News Blog

Rochester City Council kicks-off a series of public meetings tomorrow on the pending police body-camera program. Meetings will be held throughout November and one on December 3.

The first meeting, on Thursday, November 12, will be held at 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers at City Hall, 30 Church Street.

The purpose of the meetings is to get public input on the pending program. Participants will break off into tabletop work sessions where they will consider: When will the cameras be on and off? Can citizens opt-out of being recorded? Who can see the footage? And, how long will the footage be saved?

There will also be a display of different kinds of body cameras.

The city wants to phase-in the program by the end of June, 2016. BY CHRISTINE CARRIE FIEN


Nazareth College’s Hickey Center for Interfaith Studies and Dialogue will show “A Thin Wall,” a documentary film by Mara Ahmed at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, November 11. The film shows the social, political, and artistic effects of the partitioning of India in 1947. The film will be shown at Nazareth’s Shults Community Center.


The Rochester school board will host a public forum for parents, teachers, and the community regarding school receivership and its impact on city schools. The forum is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 14, at School 9, 485 North Clinton Avenue. Registration is encouraged: www.rcsdk12.org/boeforum. BY TIM LOUIS MACALUSO


County Executive Maggie Brooks will submit her 2016 budget proposal to the County Legislature when it meets on Tuesday. The Lej meets at 6 p.m. at the County Office Building, 39 West Main Street.

Brooks’ 2015 budget was a $1.2-billion plan that held the property tax rate to $8.99 per $1,000 assessed value. But it also cut the county’s contribution to state-required child day care programs by approximately $400,000.

With the 2016 plan, Brooks could – and would likely – stick with the same approach she’s used for the past decade-plus. That is, the tax rate stays flat, and some targeted cuts are spread across the budget. But Legislature Dems have also raised the idea that Brooks could leave some parting gifts to incoming County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo. (The fall before Brooks first took office, Legislature Republicans approved a budget that raised property taxes by approximately 13 percent.)


Rochester-area fast food, home care, and child care workers will join in a national day of action on Tuesday around the Fight for $15.

At 7 a.m., workers and their supporters will protest at the McDonald's at 45 Jay Scutti Boulevard, Henrietta. And at 5 p.m. workers will rally at Washington Square Park and then march to a protest outside of City Hall.

The demonstration will be one of 500 across the country calling for a $15 an hour minimum wage and union rights. BY JEREMY MOULE