This week, Shane interviews the Executive Director of the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC). Acquario earned his J.D. from Albany Law School and has served in a variety of board director positions and Gubernatorial appointments.

NYSAC is an organization that represents, educates, and advocates for the counties in New York State. NYSAC provides research and education on a variety of issues to county leaders and represents the counties to state and federal policymakers.

This interview focuses on New York's County responses to the COVID 19 outbreak, how the pandemic will influence county budgets, the overall economic impact, regional reopening, and more. 

You can read NYSAC's Special Coronavirus Economic Impact Reports here: https://www.nysac.org/nysac_covid_reports

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This week, Shane and Ben interview Gareth Rhodes. Rhodes is on the state's COVID19 task force where he is working on a range of issues. Rhodes is also Deputy Superintendent & Special Counsel at the New York State Department of Financial Services.

Rhodes is a recent graduate of Harvard Law School and listeners may know him as a former candidate for Congress in New York's 19th Congressional district. 

This discussion covers a range of issues related to the COVID19 pandemic such as testing availability, projections, economic outlook, regional differences in NY, and more.

For information on the COVID19 pandemic, refer to your local county health department or the State Dept. of Health (https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/home)

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This week, Shane interviews the Executive Director of the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern NY, Mark Quandt. Quandt graduated from SUNY Albany with a Masters in Social Work and immediately applied for a position with the food bank. Shortly after in 1984, he was promoted to Executive Director. This interview touches on the role of the Regional Food Bank, how it operates, the impact COVID-19 has had on its important work, and how you can support its mission.

The Food Bank, headquartered in Latham, NY provides food to charitable agencies serving the hungry and disadvantages in 23 Upstate New York counties. It provides 35 million pounds of food a year to about 1000 agencies.

You can help the Food Bank during this incredibly difficult time by donating food and/or money, and by volunteering. Find out more about helping out at their website:
https://regionalfoodbank.net/    .

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For this week's episode, Ben interviews an upstate NY person diagnosed with COVID-19. She gives insight into how the disease has affected her family and lifestyle, what the process looks like, signs and symptoms, the effect on work and income, and more.

Our guest this week has decided to remain anonymous and we support that decision.

For COVID-19 information, please refer to the NYS Department of Health website: https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/home and your local health department.

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For this week's episode, Shane interviews author, consultant, and professor Casey Jakubowski. Jakubowski has earned his PhD from the University at Albany with research into rural school consolidation. Jakubowski is the recent author of "Thinking About Teaching: A Rural Social Studies Teacher's Path to Strive for Excellence" published by EduMatch. This book seeks to "give voice to rural education..." and "to offer educators a "reflective voice to channel their own experiences against and with on their journey." You should definitely consider reading this book if you are a teacher, know a teacher, or care about teaching. Jakubowski also works as a consultant to individuals, start-ups, and medium sized companies to improve dynamics, innovation, implementation, and evaluation.

This interview focuses on his book, rural education in general, teaching during the COVID19 pandemic, rural consolidation of schools, and more.

You can find out more about his book and buy it yourself: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08412Q41C/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
https://www.edumatchpublishing.com/copy-of-strive

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Note: This interview was recorded on March 26, 2020.

For this week's episode, Shane interviews author and politician Adrienne Martini. Martini is the author of "Somebody's Gotta Do It: Why Cursing at the News Won't Save the Nation, But Your Name on a Local Ballot Can" published by Henry Holt and Co., as well as several other books. The book describes Martini's inspiration for running for office and the logistics of actually doing it. She also gives insight into how local government works. The book was featured by the New York Times and shared by Hillary Clinton. After reading the book, you just may be inspired to run for local office yourself. Martini is also District 12 Representative on the Otsego County, NY Board of Representatives, representing Oneonta City wards 3 & 4.
In addition to her book, the interview also touches on the COVID19 pandemic and its impacts, County administrator position, and more.

You can find out more about Martini at her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/martinifordistrict12/

You can find out more about her book and buy it yourself:
https://www.amazon.com/Somebodys-Gotta-Do-Cursing-Nation/dp/1250247632
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/books/review/somebodys-gotta-do-it-adrienne-martini.html
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250247636

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This week, Shane interviews NYS Assembly District 121 candidate Jake Cornell.  Cornell is running as a Libertarian attempting to unseat incumbent Republican John Salka. Cornell lives in Oneida NY where he works in a CBD/Vape store. The interview touches on Cornell's positions on the state budget, education funding, upstate versus downstate, the left versus right, COVID19, his overall campaign, and more. NOTE: This episode was recorded on March 8.

You can find out more about Jake Cornell at his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/JakeCornellNY/about/?ref=page_internal

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This week, Shane interviews NYS Assembly District 122 candidate Joe Angelino. Angelino is running as a Republican to fill the seat formerly held by Clifford Crouch. Angelino is a veteran, former Norwich NY Police Chief, former Norwich, NY Fire Chief, and serves on several local boards. The interview focuses on Angelino's positions on bail reform, gun control, healthcare, and budgeting as well as his overall campaign and background.

You can find out more about Joe Angelino at https://www.angelinoforassembly.com/ or from his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AngelinoforAssembly/ .

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This week, Ben interviews Cooperstown Village Trustee candidate MacGuire Benton. MacGuire is running for his second term as a Democrat. Seeking two available seats on the Cooperstown Village Board are also Republican Mary Margaret and Democrat Joe Membrino. The discussion gives insight into MacGuire's opinions on issues facing Cooperstown, how his campaign is going, and what he is thinking about the COVID19 virus and how it may impact Cooperstown.

You can find more about MacGuire Benton  at https://www.facebook.com/BentonforCooperstown/

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For this week's episode, Ben & Shane sit down and talk about the rapidly developing Democratic Presidential Primary and what that means for upstate New Yorkers. Would our state benefit from an earlier primary? Who will Upstaters support in the primary? How will local Congressional candidates be affected by the top of the Democratic ticket?

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