Beth Adams

The new federal tax law means big changes for divorcing couples in 2019.

"Most matrimonial lawyers are going crazy trying to wrap up the cases they have pending before the end of the year,” said Rochester attorney Brian Barney.

Starting January 1, divorcing couples have to comply with a new federal tax law regarding alimony payments. People who pay alimony to a former spouse will no longer be able to deduct those payments from their taxes, and the spouse who receives the payments will no longer have to declare them as income.

A local consumer advocate is concerned about potential health hazards in over-the-counter products that contain activated charcoal.

"This seems to be the rage in the country now,” said Judy Braiman, president and founder of the nonprofit Empire State Consumer Project. “They're putting this in everything."

Black Friday marks the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, but it's not the retail force it used to be, and it hasn't been for years.

Ted Potrikus, president of the New York State Retail Council, said that single day - the Friday after Thanksgiving - isn't unimportant.

"It's still busy, it's still important, it's still a bit of a pace-setter,” he said, “but I think it's a bit of a misnomer to go out there and say, 'oh, it's the biggest shopping day of the year,' because that's reserved for December 21 and 22."

Nearly 70 percent of school board members across New York State who responded to a recent survey think civic readiness should be a high school graduation requirement.

That's one of the findings of a survey by the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA). The response to that particular question surprised executive director Tim Kremer .

"Because we are typically not seeing additional graduation requirements being offered, being proposed by school board members."

Cornell University is offering a new, interactive, online tool to help people track climate change in their own counties.

Using data from 1950 to 2013, the website tracks trends in temperatures, precipitation, and information about the growing season.

It was developed for farmers, but Michael Hoffman, executive director of the Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions, says it has applications beyond that.

New York is one of only 13 states where animal cruelty laws are not part of the penal code.

That would change under a bill being considered in the state legislature.

Bella's law is named for a German Shepard mix whose owner placed zip ties around the dog's neck, shoved her into a garbage bag and beat her with a shovel. Her injuries were so severe, Bella had to be euthanized.

Michael Gallagher, of Levittown on Long Island, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four months in county jail for the crime in Novermber 2017.

Current U.S. immigration policies pose an economic threat to New York's struggling dairy industry, according to the director of a farmworker program at Cornell University.

Mary Jo Dudley made that observation following the recent arrest of an undocumented immigrant worker on a central New York dairy farm. 

Dudley says the gridlock over immigration reform in Washington puts further stresses on New York dairy farmers whose milk production costs are higher than the federally controlled price.

In the ongoing debate over a proposed waste to energy facility at the Seneca Army Depot, a group of residents and business owners who are opposed to the project traveled to Albany Tuesday to call on Governor Andrew Cuomo to reject it.

The facility, proposed by Rochester-based Circular enerG, would produce electricity by burning up to 2,600 tons of trash each day.

A number of residents, neighboring towns, and elected officials have come out against the project.

Imagine if the flu was about as common as diphtheria, measles, or other relatively rare viruses.

Researchers say if a universal vaccine being tested right now does what they hope it will, people would be able to get a flu shot once every five or ten years and be protected against any form of influenza.

As health officials report one of the most severe flu seasons in recent years, Rochester Clinical Research is one of five sites around the U.S. enrolling subjects in trial studies for the vaccine.

Starting this week, the State Labor Department is accepting comments on proposed new regulations for employee scheduling.

If implemented, the sweeping changes would affect how much notice retail and other service sector workers would get before they have to report to work.