Health

Catherine Tumber is a big believer that small cities matter.

"Cities like Rochester and Syracuse have been gradually dropped out of the urban conversation," Tumber says. "I wrote this book to address that oversight."

Tumber's new book, Small, Gritty, and Green: The Promise of America's Smaller Industrial Cities in a Low-Carbon World, documents examples of small- and medium-sized cities charging toward a sustainable future.

Tumber, who grew up outside Syracuse and received her PhD from the University of Rochester in 1992, is now returning to the Finger Lakes to talk about her findings.

“These logs really produced a lot for us,” says Olga Tzogas, pointing to a decaying stump at an “undisclosed location” in Webster, N.Y.

It’s one of six or seven key spots where Tzogas and her crew of self-described “mushroom freaks” forage for gourmet fungi.

“In the fall, this area is just covered with mushrooms - black trumpets, chanterelles,” Tzogas says, pointing to a stand of fallen trees.

“It’s super wonderful.”

New York has the highest tobacco taxes in the country, inhaling more than $1 billion a year. That’s why cigarettes cost $11 a pack.

The lion’s share of that money goes into the state’s general fund. According to a coalition of anti-smoking advocates, including the Cancer Society and American Heart Association, only four percent of smoking tax proceeds are spent on the state’s Tobacco Control Program. The fund aims to educate New Yorkers about the health risks associated with smoking or chewing.

Now, anti-smoking advocates are urging the Cuomo administration to reconsider a proposed $5 million cut to the program.

That follows the Thursday release of a 900-page report from U.S. Surgeon General that shows that youth smoking rates aren’t declining as much as they have in the past.

Kodak wants to cut health care benefits for retirees over the age of 65.

The company filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court [PDF] Monday. Kodak lawyers are asking to terminate medical benefits for Medicare-eligible retirees.

If the court approves the motion, Kodak workers over the age of 65 who retired on or after October 1, 1991 could lose their health coverage as soon as May 1.

We asked our friends on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere what they love about upstate New York, for a special upstate Valentine.  

Turns out, you love mountains and lakes, snow and sun, orange and blue, and a certain grocery store chain.  

Now, without further ado: