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Mr. Green: I am writing to raise a serious public-policy question facing Monroe County: Do plea bargains in violent-crime cases strike the proper balance between accountability, public safety, and prosecutorial discretion? L to R) Hector Ramos-Diaz was charged with the 2024 deaths of Wahid Nazario and Frank Rosario Vazquez I recognize that prosecutors face difficult decisions in homicide cases. A murder conviction requires proving every element of the crime beyond a reasona

For generations, Black and Brown entrepreneurs have built businesses with limited resources, stretched budgets, and an unmatched ability to make something out of nothing. That hustle, creativity, and resilience have carried our communities through countless challenges. But today, there’s a new challenge emerging. Dr Lomax R. Campbell The reality is that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already changing how businesses attract customers, create marketing content, manage operatio

Civilization has a way of attracting ownership claims. One culture says it invented law. Another claims to have discovered reason. A third insists that morality itself would not exist without its sacred texts. Beneath these arguments lies a common impulse: the desire to locate a single source from which all human progress flows. George Cassidy Payne Recently, while discussing the origins of civilization, I encountered a variation of this idea. A commenter argued that if we lo

So, if (Rochester Mayor) Malik D. Evans and (Monroe County Executive) Adam Bello are truly “dedicated to this joint, intergovernmental, collaborative effort to make Rochester and Monroe County an integrated, thriving, and equitable community,” why have they remained largely silent about the years-long controversy unfolding in one of Monroe County’s wealthiest and overwhelmingly white suburbs — Penfield — located just minutes from a city that has repeatedly ranked among the wo

In 2001, forensic artist Richard Neave and his team reconstructed a face the world thought it knew. What emerged was not the pale, European Christ of Western art, but a Middle Eastern man with dark hair, brown skin, and features shaped by the climate and culture of his time. George Cassidy Payne Historian Joan Taylor reached a similar conclusion. Jesus likely had olive skin, dark eyes, and stood at an average height for a first-century Jewish man living under Roman occupation

Cannabis has long held a complex place in society—stigmatized in some circles, celebrated in others. But one truth is becoming increasingly clear: when used responsibly, it can positively influence the creative process. Across music, visual art, writing, and other mediums, artists cite cannabis as a tool that enhances focus, opens perspectives, and sparks new ideas. Moderate use can reduce stress, encourage divergent thinking, and support emotional well-being, helping creati

New research from the American Cancer Society shows that colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death in people under age 50 in the United States. Three out of four people under age 50 diagnosed with colorectal cancer are found to have cancer at a late stage, when it is harder to treat. Katlyn Newberry March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. The Cancer Services Program (CSP) of the Finger Lakes Region wants people to know that this trend can be changed. Gett

As reported in a recent MR news story, New York State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa has dismissed a petition seeking the removal of Rochester Board of Education Commissioner Isaiah Santiago. The petition was filed last year by former Board of Education Commissioner James Patterson, who alleged that Santiago called him the N-word several times during an official Board meeting. Howard Eagle According to Commissioner Rosa’s decision, the assertion that Santiago was guilty wa

What Minneapolis reveals about dehumanization, protest, and the limits of force George Cassidy Payne The shoes were placed carefully on the frozen sidewalk outside a downtown Minneapolis hotel. Hospital clogs. The kind worn by nurses who work long, unglamorous shifts keeping strangers alive. A handwritten sign leaned against them: Alex was here. Alex mattered. Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse and Minneapolis resident, was shot and killed by federal immigration agents duri

AI created image of President Donald Trump When Donald Trump has mused publicly about serving a third term as president, the response from many allies and critics has been familiar: dismiss it as a joke, provocation, or “Trump banter.” Supporters often frame the comments as sarcasm meant to irritate opponents or excite crowds, while even some Republican lawmakers insist the Constitution makes such speculation moot. But Trump’s political history complicates that dismissal. Aga

George Cassidy Payne Rochester knows something about divided houses. This city sits in the Genesee Country, once Seneca territory, shaped by abolitionists and suffragists, by Frederick Douglass’ North Star, by churches that doubled as organizing hubs, and by neighborhoods still bearing the scars of redlining, incarceration, and disinvestment. When we revisit the American Revolution—not as myth, but as moral struggle—we are not merely studying the past. We are tracing the root

When the president uses a word meant to wound, it is not a question of legality. It is a question of dignity. Every time a leader normalizes dehumanizing language, they signal who is worth respect, and who is expendable. George Cassidy Payne When Donald Trump called Minnesota Governor Tim Walz the R-word, some rushed to defend him: freedom of speech. He can say what he wants. He is protected. End of discussion. But this is not a freedom-of-speech issue. It is a freedom-of-dig