3 men taken from scene of northern NY plane crash

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) Authorities say emergency crews have removed three men from the Adirondack mountain where their small plane crashed.

A dispatcher with the Essex County Emergency Services says Friday morning that the men have been brought out of the rugged terrain south of Lake Placid. No other details of the rescue are immediately available.

State police say one of the men suffered minor injuries when the plane crashed on Nye Mountain in the High Peaks region.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration says the Vans RV-10 amateur-built experimental aircraft made a crash landing at about 6 p.m. near Lake Placid Airport. She says the flight departed from Somerset Airport in Bedminster, N.J.

County emergency services officials say the men used a cellphone to call 911.

The FAA is investigating.

Cuomo: Give cash-strapped western NY city $2.5M

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed giving a cash-strapped western New York city $2.5 million to make up for payments being withheld by the Seneca Indian Nation in a dispute with the state over gambling rights.

The payment is among amendments Cuomo issued Thursday to his proposed budget. It would help Salamanca cover the 40 percent of its annual budget that's relied on money from the Senecas, who operate a casino in the Cattaraugus County city.

Salamanca hasn't been paid for more than three years. The Senecas say New York's approval of slot machines at racetracks and the video game Moxie Mania in bars violated an agreement giving the tribe exclusive rights to gambling in the region.

The Senecas also operate casinos in Buffalo and Niagara Falls. The dispute is in arbitration.

Vermont gets big federal health care grant

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) Vermont has won a $45 million grant under a federal program designed to bring new efficiencies to state health care programs.

Gov. Peter Shumlin says the announcement of the grant from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid is a big boost to the state's efforts to retool its health care system.

Money is expected to support ongoing efforts in the state to create unified health care networks designed to get a better handle on costs.

It's also expected to support a bundled-payment system in which services connected with a patient's hospitalization are paid for in one lump sum, and pay-for-performance, in which health care providers are paid for achieving set quality indicators.

(All stories copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)