Issues and Advocacy, Sally Robinson, VP for Issues and Advocacy, sally.s.robinson@gmail.com, and Erica Smitka, LWVNYS Deputy Director, Erica@lwvny.org We are nearing the end of session and have only four legislative days left before it’s over on June 2nd! Our primary focus over this next week, will be voting rights initiatives. If we are able to...Continue Reading

The American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 156 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services in 2020. Of the 273 books that were targeted, here are the most challenged, along with the reasons cited for censoring the books: George by Alex Gino Challenged, banned, and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, conflicting with...Continue Reading

Interesting stats about women in the world today. Today, 71% of moms with kids under 18 work. In 1975, fewer than 47% did. Once, women working outside of the home was frowned upon and most who did worked as maids, seamstresses, took in laundry or worked in a traditionally female field. Today, more women not...Continue Reading

You don’t need to be a farmer to engage in regenerative techniques. Our lawns also have tremendous capacity to store carbon, and how we care for them can either interfere with that capacity or enhance it. Here are some ways to use this year’s growing season to help flatten the curve of the climate crisis:...Continue Reading

Letter sent by the LWV of NYS to members of the NYS Senate and Assembly Subject: Establishes a moratorium on cryptocurrency mining operations that use proof-of-work authentication methods to validate blockchain transactions. The League of Women Voters of New York State strongly supports A.7389C/S.6486C. For decades the League of Women Voters has held positions urging...Continue Reading

As gas prices continue to increase, we should be considering all options at our disposal to save money at the pump. Gas prices are expected to go as high as $5/gallon, especially with a ban on Russian oil imports. Cutting down on speed is one of the quickest ways to increase fuel economy, which is...Continue Reading

Local League News LWV of the Rochester Metro Area  The Rochester Metro Area League recently collaborated with several community groups to host a discussion of the NYS parole system. Participants viewed a short film, “The Interview”, which shows what coming up for parole is like and how it changed during the era of mass incarceration....Continue Reading

Youth Committee, Crystal Joseph (campus@lwvnyc.org) and Nick Doran (ndoran33@gmail.com), Co-Chairs Thank you for a fantastic month of feedback, best practices and resources shared through our state-wide regional training sessions. It made Nick and me extremely proud to work alongside each of our local leagues and continue to inspire our youth. All your hard work will allow other...Continue Reading

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force, Regina Tillman (rmt371@live.com) and Crystal Joseph (campus@lwvnyc.org), Co-Chairs It was gratifying to get the messages of how folks had looked forward to the DEI workshop that had been scheduled with new author, Kimberlee Yolanda Williams and best-selling author, Debby Irving, for April 21st. Unforeseen circumstances required that the workshop...Continue Reading

Criminal Justice Committee, Vivione Marshall (vivionemarshall@gmail.com) and Richard Rifkin (richardrifkin54@gmail.com), Co-Chairs During the recent budget negotiations, reform of certain parts of our criminal justice system became a central piece of the discussions between the governor and the legislative leaders. There were significant differences with regard to this subject, but in the end a compromise was...Continue Reading