Photos courtesy of Kendall Fire Department: The Kendall Fire Hall hosted a pizza party for children who shoveled out a fire hydrant or a neighbor’s driveway during a snow day on Jan. 26.
Press Release, Kendall Fire Department
KENDALL – What started as a simple snow-day contest for kids last week quickly turned into something special for the Kendall Fire District and the entire Kendall community.
During the snow day, the Kendall Fire District posted a challenge on Facebook inviting children in the community to shovel out a fire hydrant or help clear a neighbor’s driveway. Any child who participated and shared a photo would have their name placed into a hat for a live Facebook drawing, with the winner earning a ride to school in a fire truck.
Kendall Deputy Fire Chief Mike Cole, back left, and Fire Chief Randy Davis greet kids who will get a ride to school on a fire truck.
“We honestly thought we might get four or five kids to take part,” said James Fox, Captain with the Kendall Fire District. “Instead, it turned into more than 40 kids stepping up to help others.”
The overwhelming response caught the attention of the district’s Public Relations and Community Outreach Team. Impressed by the number of young participants and their willingness to serve, the department decided they wanted to do more to show their appreciation. A pizza party was planned at the firehouse to recognize every child who gave their time to help the community, as well as the parents and guardians who ensured the activities were completed safely and shared photos with the department.
As soon as the pizza party was announced, local businesses began calling the firehouse asking how they could help. Community support poured in. Partyka Farms donated an ice cream cone for each contestant. J&M Auto Service paid for all of the pizza, while Hamlin Pizza Shack donated fried dough, soda and water, and provided free delivery of all the pizza.
The recognition continued at school as well. The Kendall School District honored every participant during its Student of the Month ceremony. District Chief Randy Davis and Deputy Chief Mike Cole attended the ceremony and presented certificates of appreciation to each child.
The pizza party was held yesterday evening at the firehouse and was filled with food, laughter, and fun. Kevin Watson, the elementary school principal, was the guest of honor and pulled the winners’ names from a hat. The district then decided why stop at just one winner?
Instead of selecting a single child, the District chose to fill three large fire apparatus with winners. As a result, four children will now receive a full escort to school in a fire truck. The winners are Jeffery Lutes, Nora Rasmusson, and siblings Presley and Brantley Cole.
What began as a fun snow-day activity became a powerful reflection of what Kendall represents: One Family, One School, One Community. District Chiefs Davis and Cole say they are excited about future events involving the community and encourage residents to be on the lookout for more fun and meaningful ways to get involved.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and U.S. Representatives Steve Cohen (D-TN-9), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA-10), and Deborah Ross (D-NC-2) introduced legislation to help prevent deadly truck underride crashes.
An underride crash occurs when a car slides under a large truck, such as a semi-trailer, during an accident. When these crashes happen, a car’s safety features are rendered useless because most of the car slides under the trailer and the trailer undercarriage crashes straight through the windows and into the passengers. The passengers in the car often suffer severe head and neck injuries, including decapitation. These accidents are frequently fatal, even at low speeds.
Studies and pilot programs show that a simple barrier attached to the lower area of a truck, called an “underride guard,” would help prevent a car from sliding underneath a truck in an accident. Under current federal law, unlike the rear of a truck, underride guards are not required to be on the sides or front of trucks. The Stop Underrides Act 2.0 would expand on current restrictions by instructing rulemaking to require side underride guards on new trucks, improving data collection, and directing additional research on underride crashes.
“Truck underride guards are one of the best and easiest solutions for protecting passengers during collisions with large trucks,” said Senator Gillibrand. “The Stop Underrides Act 2.0 is commonsense legislation that will protect passengers and make our roads safer. I look forward to working across the aisle to get this passed.”
Specifically, this bill would:
Require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to finalize rulemaking requiring side underride guards on commercial trucks.
Restart the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Advisory Committee on Underride Protection, to provide recommendations for how to reduce underride crashes and severe injuries and fatalities caused by underrides.
Require the DOT to publish a website making underrides research accessible to researchers, industry, and advocates.
Instruct the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a study on the prevalence of underride incidents, including those involving the fronts of large trucks.
Instruct the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study of the implementation of NHTSA’s 2022 rear underride rule and provide suggestions to better improve the rule.
Instruct NHTSA to review its Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and correct crashes in the database that should have been classified as an underride but were not.
Instruct NHTSA to create free, on-demand web-based training for state and local law enforcement to better identify and document underride crashes.
In the Senate, the Stop Underrides Act 2.0 is cosponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
This bill is supported by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, America Walks, AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety, Cascade Bicycle Club, Casey Feldman Foundation, Center for Auto Safety, EndDistractedDriving.org, Families for Safe Streets, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, League of American Bicyclists, Institute for Safer Trucking, Kids and Car Safety, Ride Illinois, Ride of Silence, Road Safe America, Sylvia Bingham Fund, Safe Routes Partnership, Stop Underrides, and Truck Safety Coalition.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 February 2026 at 12:48 pm
County revenues increase 9.3 percent or by $2.2 million
ALBION – Sales tax revenues for Orleans County jumped 9.3 percent in 2025 or nearly $2.2 million from $23.42 million in 2024 to $25.59 million in 2025.
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has a report showing the sales tax revenues for the counties in 2025. Orleans had one of the strongest growths in the state.
The county has seen steady growth in sales tax in recent years. It has now gone up nearly $8 million from the $17.7 in 2019 to the $25.6 million last year.
Orleans County sales tax revenues
$25.6 million in 2025
$23.4 million in 2024
$23.1 million in 2023
$22.5 million in 2022
$21.8 million in 2021
$19.4 million in 2020
$17.7 million in 2019
In Orleans County, nearly all of the local sales tax generated stays with the county government. The 10 towns and four villages collectively have remained at $1,366,671, the same amount they have received since 2001. The town and village share amounts to 5.3 percent of the $25.6 million total.
Among counties, sales tax revenue increased 4.0 percent in 2025, with 52 of 57 counties seeing an increase. Among the rural GLOW counties, Wyoming and Livingston both went down slightly.
GLOW counties
Genesee – $55.81 million in 2024 to $59.91 million in 2025, 7.4 percent increase
Livingston – $48.13 million in 2024 to $47.99 million in 2025, 0.3 percent decrease
Orleans – $23.42 million in 2024 to $25.59 million in 2025, 9.3 percent increase
Wyoming – $26.82 million in 2024 to $26.77 million in 2025, 0.2 percent decrease
Chenango County saw the biggest increase at 11.8 percent, followed by Yates (11 percent), Hamilton (10.9 percent) and Delaware (10.7 percent).
Sullivan County had the steepest decline at 5.2 percent, followed by Schoharie (3.9 percent) and St. Lawrence (3.0 percent).
State-wide sales tax growth was up 3.9 percent, up significantly from the 0.6 percent in 2024 and higher than the average pre-pandemic growth rate (3.0 percent), the state comptroller’s office stated in its report.
New York City accounts for about half of the state-wide sales tax revenue. NYC saw a 5.0 percent increase in sales tax revenue, totaling $10.9 billion, which was up by $521 million.
BROCKPORT – Oak Orchard Health, a leading healthcare provider in rural, upstate New York has announced Jerry Archibald as its Chief Administrative Officer.
Archibald spent 12 years at Arthur Anderson & Co. before joining The Bonadio Group in 1986. Jerry has more than 35 years of experience delivering high‑quality advisory, assurance, compliance, and consulting services to over 300 government-based, tax‑exempt, and healthcare organizations.
In his new role, Archibald will be responsible for overseeing aspects of the company’s finances and operational framework.
He is certified as a Fellow in the Healthcare Financial Management Association and is a Certified Managed Care Professional.
His expertise in the health and human service industries provides him with a unique perspective on all aspects of health and human service delivery systems. He has been involved extensively in health and human service client engagements, which involve the evaluation, assessment, and implementation of operating improvements.
“Jerry brings his exceptional pedigree that is unparalleled in the human services arena. Oak Orchard is lucky to have such a compassionate, intelligent executive join our organization,” said Marco Altieri, CEO.
John Slenker, chairman of the board, said, “With his extensive background and vision for the future, we are confident that he will help lead Oak Orchard to new heights and drive our mission.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 February 2026 at 10:48 am
Michelle and Matthew Cryer await cleanup from Monday night crash
Photos courtesy of Michelle Cryer
CLARENDON – A tractor trailer hauling grain crashed in the front of Michelle and Matthew Cryer’s property on Holley-Byron Road on Monday at 9:10 p.m. The truck from Whitetale Trucking in Gasport was hauling grain.
The truck took down trees, a utility pole with a transformer and a fire hydrant, while dumping tons of grain. The driver was able to walk away from the accident.
The Cryers haven’t been able to leave their property since Monday night because wires and pieces of the truck remain in the driveway, along with all the grain.
The driveway and front of the Cryers’ property is filled with grain after the tractor-trailer collided with trees.
National Grid was able to reset a pole and remove its fallen wires on Monday night, but Michelle Cryer said Spectrum and Verizon haven’t taken care of their wires, delaying the removal of the grain and chunks of the truck and trailer.
“We’ve been on the phone with everybody,” Mrs. Cryer said this morning. “The cleanup can’t happen because the wires are in the way.”
This tractor-trailer took down trees and wires after an accident Monday night in Clarendon.
Mrs. Cryer has cancelled doctor’s appointments because she couldn’t leave her property. Her home is set back about 200 yards from Holley-Byron Road (Route 237).
She and her husband felt the house shake with the crash, even though they are set back a distance from the road.
The accident happened on the curve of Holley-Byron Road, between Brown Schoolhouse Road and Glidden Road. Cryer said this is the seventh accident in the past 5 to 6 years.
“Consistently people are crashing on the front of our property,” she said.
The tractor-trailer on Monday was headed north and went off the road at the curve.
Since then the Cryers have been stuck home. They wanted to go out on Tuesday for Mr. Cryer’s birthday.
“We had to stay home but I told him his birthday came in with a bang,” she said.
UPDATE at 11:01 a.m.: Verizon was on site and left just before 11 a.m. after lifting its wires and also for Spectrum to allow for a cleanup of the front of the property.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 February 2026 at 8:14 am
LYNDONVILLE – A food distribution scheduled for Friday in Lyndonville has been cancelled. The Lyndonville Presbyterian Church hosts the Foodlink Pop-up distribution.
The next one in Lyndonville will be on March 6.
There will be a Foodlink distribution in Albion at 9 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 9, at the parking lot at 165 South Platt St., next to Dubby’s Tailgate.
Counties don’t want to be hit by federal cuts and cost shifts, especially with SNAP
Press Release, NYS Association of Counties
ALBANY – County leaders and officials from across New York State convened at the State Capitol on Tuesday for the New York State Association of Counties’ annual County Advocacy Day, meeting with state legislative leaders to advance shared priorities impacting counties and the communities they serve.
County officials held meetings with the Senate and Assembly leadership, including the Chairs of the Assembly and Senate Committees on Local Government, as well as numerous state legislators representing NYSAC member counties. Discussions focused on counties’ legislative concerns and NYSAC’s 2026 Legislative Program priorities and county-specific concerns affecting residents statewide.
“Counties are where state policy meets real life,” said NYSAC President and Oswego County Administrator Phil Church. “Counties are in Albany to ensure that our partners at the state level understand what we need to continue providing the essential services New Yorkers rely on while also protecting local taxpayers.”
During the meetings, county leaders emphasized the importance of infrastructure investment, government modernization and efficiency, workforce expansion, and systems reforms to keep New York affordable while maintaining essential services.
A central focus of this year’s advocacy was the need to hold counties harmless from the impact of federal funding cuts and cost shifts, particularly proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that could significantly increase local administrative costs and compliance burdens.
“When federal actions shift costs or impose new requirements, counties are often left to manage the consequences,” said NYSAC President Phil Church. “We’re urging the state to work with counties to protect local taxpayers and preserve the vital services that keep our communities strong.”
NYSAC Executive Director Stephen Acquario underscored the bipartisan and statewide nature of the advocacy effort.
“County leaders from around the state came to Albany speaking with one unified voice,” Acquario said. “Strong state–county partnerships are essential to maintaining the services and programs that residents rely on every day, from public safety and infrastructure to health and human services.”
County Advocacy Day highlighted the role counties play as the primary implementers of state and federal policy, often with limited flexibility and significant fiscal exposure. NYSAC leaders stressed that proactive collaboration with counties can help the state achieve policy goals more effectively while keeping communities affordable and resilient.
NYSAC will continue working with state leaders throughout the legislative session to advance solutions that strengthen counties, protect taxpayers, and ensure local governments have the tools they need to succeed.
BATAVIA – Genesee Community College has been honored with the esteemed 90+ cashVest Award for 2025, an award presented to multiple public-sector entities in recognition of exemplary leadership in public finance liquidity management.
The honor is awarded by three+one, a national financial-technology firm that specializes in evaluating cash-management practices within the public sector. This recognition underscores the organization’s commitment to utilizing data-driven insights to maximize every taxpayer dollar, delivering enhanced benefits to communities nationwide.
Garrett Macdonald, Chief Executive Officer of three+one and a GCC alumnus, commented on the award: “Collectively generating hundreds of millions in additional revenue in 2025 alone that would otherwise have to be raised in taxes or additional tuition is an amazing accomplishment. As each of these entities continues to navigate an ever-changing economic landscape, they have gone above and beyond to set a national standard in cash management and to certify they are doing everything they can to maximize their liquid cash resources.”
By maintaining a cashVest score of 90 or above for four consecutive quarters, Genesee Community College has demonstrated its commitment to effective cash management, improving financial stability, and ensuring responsible stewardship of public resources.
Dr. Craig Lamb, President of Genesee Community College, stated, “At GCC, we are deeply committed to being responsible stewards of public funds as we collectively seek to enrich our surrounding community, using every resource efficiently and strategically. I want to extend my gratitude to GCC’s Finance and Operations department for their efforts in ensuring we operate at the highest standards of fiscal responsibility. In addition, being presented with this award by GCC alumnus Garrett Macdonald, for whom we are so proud, makes this honor even more special.”
‘Job Corps is one of the best bang-for-your-buck programs we have to boost our local economies’
Press Release, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer
Photo by Tom Rivers: This sign on Route 63 in Shelby notes the Iroquois Job Corps. This center has space for up to 225 students who are served by 104 full-time equivalent employees.
After Schumer stood at Job Corps centers across Upstate NY to lead the fight to protect one of the nation’s largest and most effective workforce training programs from Trump’s effort to eliminate it, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer today announced he has successfully preserved funding for Job Corps and helping students across America, including thousands in New York, get the skills they need to enter in-demand careers.
“Job Corps is one of the best bang-for-your-buck programs we have to boost our local economies, which is why I fought hard to protect it from Trump’s proposed cuts,” said Senator Schumer. “I’m proud to announce that, following my advocacy, we have preserved funding for Job Corps, ensuring the continuation of one of America’s largest and most effective workforce training programs.”
The just-passed Fiscal Year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education funding bill rejects Trump’s call to eliminate Job Corps and instead provides $1.76 billion in federal funding to keep them open. Schumer also secured language that blocks the closure of Job Corps Centers unless such closures meet specific requirements.
Anand Vimalassery, National Job Corps Association Interim President & CEO said, “Job Corps faced unprecedented disruption and uncertainty over the last year. Through it all, Senator Schumer stood by our students and staff in Calicoon, Cassadaga, Glenmont, Medina, New York City, and Oneonta. His leadership is helping ensure young adults in New York continue to have a pathway into the skilled workforce through Job Corps and we’re grateful for his support.”
In May 2025, Trump paused operations at Job Corps centers nationwide. Afterward, a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump from shutting down Job Corps centers, and another federal judge said operations must resume until the previous case is resolved. Schumer explained that the Trump administration not only attempted to shut down Job Corps centers, but in his budget request, Trump said he wanted to totally zero out funding for the program, effectively killing the program without needing the approval of federal courts.
After hearing about Trump’s proposed cuts, Schumer last year traveled to Job Corps centers across Upstate New York, from the Iroquois Job Corps center in Orleans County to the Cassadaga Job Corps center in Chautauqua County and the Otsego Job Corps Center, to stand with students, staff, and small business owners and demand we protect this vital pipeline for skilled workers to fill jobs.
In addition to fighting back on Trump’s proposed elimination of funds for Jobs Corps in the Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations bill, Schumer led efforts in the Senate to oppose the Trump administration’s destructive and potentially illegal actions like pausing existing funds for the Job Corps centers.
Schumer called on U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer to protect Job Corps and demanded answers on these destructive efforts. Thanks to Schumer’s leadership, the Fiscal Year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education funding bill rejects Trump’s call to eliminate Job Corps and instead provides $1.76 billion in federal funding – which is consistent with the previous year – to keep them open and includes language to protect against Trump’s efforts to illegally shut down specific centers.
“The Iroquois Job Corps Center has been a cornerstone of opportunity in Orleans County for more than sixty years, helping young people gain the skills and credentials they need to succeed while strengthening our local economy,” said Lynne Johnson, Chairman of the Orleans County Legislature. “Preserving funding for Job Corps is critical for our students, our workforce, and our community. Thanks to Senator Schumer, the Iroquois Job Corps Center can continue delivering real pathways to good-paying careers and supporting the next generation of skilled workers.”
Schumer said Job Corps centers have helped millions of young people ages 16 to 24 finish high school, learn technical skills, and get jobs in in-demand fields such as healthcare and construction. Low-income and at-risk young people have received stable housing and healthcare while developing the skills they need to get good-paying jobs after graduation. Across Upstate NY, centers in Albany, Sullivan, Orleans, Otsego, and Chautauqua Counties serve thousands of young New Yorkers and employ over 500 staff.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 February 2026 at 11:17 am
Genesee would receive $285 million in revenue over 30 years, plus an estimated $18 million in sales tax annually to be split by county and state
Photos by Tom Rivers: Stream U.S. Data Centers held an open house at the Alabama Fire Hall on Monday evening for people to meet members of the development team for the data center. Many of the attendees are concerned about the environmental impacts on the community, including the nearby wildlife refuge and Tonawanda Indian Nation.
ALABAMA – A massive data center proposed for the STAMP site in Alabama, just a few miles south of Orleans County, would bring a major influx of revenue for Genesee County, said officials at the Genesee County Economic Development Center.
Stream U.S. Data Centers would pay $285 million over 30 years to Genesee County, the Town of Alabama and Oakfield-Alabama Center School. (The project also would receive $744 million in tax incentives. The GCEDC board is expected to accept an application from Stream during its board meeting on Thursday. There will be public hearings about the incentives and the site plan for the data center.)
Bradley Wells, site selection and development manager for Stream U.S. Data Centers, speaks to reporters at Monday’s meeting. He said the project uses a relatively small footprint of the STAMP site and won’t generate much traffic after construction. The data center would have 125 employees working different shifts. There would be about 1,000 people working on construction of the data center’s three buildings, each over 700,000 square feet.
The company also will have to pay sales tax on its electricity usage and that is expected to be about $18 million a year to be split by Genesee County and the state.
Stream U.S. Data Centers is proposing to invest over $11 billion in the data center at STAMP. GCEDC gets a fee when it facilitates a project, usually 1.25 percent of the development costs.
With the data center, the fee would be 0.75 percent or about $83 million. That money would help build out public water in Genesee County and with infrastructure at other GCEDC business parks, said Mark Masse, GCEDC president and CEO. Five of the eight GCEDC parks are currently fully occupied but there is space at STAMP, Le Roy and in the Pembroke parks.
“This whole program is generational revenue for Genesee County,” Masse said during an interview on Monday during an informational meeting by Stream at the Alabama fire hall.
The project is outside Orleans County, but Masse and GCEDC officials expect Orleans would see significant benefit for employment and other services for the data center, as well as people looking to move into the community.
The project has faced resistance from Orleans County, including Legislature Chairwoman Lynne Johnson who doesn’t want any wastewater from STAMP to go into the Oak Orchard Creek, which is a major tourism draw for fishing in the county.
STAMP will be using the Village of Oakfield sewer plant for treatment, and Masse said the plant will be upgraded to treat phosphorus.
The Allies of Tonawanda Seneca Nation have been vocal in opposition of the data center, saying it uses enormous amounts of electricity – 500 megawatts – that could impact electricity rates for other customers.
The Allies passed out flyers listing concerns with noise, impacts to wildlife, water usage and pollution, air pollution, e-waste, and other environmental impacts.
Arthur Barnes of Shelby was among the attendees at Monday’s meeting. He wore a “Stop STAMP” button. Barnes would have preferred to hear a presentation from the developer to the group, but instead Stream had people meet one on one or in small groups. Barnes said the presentation was “too slick” and didn’t consider the impacts of the project on the community.
Bradley Wells, site selection and development manager for Stream, said the meeting format was a chance to “have one on one time with developer.”
The new data center would be “unique and premium in the market,” he told reporters at the meeting.
The data center helps meet a need with the “growth of internet, growth of interconnectivity, subscription streaming and artificial intelligence,” he said.
The STAMP site is attractive for Stream because it offers all of the existing infrastructure –with electricity, water and waste water. Wells said the facility would use “very minimal water” and would operate on a closed loop air cooling system.
There are very restrictive noise requirements, and Wells said the site would operate at 65 decibels at day and 45 decibels at night from the Stream property lines. The noise would be quieter farther away from the site. Wells said 65 decibels is similar to the sound when talking in a room and 45 decibels is the sound of a quiet office environment.
Stream U.S. Data Centers showed renderings of how a vacant field at STAMP could be turned into a large data center.
The company, based in Dallas, Texas, will need to get through an environmental review with the GCEDC the lead agency. The Allies of the Seneca Nation, Orleans County and others wanted the state Department of Environmental Conservation to lead that review. Barnes said the GCEDC role “is like the fox guarding the hen house.”
Wells said Stream strives to build a long-lasting partnership with the community. The company is hopeful construction could start in 2026 with the facility to begin operations in 2027, although a full buildout is expected to take until 2030.
He foresees “1,000 continuous trade jobs” during the construction. Once that is complete, the traffic impact from the data center would be “extremely low,” Wells said, with 125 employees working different shifts, many of them software specialists and engineering technicians.
Other manufacturing at STAMP could see many more employees and deliveries, with a much bigger impact on traffic in the community, he said.
Stream would operate on 90 acres out the 1,250 acres at STAMP.
“We think it’s one of the most dense, best uses of the park right now,” Wells said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 February 2026 at 8:29 am
‘The Smallest of Joys’ invites people to slow down and ‘create your own magic’
Diane Shiffer’s book is published by Hay House LLC. The book was pre-launched on Monday with customers able to order it through Amazon and other book sellers. The book will be released in hardcover on April 14. Diane Shiffer is shown outside her Albion home in this screenshot from her Instagram account. She has more than 2 million followers on social media.
ALBION – An Albion woman with a massive following on social media has written a book, The Smallest of Joys, that is available for pre-ordering. The 256-page book will be out in hardcover on April 14.
Diane Shiffer has a devoted following @shifferdiane, and uses the hashtag: “YourChubbyVintageNana.”
“I never sent out to write a book,” Shiffer said in a video posted on her social media on Monday, the day of the book’s pre-launch. “Honestly, I never even thought it was something I could do. For years I was just writing things down to understand my own small life, to make sense of the days and to notice what was still good, and somehow, somehow those quiet thoughts became my book, the smallest of joys.”
The book is published by Hay House LLC. “The Smallest of Joys” is an invitation to slow down and embrace yourself. Shiffer brings messages about:
Embrace your inner weirdo
Be patient with yourself through life’s changes
Keep a tidy home without overwhelm
Develop a positive body image
Heal from heartbreak
Connect with others through gratitude
Find everyday magic in the simplest moments
“Whether you’ve been following Diane for years or are just meeting her now, this book is like a warm teacup in your hands and a soft blanket around your shoulders,” Amazon states in promoting the book. “A modern antidote to hustle culture and self-criticism, it’s a reminder that kindness—especially toward yourself—can be a powerful way to live.”
Shiffer is a retired educator and social worker. She started to go viral on social media during the pandemic in 2020 when she posted short videos of her in daily life – baking, sewing, doing household chores, sharing words about kindness, and showcasing some of her vintage finds, such as potholders.
She speaks directly to her followers in her videos, calling them “my sweeties” and “my dears.”
Shiffer was featured by CBS Sunday Morning last April. CBS correspondent Faith Salie said Shiffer’s “soothing voice and infectious laugh” are a big part of her appeal. Salie said about Shiffer, “spending time with her feels like a warm hug.”
Shiffer shares heartfelt advice on discovering joy and beauty in everyday life.
“This book exists because of you, my dear internet friends, the people who taught me that small gentle things matter,” Shiffer said in a social media post on Monday. “I also know that we are living in a heavy moment. There is real grief and real fear and real injustice in the world right now, and joy doesn’t erase that but it can help us stay human inside of it.”
“I’m holding both, gratitude and perspective, hope and responsibility. If this book finds its way to you I hope it brings a little calm, a little steadiness, a reminder that tending to your spirit is not a distraction from the world. It is part of how we keep showing up for it.”
For more information on “The Smallest of Joys,” click here.
This 1913 map of Lyndonville shows a concentration of food processing plants adjacent to railway line and open area advertised by H.A. & A.A. Housel. (New Century Atlas of Orleans County, 1913)
By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County History
“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 6, No. 3
An ad from Lyndonville Enterprise on January 27, 1910
“LYNDONVILLE – HER PROGRESSIVE HEALTHY GROWTH,
“AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE FUTURE –
“REAL ESTATE MARKET IS ACTIVE”
“Put me off at Lyndonville” (station)
“Why?”
“Oh! Lyndonville is such an enterprising little town that it has become a desirable place in which to settle and invest money. It is wonderful how prices are soaring and if you want to be “in it” you must “get there” right quick.
Why, within this past year, 15 new dwelling houses, at a cost of from $2,500 to $3,000 have been erected and more are to be built by spring and these mostly by retired farmers in our town who have so prospered by big crops and good prices that they have been able to pay off their mortgages and still have money enough to buy a village lot at a cost of $300 to $400 and erect an elegant house with all modern improvements from a furnace to electric lights.
Small wonder then that Lyndonville was the subject of postcards such as this 1910 era card from the Balls-McComb collection.
In addition, this past year, the Lyndonville Ice and Cold Storage plant was built at a cost of $125.000; Barnum’s brick hotel at a cost of $4,500; the Lyndonville cement Automobile Garage; N.J. Barry’s cola building with an electric elevator. F.D. Langdon’s new drive barn is in progress, as are plans for a new general store and opera house.”
This article was originally published as a centerpiece on page one of the Lyndonville Enterprise of January 27, 1910. The Housel ad. appeared in the same issue.
Lyndonville’s prosperity referred to can be attributed to the transportation service provided by the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad. The first train passed through on June 12, 1876. For the next 70 years, freight and refrigerated trains transported the area’s fine produce to market while passenger trains carried passengers to Rochester and Buffalo.
While Yates Center was the site of the first settlement in the Town of Yates, it was soon eclipsed by the growth of Lyndonville just a short distance south. The Johnson Creek waterfall provided a source of power, essential at that time for operating mills. A grist mill was built in 1836. Other businesses soon followed.
The village was incorporated in 1903. In 1908, the village contracted with the Swett Electric Light and Power Company to provide electric lamp posts on Main St. Electric power was also available for the newly built “elegant houses.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 February 2026 at 12:58 pm
Sarah Wolcott
BATAVIA – A Batavia woman who organized protests against Donald Trump last year, which attracted several hundred people, announced today she will be running against Steve Hawley for the 139th Assembly District, which includes all of Orleans, Genesee and small portions of Monroe and Erie counties.
“I’m running to serve my community by protecting what’s good and fixing what’s broken,” said Sarah Wolcott, in her campaign announcement today. “It’s time for leadership that’s earned, not inherited, and I’m here to fight for everyday people like myself.”
Hawley runs an insurance company in Batavia. He has been the assemblyman for nearly 20 years, seldom with any opposition. He was first elected to the position in a special election on February 28, 2006. His father, the late R. Stephen Hawley, also served as assembly from 1973 to 1993.
Wolcott, 42, will be seeking Democratic Party support in the election. She has been endorsed by the Genesee County Democratic Party.
She is lifelong Batavian and blue-collar community advocate. She works on the assembly line for a manufacturing company in Alden. She said her focus will be on uplifting working families, strengthening rural communities, and bringing authentic, earned leadership back to Albany.
Wolcott said she represents “the grit, compassion, and determination that define Western New York.” The Genesee Community College graduate credits both her education and her lived experience for shaping her commitment to public service.
She has organized food drives, led local protests, and donates plasma weekly to help neighbors. Through these efforts, she said she has seen firsthand the challenges facing working families and the limits of what can be changed without a seat at the table.
“It’s time for workers, not career politicians to lead,” Wolcott stated in a news release. “We need leaders who have struggled and sweat to represent us. I want to bridge divides and build a future where neighbors work together, not against each other.”
Her campaign priorities include:
Accessible healthcare that every New Yorker can afford
Ensuring Western NY remains affordable for local residents
Protecting rural communities from development like at STAMP
Building unity, not division, across Genesee County and beyond
The Orleans County Democratic Party Committee hasn’t endorsed a candidate yet for this year’s Assembly election. Wolcott met with the Orleans committee last month.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 February 2026 at 9:53 am
File photo by Tom Rivers: Holli Nenni announced she is retiring in May after 38 years with the Orleans County DSS.
ALBION – A long-time employee in the Orleans County Department of Social Services will be retiring on May 26.
Holli Nenni of Albion has worked 28 years with DSS, including the past five years as DSS commissioner. Prior to that she was the deputy DSS commissioner the past 11 years.
Nenni first worked as a caseworker for 12 years before being promoted child support coordinator and then director of temporary assistance.
She has been leading a department with 70 employees. The DSS divisions include temporary assistance, child & family services, domestic violence services, and the child support and enforcement unit.
DSS partners with many local agencies and county departments – UConnectCare, Mental Health, Job Development and others – to help people overcome barriers and become self sufficient, Nenni has said.
Photos courtesy of Patti Singer: Paul Hess, a wildlife biologist with the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, points out the leaves still on a beech tree. Beeches and some oaks hold their leaves all winter, until new growth pushes them off in the spring.
Courtesy of Patti Singer, contributor to Friends of the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge
BASOM – The sun was out and the temperature on this early January day was in the 40s. Along the Kanyoo Trail at Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, a light breeze stirred branches of trees that were waiting for a few more months to pass.
James Ianni examines a black cherry tree.
“They’re just trying to survive and protect themselves,” says James Ianni, a biological science technician. “They already have their buds ready for spring. Their job right now is to stay alive so those buds are usable as rapidly as possible in the spring.”
Trees spend the end of one summer preparing for the next, and they need to protect that work.
“They do a lot of things in the fall to get ready for winter,” says Paul Hess, wildlife biologist. “They’ve got a lot of mechanics to prepare themselves for a New York winter.”
Deciduous trees drop their leaves so they don’t lose water and dehydrate. Hess said the trees also increase their sugar content, which acts like antifreeze for their cells. Beeches and some oaks keep their leaves through winter, a protective mechanism for those species.
“All the active growth in a tree is around the outside, near the bark,” he said. “What they try to do is keep those cells alive.”
Paul Hess shows a swollen area on an ash tree where emerald ash borers may have gotten into the trunk.
Trees enter a dormant phase the way some animals hibernate, is how Dave Shepherd, a volunteer at the refuge and a member of Friends of Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, explains the process on his Walks in the Woods programs. He give talks on identifying trees and the forest ecosystem. When he leads a walk in the fall, he talks about what trees do so they don’t freeze over the next few months.
“I ask people to think about a bear hibernating and what you know about how that works,” says Shepherd, who is certified as a New York State master naturalist through a program administered by Cornell University. “They bulk up in the summertime so they live off their fat reserves. The heart rate goes down.”
Trees break down chlorophyll and also store their energy, so “in a very broad sense, they are analogous,” Shepherd said.
Once temperatures get consistently warmer in March, the tree’s energy comes back through the trunk to the branches and into the buds.
Even though this January day seemed to catch the trees in a slumber, they offered plenty to Hess and Ianni as the two walked the Kanyoo Trail.
“There’s a bunch of stories to trees,” said Ianni, whose interest in photographing birds led him to appreciate trees.
“I thought they were cool because they’re weird and they don’t talk, and how do you understand things that don’t make sounds or talk. … They don’t move, so they’re easy to look for. You can walk right up to a tree … and stare at it and study it for a long time.”
He can tell by looking whether a tree is stressed, such as a cherry tree with tattered and broken limbs. Trees with wide, umbrella-shaped canopies grew when there was little competition for sunlight, unlike a tall, narrow tree.
(Right) James Ianni, biological services tech, describes the curled cups on the bark of a black cherry as looking like black potato chips. (Left) James Ianni points out larvae tracks near sapsucker holes on a dead tree.
Bark, besides being used to identify the species, can tell about the health of the tree.
Hess pointed out an ash tree that looked swollen in one spot where the bark was split and said that the invasive emerald ash borer might be killing the tree. He pointed out another tree with a gaping hole, which he said could be housing wildlife either in the cavity or elsewhere in the trunk.
Ianni walked up to a trunk stripped of its bark and studied insect holes. “You’ve got some sapsucker holes, probably from when it was alive.” Sapsuckers pop holes into a living tree to allow the sap to flow, which attracts insects, and come back to eat the insects and sap.
The direction of downed trees can indicate prevailing winds or a storm.
“If you’re out in the woods and wondering where the really strong winds come from, just look at the direction that the trees are lying down,” Ianni said. “And the growth habit of the branches. If you’re up hiking in the Adirondacks and you look at the trees and the right side of the tree doesn’t look as happy as the left side of the tree, then the right side of the tree probably gets more wind.”
The clues from individual trees tell the bigger story of the forest.
“They make the forest what it is and provide habitat and food for all kinds of other creatures that wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them,” says Hess, a birder who had his ear out for nuthatches and his eye on old nests. “You can look at individual trees as you’re walking around and see what you need about that individual tree. … But then also it’s kind of forest-for-the-tree sort of thing. You step back and you look at it as part of a whole system. There’s a whole lot more going on when you look at it that way.”
Patti Singer is a freelance writer and a retired reporter from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
