ridor Commission, in partnership with the Erie Canalway Heritage Fund, awarded $43,700 in grants to assist organizations with canal-related education, preservation, and tourism projects.
Seven organizations from Albany to Buffalo received funding, including one in Western New York: The Buffalo Zoo (Buffalo), Albany Institute of History and Art (Albany), Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum (Chittenango), Erie Canal Museum (Syracuse), New York Folklore Society (Schenectady), Schenectady Museum & Suits–Bueche Planetarium (Schenectady), and The Public Broadcasting Council of Central New York/WCNY (Syracuse).
“Distributing grants is critical to helping organizations develop new programs or advance their missions, especially in tight economic times,” said Judy Schmidt Dean, Commission Chair. “We are thrilled to be able to fund these worthy projects in 2012.”
“We are extremely proud to be named one of the recipients of these grants,” said Dr. Donna M. Fernandes, Buffalo Zoo President/CEO. “Our goal with the Delta Sonic Heritage Farm is to depict life on a small family farm located along the Erie Canal in the 1850s. Support from the Erie Canalway Heritage Fund, and our partnership with the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, will allow us to develop programming that combines environmental education with Canal history to engage thousands of school children each year.”
The Buffalo Zoo, in partnership with the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, received $5,500 to develop a new education program to focus on the interconnectedness of people, the local environment, and the Erie Canal, both past and present. The program will challenge students to consider how the Erie Canal affected (and continues to affect) not only people and society, but also domestic animals, wildlife, and natural habitats in New York State.
“With the help of these federal funds Western New York’s rich Erie Canal history comes to life in a fun, interpretive way for families,” said Congressman Brian Higgins. “I commend the Historical Society, the Zoo and the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Commission for creating this partnership that will educate future generations of the Erie Canal’s critical role in the great rise of our region.”
“What a unique learning experience students will have through this program,” said Tom Blanchard, Chair of the Erie Canalway Heritage Fund. “Providing this type of hands-on learning for youth will help bring to life the rich Erie Canal history that is all around us in Buffalo.”
SEE BELOW FOR FULL 2012 GRANT PROGRAM AWARD DESCRIPTIONS; PHOTO AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor spans 524 miles across the full expanse of upstate New York, encompassing the Erie, Cayuga-Seneca, Oswego, and Champlain canals and their historic alignments, as well as more than 230 canal communities. Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Commission, in partnership with the National Park Service, collaborates with government agencies, communities and organizations to protect and promote the canal corridor for all to use and enjoy. The Erie Canalway Heritage Fund is dedicated to charitable, educational, and civic purposes within the confines of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.]]>
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Trump folds on Blanche as GOP senators hand him devastating defeat
President Donald Trump conceded Thursday he may pull his own attorney general nominee rather than give two outgoing Republican senators what they are demanding.
Trump made the admission on Truth Social after the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's nomination Wednesday night. The vote was canceled when it became clear two Republicans would block it.
Those two senators — Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) — are leaving Congress at the end of the year.
"Todd Blanche is a STAR, and everyone knows it!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. "He has the potential to go down as one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time."
"I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd's name, if they do not do the right thing, and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office," Trump wrote.
Trump also attacked both senators directly, calling them men "whose political careers have been ended by my action" — a reference to his decision not to endorse them. He added that "both Cornyn and Tillis voted for Merrick Garland," invoking former Attorney General Merrick Garland, a name Republicans cite as a symbol of Democratic overreach.
On Capitol Hill Thursday morning, Cornyn told reporters the situation had taken a turn for the worse. Asked whether Blanche could be confirmed before the August recess, he said the odds were against it.
"It's looking doubtful," Cornyn told reporters, according to NBC News congressional reporter Laura Weiss.
Cornyn said talks with Blanche had been "very constructive" and that he believed a deal was close Tuesday night. But by Thursday morning, something had shifted.
"Other people intervening," he said. He told NBC News congressional correspondent Julie Tsirkin he did not know whether the president himself was standing in the way.
At the heart of the standoff is a settlement Trump's Department of Justice reached with the Internal Revenue Service. The deal granted Trump and his family immunity from tax audits and created a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who said they had been targeted by the government for political reasons.
The fund was later abandoned, but Cornyn wants that abandonment in writing — and wants the audit immunity narrowed so it does not cover future tax filings, according to MS NOW.
"All I want them to do is to confirm what he said in his sworn testimony before the Judiciary Committee, with regard not only to the weaponization fund, but also who is protected from future audits and what agencies of the federal government are bound by the release," Cornyn told reporters, according to CBS News.
The Department of Justice, Cornyn said, had not delivered. "They've simply refused to cooperate," he said, according to The Hill.
As of Thursday morning, Cornyn said he was waiting on a DOJ response to his latest offer and had no meetings or calls scheduled with the White House or the Department of Justice.
