News

NBA:

Byron Scott has been reintroduced to the Los Angeles media after being named the 25th head coach of the Lakers. Scott boldly predicted a quick return to NBA title contention for the Lakers, who are coming off their worst season since moving to Los Angeles. Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jamaal Wilkes attended the news conference for their former teammate, who helped the 1980s Lakers win three championships.

Unlocking to human genome was a tremendous accomplishment…and it really didn’t happen that long ago. Scientists can now map your unique genetic fingerprint, so to speak…paving the way for personalized health care…and perhaps high tech identity theft. Today on the Best Of Our Knowledge, we’ll hear about the challenges of maintaining privacy in the information age.

Then we’ll hear about students going beyond the borders of their own country to find a college or university. And we'll spend an academic minute with a look at the struggle between eco-tourism and industry.

Rockland County’s fiscal picture is looking brighter, according to Moody’s.

Fewer New Yorkers have signed up as organ donors than most Americans, prompting the state to seek help boosting enrollment and shortening its list of patients who die waiting.

A study from Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield shows 22 percent of New York adults in the donor registry, compared with 48 percent nationally.

The study also shows 539 New Yorkers died awaiting a transplant last year while others became too sick and ineligible.

Currently 8,667 people are on New York's list for a kidney and 1,352 for a liver, some waiting more than five years.

Emotions remain high over Gov. Deval Patrick’s offer to temporarily house unaccompanied immigrant children in Massachusetts.  No final decision has been made about where the children would stay, if federal authorities accept the offer.

Gov. Patrick said comments to his office are running as high as three-to-one in favor of his offer to shelter some of the tens of thousands of unaccompanied children who have streamed across the country’s southern border this year. Patrick said he had received no new information from the federal government since he made the offer on July 18th.

  The little known and underfunded Republican challenger for Governor in New York has been getting a boost from incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo’s troubles over alleged interference in an ethics panel. Rob Astorino has been doing his best to keep the controversy, first reported in an in-depth story in the New York Times, alive.

More than a thousand supporters and a few protesters greeted former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who signed copies of her memoir Hard Choices at Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs.

The line outside stretched down Broadway and around the corner. More than 1,000 gathered in the Spa City to greet the former Secretary of State and Democratic U.S. Senator.

Deb Fasser was standing near the back of the line with her daughter.

New York and 12 other states have settled an investigation into improper lending with a court agreement to shut down the company and expected to provide $92 million in debt relief for 17,800 U.S. military personnel.

New York's Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says deceptive practices by Rome Finance Co. based in California and Georgia included failing to accurately disclose charges and interest rates and helping retailers inflate prices, with repayments taken from soldiers' paychecks.

Public perception of casinos among upstate New Yorkers continues to evolve. While new gaming halls will be built, people have become more aware of the long-term positives and negatives they'll bring to surrounding areas. 

A Time Warner Cable News/Siena College Poll out Monday finds a majority of those polled favor building a Capitol Region casino.

Massachusetts lawmakers are hoping to spend as much as $40 million to upgrade the House and Senate chambers at the Statehouse.