Latest news with #Molinaro
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Molinaro on Capitol Hill for FTA nomination hearing
(WIVT/WBGH) – Josh Riley's predecessor was back on Capitol Hill today for a nomination hearing to be the head of the Federal Transit Administration. Republican Marc Molinaro is President Trump's pick to lead the agency that oversees regulations on public transportation, including buses, subways and ferries. Molinaro discussed his previous efforts at all levels of government to support transportation issues. He was accompanied to the hearing by the head of the Transportation Workers Union which has endorsed him. Molinaro says transit systems must embrace technology and modernize systems. 'To fully realize this vision, we must drive innovation, streamline permitting, boost performance and fully harness technology to transform how we plan, build and operate transit. A modern, safe, reliable and accessible transit system in urban centers and rural communities underground, over roads and across waterways will advance America and Americans,' said Molinaro. Molinaro, who has been a longtime advocate for disability rights, says he will also work to make public transit more accessible. No word on when he will be confirmed by the full Senate. If confirmed, he plans to continue living in Upstate New York and will commute to DC. Molinaro on Capitol Hill for FTA nomination hearing ICE detainees housed at Broome County Jail Mayor Kraham vetoes Good Cause Eviction law BU art exhibit celebrates Women's History Month BOCES holds annual Job Readiness Fair Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Molinaro heading to Washinton for FTA hearing
(WIVT/WBGH) – Former Congressman Marc Molinaro goes before his former colleagues on Wednesday for a hearing about his nomination to head the Federal Transit Administration. The Republican is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday in Washington DC. His aide released to the media a list of 14 endorsement letters from politicians and organizations. That includes a letter from Democratic Broome County Executive Jason Garnar who called Molinaro a tireless advocate for the Southern Tier who is willing to work across the aisle. Tom Harding: Distinguished Citizen of the Year Woman suing Riverside Towers over emotional support dog Molinaro heading to Washinton for FTA hearing Kaschak Institute for Social Justice for Women and Girls at Rotary Ti-Ahwaga Community Players presenting 'Gypsy' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
10-03-2025
- Science
- New York Times
Think You Understand Your Dog? Think Again.
Dogs can't talk, but their body language speaks volumes. Many dogs will bow when they want to play, for instance, or lick their lips and avert their gaze when nervous or afraid. But people aren't always good at interpreting such cues — or even noticing them, a new study suggests. In the study, the researchers presented people with videos of a dog reacting to positive and negative stimuli, including a leash, a treat, a vacuum cleaner and a scolding. When asked to assess the dog's emotions, viewers seemed to pay more attention to the situational cues than the dog's actual behavior, even when the videos had been edited to be deliberately misleading. (In one video, for instance, a dog that appeared to be reacting to the sight of his leash had actually been shown a vacuum cleaner by his owner.) 'When it comes to just perceiving dog emotions, we think we know what's happening, but we're actually subconsciously relying on a lot of other factors,' said Holly Molinaro, who is a doctoral student at Arizona State University and the first author of the new paper, which was published on Monday in the journal Anthrozoös. That bias could mislead owners about their dogs' well-being, Ms. Molinaro said. People who want to be attentive to their dog's experiences and emotions need to 'take a second or two to actually focus on the dog rather than everything else that's going on,' she said. The idea for the study was born in 2021, when Ms. Molinaro was just beginning her doctoral work in canine emotions but the Covid-19 pandemic had sharply limited her ability to do in-person research. She was inspired by studies that explore how context clues affect people's perceptions of others' emotions. She was also inspired by a distinctly pandemic-era technology: Zoom. The video conferencing software has a feature that blurs out workers' backgrounds. Ms Molinaro and her adviser, Clive Wynne — a canine-behavior expert at Arizona State — began to wonder if they could do something similar, creating videos that allowed people to see a dog's behavior without seeing what was unfolding around it. And so, while visiting her parents in Connecticut, Ms. Molinaro began recording videos of her family dog, Oliver, a 14-year-old pointer-beagle mix, interacting with her father. In some of the videos, Ms. Molinaro's father did things that Oliver was likely to respond to positively, such as show him his leash or a toy. In others, he did things that were likely to elicit more negative reactions, such as gently scold Oliver or present him with Ms. Molinaro's cat, Saffron. ('He was not a fan,' she said.) Then, after a crash course in video editing, Ms. Molinaro made versions of each video that removed all of the situational context, leaving footage of Oliver, alone, on a black background. The researchers asked hundreds of undergraduates to watch both sets of videos and assess Oliver's emotional state in each clip. When the subjects evaluated the original videos, they rated Oliver's emotions as more positive in the positive scenarios than in the negative ones. But when the context was removed, they rated Oliver's emotions as equally positive in both types of situations. Then, the scientists took things a step further by splicing together footage from different situations — showing, for instance, Ms. Molinaro's father presenting a vacuum alongside footage of Oliver's response to seeing his leash. Viewers seemed to be swayed more by the context than by Oliver's behavior. When Ms. Molinaro's father was depicted doing something positive, subjects judged Oliver's emotions to be positive, even if he had been filmed reacting to something negative. 'There's no evidence at all that people actually see the dog,' Dr. Wynne said. 'They seem to have a sort of a big blind spot around the dog himself.' The study has limitations, including that it was based on the behavior of just a single dog. People might also perform better when asked to evaluate the emotions of their own dogs, Dr. Wynne said, and probably would have noticed signs of intense terror or trauma. (The scientists did not subject Oliver to any extremely negative experiences.) Still, he hoped that the study would be a wake-up call for pet owners. 'I'm taking it to heart in my own life,' said Dr. Wynne, who recently adopted a retired racing greyhound. 'I'm making it a project to learn how she expresses herself,' he added. 'Because if I know what makes her happy and unhappy, well, then I can guide her life toward greater happiness.' Sadly, Oliver did not live long enough to see the study published. 'But it's sweet that he's memorialized in this research,' Ms. Molinaro said.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Molinaro nominated to lead Federal Transit Administration
(WIVT/WBGH) – Josh Riley's predecessor in the 19th District appears poised to take a job in the Trump administration. According to the Mass Transit online magazine, Republican Marc Molinaro has been nominated to head up the Federal Transit Administration. The FTA supports transit systems nationwide, including buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, trolleys and ferries, through funding and technical assistance. It has previously invested more than $20 billion a year in transit systems. As Administrator, Molinaro would report to the Secretary of Transportation. During his two years in Congress, Molinaro sat on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. ACA launches rebrand will help of former client Riley backs bill that aims to lower energy costs Molinaro nominated to lead Federal Transit Administration Truth Pharm continues to combat opioid crisis with new initiatives Long-Stay Pet Program helps pets find forever home Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Euronews
15-02-2025
- Health
- Euronews
1 in 3 Europeans have tried illegal substances. Which country is battling the worst drug problem?
Nearly one in three Europeans have sampled illegal drugs in their lifetime, but not every country is alike when it comes to their drug habits or their health impact. Regular drug use is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, mental health issues, accidents, and infectious diseases such as HIV when it comes to injectable drugs. Across the European Union, 15 per cent of young adults have used cannabis – the plant in marijuana – in 2024, while 2.5 per cent used cocaine, according to a recent report from the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Among all adults, cannabis use is highest in the Czech Republic, Italy, France, and Spain, and lowest in Malta, Turkey, and Hungary, EU data shows. Meanwhile, cocaine use is highest in the Netherlands, Spain, and Ireland, and lowest in Turkey, Portugal, Poland, and Hungary. Notably, how tough a country is on drugs doesn't appear to make much of a difference in their availability – at least for young people, according to Sabrina Molinaro, an epidemiologist and research director at the National Research Council of Italy who coordinates the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs. "The major penalties impact only the people who use the substance once or fewer times in a year, so not the real [heavy] users," Molinaro told Euronews Health. Her survey has tracked drug use among 16-year-olds in Europe since the 1990s. She said that generational trends in drug habits are remarkably consistent over time – meaning patterns among today's youth will show up in the adult-level data in a few years. For example, while teenage boys have historically been more likely than girls to use cannabis, that gap has been narrowing in recent years, with girls' use even surpassing boys' in some countries, she said. Other illegal drugs present growing risks in Europe Cannabis and cocaine are the two most commonly used illegal drugs in the EU but other drugs, like MDMA (also called molly or ecstasy), heroin and other opioids, psychedelic substances, and synthetic drugs are growing risks – and Europe is awash with more drugs than ever, the EU monitoring agency said earlier this year. Synthetic drugs – such as lab-made cannabinoids and stimulants – are of particular concern because it is difficult for national authorities to identify the problematic compounds, then ban them and stop traffickers quickly enough, Molinaro said. "They are so dangerous [because] you don't know what you are taking" and because the drugs are often made in low-quality labs with the potential for "pollution," Molinaro said. According to the EUDA, hundreds of synthetic drug labs were dismantled in the EU in 2022, and the next year, its early warning system detected seven new synthetic opioid substances, which are highly potent.
