CANTON — An increasing percentage of St. Lawrence County adults have positive attitudes toward K-12 education, but they continue to have a negative view of the overall local economy, according to a phone survey taken in June by 374 people.

The third annual St. Lawrence County Survey of the Community was released Wednesday during a meeting with county officials. The survey was conducted by the Center for Community Studies at Jefferson County Community College.

The center has done a similar survey in Jefferson County each year since 2000 and in Lewis County since 2007. The surveys are sponsored and financially supported by the Northern New York Community Foundation and the Development Authority of the North Country.

According to the survey, positive attitudes toward K-12 education in the county reached its highest level this year, with 72 percent describing it as “excellent or good,” which is the first time the percentage has reached 70 percent.

Also, nearly 70 percent of respondents agreed that St. Lawrence County schools are adequately preparing young people for the technology and economy of the future, That compares with 51 percent in 2015. Also, 18 percent of respondents disagreed with this statement, significantly lower than 29 percent in 2015 and 26 percent in 2016.

Thomas Burns, superintendent of St. Lawrence-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services, said he was pleased to learn of the results. The BOCES region encompasses 17 public school districts in St. Lawrence County and Harrisville Central School District in Lewis County.

He said the results are a good indicator that public education is bouncing back after a few years of political upheaval and funding cuts.

“I think it’s an indicator that the public believes in its schools and is happy with the outcomes,” Mr. Burns said.

Many districts have also made great strides in improving access to technology, such as providing students with Chrome books, a laptop computer running on a Google operating system.

A decrease in cost of technology has allowed districts to purchase more equipment. Also, he said, most incoming teachers are generally receptive to using it with students because they are accustomed to using it.

“Our teachers and schools are moving full speed ahead using Google platforms. They are using them to collaborate within their own districts and across districts,” Mr. Burns said. “It’s been amazing and powerful.”

Other survey highlights:

n SLC residents continue to have a negative view of the overall economy, with 35 percent viewing the economy as “poor” and only 21 percent viewing it as either excellent or good. The portion of residents who report their personal financial situation has gotten better in the past 12 months decreased from 25 percent in 2015 to 17 percent this year.

Women were more likely to report an improvement than men, those in high income households more likely than low income and those with at least some college were more likely than those with no college. Those in their 30s and 40s were more likely than those at least 70 years old.

n Attitudes toward health-care quality were less positive this year than two years ago. Ratings of “excellent or good” decreased from 58 percent in 2015 to 49 percent in 2017. The percentage of “fair” ratings increased by a small percentage in the same period. Twelve percent of respondents indicated that health care was the largest issue facing the nation, a significant increase from 4 percent in 2016.

n Residents were asked to share both their perceived severity and personal impact of five potential community issues: poverty, alcohol abuse, criminal acts, heroin or other opiate abuse, and mental illness. The percentage of residents who identified each of these five as a “major issue” in 2017 increased significantly from those observed in 2016, each of the five being observed at a value at least 10 percentage points higher than the previous year. When asked if they had been personally affected by the same five issues, significant increases were seen in alcohol abuse, 8 percentage points; heroin or other opiate abuse, 6 percentage points; and mental illness, 8 percentage points..

n In 2017, residents indicated that they are quite unsatisfied with the quality of the roads within St. Lawrence County, a shift from 2016 when responses were slightly more positive than negative. Thirty-eight percent of respondents indicate the highways on which they drive to be “poor” while only 25 percent identify them to be “excellent or good.” The “poor” rating is a significant increase from 28 percent in 2016 while the “excellent or good” rating represents a 6 percentage point decrease.

n St. Lawrence County residents agree that the presence of Fort Drum in the north country has a positive impact in the community. Nearly 80 percent said local community leaders should continue to be involved in efforts that ensure the long-term viability of Fort Drum. Although St. Lawrence County residents’ feelings toward Fort Drum are positive, the attitudes of Jefferson County residents are more positive overall.

n County residents are satisfied with the quality of housing in St. Lawrence County, with 60 percent describing it as “excellent or good,” but they are less positive over the availability of housing, with 47 percent describing it as “excellent or good.” The positive ratings of housing availability have decreased from a high of 54 percent in 2015, while the quality of housing rating increased 4 percentage points from 56 percent in 2016. This year, 30 percent of respondents indicated they have been in the process of buying or renting a home in the past 12 months. Approximately one in every six of those residents reported having experienced housing discrimination. In 2016, the rate was one in every eight residents.

Working under the supervision of the Center for Community Studies research staff, statistics students at the college completed 374 interviews on both land-line and cellular telephones of St. Lawrence County adult residents the evenings of June 26 to 28. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percent.

POTSDAM — Clarkson University is working with Clinton Community College on workforce training and research to increase manufacturing in Plattsburgh.

Plattsburgh has recently seen an increase in advanced manufacturing, including 3-D printing, with companies like Norsk Titanium coming to the region.

“(Norsk is) establishing, essentially, their global production headquarters in Plattsburgh,” said President Anthony G. Collins of Clarkson. “One of the reasons Norsk was attracted was because Clarkson and Clinton Community College had a workforce development plan.”

Among other programs, Clarkson is partnering on Clinton Community College’s Pathways to Technology Early College High School program, which gives high school students a smooth transition into a two-year associate’s degree with plenty of experience along the way in industry. Mr. Collins said Clarkson can then offer bachelor’s and graduate degrees that Clinton does not have.

Clarkson also hopes to develop an additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing, lab, and share facilities, curriculum and faculty between the college and university. Additive manufacturing can be used with both aluminum as well as titanium, which Mr. Collins hopes will bring Alcoa in Massena into the cluster of businesses, many of which are working on transportation.

“It all supports the development of a transportation hub in the north country,” Mr. Collins said. “There’s great optimism about the transportation cluster in the north country.”

WEST CARTHAGE — The village’s winter parking ban went into effect Nov. 1. Under the ban, motor vehicles may not be parked on any public street in the village between 2:30 a.m. and 6 a.m., through Saturday, April 1.

Under village law, the police and fire departments and the Department of Public Works have the authority to remove any vehicle that violates the parking ban, with cost to be borne by the individual reclaiming the vehicle.

The Bridge Street public lot will have limited overnight public parking to allow bar patrons to leave their cars there overnight if necessary.

WATERTOWN — The Development Authority of the North Country will release a draft version of its Joint Land Use Study on Monday, a key piece of the discussion about wind turbines in the region.

The report will be released on its website, www.danc.org, and comes after multiple meetings for organizations in the community and open house events.

In addition to wind turbines, the study reviews two dozen other areas of compatibility, from housing availability to biological resources and noise.

The wind turbine issue has drawn special attention as military officials discussed the impacts from turbines already in place near the installation’s Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield, which houses Army and Air Force helicopters and drones and is used for training by units across the military.

Post officials have told the Times the turbines can affect military and weather radar, creating a potential “black hole” of visibility and producing false weather data.

Since then, lawmakers including U.S. Rep. Elise M. Stefanik, R-Willsboro and state Assemblywoman Addie A.E. Jenne, D-Theresa, have expressed concerns about new development. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo also said he saw “the potential danger” in turbine development near the post.

Lewis County legislators have taken a more moderate position on turbines, citing the possibility of allowing some new wind development while addressing interference issues with new technology or other means.

The release of the study will be followed with a pair of open house events in the following week.

The first will be an open house from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 13 in the cafeteria of Lowville Elementary School.

A second event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Nov. 14 at the large cafeteria of Watertown High School.

Dozens of local residents were in attendance during sessions at the two schools in early October.

For more information about the study, visit http://wdt.me/danc-study.

LOWVILLE — A presentation on the history of the Tug Hill Commission will be offered in Lowville later this month.

Commission Executive Director Katie H. Malinowski is scheduled to speak at a Brown Bag Lunch event at noon Nov. 15 at the Lewis County Historical Society, South State Street.

The event will be held on the lower floor of society headquarters, because society officials will be setting up for their annual Home for the Holidays Festival in the Blue Room.

Ms. Malinowski will give an overview of the history of her small state agency, enacted in Chapter 972 of the Laws of 1972 and originally called the Temporary State Commission on Tug Hill.

The presentation will include a review of the events leading to the organization’s formation and important turning points in its history. It will also include old photographs, images of documents and a few video clips.

WATERTOWN — The Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce has received $30,000 in state funding secured by state Sen. Patricia A. Ritchie, R-Heuvelton, for its Procurement Technical Assistance Center.

According to a news release from Sen. Ritchie’s office, the funding for the center, which helps businesses find contract opportunities in military and other government markets, was part of a “Base Retention” grant in the state budget.

“Through funding secured by (Sen. Ritchie), we will be able to help even more local businesses grow and in turn, boost our local economy,” President and CEO Kylie S. Peck said in a statement.

GLEN PARK — Jefferson County dog control supervisor Todd L. Cummings said he hoped local families come together to check out the dogs available at the county shelter’s open house.

“We want to put the right dog with the right family,” he said. “I love see families come in, and say we’re here to get a dog, and they decide on it as a group.”

About 18 dogs are being readied for the open house, which is taking place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday at the shelter, 21897 County Route 190.

Among the available dogs is a labrador mix named Brindle, who has been at the county shelter since the end of March. The count is an increase from last year’s open house, in which about 200 people saw the 12 dogs that were available, and adopted 11 of the dogs.

The event, in its 18th year, will include tours of the shelter, prize drawings for children, food and refreshments and a visit from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department’s K-9 dogs.

“People are fascinated to look at the truck, look through the building,” Mr. Cummings said. “It’s fascinating for some people.”

Dogs can be adopted for $45, which includes a rabies shot courtesy of the Jefferson County Public Health Department.

The open house coincides with National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week.

The shelter has contracted with the 22 towns in Jefferson County and the city of Watertown to provide services, holding stray or abandoned animals.

Mr. Cummings said he was proud about how many dogs the shelter’s staff has been able to place into local homes.

He said the shelter has euthanized four dogs this year, which if it holds through the end of the year will represent the lowest total in Jefferson County since records were first tallied in 1964.

“We want the public to know we’re here for the animals,” he said. “We’re here to get every dog placed.”

The shelter is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and Sundays. More information about the shelter can be found by calling 315-779-5900, or emailing countyshelter@co.jefferson.ny.us.

WATERTOWN — The executive director of the North Country chapter of the American Red Cross said there were few resources available for residents who have had furnaces and hot water heaters damaged in basements flooded by recent heavy rains.

“Despite our making a lot of calls, there just aren’t dollars,” said Jane Gendron. “It’s rare in November that we have flooding. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of resources that are out there.”

Mrs. Gendron said she had received 10 calls on Thursday morning alone from residents who had damage to the furnace or water heater alone but could not replace it.

“There’s probably not flood insurance either,” she said. “If you’re not in the position to buy a new furnace or a new water heater, that could pose a problem.”

The local Red Cross director said she planned to discuss potential flooding with lawmakers, including state Sen. Patricia A. Ritchie, R-Heuvelton, on Thursday.

She noted her organization is still providing kits “all over the county” to allow residents to clean up water damage in their homes.

So far, Mrs. Gendron said her organization had distributed about 120 kits.

“We want everybody to get it cleaned up,” she said. “(If you don’t,) then you run into the risk of mold, and that could be a health issue.”

According to the Watertown filtration plant, the area has received at least six inches of rainfall.

The influx of rain ended an October that had already seen more rain than usual, causing headaches throughout the area, along with several road closures.

The National Weather Service said on Twitter that Watertown had 11.76 inches of precipitation in October.

“That’s more than 4 inches greater than any month in their 69 years of records,” the agency said, in a tweet.

LOWVILLE — An energy company working on a microgrid project in Watertown may be interested in one here, as well.

“There are quite a few benefits,” John Bay, CEO of Acadia Energy Corp., Rochester, told Lewis County Industrial Development Agency board members Thursday morning.

Businesses and other customers who sign 20- to 30-year power purchase agreements with a microgrid should see cost savings — potentially 15 to 20 percent — with no upfront capital expenditure, and have a more secure power source that is less susceptible to outages, Mr. Bay said.

“There are all kinds of problems with the energy infrastructure,” he said.

The move toward microgrids — systems with small power production facilities near a group of customers that utilize the generated electricity — comes in response to the state’s aging electricity transmission system, Mr. Bay said. Microgrids can also use a “smart” power distribution system that considers customers’ usage schedules and the differing capabilities of the small generation facilities, which may include renewable sources like solar and wind as well as fuels like natural gas, he said.

When asked how his company makes money, Mr. Bay said long-term electricity costs are set high enough to cover upfront capital and operations costs but also provide some profit while still keeping prices well below market rates. Acadia has access to low-interest funding through a Norwegian governmental fund, he said.

Lewis County IDA Executive Director Eric J. Virkler said he last week provided Acadia officials with a list of 10 large electric customers, including industrial users, in the Lowville area that might be able to benefit from such a program.

As some already receive cheap power through the RechargeNY program, that would need to be factored into any microgrid proposal, Mr. Bay said.

If there is enough interest here, potential participants would need to provide Acadia with 12 months of utility bills and sign a six-month exclusivity agreement to ensure another energy company couldn’t come in and benefit from its analysis, he said.

IDA officials suggested the board form a committee to have further discussions with Acadia about a potential project here.

The company is already working with the Jefferson County IDA on a microgrid project in the Jefferson County Corporate Park off Route 12F in the town of Watertown. About half of that project is to be completed by next summer, Mr. Bay said.

Lewis County IDA board members on Thursday also named the IDA as lead agency for a state Environmental Quality Review of their proposed business park off Route 12 just north of the village. Mr. Virkler reported that further survey work must be done before purchase of the land may be completed.

A final sign-off on the Copenhagen Wind Farm payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement should also take place later this month, Mr. Virkler said, noting the developer has already made two of three payments to the IDA for administering the deal. With unions complaining about a lack of their members being employed for that project, the contractor has offered to give IDA officials hiring data from the project, although that is not to be made public, he said.

Board members also agreed in principle to bring on Syracuse attorney Kevin R. McAuliffe, who helped develop the Maple Ridge Wind Farm PILOT agreement that expires in 2021, to help negotiate a possible renewal plan. The intent is to have the wind company pay for his services, but that still must be put in writing, Mr. Virkler said.

OGDENSBURG — A partial deregulation of the airline industry in Canada that paves the way for low-cost carriers to offer cheaper flights in that country will have little immediate effect on Canadian travelers using the Ogdensburg International Airport, according to Ian Lee, an economics professor at Carleton University in Ottawa.

However, if more substantial deregulation of the industry occurs in Canada over the next few years, and the country’s major carriers Air Canada and West Jet Airlines substantially drop prices or create low-cost carrier services of their own, low-cost carriers now operating in the United States — such as Allegiant Air — could be challenged, according to Mr. Lee.

Mr. Lee said the involvement of the two major airlines in Canada is key to any meaningful change in the way Canadians fly because they currently have access to every major city and tourist destination in the U.S. — something small startups do not.

In the meantime, he predicts small stateside airports like Ogdensburg, where Allegiant Air offers cheap flights to Florida for Canadian travelers, will remain relatively unaffected, as the Canadian airline industry looks to reinvent itself and challenge those low-cost carriers already operating south of the U.S.-Canada border.

“Yes, the investment climate has changed and the restrictions on foreign investment in airlines have been loosened, but not eliminated, so that a foreign person can now own up to 49 percent,” Mr. Lee said. “People like myself have advocated that we should completely deregulate the industry, and allow 100 percent foreign airline ownership, but we’re not there yet.”

But increased foreign investment and an influx of budget carriers alone won’t solve the Canadian airline industry’s issue of high ticket prices, according to Mr. Lee. He said there are structural and economic challenges at play in Canada that just don’t exist in the U.S.

“Deregulating doesn’t change the airline economics,” he said. “There just aren’t the economies of scale in Canada that exist in the States because there is only one tenth the number of people. There are only 36 million in the entire country of Canada, which is smaller than the U.S. state of California with almost 40 million people.”

Mr. Lee, an international business expert who has spent years comparing U.S. and Canadian airline companies, said domestic low-cost carriers inside Canada have attempted to gain a foothold with Canadian travelers in the past, only to be thwarted by the cost of doing business, in particular high airport landing fees and a lack of access to enough desirable routes to remain competitive.

In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal’s Business and Finance section, writer David George-Cosh suggested that new, ultra-low-cost carriers in Canada, sparked by an increase in foreign investors, could break into the country’s air-travel market. In his article, Mr. George-Cosh quotes an analyst at airline consultant AirTrav Inc, who estimates that 500,000 passengers, or about 10 percent of Canadian traffic lost to U.S. border airports such as Buffalo, Burlington, Vt., and Ogdensburg could be handled by low-cost carrier startups in Canada over the next year.

However, Mr. Lee said anticipating any quick switch to low-cost services permeating the Canadian market from within the country’s own borders is wishful. He said history has shown that changes to Canada’s airline industry — highly regulated and protected for decades — will come slowly.

“There is a history of low-cost carriers starting in Canada and then failing, in fact, there have been a spectacular history of failed low-cost carriers,” Mr. Lee said. “There is the economies of scale issue when competing with the largest economy in the world and there is the whole government regulation of airports issue that still drives up costs. As an example, just look at Toronto, a beautiful airport but one that has some of the highest landing fees in the world. Many of the structural problems facing airlines in Canada — whether foreign owned or domestic — gives a distinct advantage to airports nearby on the other side of the border because they can operate there so much more cheaply.”

Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority Executive Director Wade A. Davis agrees. He said he expects business to continue being brisk at the Ogdensburg Airport, especially among Canadian travelers hoping to save both time and money.

“According to the Conference Board of Canada, over 5 million Canadians annually cross into the U.S. to fly out of U.S. airports,” Mr. Davis said. “The consumer recognizes the economic value of the U.S. environment versus the high-cost Canadian regulatory environment. Canadians will continue to experience significant savings by using Ogdensburg with direct low-cost flights. OGS will continue to grow as a result as deregulated-market forces prevail.”

WATERTOWN — Most north country residents believe business retention is the most critical economic development issue affecting the region today, according to a new survey by the Center for Community Studies at Jefferson Community College.

The report is the culmination of results found in the third biennial Regional Economic Tracking Survey, which is spearheaded jointly by JCC and the Development Authority of the North Country. More than 1,200 residents from Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties were asked questions about their perceptions of the north country’s economy. Residents were asked questions pertaining to a handful of topics, such as internet access, passenger air service and employment.

“This study generates a tremendous amount of data that can be used as a tool by economic developers throughout the region,” said James W. Wright, DANC’s executive director, in a statement. “We are pleased to be able to work with our county IDA partners to develop questions that provide the kind of information they need to enhance their efforts.”

About 80 percent of residents in all three counties said keeping existing businesses in the region is “very important.” This was rated the highest out of nine economic development initiatives named in the survey. Attracting new businesses had the second-highest “very important” rating at 74 percent, and training and workforce skills development opportunities was third highest at 72 percent.

About 65 percent of adult residents in the region said they are currently employed, which is an increase from 61 percent reported in 2015. However, many of those unemployed (63 percent in Jefferson County, 57 percent in St. Lawrence County and 42 percent in Lewis) are not trying to find a job.

More than three quarters of all the residents surveyed said they are in favor of local governments finding ways to consolidate services if it saves tax dollars. With regard to the current fiscal year budget, the state is mandating that all counties work with municipalities to devise shared-services plans. Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties submitted individual plans to the state for the upcoming year, citing ways to save money through centralizing emergency communications or consolidating local courts.

About one in nine adults in the north country own their own business. And among those residents, about two-thirds do so from home. The report states that this is similar to last year’s statistics, adding that few (a little over 30 percent) have expanded their businesses.

About 54 percent of residents said taxes are the biggest challenge facing local businesses today. Taxes were rated the highest out of eight challenges survey respondents were asked to rate. Coming in second was labor and benefits costs at about 44 percent, and government regulations wasn’t far behind with 42 percent. Affordability and availability of space was the lowest rated, at 10 percent regionwide.

Satisfaction with local air service has also improved. This year, 9 percent of residents regionwide said they are not satisfied with their access to local passenger air service, a decrease from 18 percent in 2015. Residents are also using local airports more frequently than in 2015. This year, nearly 24 percent of residents said they use local airports rather than travel outside the three counties, an increase over 2015’s 15 percent. Conversely, the number of people who said they travel outside the three counties has decreased from 50 percent in 2015 to 42 percent in 2017.

Passenger use at the Watertown International Airport has steadily increased this year. The airport saw the return of 50-seat passenger jets in July, and the service cleared the 5,000-passenger mark for the first time during the month of August.

Health care access has largely remained the same in the eyes of residents since 2015, with 41 percent saying they never travel outside their counties for health care, while 62 percent say they sometimes or always travel outside the area.

In terms of internet access, 54 percent said their access has remained the same, an increase from 48 percent in 2015. Twenty percent (same as 2015) said their internet connection has improved, while 16 said their connection has worsened, a 1 percent improvement over 2015.

MASSENA — Instead of getting dumped into a landfill, one ton of garbage per day at the Massena transfer station will be converted into heat energy and electricity as part of a new research program that involves Clarkson University students.

The two-year pilot project will not cost the county any money, according to County Highway Superintendent Donald R. Chambers. He discussed the project with St. Lawrence County legislators at their Monday night Finance Committee meeting.

The operation is expected to start sometime in 2018 as a joint venture between Clarkson and the company One World Clean Energy Inc., Louisville, Ky.

“It’s basically taking a ton of trash per day at the Massena transfer station and putting it through a gasification system,” Mr. Chambers said. “It converts trash at a chemical level into a synthetic natural gas to run a turbine to create heat and electrical energy.”

There will be no smokestacks and “virtually no pollution,” associated with the system which involves Clean Energy bringing a modular unit to the site, he said.

The unit will be designed to handle 100 tons of mixed waste a day. Roughly 50 tons of trash are processed each day at the Massena transfer station, Dump Road.

“Similar types of equipment are used in Europe and Japan so they are viable,” Mr. Chambers said. “They’re just going through the regulatory requirements in the United States.”

Clarkson students, with supervision from One World Clean Energy, will operate the pilot facility and collect data for the development stage and eventual commercial scale stage, he said.

“The Clarkson students and their professors will basically be using it as their laboratory,” Mr. Chambers said.

County legislators supported the project by authorizing Legislature Chairman Kevin D. Acres, R-Madrid, to sign an agreement with One World Clean Energy.

Legislator Larry D. Denesha, R-DeKalb, said he’s pleased the county is participating in the project.

“Obviously, landfill space is a finite thing,” Mr. Denesha said. “This is an opportunity to take the trash that’s generated and turn it into a product.”

Legislator Henry J. Leader, R-Gouverneur, asked if certain benchmarks will be established to show whether the project is successful.

“I haven’t delved into that level of the study,” Mr. Chambers said.

The system may create a new disposal option for the county.

Mr. Chambers doesn’t believe that any other county in the state operates a gasification system.

“It’s great to be involved in a research project that’s cutting edge,” he said. “This is certainly a big leap forward. I’m very excited about it.”

Some of the leachate from the transfer station may be used as part of the gasification system. Also, byproducts from the system may be used for soil fertilizer or other applications.

LOWVILLE — A Lowville man is facing marijuana possession charges following a year-long drug investigation.

Village police on Thursday charged Kyle W. Smith, 22, Lowville, with two counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of marijuana. He is to answer the charge in Lowville Village Court.

Police did not provide more specifics on the case but said more arrests are pending from the investigation.

More than two days after authorities said a man with apparent allegiance to the Islamic State drove a truck onto a Manhattan bike path, killing eight and injuring a dozen others, the militant group declared that the attacker was a “soldier of the caliphate.”

This declaration late Thursday fell short of claiming that the Islamic State had coordinated or directed the attack, but instead suggested that the rampage was inspired by the militant group. Law enforcement officials in the United States had said previously the suspect appeared to be guided by Islamic State ideology.

Federal authorities charged Sayfullo Saipov, a 29-year-old Uzbek immigrant, with carrying out the attack Tuesday, saying that it appears he was radicalized online sometime after coming to the United States in 2010. They say he chose Halloween to inflict maximum carnage, and he could potentially face the death penalty.

While investigators continue to probe whether he had any communications or direction from any Islamic State officials, that does not appear to be the case so far, law enforcement officials said.

Precisely how the Islamic State responds to attacks can signify its possible level of involvement. After the 2015 attacks in Paris, highly detailed news releases were quickly distributed. But, in other cases, claims of attackers as a “soldiers” will follow only after media reports emerge publicly showing that suspect or suspects had declared their allegiance to the group.

The Islamic State’s claim appeared to have resonated with President Donald Trump, who paused a Friday morning tweetstorm largely focused on domestic politics to announce that the military had increased action against the group.

Trump tweeted: “ISIS just claimed the Degenerate Animal who killed, and so badly wounded, the wonderful people on the West Side, was ‘their soldier.’ . . . .Based on that, the Military has hit ISIS ‘much harder’ over the last two days. They will pay a big price for every attack on us!

It was not immediately clear what action Trump was referring to. It was also unclear how the Islamic State’s claim on Thursday could have had any bearing on military action over the previous two days or whether a response was already underway after the attack.

After the attack Tuesday, authorities quickly turned to terrorism as a motive and said the driver had written notes referencing the Islamic State.

In the criminal complaint filed in federal court, the FBI said Saipov had reams of Islamic State propaganda on his cellphones. Saipov told authorities he was particularly inspired by a video of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi asking Muslims in the United States what they were doing to respond to the killing of other members of their faith in Iraq, the complaint states.

The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has urged adherents and followers to carry out attacks using vehicles such as trucks. As the group has suffered repeated losses on the battlefield and seen its self-declared caliphate shrink, terrorism by vehicle has become an attack of choice for supporters across the world. It has been used to deadly effect in France, Britain, Germany, Sweden, Spain and elsewhere.

Authorities said the New York suspect appeared to have closely hewed to the Islamic State’s guidance for carrying out such attacks. John Miller, the deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism at the New York City Police Department, said Saipov “appears to have followed almost exactly to a T the instructions that ISIS has put out in its social media channels.”

Among other things, Miller said, that included the notes Saipov left behind declaring his allegiance. Court papers say one note, written in Arabic, could be translated in part to read: “Islamic Supplication. It will endure.”

After rampaging through the bike path in a rented Home Depot truck, police say, Saipov crashed into a school bus and got out. A police officer called to the scene shot and wounded him, and Saipov remains hospitalized. In the complaint, authorities said Saipov expressed pride in what happened and asked if he could display an Islamic State flag in his hospital room.

The Islamic State’s claim in this case was not made through the Amaq News Agency, which is linked to the group and often used to assert responsibility for attacks, but was offered in al-Naba, the group’s weekly newspaper, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist activity.

The group has claimed credit in the past for terrorist attacks committed by people who were inspired by its propaganda efforts but did not have any direct connections to anyone in the organization. It also asserted responsibility for the Las Vegas shooting rampage last month, although American authorities quickly dismissed that.

President Donald Trump boasted Friday of his social media influence after his personal Twitter account was briefly deactivated by a departing company employee, raising serious questions about the security of tweets the president wields to set major policy agendas, connect with his voter base and lash out at his adversaries.

The deactivation Thursday sparked deep and troubling questions about who has access to the president’s personal account, @realDonaldTrump, and the power that access holds. The deactivation also came at a time when the social network is under scrutiny for the role it played in spreading Russian propaganda during the 2016 presidential election.

Trump’s account disappeared at around 7 p.m. ET Thursday, when visitors to the page were met with the message, “Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!” For about an hour, even after the account returned, the Twittersphere joked about the short-lived window of history without @realDonaldTrump.

Then, at 8:05 p.m., at the same time Trump was tweeting about tax reform, the company posted a statement saying the president’s “account was inadvertently deactivated due to human error by a Twitter employee.”

“The account was down for 11 minutes, and has since been restored,” Twitter’s statement read. “We are continuing to investigate and are taking steps to prevent this from happening again.”

But two hours later, the company admitted that the deactivation wasn’t an accident at all: A preliminary investigation revealed that the account was taken offline “by a Twitter customer support employee who did this on the employee’s last day.”

Twitter said it was conducting a full internal review.

Early Friday, Trump blamed a “rogue employee” for pulling the plug.

“My Twitter account was taken down for 11 minutes by a rogue employee,” he wrote. “I guess the word must finally be getting out-and having an impact.”

The company has suspended other high-profile accounts in the past for violating its terms and conditions. But there has not been a case where an employee has acted alone to take down the account of a well-known person, seemingly on their own.

A spokeswoman from Twitter said no new information about the investigation would be released Thursday night. It was still unclear who the employee was, how that employee got access to the president’s account and whether any security breaches led to the subsequent deactivation.

Trump tweeted five times Thursday night after his account was reactivated but never mentioned the outage.

The president was aware of the issue, and the White House was in touch with Twitter, said an official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.

“A lot” of employees at Twitter can suspend a user’s account, a former employee of the company told BuzzFeed. But far fewer - only hundreds - have the power to deactivate one. There was some discussion at the company about special protections on verified or high-profile accounts, but that extra measures were “never implemented,” the unnamed source said.

Trump has used the account since March 2009. He has tweeted more than 36,000 times and has 41.7 million followers.

On Twitter, some people made light of the deactivation, while others wondered about the potential consequences of employees who have access to an important megaphone used by the president of the United States.

Ted Lieu tweeted: “Dear Twitter employee who shut down Trump’s Twitter: You made America feel better for 11 minutes. DM me & I will buy you a Pizza Hut pizza.”

Blake Hounshell tweeted: “Seriously, what if this person had tweeted about a fictional nuclear strike on North Korea?”

The president’s use of the social media platform is no trivial matter.

The National Archives has advised the Trump administration to preserve all tweets as presidential records, and a professor at the U.S. Naval War College is worried U.S. enemies could be using Trump’s tweets to build a psychological profile of the president.

Recent @realDonaldTrump tweets about North Korea heightened tensions between the two countries, with Trump threatening that “they won’t be around much longer!” and that “only one thing will work!” In the past, officials in Pyongyang have responded to Trump’s tweets as declarations of war.

In September, Twitter defended its decision not to remove a controversial Trump tweet that some interpreted as a threat directed toward North Korea.

Twitter’s rules prohibit violent threats, some users pointed out, arguing that the Trump tweet fell into that category.

Twitter said it would not remove the tweet or suspend Trump’s account, explaining that the company takes a number of factors into account when faced with controversial user-generated content, including its “newsworthiness” and whether it has “public interest.”

Twitter added that it stands by its commitment to “keeping people informed about what’s happening in the world.”

It was Twitter’s clearest ever explanation for its stance toward Trump, despite repeated calls from some users that the president’s account be banned.

Earlier this year, Kal Penn, the actor and former aide to Barack Obama, urged Twitter to take stronger measures after Trump warned North Korea that the U.S. military was “locked and loaded.” On another occasion, Trump tweeted a video of himself beating somebody up outside of a wrestling ring, with the victim’s face obscured by CNN’s logo - giving the impression that Trump was physically assaulting the news network.

In the past, the company has explained that it “provides a platform for people to engage with and discuss issues of importance, and facilitates a more open exchange of information. We continue to see more leaders, around the world, take to Twitter to communicate with their constituents and engage in a conversation.”

Trump recognizes the power of the social platform.

“Let me tell you about Twitter,” he said in an interview with Tucker Carlson in March. “I think maybe I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Twitter.”

A tool once used by a campaigning candidate to disparage his opponents and rally his supporters is now Trump’s favorite online means of promoting his presidential agenda.

“Twitter is a wonderful thing for me because I can get the word out,” he told Carlson.

On the campaign trail, Trump once described his rapidly growing Twitter following not only as a means to get the truth out, but also as a way to get even with his enemies.

“Someone said I’m the Ernest Hemingway of 140 characters,” he told a crowd in South Carolina, air-typing into a pretend phone. “If someone says something badly about you: Bing, bing, bing! I say something really bad.”

The deactivation comes at a time when Twitter and other technology companies are under greater scrutiny for the way they can be abused.

Earlier this week, lawyers from Twitter, Facebook and Google testified on Capitol Hill as part of the investigation into Russia’s influence of the 2016 presidential election. In public statements, Twitter acknowledged that it had identified 2,752 accounts controlled by Russian operatives, as well as more than 36,000 bots that issued 1.4 million tweets during the election.

On Thursday, Trump used his account to congratulate the Houston Astros for winning the World Series, call on Congress to “TERMINATE” the diversity visa lottery and announce the nomination of Jerome Powell as the next chair of the Federal Reserve.

Trump was back tweeting at 8:05 p.m., praising the day’s “Great Tax Cut rollout” before taking aim at some of his adversaries.

Trump tweeted: “Donna Brazile just stated the DNC RIGGED the system to illegally steal the Primary from Bernie Sanders. Bought and paid for by Crooked H....

“....This is real collusion and dishonesty. Major violation of Campaign Finance Laws and Money Laundering - where is our Justice Department?

“The @TuckerCarlson opening statement about our once cherished and great FBI was so sad to watch. James Comey’s leadership was a disaster”

Though the president did not mention his sudden deactivation, Dan Scavino, the White House director of social media, alluded to the heightened interest in Trump’s tweets.

Dan Scavino Jr. tweeted: “With Trump’s Twitter trending, I thought I would take this opportunity to share his handle, should you not be following.”

WASHINGTON - Three conservative House Republicans are expected to file a resolution Friday calling on special counsel Robert Mueller to recuse himself from his probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, accusing him of conflicts of interest.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who wrote the resolution, accuses Mueller of having a conflict of interest because he was serving as FBI chief when the Obama administration approved a deal allowing a Russian company to purchase a Canada-based mining group with uranium operations in the United States, according to a draft obtained by The Washington Post.

President Donald Trump has often brought up the Uranium One deal in 2010 as a way to accuse Hillary Clinton of potential corruption and foreign collusion, despite scant evidence she was directly involved in the decision to allow it to proceed. Nine government agencies make up the government committee that reviews such deals, along with five other observer agencies; the FBI is not one of them.

The GOP also launched two congressional probes into the matter last month, questioning whether the FBI and Justice Department were looking into Russia’s attempts to influence the U.S. uranium market.

Gaetz wants the deal to be investigated by a special counsel, and he doesn’t think Mueller is the guy to do it.

“Someone who was involved in a deal cannot reasonably be trusted to scrutinize that probe,” Gaetz said in an interview.

Gaetz added that he doesn’t trust Mueller because of his “close personal relationship” with former FBI Director James Comey. Similar complaints have been raised by other Republicans, though there is considerable dispute over whether the Comey-Mueller relationship was primarily professional.

Republicans, including Gaetz, have also called on the Justice Department to better investigate Comey’s conduct in the FBI investigation into Clinton’s emails, a matter several congressional committees are also probing.

As of late Thursday, Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, both members of the House’s conservative Freedom Caucus, had signed on to Gaetz’s effort. A spokeswoman for Gaetz said they expect to pick up more support from the Freedom Caucus, the bulk of whose members signed onto an earlier Gaetz bill calling on the attorney general to appoint a special counsel to look into Comey’s actions.

But Gaetz may struggle to build wider support.

He admitted Thursday that he does not expect any Democrats to support his Mueller resolution. And many Republicans who have questions about Clinton’s role in the 2010 uranium deal still support Mueller’s right to do his job free from political interference.

There have been no reports that Mueller is including the uranium deal in his investigation. Earlier this week, Mueller announced the first charges of his probe against three members of Trump’s campaign: former campaign manager Paul Manafort, his business partner Rick Gates, and campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos.

Gaetz said that he spoke to Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Sept. 28 and asked him to appoint another special counsel to look into the uranium deal, but that Sessions claimed his own recusal from all matters related to the 2016 campaign prevented him from weighing in on the matter. Staffers for deputy attorney general Rod J. Rosenstein, Gaetz added, would not commit to making a decision on his request.

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Friday pressured the Department of Justice - and specifically the FBI - to investigate his former political opponent, Hillary Clinton, ticking through a slew of controversies involving her and the Democratic Party and urging law enforcement to “do what is right and proper.”

Trump’s comments come a day after he said in a radio interview that “the saddest thing” about being president is that he is not supposed to give orders to the Justice Department or FBI. The president said he was “very frustrated” that he could not be involved with those agencies, and said it was “very discouraging to me” that they were not “going after Hillary Clinton.”

“Hopefully they are doing something and at some point, maybe we are going to all have it out,” Trump said Thursday on “The Larry O’Connor Show.”

Trump has long been annoyed, and at times angry, with Attorney General Jeff Sessions for not taking on Clinton more aggressively and for not better protecting him from the wide-ranging Russia probe led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the president’s advisers have said.

In a trio of Friday morning tweets, Trump claimed there was mounting public pressure for the Justice Department to investigate Clinton. Trump suggested law enforcement reopen its probe of the deleted emails from Clinton’s private server while she was secretary of state, as well as a Russian uranium sale and the international business of Democratic super-lobbyist Tony Podesta.

Trump also raised the Clinton campaign’s joint fundraising agreement with the Democratic National Committee that effectively gave her control over the party’s finances, strategy and staffing before the primaries began, as outlined in a new book by former DNC interim chair Donna Brazile.

Trump tweeted: “Everybody is asking why the Justice Department (and FBI) isn’t looking into all of the dishonesty going on with Crooked Hillary & the Dems . . . New Donna B book says she paid for and stole the Dem Primary. What about the deleted E-mails, Uranium, Podesta, the Server, plus, plus . . . People are angry. At some point the Justice Department, and the FBI, must do what is right and proper. The American public deserves it!”

In a fourth tweet, Trump alleged that “the real story on Collusion” is the fundraising agreement detailed in Brazile’s book. The president appears to be conflating the legal term of collusion with a foreign government, which is a subject of Mueller’s Russia investigation, with the financial arrangement Clinton’s campaign made with the DNC.

This marks only the latest attempt by Trump to use his presidential bully pulpit to influence the criminal justice process. He has delivered off-the-cuff remarks this week recommending punishment for Sayfullo Saipov, the suspect accused of killing eight people with a rental truck in New York. Trump at first said he was considering sending Saipov to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but then reversed course and advocated a civilian trial in federal court for the terrorism suspect he called “an animal.”

In his Thursday radio interview, Trump said, “You know, the saddest thing is, because I am the president of the United States I am not supposed to be involved with the Justice Department. I’m not supposed to be involved with the FBI. I’m not supposed to be doing the kind of things I would love to be doing and I am very frustrated by it.”

Trump continued by referencing a salacious research dossier detailing Trump’s ties to Russia, which was initially sponsored by the conservative Washington Free Beacon and later paid for by the Clinton campaign and DNC, through the Perkins Coie law firm.

Trump said on the radio show, “I look at what’s happening with the Justice Department, why aren’t they going after Hillary Clinton with her emails and with her dossier, and the kind of money . . . I don’t know, is it possible that they paid $12.4 million for the dossier . . . which is total phony, fake, fraud and how is it used? It’s very discouraging to me. I’ll be honest.”

Campaign finance records show that the Clinton campaign paid Perkins Coie $5.6 million in legal fees from June 2015 to December 2016, and the DNC paid the firm $3.6 million since November 2015. But the filings do not detail how that money was spent, so it is impossible to tell how much work was related to the dossier research and how much was for legal services.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. economy added 261,000 jobs in October, meeting expectations that the country had rebounded from damage wrought by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

The jobless rate ticked down to 4.1 percent, and year-over-year wage growth sank to 2.4 percent.

Cathy Barrera, chief economist at the jobs website ZipRecruiter, said economists widely guessed October’s numbers would reflect economic recovery as employees in Texas, Florida and other states hit by the storms returned to work.

The economy lost jobs for the first time since 2010 in September, largely because of the hurricanes, which put parts of Florida and Texas under evacuation orders. The wind and rain closed offices, destroyed homes, totaled cars and flooded roads.

Roughly 100,000 hospitality employees missed paychecks in September, economists estimated. But that was mainly because they could not get to work.

“Quite a bit of the loss we saw last month was not actually people who permanently lost their jobs, but rather people who did not happen to be paid during that period,” Barrera said. “We’ll see those people come back, plus some real job gains.”

Puerto Rico statistics do not appear in the monthly report, released by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Several analysts had expected a return to more typical pace of job growth in October, with about 150,000 new positions, on top of a return to work for the 100,000 affected by Harvey and Irma.

They also predicted higher-than-normal gains in retail, which started ramping up hiring last month for the holiday season.

But spiking demand is likely also clashing with the realities of a tight labor market. Though the need for construction workers has surged in Florida and Texas, employers there have complained about a lack of skilled workers to fill vacant roles.

“There aren’t enough workers to do those jobs,” Barrera said. “You don’t see those extra jobs being created.”

Robert Frick, corporate economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, said it’s harder to collect data during the chaos of a natural disaster.

“In September, the consensus was 80,000 jobs were added, when it turned out to be minus 33,000,” he said. “Nobody has any idea what is going to happen.”

But he said the fundamentals of the job market remained strong.

“Manufacturing is strong,” Frick said. ‘Exporting is picking up. Consumer spending has been maintaining a good level” - all signs the economy is in good shape.

Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, a consumer financial services company in New York, agreed the country appears to be “humming right along,” but cautioned that the economic expansion continues to be uneven.

Some stretches of the Rust Belt are still reeling from the last two decades’ decline in manufacturing work, he said, and many workers in the heartland continue to lack the “soft skills”required to land a good-paying position. Some were also caught in the opioid epidemic.

“Larger cities on either coasts are the magnets for employment,” Hamrick said, “and a lot of places in between are continuing to suffer.”

WASHINGTON - Republican lawmakers face a skeptical public as they embark on selling a major tax overhaul plan with tepid support before its release and most Americans critical of President Trump’s tax restructuring efforts so far, a Washington Post-ABC News poll finds.

A third of Americans support Trump’s tax plan, while 50 percent oppose it, a 17-point negative margin driven by overwhelming opposition from Democrats and skepticism among political independents and people with lower incomes. The poll was conducted Sunday through Wednesday, completed before House Republican leaders released their bill Thursday.

Six in 10 say Trump’s proposals on cutting taxes favor the rich, a perception that has dogged Republican efforts in pursuing tax restructuring for months. That opinion is not fatal, as a similar share said the same about George W. Bush’s tax proposals in 2003, though his 70 percent job approval ratings provided more political capital than Trump’s standing, which is at or below 40 percent in recent polling.

The bill unveiled by GOP leaders Thursday would slash the corporate tax rate from 35 to 20 percent and reduce income-tax rates for most families and individuals. It would also eliminate some tax deductions for businesses and households, while repealing the estate tax assessed when someone dies and their heirs inherit property or other assets worth over $5.49 million.

Support for Trump’s tax proposals is little changed from September, with both support and opposition up marginally and fewer expressing “no opinion.” Three-quarters of Republicans support Trump’s tax plan, while nearly 8 in 10 Democrats oppose it. Among independents, 29 percent support the plan while 52 percent oppose it.

Opposition is higher among Americans with lower household incomes, with 58 percent of those with incomes under $50,000 opposing Trump’s tax plan. Trump’s proposals are underwater, but to a lesser degree, among middle- and upper-income households. Among those with incomes between $50,000 and $100,000, 38 percent support and 46 percent oppose Trump’s plan, while support stands at 39 percent among those with incomes of $100,000, with 45 percent opposing it.

The Post-ABC poll finds most Americans are critical of Trump’s efforts on taxes so far, with 56 percent saying he is doing a “not so good” or “poor” job improving the federal tax system, while 34 percent rate him as “excellent” or “good.” Intensity runs strongly against Trump on this question, with 10 percent rating his performance as “excellent,” while 34 percent call it “poor.”

Overall, 60 percent think Trump’s tax-cut proposal favors the rich, 13 percent think it favors the middle class, 2 percent say it favors the poor, and 17 percent say all groups are treated equally.

Perceptions of which Americans will benefit from Trump’s tax proposals vary sharply across party lines. More than 6 in 10 Republicans believe the plan will either favor the middle class (27 percent) or treat all people equally (37 percent), while 63 percent, a majority of independents, think his proposals favor the rich, as do 88 percent of Democrats.

The Post-ABC poll was conducted Oct. 29 to Nov. 1 among a random national sample of 1,005 adults reached on cell and landline phones with a margin of sampling error of 3.5 percentage points.

CANTON — During a special board meeting Thursday morning, village trustees approved a resolution that authorizes village Superintendent Brien E. Hallahan to issue a request for proposals for the demolition and abatement of MR Bell’s, 30 Riverside Drive.

Trustees Klaus Proemm, Sean T. O’Brien and Carol S. Pynchon were all present at Thursday’s meeting, and all agreed to pass the resolution. Mayor Michael E. Dalton said Monday morning that the meeting was held on short notice because time is of the essence for the remediation efforts.

“Expediency is an issue,” he said. “We discovered that because of the dollar amount that this demolition and abatement was going to cost, we needed to do an RFP and advertise.”

MR Bell’s is at the center of a deal between the village, town, county and state to purchase the property and remediate any contamination on site. As the lead agency on the project, the village will be responsible for demolition of the structure.

The tax delinquent property owes $21,528.15 in taxes, penalties, fees and interest and has drawn interest from the state due to what is thought to be a significant degree of contamination. In July, the village and town each agreed to send letters to the St. Lawrence County expressing interest in purchasing the property.

After the property is purchased, the village will be responsible for razing the structure before any remediation of the site can occur. According to St. Lawrence County Attorney Stephen D. Button, the county is in talks with the state to bear the cost and labor of the cleanup. If a deal can be made with the state regarding cleanup, the county would then agree to sell the property to the town and village.

According to Mr. Dalton, the building contains asbestos, but testing by Atlantic Testing Laboratories shows it is not as significant as anticipated. The village is responsible for demolition and any costs associated with demolition, which includes asbestos abatement. Mr. Dalton said 10 of the 38 samples taken at MR Bell’s contained asbestos.

The lowest cost estimate for abatement and demolition came in at $53,695. Last month, the village approved $30,000 for the project, while the town recently approved the remaining $23,695 for its part in the demolition.

Mr. Dalton said he hopes to have some idea of how the project will proceed at the village’s Nov. 20 meeting.

“I don’t expect the numbers are going to change. I don’t think the players are going to change but we have to at least get this done the right way,” said Mr. Dalton, who also indicated that the county and state were pushing to have the project completed by the end of the year. “Nothing is going to happen until this board is satisfied that this is in the best interest of the village. Not a dime will be spent over and above what has been done to make sure we know what we have.”