stuckinny

nothing but class warfare at its finest. How much more can the middle class handle on their backs, especially in this state! What's next athletic scholarships for prison sport teams?

didn't know that was an unwritten rule, or was that in the thing you check off that i agree to the terms and conditions? But I will do that from here on out! Aren't news articles kind of like public domain though?

I guess the interwebs is too hard: BUFFALO – If not for the Supreme Court, Chuck Culhane would be dead. In 1972, the highest court in the land deemed the death penalty unconstitutional. That ruling wouldn't last, but it saved Culhane, who'd spent close to three years in the early seventies on death row. By the time he finally walked out of prison a free man in 1992, he was pushing 50. He'd spent a total of 26 years in prison, originally sentenced to a decade for an armed robbery incident before a conviction for his role as an accomplice in a fatal prison escape netted him an even longer stay. But Culhane had something to show for doing his time. He had a college education. "I wanted to see change in my life," Culhane said. "The punk that had been holding up a gas station wasn't going to cut it." Culhane, who always maintained that he had no involvement in the high-profile case which left a deputy and another inmate killed in gunfire during that escape in 1968, earned his associate's degree in prison and worked toward his bachelor's, which he received after his release. He admits his transition to civilian society hasn't been perfect – including parole violations due to a battle with substance abuse – but he eventually became a teacher and a paralegal. Now, he is the co-chair of the Erie County Prisoners' Rights Coalition, and he unquestionably supports Gov. Andrew Cuomo's announcement Sunday of an initiative to add college courses to 10 prisons in the state. "My first reaction," Culhane said, "was that it's the best news I've heard in a long time." Not everybody feels the same way. Case in point: within four hours of posting Cuomo's initiative on the 2 On Your Side Facebook page, close to one thousand comments vigorously attacked the Governor. Republican Senator Mark Grisanti released a statement in fierce opposition to the plan, saying he "supports rehabilitation and reduced recidivism, but not on the taxpayer's dime when so many individuals and families in New York are struggling to meet the ever-rising costs of higher education." Cuomo announced his plan in front of a crowd at the Wilborn Temple First Church of God in Albany during the Black, Puerto Rican Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus event, citing an alarming rate of inmates who return to prison within three years of their release in New York. That number stands at about 40 percent, and it costs roughly $60,000 to fund each inmate per year. Adding college courses at $5,000 per year for each inmate would reduce the likelihood of a prisoner returning to prison, Cuomo said. In a media release later, his office said "studies have shown that investing in college education for prisoners dramatically decreased recidivism rates while saving tax dollars on incarceration costs." The program is modeled after an initiative at Bard College, where Cuomo said only four percent of the 250 college graduates in a partnering prison returned to incarceration upon earning their degrees. "It worked," Cuomo said. "They told us it couldn't be done, but and we did it." Culhane said he began writing while on death row, which he credits as the start of his education. He works with a variety of prison rights groups now and often serves as a guest speaker. "You find these kids on the corner dealing drugs. If I offer them a job, $25,000 a year, they'd walk away from that in a minute," Culhane said. "[College] would give them something of a self-esteem and an ability to navigate out here, if nothing else. Job creation is essential." When Culhane took classes in prison, the concept wasn't entirely foreign. President Bill Clinton signed a law in the mid-90s that cut college scholarships and funding in prisons, which essentially ended the idea across the country, but Culhane calls that an "awful mistake." "It was something that worked. People came out after getting a two-year degree or a four-year degree and the higher the degree, the less the chance of them ever going back," Culhane said. http://www.wgrz.com/story/news/crime/2014/02/16/plan-to-help-prisoners-get-degrees/5534055/

What a brilliant plan by our Governor. Hold up a convenient store and get your MBA and free room and board....all while common core is overwhelming teachers and students and we keep raising the price on state run schools for people who are actually good citizens! It is a good hting i do Uhaul Business on the side because it will be easy to get the moving truck out of NYS!

@jboyst, why did i picture you as a 60 year old farmer? And good work with the lady friend there! Stuck approves.

$90? Those chicks wear more than $90 of makeup on gameday!

if the 49rs' were run like the bills..they would take him in the 1st and really regionalize their team in the GLBT region!

You can hate the sin but love the sinner! I think that is pretty well universal in all religions. ANd it isn't like religious people want people who cheat on taxes stoned in the streets now a days either! Jesus would have loved anyone proclaiming to be gay, just like he loved Judas who he knew would betray him. Would he have proclaimed that he was the only true way to heaven and they should try to live a clean life, sure, but when God let Eve eat of the apple he let us have free will! The choices we make are up to each of us. There may be no specific reference to homosexuality in the new testament, but Paul makes alot of references to the church about Man and Wife, no mention of man and man! So my religious belief is it is the act is wrong. DO i know gay people..sure do, but i am not judging them, I will leave that up to a higher power

It has been crappy snow too...I have been trying to build a snow man with the kids all winter but it just isn't the packing snow in WNY or its -20 with the wind and pointless to even attempt it

what is we burned them for fuel and had cheaper electric and energy..making it somewhat a "green" process?

I said TE just because we have shown we can get good WR's in rounds 3-5 with the current regime. With the likes of WIlfork and Richardson in our division and Defensive minds like Rex and Belicheat, a sure handed TE is a valuable weapon to keep the chains moving, and we have lacked one since Metzelars!

lets hope the Bills 2013 class was our begining! This draft should show what sort of model we are going after. I think in years past we simply went BPA at any position, IE Spiller, this year should show we take the player that fits us!

holy crap..Florida is full of win! Shoots self in face and lives, then gets told not to jerk it in front of his window and burns it down! The ozone is thin down there apparently.

no upper deckers? Communism blows!

I Have never seen a WR coach so analyzed before. I gurantee by september we can't even recall his name!

Newbie here, but still a touching thread. So Sorry to hear. My wife lost her mom to lung cancer 2 years ago, she lasted about 9 months before pneumonia got to her. It is a tough struggle and after two years I don't think it has hit my wife yet. I just had a gentleman come into my work who lost his wife over the summer to cancer. He just sold the house because it was too big and empty and too many memories. Said the kids had a hard time ocming home without Mom too. SO he bought a different house and buying a lot of new things to fill it without the attatchment to the memories. Everyone has to deal with it differently, I hope you find what brings you peace!

understood and can understand the concern, can see how i offended ya. being a friend.

Hope not..i don't want to see vacation pics and what people order at restaurants!

Come on scalding hot water and frigid cold air and the influenza virus!!!!!

that is like saying well the wolf is hungry, maybe i should give him my first born!

the goo goo dolls would kill it when Buffalo gets one!

i was thinking this meant like a knitted sweater or some oragami!

Pics or didn't happen! JK

i still think they will be non existant by 2015...so that was probably their last breath!

Go regional...try to find someone tied to the region. This one the Boss or Bon Jovi would have been perfect! but it is such a tight rope to walk as far as pleasing everyone! Just because the event can be cheesy I would hate to see pearl jam or the foo's do the gig... I Could see Maroon 5 doing one soon, or maybe Carrie Underwood.