As lawmakers in the Senate's Judiciary Committee debate the immigration reform bill released last month, farmers in New York State are hoping to find enough workers to fully staff their operations. It's a yearly struggle in New York and nationwide and according to a report by Farm Credit East, more than 1000 farms in New York could close or shrink by two-thirds if immigration laws were fully enforced.

Venezuelans may be used to a dearth of medicine, milk and sugar, but there's a new shortage that's, shall we say, a bit more problematic: toilet paper.

The government of socialist President Nicolas Maduro announced this week that it would import 50 million rolls of toilet paper to meet the growing demand.

"We will saturate the market so the people will be calm," Commerce Minister Alejandro Fleming told the official AVN news agency.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling on Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the subject of a scathing ethics commission report on sexual harassment, to resign from office or be expelled.

In the last several years, about 140 communities across the country have decided to stop added fluoride to their water supplies. In November, the village of Pulaski's water board voted to no long put fluoride in their water. Earlier this week, the Watertown City Council heard arguments that they should do the same thing. Communities like these worry the element could be harming their citizens, corroding their pipes or feel like it's just a government intrusion. This trend comes despite dentists and the Centers for Disease Control calling fluoridation of water a major public health advancement of the last century. Lorraine Rapp and Linda Lowen, hosts of WRVO's weekly health and wellness show "Take Care" recently spoke about this controversial issue with Dr. William Bowen, a dental health expert and professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center, who has also worked for the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC.

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who was front-and-center during the Republican-led impeachment of President Clinton in 1998, is cautioning his GOP colleagues about the risk of appearing to be too eager as they dig into the scandals now dogging the Obama administration.

On Cragslist, he describes himself as "a clean man" with a job and no arrest record, who adds, "I don't like murder." For extra motivation, he promises an open bar.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep.

Kevin Williamson took a stand against annoying cell phone use. The National Review writer attended a musical in New York and says the crowd was disruptive. One woman was Web surfing on her phone, violating theater rules. Mr. Williamson tells Gothamist he complained to the woman. She replied: So don't look. That's when Williamson grabbed her phone and threw it across the theater, an offense for which he says he's glad to go to jail if he is prosecuted.

Friday's major news about the conflict in Syria:

-- "Russia Sends More Advanced Missiles to Aid Assad in Syria."

According to The New York Times, "Russia has sent advanced antiship cruise missiles to Syria, a move that illustrates the depth of its support for the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad, American officials said Thursday."