be a disaster for most ratepayers. While the bill caps utility costs for 25 percent of New Yorkers according to its sponsors, the money needed to continue to operate the grid will merely be picked out of the pockets of the 75 percent of those who do not receive any assistance. This is a classic political bait and switch, where a small group benefits while hard working middle-class families bear the burden. Further, the NY Heat Act would eliminate the “100-foot rule” for gas service that would lead to thousands of utility workers losing their jobs.
“We need common sense and not extreme climate ideology to lead the way,” said Daniel Ortega, executive director of New Yorkers for Affordable Energy. “New York is blessed with an abundance of resources. If we plan carefully, we can reduce emissions, protect jobs and keep costs reasonable for consumers. In order to get there, we must pause on our current course, appropriately measure the costs already imposed and stop passing new mandates like the New York Heat Act, which only make things worse.”
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Photos by Tom Rivers
LYNDONVILLE – Noah Fox plays the role of Joseph in Lyndonville’s production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
Here he is singing about his coat of many colors. Fox is one of about 75 students in the cast, crew and pit orchestra for the production.
Shows are 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday at Stroyan Auditorium, 25 Housel Ave. Tickets are $5 at door or can be purchased online (click here).
Fox, a junior, made his debut in Lyndonville musicals last year when he was The Tinman in the Wizard of Oz.
“There are many emotional songs,” he said about Joseph. “It should be fulfilling for the audience. People are really pouring their hearts out on the stage.”
Elizabeth Whipple, a senior, plays the role of the narrator, helping to explain the scenes and story. She also gives high-energy performances with the cast.
She tells how Joseph is one of 12 sons of Jacob. Joseph is his father’s favorite and Jacob doesn’t hide his feelings for Joseph, giving him a multi-colored coat.
That causes jealousy and anger from Joseph’s 11 brothers. They become more bitter when Joseph has a dream suggesting he will one day rule over them.
Amber Grabowski plays the role of Reuben, one of the brothers. They pretend to be saddened by Joseph’s departure, and tell their father he was attacked and killed. They sing, “One More Angel in Heaven.” 
Joseph wasn’t killed by his brothers. He ends up taken to Egypt to be a slave for the wealthy Potiphar. Mrs. Potiphar, played by Laci Giarla, makes advances to Joseph, who rejects them. However, Potiphar sees the two together, jumps to the wrong conclusion, and throws Joseph in jail.
Joseph wins make the respect of Potiphar by interpreting a dream that helps the country build up supplies and food to withstand a famine.
The cast sings “Go, Go Joseph” as Joseph is encouraged to follow his own dreams.
Maximus Hilton is Potiphar and sings in an Elvis style, “Song of the King.” He describes his dream involving seven fat cows, seven skinny cows, seven healthy ears of corn, and seven dead ears of corn.
In interpreting the dream, Joseph declares that Egypt will see seven years of plentiful harvests, followed by an equal period of famine.
Joseph is the second musical performed by Lyndonville since a partnership ended with Medina after 2022.
Last year Lyndonville performed The Wizard of Oz and that showed Lyndonville, the smallest school district in the county, that they could pull off a full-length musical on their own.
Elizabeth Whipple, the narrator in Joseph, said last year’s show gave the Lyndonville students added confidence they could produce a top-quality musical.
She said she is grateful Lyndonville offers the program with so many dedicated teachers and staff working with the students.
“It’s been so fulfilling for many years,” Whipple said. “It’s a safe space for everyone. The friendships built here will last for years.”
She said Joseph brings a strong message of forgiveness, and to be grateful for what you have before it’s too late.
The cast of 75 is mostly students in grades 7 through 12. Director Jennifer Trupo for the second year has elementary students in the show. There are 17 in grades 5-6 in the chorus.
Trupo said the musicals bring together many students from different backgrounds and interests.
“Theater makes such a big change in people,” she said. “I’m proud of these students. The grow so much and they really love each other.”
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Press Release, New York Farm Bureau
New York Farm Bureau is reporting that its members donated 8 million pounds of food to regional foodbanks across the state last year through the Harvest for All program.
The number was announced this month at the annual American Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers and Ranchers Conference in Omaha, NE.
Once again, New York State had the second highest donation total in the country, only behind Florida.
The “Harvest for All” donation program is a nationwide annual farm donation partnership linking Farm Bureau and Feeding America in each state. In New York, NYFB’s YF&R Committee and Feeding New York State administer the statewide donation partnership. The food is then distributed among the 10 Feeding America food banks throughout the state.
The work highlights the importance of our regional food banks in helping reduce food insecurity in the state. NYFB and Feeding NYS continue to advocate for full funding of Nourish NY and the Healthy School Meals for All programs in the New York State budget. The vital programs, in part, provide food banks with resources to purchase healthy, local food which benefit New Yorkers in need and the state’s farming community.
“New York agriculture has a long commitment of giving back,” said Rich De Meyer, New York Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers chairman. “We understand the importance of fresh, healthy food to our communities, and how it makes a difference. I would like to thank every farm that donated last year and to give thanks to Feeding New York State for its work to bridge the connection between our farm families and those in need. New York Farm Bureau will continue to work hard to build a stronger food system and increase food access for all New Yorkers.”
Dan Egan, Feeding New York State Executive Director said, “Feeding New York State thanks the farmers of New York for their incredible donations of top-quality fresh food. Our 10 food banks feed millions of our neighbors, but we could do none of this work without the farmers who produce our food. My dad used to say, ‘Work is love made visible.’ Our work together is how we all love our neighbors. We look forward to the year ahead with hope for a good growing season, good health and good shared work.”
Scott Oldenburg, left, is the Albion FFA advisor. Kaitlynn Basinait, second from left, is the FFA president. They help unload 37,000 pounds of produce and donated food from local farmers on Dec. 9, 2023. The food was delivered to Community Action of Orleans & Genesee.
The map in the Blooms Report shows the best places to see roses, lilacs, tulips, cherry blossoms and magnolias.
Press Release, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Office
Governor Kathy Hochul today celebrated the start of spring with the launch of the New York Blooms Report, a weekly report to help New Yorkers identify the best places to see roses, lilacs, tulips, cherry blossoms, and magnolias at more than 30 partner attractions across New York State.
The reports, managed by I LOVE NY and designed to encourage and help travelers plan a spring getaway, feature on-site information from staff at a variety of botanical and public gardens, farms, State Parks and historic sites across New York.
The first reports are online starting today, and will update every Wednesday afternoon through June, exclusively on iloveny.com/blooms.
Governor Hochul’s announcement marks the start of spring tourism in New York and builds on the Governor’s commitment to supporting New York’s $123 billion tourism industry.
“Spring is an exciting time in New York as the temperatures get warmer, the birds return from their winter migration, and the flowers bud and bloom in both our own gardens and in the many parks and botanical gardens throughout the state,” Hochul said. “I encourage residents and visitors to stop and smell the roses – and a host of other flowers— while also discovering all that our parks, farms, historic sites and gardens have to offer.”
The new New York Blooms Reports will be compiled weekly using the on-location field observations from the arborists, gardeners and caretakers at over 30 sites throughout the state’s 11 vacation regions.
The reports track the stages of bloom for each of this year’s five selected blooms, ranging from “no activity yet” to “full bloom” to “past peak/done blooming.” Partner sites will also share photos to be featured in the report, and information about any unique or exciting flowers in their given locations.
Additionally, reports will provide news about springtime flower events to encourage travel, from renowned celebrations like the Rochester Lilac Festival and Albany Tulip Festival, to smaller garden shows and exhibitions.
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