The Daily Record News Briefs: June 23, 2009

Daily Record (Rochester, NY), Jun 23, 2009

Finger Lakes museum receives charter

The Board of Regents of the New York State Education Department awarded a museum charter to the Finger Lakes Cultural & Natural History Museum Project on Thursday.

The project is modeled after the combined aspects of the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake and The Wild Center in Tupper Lake.

Board of Trustees President John Adamski said the Finger Lakes museum "wouldn't have come this far so fast without the help and guidance so generously provided by our friends at both of those institutions."

The board will host an invitation-only event at the New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua on June 25 to celebrate the awarding of the charter and announce a search for a location on which to build. Sixteen different sites already have been proposed by six counties in the Finger Lakes region in an effort to attract the project. They will be announced at the event.

NYSBA: New plan to help solos, small firms

The New York State Bar Association recently issued a report outlining a plan to help solo and small firm practitioners, the largest and fastest growing segment of the association's membership.

The report, written by the Special Committee on Solo and Small Firm Practice, was adopted by NYSBA's House of Delegates meeting, held June 20 in Cooperstown.

The committee is led by NYSBA Past President Robert L. Ostertag of Ostertag O'Leary and Barrett in Poughkeepsie, and was established in August 2008 by Immediate Past President Bernice K. Leber of Arent Fox LLP, New York City.

The report's ecommendations include expansion of online resources, more continuing legal education programming and an annual symposium.

A full copy of the report is available at www.nysba.org/ SSFReport.

New York farmers receive assistance

The Obama Administration awarded two American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants to upgrade U.S. Department of Agriculture research facilities in New York.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack authorized $925,000 for upgrade s to the Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health in Ithaca, and at the Plant Genetic Resources Unit and Grape Genetics Research Unit in Geneva.

"These grants will help improve the state's ability to support our New York farm families and continue to protect all New Yorkers by ensuring that the food we make is also safe to eat," Gov. David A. Paterson said in a statement.

The grants are intended to improve the overall health and safety of the laboratories, enhance energy efficiency and reduce costs of operation.

Another $900,000 in grants also were announced to enhance the competitiveness of New York's specialty crops. The Specialty Crop Block Grant Program is funded through the 2008 federal Farm Bill to assist in the marketing and development of New York's specialty fruits, vegetables, maple, honey and horticulture crops.

Wells: 'Resist diversity fatigue'

An American Bar Association conference on diversity in the legal profession, held last week in Maryland, aimed to expand outreach to persons with disabilities and persons of varying sexual orientations and gender identities.