NY fracking rules to miss deadline; review lingers

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) As another deadline for enacting New York fracking regulations comes and goes with no action, environmental groups and other organizations are renewing their call for public participation in a health impact review.

Wednesday is the deadline for the Department of Environmental Conservation to issue a final version of its proposed regulations for gas drilling using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. But Commissioner Joe Martens has said the regulations won't be completed until the state health commissioner concludes his review of health impacts.

If new regulations are proposed, they'll be subject to at least a 45-day comment period.

A coalition of groups is holding a news conference Wednesday calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to conduct a state-specific health impact assessment with public participation.

Upstate NY woman gets up to life for killing son

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) — A Binghamton woman has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for beating her 2-year-old son to death in 2010.

The Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin reports that 25-year-old Veronica Taft was sentenced Tuesday in Broome County Court, where a jury convicted her of second-degree murder in August for killing her son Lyric at their Binghamton apartment.

The newspaper reports she sobbed and continued to say she is innocent.

But the judge imposed the maximum sentence, saying the case was among the worst he'd seen involving child abuse.

Court papers say Taft had gotten upset at the child and banged him against a wall on Dec. 30, 2010.

Her lawyer is appealing the conviction.

NY man's body found in barrel after wife's suicide

WALTON, N.Y. (AP) State police say the remains of an upstate New York man found after his wife committed suicide were in a barrel on the couple's property.

Lt. Erik Dauber tells local media outlets Tuesday that a search dog led investigators to 49-year-old Randy Sundstrom's body on Friday. That was four days after 48-year-old Debra Sundstrom shot herself in the head in the burning town of Walton home of her boyfriend, 51-year-old Dominick Bosco.

Bosco's body was also recovered from the burned out house. Authorities say they still haven't determined how he died. They say investigators believe Randy Sundstrom was killed in February 2010, but haven't determined how or by whom.

Two local officers had gone to question Debra Sundstrom about a larceny case last Tuesday when they heard two gunshots and found her dead. The house had been set ablaze.

Vt. man killed, woman injured in northern NY crash

ELLENBURG, N.Y. (AP) State police say a Vermont woman has been injured and a man from her hometown killed when their vehicles collided head on in northern New York.

They say 60-year-old Barbara Garrison of Swanton was driving in the town of Ellenburg at about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday when her Toyota RAV 4 crossed into the oncoming lane and hit a 2007 Ford Focus driven by 73-year-old Alan Winters.

Winters was declared dead at the scene. Troopers say Garrison was taken to a hospital with injuries that aren't life-threatening.

The accident is under investigation and no charges had been filed as of Monday afternoon.

Ellenburg is in Clinton County, 150 miles north of Albany near the St. Lawrence River.

Cruelty charge for upstate NY woman with 100 cats

WRIGHT, N.Y. (AP) Authorities say they've charged a woman with animal cruelty after seizing about 100 live cats and finding more than 67 dead ones at her rural upstate New York home.

The Schoharie County Sheriff's Office tells local media outlets Tuesday that 50-year-old Irene VanDyke of Wright is facing charges of failure to provide sustenance and cruelty to animals.

Police and animal welfare organizations found the cats living in deplorable conditions during a raid last month.

They said the 67 dead cats were found in a freezer. The Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley says the surviving felines are ready to be adopted.

VanDyke is due in court on March 11. Her phone number wasn't available.

Wright is 20 miles west of Albany.

Former patients sue NY hospital over insulin pens

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) Three former patients of a western New York hospital say they contracted hepatitis because the hospital misused multi-dose insulin pens.

A lawsuit announced Tuesday against Olean General Hospital and several insulin pen manufacturers comes after authorities say at least 12 people tested positive for hepatitis C after being screened by the Cattaraugus County hospital.

The hospital last month notified 1,915 former patients that they may have been exposed to HIV or hepatitis B or C through the sharing of multi-dose insulin pens from November 2009 through January this year.

Hospital spokesman Dennis McCarthy says the hospital hasn't yet seen the lawsuit. But he says there's no evidence that those who tested positive for hepatitis were exposed because pens meant for one patient were used on multiple people.

NY's Indian casinos post revenue fall in 2011

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) A new report shows the eight gambling facilities run by Indian nations in New York saw falling revenues in 2011.

Casino City's Indian Gaming Industry Report to be released Wednesday says the gambling halls run by three tribes-- the Oneidas, Senecas and Mohawks-- had 2011 revenue of $921 million. That's down about 3 percent from 2010.

Nationally, Indian casinos posted a roughly 3 percent increase in 2011, when revenues reached $27.4 billion.

New York currently allows casinos only on Indian land.

State lawmakers this year are expected to pass a second measure allowing up to seven new casinos on non-Indian land. If it passes, voters could decide in November whether to expand gambling.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has suggested starting with just three new casinos, all upstate.

Mass. Air Guard F-15s to practice over NY, Vt.

ROME, N.Y. (AP) A pair of fighter jets from Massachusetts is set to practice intercepting other aircraft over central New York and western Vermont.

The Eastern Air Defense Sector and the Continental North American Aerospace Defense Command Region say the F-15s from the Massachusetts Air National Guard's 104th Fighter Wing will be operating Wednesday morning in an area east of Rochester from north of Syracuse to south of Burlington.

The exercise will test their ability to scramble against aerial threats. The other aircraft involved will be a Civil Air Patrol Cessna 182 and an Air Force C-21 passenger jet.

The fighters are stationed at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield.

NY website lists benefits in 8 languages

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) The State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance now posts benefits information on its website in eight languages for New Yorkers to check their eligibility for programs like home heating, food stamps and Medicaid.

In addition to English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Haitian Creole and Russian, the agency has added translations to Italian and Korean.

The website offers access to 17 programs. It permits checking eligibility by providing basic household information.

The office says more than 330,000 applications have been submitted through the website for assistance to date.

Eastern NY woman finds $11K lost by armored truck

GREENWICH, N.Y. (AP) Patricia Wesner says she was astonished when the armored truck hit a bump and a plastic bag full of money and a box fell onto the road in eastern New York.

She tells the Glens Falls Post-Star that bills started blowing out of the bag as the truck drove off, its guards unaware they'd lost part of their load at about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday on a Washington County road.

Wesner, who lives in Greenwich, stopped to gather up the bills and called 911.

State police tracked down the Brinks truck later in the morning and turned over about $11,000 in singles and coins.

Troopers say Brinks believes a lock problem might have caused one of the doors to open, but Wesner thinks the money fell off the rear bumper.

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