Local News: December 15, 2023

- An advisory board recommended New York allow safe injection sites. Hochul rejected their advice -

Governor Kathy Hochul has rejected recommendations to set up safe injection sites in New York State for the second time. The recommendations were made by the Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board. The Albany Times Union reports that the Office of Addiction Services and Supports issued a memo last week saying that setting up safe injection sites is still illegal under federal law. Safe injection sites are places where people using illegal drugs can inject them with clean needles under supervision to avoid overdosing and reduce infections. Overdose deaths continued to rise in the United States. The CDC estimates that over 110,000 people will die of drug overdoses this year. It will be the second year that more than 100,000 have died of overdoses.

- Molinaro votes with other House Republicans for Biden impeachment -

All Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to start an impeachment inquiry of President Biden. That includes Marc Molinaro of the 19th Congressional District which includes Ithaca, Binghamton, and parts of the Catskills. Congressional Republicans voted for the impeachment inquiry without any evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors according to the New York Times.  WBNG TV reports that Molinaro said there are serious questions about the president and that’s why he voted to open the investigation. Molinaro is not a member of the House Oversight Committee which will conduct the inquiry. 

- Cornell’s anti-doxxing policy will take some time to develop -

Cornell’s anti-doxxing policy will take time to develop. In a lengthy interview with the Cornell Daily Sun, Ryan Lombardi affirmed an earlier announcement that the University is developing an anti-doxxing policy. Lombardi is the Vice President for Student and Campus Life. He and  Joel Malina, head of University Relations were interviewed by the student paper. Lombardi called the behavior of making public personal information including addresses, “deplorable.” Students and faculty called for a new policy in response to the experiences of Palestinian student activists who have been harassed for speaking out following the start of the Hamas-Israel war in October.