On August 25, 2015, Benny Warr was back in federal court before Judge Marian Payson. Specifically, his lawyer Charles F. Burkwit, was demanding—again—that the City of Rochester hand over the discovery documentation that it was ordered to turn over in April. Mr. Burkwit has been battling with the city for discovery for over a year—since May 15, 2014 when he originally served papers on the city.
Earlier this year the US signed a historic deal with Iran to assure its compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which will prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. The treaty was negotiated with the United Nations Security Council members The US, UK, France, Russia and China along with Germany and Austrailia. Germany's participation is especially important because much of the technology for Iran's peaceful nuclear power uses comes from Germany. The treaty makes a strong distinction between peaceful nuclear power and nuclear weapons, and enforces it through
Submitted by BLACK (Building Leadership And Community Knowledge) and (video: Brothahood Productions) on Wed, 2015-08-26 16:46
At the end of the 2014-2015 academic year, families from School #9 were informed, by mail dated June 18th, that the district was getting rid of the Boys Academy for 7th & 8th graders. Students would, instead, be sent to the Leadership Academy for Young men, currently house at the old Charlotte campus.
Since then, some courageous students, supported by their parents and community members, have stood up to fight against the decision.
This is their testimony.
We fully support the students from the Boys Academy at School #9. Join us tomorrow at the School Board meeting to show your support!
The school board meeting is Thursday, August 27, 2015, 6:30pm at the Board of Education, 131 W. Broad Street, Conference Room 3A.
Hello. My name is Abasi Kitt. I’m currently a Transit Operator at the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA). During my first career with this company, I got an approval letter in early November 2009 and started training on November 30, 2009 as a city bus driver. By January 2010 I had completed training and had my own rout as a part-time operator. On September 20, 2010 I was a full-time operator. Driving city bus was and still is the best job that I ever had. I get to do something that I’m good at and get to help the community as well by shuttling people who need a ride to where they need to go.
On February 10, 2011 I took a Fire Fighter exam and scored 100%. Although I really liked my current job I had a feeling that I could better serve my community by being a firefighter. In the spring of 2013, the City of Rochester Fire Department contacted me about joining the summer recruit class of 2013. What that meant was that I would be a Conditional Firefighter on the condition that I passed a roughly six month academy class that had two parts. The first part being a medical because Rochester firefighters are now required to be emergency medical technicians (EMTs). The second part was regular firefighter stuff. Any how I knew that I had to get my affairs in order with my job at Regional Transit Service (RTS). At the time of my decision RTS was still under a contract book effective from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2014. I believe we are still under that contract currently. On page 11, article 17 the last sentence said: “Employees off on a leave of absence shall not take any other employment without the consent of the Company and the Union." Upon understanding that I went to talk with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 282 President Jacques Chapman in the spring of 2013. I told him that I wanted to take a leave of absence to join the firefighter academy. He (Jacques Chapman) told me that I should lie to the company. He told me to tell the company that I was taking a leave for another reason. I didn’t agree with that. Later on that spring of 2013 I saw Janet P. Snyder who is the Director of Labor Relations at RTS. I told her about my ambitions to become a firefighter and requested to have a leave of absence. She said that she would get back to me. About a week later my direct manager; the Director of RTS Bus Operations Michael Capadano said that I have about two weeks to write him a resignation letter if I wanted to join the firefighter academy. So with a heavy heart I wrote my letter of resignation on June 23, 2013. My resignation was accepted July 3, 2013 and my last day of work was July 5, 2013.
Rochester resident, Elizabeth McGriff of 618 Cedarwood Terrace, facing eviction pledges to stay in her home with the support Take Back the Land Rochester. She has attempted to negotiate with Midfirst Bank to work out a fair settlement for her to stay in her home. As early as August 7th 2015 Midfirst Bank with the backing force of the Rochester police department could remove Elizabeth and her children from their home of over fifteen years. Below is a letter from Elizabeth to Midfirst bank written in September of 2014 detailing her struggles with the bank.
Rochester Indymedia is now requiring editor approval for account creation.
We came to this decision after we had repeated spam posted to our website that caused difficulty with the website's functioning. We will still have open publishing and keep our site as nonrestrictive and accessible as possible.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. As before, we will continue to be Rochester's grassroots news and education site. Thank you for your continued support and remember, "Don't hate the media, be the media!"
Editorial Meeting Times / Locations
The Rochester Independent Media Center (R-IMC) is no longer meeting regularly. We will set up meetings by necessity and appointment. Please contact us at rochesterindymedia@rocus.org. Our home is still the Flying Squirrel Community Space at 285 Clarissa St. Occasionally, we hold meetings at RCTV located at 21 Gorham Street.
Rochester resident, Elizabeth McGriff of 618 Cedarwood Terrace, facing eviction pledges to stay in her home with the support Take Back the Land Rochester. She has attempted to negotiate with Midfirst Bank to work out a fair settlement for her to stay in her home. As early as August 7th 2015 Midfirst Bank with the backing force of the Rochester police department could remove Elizabeth and her children from their home of over fifteen years. Below is a letter from Elizabeth to Midfirst bank written in September of 2014 detailing her struggles with the bank.