Randy Gorbman

(WXXI News and AP) There is another Nobel Prize-Rochester connection.

New York dairy farmers should see some advantage from a revamped trade deal with Canada.

That’s the hope, anyway, with news that Canada will be  linked again with the U.S. and Mexico in a revamped North American free trade deal after weeks of negotiations.  The new deal, replaces NAFTA, which President Trump had called a job killing disaster.

The new pact should help open up dairy markets for U.S. farmers. That according to Lauren Williams, Senior Associate Director for National Affairs for the New York Farm Bureau.

Among the primaries in Ontario County Thursday was one for County Court Judge.

Kitty Karle, the former Monroe County prosecutor, won the Republican and Reform Party primaries, defeating Russ Kenyon.

In a Republican primary for Ontario County Sheriff, Silvio Palermo, who is currently with the Gates Police Department, defeated Bob Green, the Bristol Town Supervisor who previously served in the Ontario County Sheriff’s Department. Palermo will face Democrat Kevin Henderson in November. 

The Rochester Chamber Orchestra recently filed its papers to dissolve the organization.

Ray Grosswirth, who is President & Treasurer for the orchestra, says this is something officials with the group had been contemplating for a couple of years, hoping their financial situation would improve.

But he says the Rochester Chamber Orchestra, which has been around for 54 years, has been facing some of the same challenges that other performing arts organizations have had to deal with.

"We had to face the reality of an aging donor base, aging audience, diminishing funds and it just came to a point where we realized it was time to end the organization, we hated to do that, but we didn’t see any way out of this.”

Paley says that in about 18 months the lease on his largest studio, located on Lyell Avenue, will be up, and he thinks that’s a good time to move out of the 40,000 square foot space used for metal fabrication and other aspects of his business. Paley also notes that by that time he will be 76, so it’s a good time to reassess how he wants to move forward with his art.

“It’s a huge business enterprise, so, to restructure and to downsize I can focus more on the intimacy of the work, because we focus nationally and internationally and there’s a lot of travel involved and it’s just time to reassess and downsize.”

There is more information about layoffs facing some Tops supermarket employees in the wake of the decision to close 10 stores in New York State.

A notice posted on the State Labor Department website, shows that 277 workers are facing layoffs at stores on Lake Avenue and North Winton Road in Rochester, Pittsford/Palmyra Road in Fairport, and Pyramid Mall in Geneva.

There is no indication yet how many employees might be affected at a Tops store which is closing in Lyons.

Wegmans is partnering with a high-tech company to offer a new option for people who are blind or have low-vision.

The Rochester supermarket chain is working with a California-based tech company called Aira, a firm that uses artificial intelligence and augmented reality to remotely assist people who are blind or have low vision with a variety of tasks.

Fifteen students in RIT’s Industrial Design program will spend this semester designing products for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street. It’s part of the university’s annual Metaproject, which pairs students with a different industry partner each year.

Tops Markets is announcing plans to close 10 stores it says are underperforming as part of its effort to restructure and emerge from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy it filed for earlier this year.

The stores identified for closing include three in the immediate Rochester area:

• 710 Lake Ave.
• 175 N. Winton Road.
• 6720 Pittsford/Palmyra Road, Fairport.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation says that ‘oak wilt,’ a disease that affects oak trees, has been detected in South Bristol.

This is the second location in Ontario County where oak wilt has been confirmed. It was found in the Town of Canandaigua in 2016.  DEC officials say that Ontario County is one of four counties in the state that have confirmed oak wilt infections.