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Schumer: Feds work to bring Greek yogurt to school

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Sen. Charles Schumer says federal officials are taking steps to make Greek yogurt more available for school lunches - a move that could mean more business for upstate producers and dairy farmers.

Schumer last summer asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to modify the federal school lunch program to incorporate Greek yogurt as a high-protein meat alternative.  USDA officials told Schumer this week that they are starting a pilot program that could lead to more Greek yogurt in schools as early as April.
 
The Greek yogurt business has been booming nationwide. Two of the largest Greek yogurt producers, Chobani and Fage, have production facilities in the Capital Region and buy tons of milk from dairy farmers in the region.
 
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
 

NY to auction used state office furniture

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - If you've had your eye on an old conference table, chairs or desk you once saw in a state office, this could be your big opportunity. New York's Office of General Services is planning to auction surplus office furniture on Monday morning in Albany.

Registration and a preview are scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. at the Harriman State Office Campus, but you can see some items in online photographs at www.nysstore.com.

The 328 lots include 18 vertical five-drawer legal metal file cabinets to a single wooden credenza.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Two die in north country house fire

INDIAN LAKE - Two people were killed in a house fire Wednesday at a home on Pratt Road.

NewsChannel 13’s media partners at the Post Star report a couple who lived in the home is believed dead.

The home collapsed amid heavy fire.

No word yet on a cause.

Fulton County man to spend 60 years for making child porn video

DOLGEVILLE - A Fulton County man will spend the next 60 years behind bars for making a child porn video with young Capital Region girls.

Nathan Brown of Dolgeville admitted he recorded the girls on a smartphone between 2010 and 2011.

The girls were between the ages of 8 and 11 years old.

The 32-year-old Brown says he also saved thousands of child porn photos and videos off the internet.

As part of his sentence handed down Tuesday, Brown will also have to register as a sex offender.

Proponents of minimum wage increase march on the Capitol

ALBANY - Supporters of the minimum wage increase in New York State rallied at the Capitol Tuesday morning.

Demonstrators say the state's current minimum wage of $7.25 is "decades out of date."

They want it raisedto $8.75.

They are also delivering a petition with 30,000 signatures to senate leaders.

Cuomo proposes drivers license suspension for tax delinquency

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants New York to be able to suspend driver's licenses for people who owe more than $10,000 in taxes.
    
Cuomo in his budget proposal this week asked for suspension power in tax delinquency cases once administrative and judicial reviews are exhausted.
    
Administration officials say there are about 9,000 New York taxpayers who owe more than $10,000, and they estimate the law could prompt 40 percent of them to settle. The law is expected to boost tax receipts by $26 million in its first year, though annual revenue is expected to drop after the initial bump.
    
The license suspension could be lifted once there's an agreement to start paying back taxes. The tax delinquents could be granted a restricted license for work and school.

President: treat gays equally

ALBANY - In his inaugural address Monday, President Obama mentioned something that had never been uttered before by any of his 43 predecessors.

"Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law," he asserted during his speech outside the U.S. Capitol, "If we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."

Those words thrilled members of the LGBT community across American, including many in the Capital Region. Even though it took the president until his second inaugural address, when it's safer politically to say it, Libby Post of Albany says it creates immeasurable enthusiasm and momentum for the cause of human rights.