The Debrief Podcast

Election Day is a week behind us, but that doesn’t mean results are final. While we did get some updated information on a couple local races Monday, big questions remain – like will a smooth transition of power occur? On a special mid-week edition of The Weekend Debrief – Josh Durso and Ted Baker answer listener submitted questions from local elections, discuss the micro-cluster mitigation strateg...

On Wednesday, Leslie Danks Burke said that she was not conceding in the State Senate race shaping up in the 58th District. It includes a chunk of the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes. After Election Day there were more than 33,000 ballots to be counted.  Democrats outnumber Republicans in the absentee ballot category by a two-to-one margin, and with the challenger facing a 20,000 vote deficit -...

Has Election Day or this election cycle brought added stress into your life? If it has you're not alone. The American Psychological Association recently found that more than two-thirds of U.S. adults - 68% - say the 2020 presidential election is a significant source of stress in their life. MVP Health Care Behavioral Health Medical Director Dr. Dawn Gonsalves says that this year has definitely bro...

Senator Tom O'Mara has represented the 58th District of New York since 2010. A decade later he's still energetic about the community he serves.  Earlier this week we caught up with Democrat Leslie Danks Burke , as part of our spotlight on the 58th District, which includes Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, Tompkins, and Yates counties.  Today on The Debrief Podcast , a conversation with Sen. O'...

Dr. Steven Schulz says getting a flu shot is even more important this year, than it has been in the past. He's the Pediatric Medical Director for Rochester Regional Health's Monroe County practices, as well as Finger Lakes Medical Associates, which has offices in Geneva and Penn Yan. A recent poll by CS Mott Children's Hospital in Michigan found that one-out-of-three parents do not plan to vaccina...

Leslie Danks Burke is running for New York State Senate in the 58th District again. It's not the first time, but she says challenging incumbent Republican Tom O'Mara was necessary. "We need our elected leaders to lead, and they need to have an effective plan for making that happen," Burke said in an election preview appearance on The Debrief Podcast. "This district has real needs, and the people w...

This month in our spotlight of the Montezuma Audubon Center in Savannah, Wayne County, Chris Lajewski discusses the mid-to-late fall migration patterns, the water fowl species that can be found on the thousands of acreage in Seneca and Wayne counties, as well as a couple crucial events coming up. One involves a drive for volunteers, and the other involves an important discussion about HABs on one...

A closer look at upcoming elections with big time local implications, a discussion about the future of medicine after an announcement by Finger Lakes Health and the University of Rochester Medical Center that they would be working together, and the controversial story about an Auburn family that was told they would need to return to the school district if they wanted to continue learning (remotely...

In early-October The Parrott Hall Coalition announced that Crawford & Stearns, Architects and Preservation Planners LLC, working with engineering firm Klepper, Hahn & Hyatt, are creating stabilization and roof replacement documents for the first phase of Parrott Hall’s rehabilitation. It was a big step, but only part of the true progress taking place at the property that could have easily...

On Tuesday FingerLakes1.com hosted a live-streamed debate between two candidates for New York State Assembly District 131. The district, which includes Ontario and Seneca counties has had a single representative for two decades. At the conclusion of 2020, Assemblyman Brian Kolb will retire, and could be succeeded by Democrat Matt Miller or Republican Jeff Gallahan. Miller and Gallahan will debated...

Keith Cutler spends most of his days thinking about ways to get crucial medical services to the most-vulnerable parts of the Cayuga County community. It's been evolving challenge, since he came into his role with a crucial local provider in 2016. "The client base has actually changed, and probably not in a positive direction," Cutler explained. He serves as President and CEO of East Hill Medical C...

Cea Weaver says the stakes are very real for people who have been unable to pay their rent through the Coronavirus Pandemic. And one of the biggest protections that Governor Andrew Cuomo has touted throughout it -- might not have the teeth he claimed. "Millions of people have lost their jobs and are unable to pay their rent because of COVID-19 and the economic crisis that is associated with it," W...

Brad and Anna Luisi-Ellis started the Fall Street Brewing journey during the summer of 2018. By October of 2019 they opened their Fall Street location, serving as the kind of anchor downtown Seneca Falls needed.  After a strong first few months, the duo took the leap and began operating as a cafe serving craft beer, kombucha, cider, coffee, and even lunch. Just a couple months after the Coron...

This week it’s all about the changes that are happening at the state and local level as fallout from the Coronavirus Pandemic continues to be evident. The state has new plans for how businesses will be shut down when cases rise, one major theater chain says it’s shutting down for the foreseeable future across the U.S., and Rodman Lott & Sons Farm in Seneca County has lost one of the largest fa...

There has been a significant debate over the last several months about unpaid rent. Some have contended that it should be canceled - while others - often representing landlords' perspective - say there needs to be another option.  It's complicated by the layers of government that have weighed in on the matter, according to Deb Hall, who serves as administrator for the Finger Lakes Landlord As...

The Coronavirus Pandemic is undoubtedly going to change the way people and companies do business.  However, communication and culture are two important factors for one of the region's most-identifiable brands and businesses.  Lauren Dixon and Mike Schwabl have led the Perinton-based agency Dixon Schwabl together for over 30 years. The plan was always for 2020 to be the end of their run a...

Here's a good question: Why hasn't New York opted to legalize mobile sports betting? For the better part of three years -- there have been calls to do so, and now more than a year after sportsbooks opened in commercial and Native American casinos across the state -- the calls are louder-than-ever. We wanted to get to the bottom of this question, and went to one of our very own to find out what’s g...

Suicide among teens and young adults is rising. But a new report shows that it was happening even before the pandemic arrived. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show a dramatic increase in the rate of suicide across the U.S. However, previous reports on this matter, like the Vital Signs edition from 2016, stopped short of evaluating the three year period including 2016,...

The Fatherhood Connection is one of those programs operating in the community that a lot of people haven't heard about. But the work being done by Reggie Cox and his team of community members throughout the region is endlessly important. It operates in Monroe, Livingston, and Seneca counties in the Finger Lakes region. The roots of the present day program, which is now in the process of becoming a...

What's happening as fall arrives at the Montezuma Wetlands Complex? What about the Montezuma Audubon Center? We're answering those questions in our new monthly feature with Center Director Chris Lajewski. He gives us an update on upcoming events at the Audubon Center, which is located in Savannah, as well as some tips on how to make your own property more bird-friendly.

It's been a long summer for local municipalities that are struggling to adapt to COVID-19 budget issues. However, we're getting closer to final budgets in many of them. What's happening here? Also, the latest on a series of headlines from the regional response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Josh Durso and Ted Baker discuss on this week's episode of the Weekend Debrief.

Some of the smallest communities in Upstate New York - villages - could be hardest hit by the Coronavirus Pandemic. Over the last decade the Village of Newark has been very good at long-term planning. They have bolstered their downtown business district, taken advantage of the Erie Canal which runs through the village, and focused on giving employers the space to grow if they desire to there. Last...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the total "economic burden" of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States is 78.5 billion dollars per year. This includes the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement. It's a big number, and translates to very real, and equally sad outcomes. Data from 2018 shows that there...

Over the last several weeks FingerLakes1.com has been bringing you conversations about Back to School. Our series has featured one-on-one conversations with administrators. However, all of those conversations were recorded before students returned. This time we catch up with Canandaigua Superintendent Jamie Farr, who walks us through what the first days of school were like in his district.  H...

Dealing with the Coronavirus Pandemic has been difficult for communities across New York State. Undoubtedly, small communities like Yates County are those that could feel the most-adverse impact from the financial fallout associated with the Coronavirus. Especially given how heavily-reliant counties like Yates are on sales tax revenue. However, that is not the case. Long-term planning over the las...