Tagged: Charles Schumer

Older Canadians will be able to spend more time in the United States under a proposal floated by New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer.

Right now, Canadians can stay in the U.S. up to six months. Many retired Canadians use up that time at winter homes in the Southwest or Florida.

By creating a retiree visa that would allow for eight months spent south of the border, Schumer is hopeful it will translate into more short trips to places closer to the Canadian border, like the Finger Lakes region.

Syracuse officials are accusing the ownership of three vacant gas stations at a southern entrance to the city of blocking the properties' sale in the name of competition.

On Monday, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner brought in Sen. Charles Schumer to call on Sunoco to allow the sale and redevelopment of the stations near the intersection of Seneca Turnpike and East Brighton Ave.

One of the properties has been vacant more than 15 years.

Entering the city and driving past the rundown properties sets "a bad tone" for the area, Schumer said.

Upstate New York’s newest Greek yogurt factory opened its doors in Batavia, Monday. The factory is a joint venture between Pepsi and German dairy giant, the Theo Muller Group. The Muller Quaker Dairy Plant is touted as a shot in the arm for the dairy industry in western New York.

The 350,000 square foot facility will produce several yogurt products, including the fast growing Greek yogurt varieties. The plant will initially operate three lines, producing more than 120,000 cups of yogurt per hour.

It was January 2012 when Democratic U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer stood in front of an empty building at the old General Electric site in Liverpool and said California-based chip maker APIC Corp. landing a Navy contract and then opening up a fabricator in the building was “all but a done deal."

Long time central New York furniture maker Stickley says it is owed a couple million dollars from the federal government in uncollected tariff fees on international competition.

The company alleges Chinese furniture makers are partaking in a practice called "dumping" -- flooding the market with cheaper products sold at a loss – which drives out competition.

A tariff on Chinese furniture was enacted in 2005. During that time, Stickely earned about $8 million from the fees collected on Chinese products sold in the U.S.

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.

Dairy farms in northern New York and Vermont have faced a major labor shortage, which means that migrant laborers from Mexico and Guatemala are now milking many of the region's cows. But farm country here is not an easy place to be a migrant worker: It's rural, hard to get around, and there's not a big Latino population. But a new law means that migrant workers in Vermont will soon be able to drive legally.

While universal background checks for gun buyers proved to be a death knell in the latest attempt to pass gun control legislation in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Charles Schumer is hoping a tightening up of current background checks is on the horizon.

Sen. Charles Schumer is continuing his assault on the misuse of prescription drugs with a proposal to tighten control over the painkiller hydrocodone.

Business leaders are joining with several New York members of Congress who oppose the idea of introducing a fee for visitors crossing the border into the U.S., citing the importance of Canadians to upstate New York’s economy.

Small businesses from around the state took their concerns to legislators in Albany Wednesday. The message from leaders in the agricultural industry particularly highlighted the need for reforms to support small farms, and boost local economies upstate.