CANTON — There are two sides to every story.

That was the final message a jury of nine women and three men heard just before 1 p.m. Tuesday in St. Lawrence County Courthouse at the close of opening statements in the rape trial of former SUNY Potsdam student Storm N. Rivera.

That message was delivered in a less-than- eight-minute opening to the jurors by Rivera’s attorney, Edward F. Narrow, who followed a more than hour-long opening statement by Chief Assistant District Attorney Jason M. Marx.

Mr. Marx, in an opening that was delivered with measured breaths and long pauses between statements, began by telling the jury that Rivera was a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and had fostered a relationship of trust with the alleged victim, a classmate and friend, and when the opportunity presented itself, “weaponized those intentions.”

Rivera, 22, New York City, is charged with felony first-degree rape and misdemeanor second-degree unlawful imprisonment.

He is accused of having engaged in sexual intercourse with a woman, by force and without consent, on Nov. 17, 2017 in the village of Potsdam.

He is also accused of restricting the alleged victim’s movements without her consent during the act by holding her down, putting his hand around her neck and locking the door to the room he is alleged to have raped her in, leading to the unlawful imprisonment charge.

In the felony complaint following his arrest, Potsdam police charged that the crime took place at the SUNY Potsdam Delta Kappa Theta fraternity house at 53 Elm St., Potsdam, where Rivera was a member.

During his opening statements, Mr. Marx recounted the entirety of the events as they are alleged to have unfolded. He said Rivera and the alleged victim were with several of her sorority sisters and one of his fraternity brothers on the second floor of the frat house in the “smoke room” where they were smoking marijuana together.

Mr. Marx said when the women got up to use the bathroom, Rivera followed the alleged victim down the hall and pushed her into what he said was called the “panty room,” locked her inside and, despite her pleas for him to stop, he placed his hand around her throat and told her to shut up in an unrecognizable voice that Mr. Marx described as a “scary stranger.”

Rivera then bent her over a couch, Mr. Marx said, and then forcibly raped her.

When she took the stand in the afternoon, the alleged victim, a soft-spoken 22-year-old Bronx woman, wept as she answered questions about that night, first asked by Mr. Marx.

The light from the courtroom chandeliers reflected off of tears that soaked her cheeks, her words often unintelligible through her sobbing.

She told the court that she had three drinks made up of vodka and Hawaiian Punch during the party, which defense attorney Peter A. Dumas, Malone, said was inconsistent with her testimony to a grand jury, where she said she had three shots prior to the party and an additional beer while at the party.

She said she considered Rivera a friend over the several years they knew each other and that he was someone she trusted, so that she didn’t realize she was in any danger until he was holding her down and raping her.

She said she didn’t scream because she couldn’t. “It was like I was numb,” she said. “It was like I wasn’t there. I didn’t have my voice.”

But Mr. Dumas pointed to her statement to the grand jury in which she said there “wasn’t anything personal” in the interactions she had with Rivera over the more than two years they knew each other and that it was always a “hi and bye” exchange, despite her testimony Tuesday that he was a trusted friend.

Echoing Mr. Marx in his opening, the woman said Rivera stopped raping her only when her friend was in the hall, calling her name and trying to get into the locked room, at which time he is accused of having put her in a closet, again demanding that she shut up, and rejoined the party.

She said she left the room once he was clear and met in the hallway with her roommate, who took her into the bathroom.But Mr. Dumas, like Mr. Narrow in his opening remarks, said her behavior was out of the ordinary. He said that instead of her reporting the act to the police or going to a hospital for a rape kit, she was taken back to her sorority house, where she was put in a shower. She said she was up all night and, on the morning of Nov. 18, 2017, she went to breakfast with two friends, ignoring texts from her boyfriend of four years, until he went to her house, asking her about the night before.

She said he was angry with her and had told her he heard that she had slept with Rivera. She said he demanded a confrontation with him and the two of them, with two of her friends, went to Rivera’s house and asked him what happened. Rivera said it was all a misunderstanding and that the act was consensual, that he had used a condom and that it was then that her relationship with her boyfriend ended, because he believed Rivera, she said.

It was at that point, she told Mr. Dumas, that she went for a rape kit. She testified that she collected her underwear and skirt which she wore to the party the night before and took them to the hospital for DNA testing. She added that she declined the opportunity to make a statement to police because of the duration of time she spent in the hospital and that she had followed up on Nov. 19 with Potsdam Police Lt. Michael Ames. She then returned for Thanksgiving break to the Bronx, where she made another statement to police.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Narrow told the jurors that they would hear Rivera testify on his own behalf and they would hear his side of the story.

“This is not a complicated case,” Mr. Narrow said. “There are no eyewitnesses. You are going to have to decide who you believe and if you don’t believe either, the people failed to prove their case.”

The trial is scheduled to continue at 9 a.m. today with the continued testimony of the alleged victim. Forensic evidence and police testimony are also expected.

OGDENSBURG — A project involving Clarkson University professors, their students and Ogdensburg officials has resulted in an archive of digital information that can now be used by the city to further efforts to become a more bicycle and pedestrian friendly community.

In 2015, Ogdensburg’s Complete Streets Program plan was lauded nationally as the best in the nation.

Adopted a year earlier, the Ogdensburg plan explained the municipality’s vision for developing well-thought-out street and sidewalk systems that promote walking, biking and other physical activities.

The National Complete Streets Coalition later notified city officials that the initiative constituted “the best Complete Streets policy of its kind in the nation.”

At a national level, the so-called Complete Streets program was created to promote the development of policies and practices that ensure streets are safe for people of all ages and abilities and strive to balance transportation needs with local land uses, according to officials.

In Ogdensburg, Planning and Development Director Andrea L. Smith and members of City Council received a report from Clarkson University civil and environmental engineering professor Erik C. Backus, along with the college’s geographic information system instructor William Olsen and civil engineering student Samuel Skufca.

Together the trio have overseen a project that began with a $10,000 grant through the St. Lawrence County Health Initiative, and then expanded from there.

The digital engineering project involved completing an inventory of existing pedestrian facilities near the downtown core of the city including sidewalks, curb ramps, crosswalks and pedestrian signs.

During the process two students collected data by walking during the summer of 2018 and then helped produce a digitized map of information that was given to both the city and the Development Authority of the North Country.

Over 35 miles of sidewalk were surveyed as well as 93 crosswalks, 25 pedestrian signals and 889 curb ramps, according to officials. A total of 198 intersection photos were also produced.

Ms. Smith said the information is invaluable for the municipality to help seek future grant money, and a clear example of the unique and important resource that area colleges and universities provide for the north country.

“In an environment where budgets are tight, collaborating with students and professors from local universities has been an innovative opportunity to reduce costs without jeopardizing core services,” Ms. Smith said. “From an academic perspective, it enables students to utilize the skills they are learning in the classroom in real life situations that better prepare them for post-collegiate endeavors.”

Ms. Smith said that this latest project is not the city’s first partnership with Clarkson University students and faculty, or other local college assets.

She said that prior to this Complete Streets inventory, the Ogdensburg Planning Department worked with Clarkson students to assess the structural integrity of an abandoned railroad bridge over the Oswegatchie River and to develop concepts for creating a new walking loop as part of the municipality’s the Maple City Trail.

In fact, she said that partnership led to a successful grant application through the New York State Department of Transportation for funding to pay for the initiative.

“Even before these recent collaborations, the city worked with St. Lawrence University students developing innovative concepts for the reuse of the former Diamond National site back in 2011,” Ms. Smith said.

Ogdensburg’s most recent work with the municipality involved the Health Initiative of New York and used grant money gleaned from two rounds of funding, according to Ms. Smith. She said the first round of funding was related to a proposed a bike lane project in the amount of $6,558. Additionally, state Health Initiative officials contributed $10,000 to the effort related directly to Clarkson university’s involvement for a total project cost of $16,588.

The end product, according to Ms. Smith, is a wealth of digitized data that she and other Ogdensburg staff can use for capital and strategic planning, as well as grant applications.

“The information collected categorizes all of the sidewalks within the core of the city as excellent, good, fair, poor, need replacement,” Ms. Smith said. “The information generated through this partnership with Clarkson is already being utilized. This spring we will be improving sidewalks and pedestrian infrastructure in the vicinity of the Marina District and Maple City Trail.”

The gist of it

n WHAT: Clarkson helps Ogdensburg survey street needs

n WHY: To help the city become more pedestrian and bike friendly

n COST: Paid for with money from the Health Initiative of New York

State Senate Deputy Minority Leader Joseph A. Griffo, R-Rome, opposed proposed cuts to the Aid to Municipalities funding in Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s executive budget.

Gov. Cuomo’s proposal would cut Aid and Incentives for Municipalities funding by 8 percent, from $714.7 million in 2019 to $655.5 million in 2020. The cuts are only to municipalities where AIM aid is less than 2 percent of the total 2017 expenditures.

“As a former mayor, I understand and have seen the impact that AIM funding can have on municipalities and am disappointed that the Governor has proposed these devastating cuts that so many communities within my district rely on in order to provide essential and needed services to residents,” Sen. Griffo wrote in a statement.

The proposed legislation has passed the State Senate but not the Assembly.

U.S. Rep. Elise M. Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, announced Monday that Michael Ostrander will serve as her district director, effective immediately.

Mr. Ostrander previously served as special assistant to the secretary of the New York State Senate and deputy director of community affairs. He began working in state government under Republican Gov. George Pataki.

“I am excited to announce that Michael Ostrander will be joining my team as District Director,” Ms. Stefanik was quoted as saying in the release. “His expertise in our state, along with his unique skill-set and work ethic, will be pivotal in ensuring we set the standard for strong constituent services and district outreach. He will be an incredible asset to our team.”

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that tractor trailers and commercial buses will be banned from certain highways in New York state, including portions of Interstate 81, due to bad weather.

Beginning at noon today, tractor trailers and commercial buses will be banned on Interstate 81 from the Canadian border to State Route 104. The bans will last for the duration of the storm, expected to last until 7 a.m. on Friday.

Jefferson, Lewis and Oswego counties are expected to see heavy lake effect snow. Dangerously cold wind chills are expected. Snow accumulation of 3 to 4 feet could be seen in the most persistent lake snows with winds gusting as high as 35 mph. Wind chills as low as 30 below zero are expected.

Franklin and St. Lawrence counties are not expected to see as much snow; they are under a hazardous weather outlook through this evening and are not expected to see more than 2 inches of snow.

Travel will be difficult across the state as hazardous weather conditions threaten to impact commutes. Blowing snow and freezing temperatures will result in near-blizzard conditions.

Once again running ahead of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, the New York State Senate and Assembly passed a new package of six gun control bills on Tuesday, ranging from tweaks to current laws to the controversial Red Flag law.

At a news conference on Tuesday morning, Gov. Cuomo said the changes are part of the same push as the SAFE Act, New York’s strict gun control law passed in 2013 after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

“Obviously we were right, sometimes history irrefutably bears out your actions,” Gov. Cuomo said. “It’s done nothing but good.”

Gov. Cuomo reiterated his support for the Red Flag law, which allows for extreme risk orders of protection from a judge to temporarily remove firearms from someone deemed a threat to themselves or others. He also supported a move to further ban bump stocks, an accessory that increases the fire rate of semiautomatic weapons, and to extend waiting periods on background checks.

“This is the next step in the ongoing crusade, and it will be ongoing,” he said.

The Red Flag law, which was the last to be considered, brought a great deal of debate in the Senate, which had previously rejected the proposal while under Republican control. Many Democratic senators rose to support the proposal, but some Republicans vehemently opposed the measure.

“If you go home to your constituents after this package of bills and tell them that they are safer, you are lying, in my opinion,” said Sen. Andrew J. Lanza, R-Staten Island.

The sponsor of the Red Flag law, Sen. Brian P. Kavanagh, D-Manhattan, said the bill filled a current gap in the law and pointed to Florida after the Parkland shooting, where the Republican governor signed an extreme risk protection law.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins spoke in favor of the law, tying it, like Gov. Cuomo, to the SAFE Act of six years prior.

“Here we are, it’s been six years to the month since we’ve done any, any gun laws in this state, and there have been thousands and thousands of our fellow citizens who have been dying,” she said. “And what we have offered in this state have been thoughts and prayers.”

The bill passed 42-21 in the Senate, with north country Sens. Joseph A. Griffo, Patricia A. Ritchie and Sen. Elizabeth O’Connor “Betty” Little all voting no.

The other bills in the Senate extended the background check provision for purchasing a firearm to up to 30 days — at the moment, if background checks are not returned in three days the person is automatically allowed to purchase the firearm.

“This is frankly the most common sense of common sense proposals; I’m very surprised to see so many hands go up across the aisle in the negative,” said the sponsor, Democratic Sen. Michael Gianaris.

Other provisions further banned bump stocks, authorized a statewide gun buy-back program, and extended required mental health checks to include databases outside the state, if the person is a resident of New York but lives outside the state. All of them passed the Senate, the last almost unanimously — 62-1.

The other provision that inspired the most debate was a ban on non-law enforcement officials possessing firearms in schools, mainly designed to stop school districts from authorizing teachers to carry weapons.

The State Assembly passed all six bills on Tuesday as well, with Speaker Carl Heastie holding a news conference of his own on Tuesday morning.

“The majority of you have mentioned that you respect the Second Amendment, I personally don’t agree with it but I respect it,” Mr. Heastie said. “It is the law of the land and we need to make sure the people who do have guns have them safely, in a responsible way.”

Mr. Heastie pointed to the 772 people in New York who died from gun violence in 2017.

“Today we say no more,” he said. “Today we will pass a comprehensive set of legislation to prevent gun violence in New York.”

Republican legislators, predictably, opposed the majority of the laws proposed.

“Many of these measures represent the lack of understanding downstate lawmakers have of our traditions, pastimes and way of life in Upstate and northern New York” Sen. Ritchie wrote on Facebook. “Like the SAFE Act — which I opposed six years ago — many of the measures approved today do little to protect public safety and instead, further deteriorate the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding New Yorkers.”

Assemblyman Mark C. Walczyk, R-Watertown, circulated a petition earlier in the week to garner support for protecting gun rights. Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush, R-Black River, sent out a statement after the votes.

“Today, the speaker of the Assembly said he doesn’t agree with the Second Amendment,” he wrote. “Republicans don’t believe you can pick and choose which parts of the constitution you like.”

Senate Republicans put forward an amendment on Tuesday to increase the number of armed school resource officers, school security resources and mental health professionals in school; it was quickly shot down.

“I don’t know of a single elected official who isn’t in favor of doing everything possible to protect the lives of all of New York’s schoolchildren,” wrote Senate Minority Leader John J. Flanagan in a statement. “That’s why it’s difficult to imagine that our Conference’s common-sense Safe Schools amendment was rejected along partisan lines. Many of the bills being rushed through the Legislature today do nothing to address the serious, underlying causes of school violence or keep our students safe.”

DEXTER — During the second of three town hall meetings about the possible grade-centered reconfiguration of General Brown Central School District, parents and community members gathered Tuesday night to voice their concerns with the proposal.

A letter sent to parents and guardians of children in the General Brown Central School District on Jan. 10 outlined a proposal to reconfigure Brownville-Glen Park and Dexter elementary schools. The reason for this, the letter stated, is there have been three issues that interrupt educational programming. Specifically, the issues are “unbalanced classroom sizes between buildings, loss of instructional time for students displaced due to unbalanced enrollments and few opportunities for grade-level collaboration among teachers.”

If the district’s Board of Education approves the plan, Dexter Elementary School would serve all students in preschool to grade two, and Brownville-Glen Park Elementary School would serve all students in grades three to six, regardless of where students live in the district.

“This year, one classroom started with 26 students in the class in Brownville, while in Dexter the same grade had 17,” said Superintendent Barbara J. Case, who led the meeting. “That disparity causes challenges in individual needs.”

To fix this, all of the same-grade students would be pooled into one class and then divided by five teachers. Each school will have five sections of a grade, besides pre-school. Superintendent Case said higher grades may have their students see all five teachers for certain subjects, while younger grades will have only one teacher.

Looking at this year’s enrollment, Superintendent Case said about 150 students would be bussed from Dexter Elementary School to Brownville-Glen Park Elementary School, and about 200 students would be bussed from Brownville-Glen Park Elementary School to Dexter Elementary School.

“The goal isn’t to take anything away, but rather to have students be able to capitalize on this opportunity,” Superintendent Case said.

Parents’ concerns during the meeting Tuesday were primarily over transportation.

The proposed transportation plan now is to have students in the Dexter School District in grades three to six, who under this plan would attend Brownville-Glen Park Elementary School, would either be picked up by bus or dropped off by a parent at Dexter Elementary and then would take a bus to Brownville-Glen Park. The students in the Brownville-Glen Park School District in preschool to second grade would do the opposite.

Superintendent Case said she recognizes the transportation plan is not perfect at the moment. She said because the reconfiguration plan is not officially approved yet by the district’s Board of Education, the district hasn’t spent a great deal of time on each aspect. If the plan is approved, more thought will be put into transportation and other aspects, according to Superintendent Case.

“We know the current plan will cause frustration,” Superintendent Case said.

Even though it’s not definitive, many parents were still not pleased. Many said the transportation portion of the plan would be inconvenient for them.

Jennifer L. Bates, Dexter, said she’s in favor of having grade-centered buildings in the district,

“I am a little disappointed the transportation part wasn’t looked at in more detail because to me that is a huge part of this,” Ms. Bates said. “There’s just huge anxiety around it.”

Other parents also couldn’t understand why another bus couldn’t be added, rather than having students brought to two schools, thus adding more confusion.

Superintendent Case said this was not feasible because not only would a new bus cost about $100,000, but there is a bus driver shortage in the area.

Parents also were concerned over whether their child walks to school, or if they were involved in the School-Aged Child Care program.

Superintendent Case said if a child walks to school, he or she will be met by a school aide at their neighborhood school and then walked to the appropriate bus to take them to the other school. Similarly, children in the School-Aged Child Care program would continue that program at their neighborhood school in the morning before school, as normal, and then be walked to the bus to be brought to their new school.

If this proposal is approved, Superintendent Case agreed to hold another town-hall or grade-by-grade meeting to further discuss transportation options.

The last town-hall meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Feb. 4 in the Junior-Senior High School auditorium. The board will review the information from all three meetings during its Feb. 11 meeting. After review of the feedback, along with recommendations from the Strategic Action Plan Committee, a final decision will be made on Feb. 25 during a special board meeting. The plan will then be implemented for the 2019-2020 academic year.

The recent results of a four-year clinical trial provided evidence that what is good for the heart is good for the brain, with a clear indicator that lowering blood pressure is a promising path to dementia prevention.

The Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of the SPRINT MIND study, “Effects of Intensive versus Standard Blood Pressure Control on Probable Dementia.” The study showed the strongest evidence to date about reducing the risk of dementia and mild cognitive impairment — a noticeable and measurable decline in cognitive abilities, which can progress to dementia.

The randomized clinical trial compared two strategies for managing high blood pressure in over 9,000 cognitively healthy older adults: an aggressive strategy versus a standard care strategy. The intensive strategy used a systolic blood pressure goal — the top number of one’s blood pressure reading — of less than 120 mm Hg (a scientific abbreviation for the measurement standard, in millimeters of mercury.) The standard care strategy used a goal of less than 140 mm Hg.

Catherine J. James, CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Central New York chapter, said there was a 17 percent reduction in probable dementia or mild cognitive impairment when the participants had their blood pressure goal be less than 120 mm Hg.

“This is very exciting information because it’s also showing us lifestyle changes that we can implement,” Ms. James said.

The study looked at nutritional counseling, exercise and, in some cases, medication to reduce the blood pressure rate to the 120 mm Hg goal. With 300,000 New Yorkers diagnosed each year with Alzheimer’s disease, the study’s findings could impact many lives.

However, the study’s outcome on reducing the risk of dementia was not definitive. The estimated reduction in risk for dementia and mild cognitive impairment was not statistically significant, though there was a positive trend. According to researchers of the study, the duration of the study was not long enough to definitively know if blood pressure rates are related to dementia.

The Alzheimer’s Association, in response, has provided seed funding from each of its chapters totalling $800,000 for SPRINT MIND 2.0, an extension of the SPRINT MIND study that will re-engage the original trial’s participants. The extension adds two years of follow-up and assessment to allow for a more definitive statement on reducing dementia risk. Also, the extension will help determine if these lifestyle changes would be helpful to those already diagnosed with dementia.

With this financial commitment, SPRINT MIND 2.0 to begin in early 2019, with discussions with other potential funders ongoing.

Ms. James said if the results are definitive on reducing dementia risk, the next step will be to educate the public, as well as medical professionals, on these findings.

“One of our messages is the importance of early detection,” Ms. James said. “This is something that needs to be brought into the general public, even those who may say they don’t have a family history with Alzheimer’s.”

Some other studies focused on prevention of dementia have occurred, Ms. James said, but none had significant results like this one. Another study that is currently running, the U.S. Pointer’s Study, has similarities to this study with a focus on brain health and lifestyle choices. The results of this study could potentially be used in tandem with the SPRINT MIND study in dementia prevention, Ms. James said.

For anyone interested in the clinical trials, research or resources for dementia, Ms. James said to visit the Alzheimer’s Association website at alz.org. For immediate assistance or additional information, contact the 24-hour dementia hotline at 1-800-272-3900.

WATERTOWN — The company that replaced Convergys last year, Concentrix, could lay off up to 115 employees at its Watertown office by April 30.

Brooke Beiting, senior specialist of communications for Concentrix, said a service the company provides to one of its clients out of the Watertown office will end April 30, meaning the 115 workers involved will have no service to provide. Ms. Beiting declined to describe the service or name the client, but said it works in the communications industry.

The number of services, or programs, Concentrix provides at its Watertown location will decrease from four to three, but Ms. Beiting said the number of clients will not change.

“This is due to a change in business requirements for the program supported out there,” she said.

Affected workers will have the opportunity to apply for work with other services at the Watertown location, relocate to other offices or work remotely.

Ms. Beiting said Concentrix also hopes to prevent layoffs by obtaining agreements with either more clients or to provide more services to existing clients.

“Whatever impacted employees are left after April 30 will be provided outplacement services,” she said. “We remain committed to our Watertown operation.”

The company notified the Jefferson County Department of Employment & Training at the WorkPlace with a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice Tuesday.

“We have a rapid response team that will be making an appointment to go into the company to help with questions or prepare resumes,” said Workplace Director Cheryl A. Mayforth, “and we’ll be working with them on any job leads or anything we can do to help with the adjustment.”

Concentrix’s parent company, Synnex Corp., Fremont, Calif., purchased Convergys, Cincinnati, in October for $2.2 billion, an acquisition that included 40 locations and about 115,000 workers.

The Watertown office employs about 600 workers, meaning its overall staff could decrease to less than 500 by the end of April.

CLAYTON — Environmental advocacy group Save the River will host its 30th annual Winter Environmental Conference Saturday at the 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel.

Scholars, policy makers and organization leaders participate in the conference every year and share knowledge of varying topics pertaining to the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. The nonprofit invited six speakers to discuss wildlife, water quality and health issues at the event this year.

“I’m very excited about it. I think all of us are very excited about it,” said John M. Peach, executive director of the group.

Peter Annin, author of “The Great Lakes Water Wars,” will return this year to talk about the history and future of water diversion management in the Great Lakes. Attendees can also meet the author and have him sign copies of his book at the conference.

“Peter will be available to sign books and Save the River will have books available there,” Mr. Peach said.

Other presenters include Sherri A. “Sam” Mason of SUNY Fredonia, who will discuss plastic pollution, John Casselmann of Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, who will talk about American eels, and Chad Lord of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, who will discuss invasive Asian Carp. Producer and director Elaine Tack will share her documentary “It’s Hard to be a Tern,” and professor Michael Twiss and post doctoral student Evie Brahmstedt, both of Clarkson University, will discuss Ms. Brahmstedt’s research on mercury in wetlands.

The conference will conclude with a presentation from Save the River and All in the Same Boat, a group spearheading a grassroots effort to promote sustainable living, about their efforts to eliminate the need for plastic bags and other plastic disposables in the Thousand Islands.

“I think the most obvious (new) thing to anyone who has been to our conferences over the last few years is there will actually be board interaction with the audience and participants,” said Jeffrey T. Garnsey, president of the Save the River’s board of directors.

Anyone interested in attending the event, which costs $50 per person, can contact the environmental nonprofit’s office at 315-686-2010. The group will also livestream the event and the link to it will become available on its social media. A $25 donation is requested for the livestream service.

The north country saw the second highest regional growth in sales tax revenue for 2018 at 5.9 percent, trailing only the southern tier, according to a new report from the Office of the Comptroller.

“Local sales tax collections grew at a faster pace in 2018 than in recent years, boosting local revenues,” Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a news release. “Despite the good news, a slowdown in collection growth in the fourth quarter shows that sales tax revenue can be unpredictable. Local officials should keep a watchful eye on consumer spending and this revenue source and be prepared to react accordingly.”

Local officials have acknowledged this volatility already. Jefferson County Legislature Finance and Rules Chairman Michael A. Montigelli shared an email with year end sales tax data earlier this month and noted the fourth quarter decline.

“Though the fourth quarter collections were not stellar, they were 0.8% ahead of 2017,” he wrote. “The solid collections in the second and third quarters allowed the county to end 2018 in the black by $2.3 million.”

According to the Comptroller report, local sales tax collected $17.5 billion last year, a 5.3 percent increase, with only the Finger Lakes region seeing a decline.

Often times increases in sales tax are aligned with gasoline sales, with higher gas prices resulting in more sales tax collected. While gas prices rose some in 2018, less than they had the year before, sales tax collection on gas actually increased more.

Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties all saw increases a bit under the north country average. Jefferson grew 4.76 percent, Lewis by 5.05 and St. Lawrence by 4.17 percent.

Actual sales tax collected per capita varied fairly widely, with Jefferson County in the $600 to $700 per capita range, Lewis in the under $500 per capita range and St. Lawrence County in the $500 to $600 range.

Congress begins a new round of formal talks on border security with the same political obstacles separating both parties and little more than two weeks to reach a deal avoiding another partial government shutdown.

Ahead of the start of negotiations on Wednesday, allies of President Donald Trump are already suggesting additional provisions -- such as a debt limit increase -- that have tangled up discussions in the past.

“I’m for whatever works,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday, so long as it “prevents a level of dysfunction we’ve seen on full display here the last month, and also doesn’t bring about a view on the president’s part that he needs to declare a national emergency. To predict going in exactly what that is is impossible.”

Success will depend on putting aside political considerations, say some lawmakers on the bipartisan, 17-member conference committee that is scheduled to meet in the afternoon.

Trump views a wall on the Mexican border as so central to his presidency that he forced a five-week partial shutdown to try to achieve it, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and fellow Democrats relished seeing Republicans take heat for the resulting chaos.

Current funding for about one-fourth of the government ends after Feb. 15.

The committee must decide whether to seek a narrow deal -- reconciling Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion in border wall funds with Democratic proposals for more border agents and technology -- or go for a larger agreement including a debt-limit increase, budget caps for next year and changes in immigration law.

Lawmakers are also debating whether to prevent future shutdowns by automatically extending government funds whenever a spending agreement cannot be found.

“Whether we’re going to have a narrow scope or a broad scope, you can see the merits of both,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala.

While Wednesday’s public meeting will feature opening statements and other formalities, Shelby said he expects real negotiations to happen at a closed-door meeting set for Thursday.

Trump has been pessimistic, saying a deal is unlikely and that he may declare a national emergency to make an end-run around Congress to build the wall he promised supporters in the 2016 campaign. Democrats hope the president will accept fencing and other border security provisions after seeing his popularity dip during the shutdown.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he pitched the idea of including a debt limit increase -- and also multi-year federal spending caps -- when he dined Monday night with the president. Graham said that while those matters don’t face any immediate deadlines, resolving them now would prevent more partisan brinkmanship in coming months.

“We’ve had enough cliffhangers,” Graham told reporters Tuesday. He said Trump responded that he’s open to a deal addressing other matters, which might include work permits for young undocumented immigrants and an extension of temporary protected status for 400,000 people.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a member of the conference committee, has also urged including the debt ceiling in the discussions. Another committee member, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he’s willing to discuss the debt limit or any other topic behind closed doors.

“Republicans and Democrats can sit down and come together on a reasonable approach,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a member of the negotiating committee.

“We should listen to the experts,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters. “If the Democrats are beginning to discuss barriers, then that’s a positive.”

House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson , D-Miss., prepared a draft proposal of border security measures that Democrats plan to discuss during the negotiations. Thompson, who isn’t directly involved in the talks, said that if negotiators work through the weekend they could produce a deal by Feb. 8, allowing a week to pass legislation before the deadline.

While some lawmakers are looking for a grand bargain, the idea faced immediate resistance from others including House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., and one of Trump’s top conservative allies in the House.

“I oppose expanding the scope of the conference” to include raising the debt limit or adjusting budget caps, said House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C. His group wants spending cuts or other budget changes to be attached to any debt ceiling increase.

Lawmakers are also divided about whether to attach provisions to prevent future shutdowns. McConnell spoke approvingly of the idea.

“I don’t like shutdowns. I don’t think they work for anybody and I hope they’ll be avoided. I feel if there’s one thing we could agree to on a bipartisan basis, it’s to make them pretty hard to occur again,” McConnell told reporters.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, is leading an effort to prevent shutdowns by requiring automatic stopgap spending bills to take effect if Congress fails to agree on spending legislation. His bill would impose a 1 percent across-the-board cut in spending if there isn’t a resolution after 120 days, and 1 percent again every 90 days after that.

While Portman says this approach would motivate parties to each a deal, many Democrats say it would give the Republicans a negotiating advantage since conservatives favor cuts.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., wants to combine automatic spending extensions with cuts to lawmaker pay. Warner said Democrats won’t support automatic across-the-board spending cuts.

Lowey said she opposed both ideas. “We are appropriators. We should get our job done.” She called cutting lawmakers’ pay a “childish” proposal.

The biggest obstacle for a deal will be determining whether Trump will sign it, Lowey said.

“Let’s just say people in the real estate industry will not make any deals with him unless the money is on the table,” she said.

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed “tremendous progress” in destroying the Islamic State and denuclearizing North Korea, a day after U.S. intelligence chiefs offered congressional testimony at odds with his rosy assessments on multiple global threats.

In his tweets, Trump wrote that when he became president, the Islamic State “was out of control in Syria & running rampant.”

“Since then, tremendous progress made, especially over last 5 weeks,” the president wrote. “Caliphate will soon be destroyed, unthinkable two years ago.”

During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, officials warned that the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, was capable of attacking the United States and painted a picture of a still-formidable terrorist organization. Trump previously declared the group defeated and has said he wants to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria as a result.

Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats noted that the terrorist group has suffered “significant leadership and territorial losses.” But it still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria, he said, and maintains eight branches, has more than a dozen networks and attracts thousands of supporters around the world.

Coats was on a panel of top Trump administration intelligence officials who appeared before the Senate panel Tuesday to share assessments on an array of national security challenges. Others included CIA Director Gina Haspel and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

In his tweets, Trump also sought to defend progress on North Korea ahead of a planned second summit next month with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Coats said that North Korea was “unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capabilities,” which the country’s leaders consider “critical to the regime’s survival.”

“North Korea relationship is best it has ever been with U.S.,” Trump wrote Wednesday. “No testing, getting remains, hostages returned. Decent chance of Denuclearization.”

“Time will tell what will happen with North Korea, but at the end of the previous administration, relationship was horrendous and very bad things were about to happen. Now a whole different story,” Trump added, noting that he was looking forward to the summit with Kim.

Though exuberant in his claims of progress, Trump’s assessment on North Korea was tempered compared to his initial claims after the first summit in June.

In tweets upon returning from that meeting, Trump declared America’s “biggest and most dangerous problem” all but resolved. The deal he struck with Kim, he said, meant there was “no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea,” and “everybody can now feel much safer.”

The first summit ended with a vague agreement that contained few concrete goals and deadlines.

A month after President Donald Trump said he’d pull U.S. forces from Syria, a critical global security question is unanswered: What to do with hundreds of Islamic State fighters and their families -- including Europeans and Americans -- held by Kurdish forces in makeshift prisons?

U.S. officials estimate there are 800 prisoners who need to be dealt with at a series of Kurdish-run prisons and holding facilities across northern Syria. Ilham Ahmed, a senior official with a Kurdish group that fought Islamic State alongside the U.S., says the number of family members of captured fighters may top 4,000.

One thing is clear, Ahmed says: “No one wants to take them.”

As Trump tries to meet a campaign pledge by getting America out of intractable Mideast wars, the prisoners have become a stumbling block -- one reason the administration has been walking back the president’s December promise of a quick withdrawal.

There was concern that the Kurds, facing the bigger threat of a Turkish attack after their erstwhile U.S. allies leave, may be unable or unwilling to hold the prisoners. That risked allowing hardened ISIS fighters to return to their home countries, or resume the fight in Syria, where the self-proclaimed ISIS caliphate has been reduced to a couple of villages.

“This is a serious issue that’s got to be addressed quickly,” said Seth Jones, director of the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, when asked about the ISIS prisoners.

There’s debate over whether the Kurds would really let prisoners go, or are using them as leverage. Ayham Kamel, head of Middle East and North Africa research at Eurasia Group, said the threat to free them is likely “just a political tool.”

America’s key local allies in the ISIS fight, the Kurds, were shocked and dismayed by Trump’s pullout plan -- and even more so when he invited their enemy Turkey to send troops into Syria to fill the gap. The perceived betrayal has spurred Kurdish leaders to start talks on reunifying their territories under the Damascus government of President Bashar al-Assad. So one potential fate for the jihadi captives is that they end up in Assad’s jails.

There are other possibilities. The U.S. preference would be for the countries that the ISIS fighters originally came from to take responsibility for them, said an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

But most foreign governments are reluctant to do so. Some fear the returning jihadis could radicalize their cellmates. Housing them separately could strain resources and legal systems. And there’s the question of what to do with their wives and children.

Among the hundreds of imprisoned ISIS fighters in Kurdish custody, Ahmed said, there are 10 U.S. citizens, and that the U.S. isn’t asking for any of them back. The White House declined to provide an update on U.S. plans when asked by Bloomberg News.

Russia in December resumed a suspended program to repatriate children of ISIS fighters whose mothers are in prison and reunite them with other family members. France’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it’s preparing for the potential return of ISIS fighters, after BFM TV reported that 130 French citizens could be returned from Syria. A Belgian court also ruled in favor of repatriation, though the government may appeal.

Most of the captives and relatives are in limbo. Nawaf Khalil, a former Kurdish official in Syria and now head of the Center for Kurdish Studies in Germany, estimates that there are 950 ISIS prisoners of four dozen nationalities. He says Kurdish authorities have brought up this issues with the captives’ governments, “but frankly, they don’t want to deal with this headache.”

Western officials are floating a range of options for the prisoners. They could stay where they are, with some additional aid for their Kurdish captors; or get sent to their home countries, or to third-parties willing to jail them. The U.S. is considering the transfer of some of the most hardened fighters to the American military camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the alleged perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks are still held.

The situation is more clear-cut in Iraq, says Nadim Houry, Paris-based head of the counter-terrorism program at Human Rights Watch, who’s been to three camps in northern Syria where foreign women and children are held. He wasn’t allowed to visit the men.

There are concerns about human rights or fair trials when Iraqi authorities prosecute jihadis, but “no question they have jurisdiction,’’ Houry says. Syria is a different story, “a legal vacuum that’s not sustainable,” and one to which European officials don’t have clear answers. “They just wish the problem would go away.”

One alternative is to establish an international court that would put ISIS fighters on trial before returning them to their home countries. The court could help determine which prisoners are the highest risk, and who could be let go.

Elena Suponina, a Middle East expert in Moscow, says that may ultimately be necessary, because Islamic State is trans-national and the prisoners hail from many countries. But it’s difficult to implement now because “Syria has not stabilized yet,” she says. Among the actors who’d have to cooperate in such a plan, “the disagreements are still too great.”

Have a few snowflakes turned Americans into, well, snowflakes?

Matt Bevin, the Republican governor of Kentucky, seems to think so. He lamented school closures in his state on Wednesday - when the wind chill could make it feel as frosty as minus-15 - as evidence that the country had lost its mettle.

“I mean, what happens to America?” he wondered during an interview on Tuesday with 840 WHAS radio in Louisville, where several school districts said they would close in anticipation of a blast of arctic air from the polar vortex, expected to bring life-threatening temperatures to parts of the Midwest and nearby states.

The one-term Republican incumbent, who is up for reelection this year, wasn’t asking about the increased frequency of extreme weather events, which scientists believe is a sign of intensifying climate change. Or about the fate of thousands of homeless Americans whose lives will be at acute risk in the biting cold.

His question was about why everyone couldn’t just toughen up.

“We’re getting soft,” warned Bevin, who loves posting selfies on social media but has also blocked hundreds of his constituents from interacting with his pages because he doesn’t like what they say about him, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. In case his message wasn’t clear, he repeated: “We’re getting soft.”

The arctic weather was already interrupting air travel and preventing planned deliveries by the U.S. Postal Service, which ordinarily promises, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom...” By early Wednesday morning, the bitter conditions had been blamed for at least for a half-dozen deaths. When the radio host, Terry Meiners, remarked that the governor’s kids would keep him up late because they would not have to rise for school in the morning, Bevin complained about the move by the school districts.

“Now we cancel school for cold,” he said.

“It’s deep freeze!” the host replied. “This is serious business.”

Bevin scoffed at the forecasts. “Come on now,” he said. “I mean, there’s no ice going with it, or any snow.”

The National Weather Service has, in fact, predicted “moderate snow” in the Louisville area, causing “hazardous road conditions” on top of “very cold wind chills.” Whether it is safe to drive and whether students are safe waiting at bus stops are among the decisions weighing on schools, scores of which announced closures this week.

The governor tried to qualify his comments, saying, “I do appreciate it’s better to err on the side of being safe.” But he also said he was “being only slightly facetious.”

Then he doubled down. “But it does concern me a little bit that in America - on this and any number of other fronts - we’re sending messages to our young people that if life is hard, you can curl up in the fetal position somewhere in a warm place and just wait until it stops being hard,” he said.

“And that isn’t reality,” added Bevin, described as “one of the nation’s least popular governors,” with just 38 percent of Kentuckians approving of his job performance, according to polling published in December by independent firm Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy. ″It just isn’t.”

Bevin was swiftly rebuked for his observation.

Jessica Dueñas, Kentucky’s 2019 “Teacher of the Year,” issued a “personal challenge” for the governor in a video posted Tuesday on Twitter. “Please go outside tomorrow,” she told him, “and stand outside for 30 minutes as if you were waiting for the bus, dressed as one of our students would be, because I guarantee you most of our students are not wearing some fancy Patagonia or North Face jackets.”

“How about you give one of our students your jackets, and you stand outside in that cold, since you’re being so ‘hard?’” she said.

Another teacher, Tiffany Dunn, also took to social media to share her indignation, writing, “These elitist comments don’t shock me anymore, but they’re still appalling.”

The Kentucky Education Association, which has clashed with the governor over pension reform, said it supported the decision to keep students at home. “We will always support decisions made for the health & safety of Kentucky’s children,” the teachers’ union wrote on Twitter. “Always.”

Adam Edelen, the former state auditor and Democratic candidate for governor, also weighed in, calling the governor’s remarks “dumb and mean.”

The sharpest attack came from within Bevin’s own party. Republican state Rep. Robert Goforth, who is challenging Bevin in the GOP primary in May, knocked the governor for his elite education.

Bevin, who was born in Colorado and grew up in New Hampshire, attended the Gould Academy, a college preparatory school in Bethel, Maine, where annual tuition for boarding students is now $61,350. The school touts its generous financial aid, which benefits 41 percent of families. The governor’s bio on the state’s website describes how “Bevin and his family of eight lived in an old farmhouse, sharing three bedrooms and one bathroom. The humble home stood on a farm where the family raised crops and livestock, instilling in their children a strong work ethic and solid Christian values.”

After college, Bevin served in the U.S. Army and then went into investment banking. In a Fox News interview last October with right-wing pundit Mark Levin, Bevin said his family was “financially humble,” revising Levin’s characterization of “dirt poor.” He also incorrectly predicted that the Republicans would hold the House in the 2018 midterm elections.

Goforth wasn’t the only Republican to find fault with the governor. Doug Stafford, an adviser to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told Bevin to “hush.”

“It will be 0 degrees with 20-30 mph winds in places in KY tomorrow,” he wrote on Twitter. “Kids have to sit on bus stops and or walk a mile or more in that. No one wants to hear your old man stories about walking uphill both ways in that when you were a kid.”

Bevin hadn’t addressed the blowback by early Wednesday. He is no stranger to controversy surrounding his own words.

Last August, he was condemned for comparing state workers who opposed his plan to reform public pensions to drowning victims. Speaking on a conservative talk show based in Cincinnati, the governor said, “It’s like saving a drowning victim, Brian. It’s like somebody - they’re fighting you, biting you, pulling you under. You just need to knock them out and drag them to shore. It’s for their own good.”

And on Monday, Bevin waded into the controversy du jour, writing an op-ed for the Washington Times on the viral encounter between Catholic students and a tribal elder in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Titled “Maintaining unity in toxic times,” the piece took aim at the “faux outrage expressed by the sanctimonious thought police of the liberal left and their water carriers in the mainstream media.”

CALCIUM — A Florida fugitive was taken into custody by state police at 9:42 p.m. on Tuesday.

Matthew R. Strempler, 28, is being held at the Metro-Jefferson Public Safety Building.

Further details on the incident were not available.

WATERTOWN — State police are investigating a larceny from Dec. 9 at the Target located at Towne Center Drive.

Troopers are asking for public assistance in identifying both individuals in the surveillance photos.

If anyone can identify either or both individuals, contact state police at 315-366-6000.

ALBANY — Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced a proposal Tuesday to reduce asthma-related illnesses in children and adults by improving home energy performance and safety.

Under this proposal, as part of Gov. Cuomo’s Health Across All Policies initiative, the New York State Department of Health and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority will partner to implement the New York State Health Homes Pilot in the homes of approximately 500 Medicaid members living in regions with the highest asthma in the state, a news release stated. The pilot intends to integrate asthma management services and reduce environmental asthma triggers with home energy efficiency improvements and safety measures to reduce asthma-related illnesses.

Pilot participants will have a range of no-cost home-based services designed to improve their asthma control, including education on medication management, identification and reduction of asthma triggers services, pest management control and resources such as specialized vacuums, mattress and pillow covers and asthma-friendly cleaning kits. Households will also receive a no-cost home energy and environmental assessment to identify opportunities for improved energy performance along with health and safety improvements.

WATERTOWN — Dog handlers from four law enforcement agencies participated in a search of the Jefferson County Correctional Facility on Wednesday morning.

Eight narcotic detection K9s from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, New York State Police, Watertown City Police and Fort Drum 9th Military Working Dog Detachment searched all six housing units, classrooms, booking, intake and all common areas, according to a news release.

The detail had been scheduled as a proactive attempt to identify and remove any contraband that may have been found its way into the facility. The search was completed within an hour, with no disruption to daily activities or visits, the release stated.

Sheriff Colleen M. O’Neill reported no narcotics or contraband were found.

The following students from Northern New York were named to the president’s list for the fall semester at SUNY Potsdam.

Alexandria Bay

Gabrielle Slate, childhood/early childhood education

Antwerp

Taylor Kelley, history

Beaver Falls

Nicholas Sundberg, mathematics

Black River

Alexis Barney, childhood/early childhood education

Arthur Campbell, music business

Jordan Wilson, criminal justice studies

Brasher Falls

Keely Fetterley, childhood/early childhood education

Andrew Kaminsky, speech communication

Jenna Kesner, community health

Brushton

Chance Phillips, literature/writing

Canton

Janet Beaudin, childhood/early childhood education

Emiley Berger, childhood/early childhood education

Olivia Cole-Berry, exploratory/undeclared

Meghan Conklin, community health

Levi Edwards, mathematics

Teresa Hooper, biology

Sarahanne Jackson, biology

Courtney LaBeau, childhood/early childhood education

Anna Ladouceur, speech communication

Chase Mclaughlin, music business

Kendyll Stevenson, childhood/early childhood education

Katie Watson, computer science

Maria Wisniewski, psychology

Cape Vincent

Ashley Anchor, business administration

Katelyn Docteur, childhood/early childhood education

Carthage

Caleb Reid, music education

Castorland

Brett Worden, music education

Chippewa Bay

Michelle Aiken, childhood/early childhood education

Clayton

Memree Byers, business administration

Emily Morett, exploratory/undeclared

Amity Schoff, community health

Cierra Scott, childhood/early childhood education

Colton

Genevieve Carriere Fuller, business administration

Brooke Collins, graphic design and new media

Tanner Wilson, mathematics

DeKalb Junction

Melinda Carr, childhood/early childhood education

Autumn Thompson, biology

Dexter

Megan Biggs, childhood/early childhood education

Kailey Crosby, childhood/early childhood education

Cayla O’Connor, biology

Edwards

Brooke Fenton, literature/writing

Haven Gotham, music education

Courtney Trudeau, childhood/early childhood education

Evans Mills

Amiere Bell, theatre

Isaiah Cullum, archaeological studies

Sierra Cullum, anthropology

William Davis, history

Gouverneur

Megan Barr, exercise science

Michael Bates, business administration

Brenda Gallagher, sociology

Ahmed Ladan, biology

Emily Morse, computer science

Morgan Morse, childhood/early childhood education

Nhu Nguyen, biology

Cindy Rozo, Spanish

Arielle Wolter, biology

Catherine Yablonski, childhood/early childhood education

Hammond

Shandy Clemons, graphic design and new media

Macaula Drake, psychology

Hannawa Falls

Zoe Loveless, theatre

Harrisville

Amber Rounds, archaeological studies

Helena

Samantha Newtown, exploratory/undeclared

Henderson

Kristin VanBrocklin, business administration

Hermon

Gerald Della Porta, history

Dasha LaPoint, exercise science

Heuvelton

Emily Basford, childhood/early childhood education

Tabitha Brown, history

Gabrielle Johnson, childhood/early childhood education

Marinah Simons, geology

Lisbon

Aaron Armstrong, business administration

Claire Donaldson, childhood/early childhood education

Bridgett Oshier, sociology

Lowville

Angelina Burgy, childhood/early childhood education

Rachel Pridell, biology

Madrid

Joshua Barkley, music business

Emily Bracy, psychology

Emily Pelkey, psychology

Massena

Emily Allen, music education

Bridgette Flannery, exploratory/undeclared

Chandler Flaro, psychology

Eric Fleury, environmental studies

Danielle Fregoe, anthropology

Courtney Hart, community health

Angela Harvey, business administration

Joshua Kaplan, exploratory/undeclared

Lexi Kennedy, biology

Shelby Kennedy, childhood/early childhood education

Bailey LaBarge, environmental studies

Madeleine Mailhot, geology

Katie McMillan, community health

Kaitlin Murphy-Prashaw, childhood/early childhood education

Abbie Paquin, speech communication

Shelby Perkins, sociology

Tiffany Powell, childhood/early childhood education

Jonnileigh Price, English and creative writing

Sophia Rusaw, childhood/early childhood education

Nicholas Southworth, childhood/early childhood education

Chelsea Streeter, community health

Natural Bridge

Rachel Buskey, biology

Newton Falls

Kaylee Wood, exploratory/undeclared

Nicholville

Michael Carlisle, exploratory/undeclared

Abigail Duquette, business administration

Ryan Duquette, business administration

Elizabeth Hursh, community health

Nabrika Miner, childhood/early childhood education

Norfolk

Holden Crary, archaeological studies

Lindsay Farnsworth, childhood/early childhood education

Rebecca Hasenauer, art studio

Grace Vari, biology

North Lawrence

Josephine Beck, music

Ashley Cayea, childhood/early childhood education

Leanne Gardner, childhood/early childhood education

Zaine Roberts, psychology

Norwood

Eleanor Burns, music performance

Alexandra Caringi, childhood/early childhood education

Brandi Delosh, psychology

Kylee Deon, sociology

Anna Dickinson, exercise science

Jenna Fiacco, politics

May Haas, English and creative writing

William Jackson, business administration

Sicilia Kahrs, art studio

Jordan Poliski, mathematics

Vanessa Prashaw, psychology

Donald Shanty III, computer science

Ogdensburg

Brandi Barkley, exploratory/undeclared

Ashley Barr, childhood/early childhood education

Marissa Bigelow, childhood/early childhood education

Jamie Cox, music education

Makayla Cruikshank, biology

Jennie Dalton, childhood/early childhood education

Adam Kelley, business administration

Luke King, childhood/early childhood education

Riley Luckie, childhood/early childhood education

Logan Meyer, psychology

Andrew Montroy, exploratory/undeclared

Amy Richards, childhood/early childhood education

Tessa Richardson, exploratory/undeclared

Jenna Sharrow, speech communication

Jenna Thompson, art studio

Parishville

Allison Vitale, childhood/early childhood education

Plessis

Emily Massa, psychology

Potsdam

Marie Amell, art studio

Michael Amell, chemistry

Rainar Anderson, music business

Bernadette Avila, biology

Lin Bergmeier-Esterberg, exploratory/undeclared

Zacharey Blackmer, sociology

David Blake, mathematics

Luke Boyle, exploratory/undeclared

Shannon Boyle, music performance

Rachael Clements, theatre

Kristy Coyle, politics

Desiree Deon, philosophy

Elizabeth Deschaine, exploratory/undeclared

Autumn Doner, environmental studies

Sierra Dwinell, criminal justice studies

Ryan Ellingsworth, music education

Hailey Ellis, biology

Logan Garrison, environmental studies

Angelin Hernandez, Spanish

Kayla Jacques, exploratory/undeclared

Abiodun Jimoh, business administration

Alexander LaFountain, biology

Brody LeCuyer, psychology

Kaitlen Leonard, visual arts

Alex Love, psychology

Sylvia Ludlam, childhood/early childhood education

Elizabeth Meyers, English writing

Patrick Nason, geographic information science

Keenan O’Gorman, business administration

Andrew O’Meara, psychology

Martha Peterson, English literature

Olivia Phaneuf, music education

Maryjane Plastino, English and creative writing

Rory Sixberry, childhood/early childhood education

Gideon Smith, chemistry

Katie Spriggs, music education

Jordan Tishberg, business administration

Molly Tishberg, English and creative writing

Margaret Walker, mathematics

Michael Weirich, mathematics

Emily Willis, archaeological studies

Raymondville

Caitlyn Chen, psychology

Redwood

Mark Kaleel, exercise science

Sadie Moran, business administration

Rensselaer Falls

John Bittner, biology

Cody Dollinger, history

Zayne Frysinger, history

Rodman

Rachel Rudd, international studies

Russell

Kayla Covey, sociology

Sackets Harbor

Raymundo Garcia, psychology

Lauren Harrienger, English literature

Alesha Roy, community health

Matthew Stackel, psychology

St. Regis Falls

Macy Fraser, mathematics

Spencer Reuss, exercise science

South Colton

Scott Boyce, international studies

Ryan Brown, history

Silas Thomas, exploratory/undeclared

Star Lake

Bradley Schuyler, biology

Theresa

Logan Drake, biology

Theresa Henault, creative writing

Waddington

Jenna Marcellus, community health

Watertown

Allison Constance, graphic design and new media

Mark Corey, politics

Kyra Elliott, music performance

Michael Fusilli, community health

Joshua Garry, sociology

Thomas Gerstenschlager, business administration

Christopher Goss, criminal justice studies

Bayleigh Hall, business administration

Madison James, theatre

Patrick Lafary, English literature

Michael Lopez, computer science

Nicholas Loving, mathematics

Ethan Mitchell, English and creative writing

Aisha Rapant, psychology

Paul Rondeau, business administration

Xanara Ruiz-Gouty, business administration

Madison Underwood, psychology

Samuel Wilson, geology

Winthrop

Breanna Anderson, biology

Rebecca Carlin, history

Samantha Dishaw, anthropology

Krysti Lovett, childhood/early childhood education