By Scott Eidler About 1,500 people rallied in New Cassel on Sunday against efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and against Republican threats to defund Planned Parenthood. The rally, among 34 promoted by Planned Parenthood across the country this weekend, was held at the Yes We Can Community Center in New Cassel. The rally came days after both houses of Congress approved budgets that laid the groundwork for repealing President Obama’s signature health care law. President-elect Donald Trum...
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WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Kathleen Rice announced today that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has awarded $1.5 million to the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) to fund the New York State Apprenticeship Expansion Grant project, which aims to expand apprenticeship training and employment opportunities throughout the state. The funding will be used to create an unprecedented outreach campaign to promote apprenticeships as a key workforce development tool for the 21st century. NYS...
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By Zachary R. Dowdy Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) is calling for a congressional hearing to discuss how prepared the nation’s airports are for active shooter situations, after unfounded reports of gunfire at airports in New York and Los Angeles sparked pandemonium for passengers and authorities last month. Rice, who sits on the Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Transportation Security, wrote to the subcommittee’s chairman, John Katko (R-Camillus), on Tuesday asking for the foru...
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By Tom Brune WASHINGTON — Led by civil rights veteran Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), Long Island Reps. Kathleen Rice, Steve Israel and Gregory Meeks joined more than two dozen Democratic members of Congress to conduct a sit-in to demand a vote on gun legislation to address mass shootings. The unusual protest move by Democrats who occupied the well of the House floor brought the business of the day to a halt and prompted House Republican leaders to call a recess and cut off the video feed shown on the...
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By Mary Malloy, Barbara Rubin-Perry, Julie Mansmann and Anthony Rifilato As the shocking details of last Sunday’s mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla., emerged this week, local police and community organizations ramped up security, and gathered for prayer. “We are appalled at the deaths of the innocent victims of the mass shooting in Orlando, and we’re keeping them and their loved ones in our prayers,” said Deacon Richard LaRossa, a pastoral associate at the Parish of St. Raymond’s Cat...
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By Scott Brinton The worst mass shooting in U.S. history, at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., last Sunday, has the South Shore’s LGBT community reeling. The community, many within it say, has long been a target of violence. Gay nightclubs were supposed to be their safe havens. Now they wonder whether there’s anywhere to gather without fear of violence. That’s according to Pete Carney, director of Pride for Youth, a Bellmore-based nonprofit organization that serves the area’s youth lesbian, gay...
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By Scott Waldman HOOSICK FALLS — Rob Allen rushed home from his teaching job on Tuesday to find his wife at home weeping and curled in a fetal position. She has been upset since four separate envelopes arrived from the state Department of Health the other day. Each was addressed to one of her children, and the letters said the children have dangerous levels of a toxic chemical in their bloodstream. Their youngest daughter had the highest level of the toxin, known as PFOA, coming in at 112 parts...
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By Bart Jansen WASHINGTON – Congress approved TSA's request Wednesday to hire more screeners and pay overtime to deal with a surge in summer travelers who are already jamming airport checkpoints. The Transportation Security Administration asked Congress on May 4 to shift $34 million between its accounts to hire and train 768 new officers and pay overtime for its 42,500 officers. Key senators agreed the same day, and their House counterparts approved the shift Wednesday. The approval came after ...
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By Robert Harding The Transportation Security Administration is getting the help it asked for. House appropriators approved the agency's request Wednesday to transfer $34 million from its 2016 budget to hire more transportation security officers and pay overtime for its existing personnel ahead of the busy summer travel season. The Senate gave its approval last week. Before Congress signed off on the reallocation of funding, TSA officials and some of the nation's busiest airports expressed conc...
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By Candice Ruud The House Appropriations Committee has agreed to free up $34 million for the Transportation Security Administration to hire additional security officers and pay overtime to help alleviate long security wait lines that have plagued airports across the country. A letter to the panel, penned in part by Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) and dated Tuesday, was the latest push to get more funding for the agency, which has been severely short-staffed as security checkpoint wait times ...
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