The Peru Gazette

Source: Health Care Workers Can Return Sooner After Coronavirus: Hochul

Source: Whiteface Mountain Is the Perfect Place to Celebrate the Upcoming Winter Olympics | Travel + Leisure

Source: Prison visitors now need vaccination proof or negative COVID-19 test | Sun Community News DANNEMORA | Following a push by the New York State Police and Benevolent Association and amid rising COVID-19 cases across the state, the Department of Corrections an

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Source: New legislation makes fake vaccination cards a crime | Sun Community News PLATTSBURGH | Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed new legislation to improve the state’s response to the pandemic, including streamlined school access to immunization databases and funding

Source: What’s still accessible in and around Montreal despite new sanitary measures (Updated Dec 21st) – Mountain Lake PBS

December 23, 2021—The Stewart’s Holiday Match Program is showing the true spirit of the holidays with giving; customer donations have reached over $871,000 through Wednesday, December 22nd. That’s over $1.7 million with the Stewart’s match so far, and there’s just 3 days left to collect!

These donations stay local and support local nonprofits.  Funding reaches libraries, arts programming and many school programs just to name a few.

Each week, a different Holiday Match recipient is highlighted, this week, we are featuring Things of My Very Own. This non-profit organization provides crisis intervention services to children impacted by extensive abuse or neglect. The organization also helps children at risk of a child protective services intervention due to lack of necessities. Things of My Very Own has helped children in 11 counties across New York’s Capital Region and surrounding areas.

The Stewart’s Holiday Match Program has no administrative fees and donates 100% of donations received to charities in their market areas. Stewart’s Shops matches each donation penny for penny and dollar for dollar and has been doing so for the past 35 years, raising over $32 million for local charities.

While many other fundraising efforts spend 30% or more on overhead expenses, Stewart’s has no administrative fees and covers all the expenses. This means 100% goes to local nonprofits!

Holiday Match funds are collected from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day in each of the 354 shops. Local children’s organizations are encouraged to apply for funding here. The deadline for submission is January 31, 2022. All groups applying must be locally based, benefit children under 18, and be a qualified, charitable 501c3 organization. A listing of all the local organizations that received funds last season is available online.

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Story features Jim and Jackie Douglass Source: Baby, it’s pink outside: Family decorates tree for breast cancer awareness | News | pressrepublican.com

Source: Officials want more, and timely COVID testing | Coronavirus | pressrepublican.com

Source: Cumberland Head Lighthouse: Worthy of an admiral’s visit | Sun Community News PLATTSBURGH | Standing near the site of New York’s “other” Sept. 11 site today is the privately owned Cumberland Head Lighthouse. This Lake Champlain light is located at the entr

Source: Injured firefighter support measure signed into law | Sun Community News QUEENSBURY | Legislation co-sponsored by Sen. Dan Stec (R,C,I-Queensbury) that adds vascular rupture to the list of injuries covered under the Volunteer Firefighters’ Benefit Law was

Source: Dealing with grief at the holidays | NCPR News

From the office of Assemblyman Billy Jones

During the 2021 legislative session, the New York State Legislature passed three bills called the Pharmacy Rescue Package (A1396/S3762, A5457/S3566, and A7598/S6603) to regulate Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). All three bills have overwhelming support from state legislators, with A1396/S3762 passing the Assembly unanimously and A7598/S6603 passing both houses unanimously.

For decades, PBMs have been the invisible hand behind prescription drug prices and programs, deciding how much to bill the health insurance companies per prescription and how much they will reimburse the pharmacy for dispensing the medications. Since PBMs are not regulated, this has caused PBMs to pocket the difference in what the health insurance companies pay and how much PBMs pay pharmacists- called spread pricing. This often causes pharmacists to dispense these medications at a lost and is negatively impacting small independent pharmacists who face closure because they cannot afford these low costs.

Additionally, PBMs are costing the state millions of dollars every year due to Medicaid coverage. Currently, Medicaid prescriptions are either covered through a Fee-For-Service program or managed care organizations. Managed care organizations work directly with PBMs and has cost the state $605 million from 2016-2019 according to a 2020 report from the Office of the New York State Comptroller because PBMs do not consider federal rebate programs when recommending prescription drugs. A7598/S6603 would require PBMs to follow the same rules as Fee-For-Service so that PBMs have to consider federal rebate programs in their recommendations as well.

“Like many small rural communities, the North Country depends on small independent pharmacists because of the level of trust they are able to build with their local neighborhood pharmacists. PBMs not only jeopardize this relationship by dictating which prescriptions health insurance companies will cover, but also threaten the very existence of these small independent pharmacies because they cannot afford the reimbursement prices set by PBMs. It is unacceptable that the state continues to lose millions of dollars every year due to these practices and I am proud to co-sponsor A7598 and A1396 that will finally regulate PBMs because these bills will preserve patient choice, save the taxpayers money, and help small independent pharmacies continue their important work in our communities. It’s time that the Governor signs these bills and provide this important lifeline to our local pharmacists.”

“Prescription drug middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers have raked in billions of dollars in record profits off this pandemic by doing what they always do: keeping drug prices high, reducing patient choice, ripping off taxpayers and putting neighborhood pharmacies out of business,” said Steve Moore, past president of the Pharmacists Society of the State of New York (PSSNY) and owner of Condo Pharmacy in Plattsburgh. “At a time when few agree on much, Democrats, Republicans, healthcare providers, patients, taxpayers and lawmakers all are urging Governor Hochul protect New Yorkers by signing the Pharmacy Rescue Package.”

“The pandemic has underscored how critical independent pharmacies are to keeping our communities in Clinton County and across the state healthy, and pharmacy benefit managers are putting the lives of our patients in danger every day they remain unregulated” said Dan Bosley, pharmacist and owner of Keeseville Pharmacy in Keeseville and Cornerstone Drug & Gift in Rouses Point. “We are pleading with Governor Hochul to put the health of our fellow New Yorkers over the profits of Fortune 15 corporations and sign the full Pharmacy Rescue Package.”

All three bills have been delivered to the Governor and she has until the end of the year to sign them. Otherwise, the bills return to the State Legislature where they must be voted on again.

Members of the Peru Community Church invite you to their December 24th Christmas Service from 6 to 7 p.m.

Former Official Pays Restitution of Over $58K

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt and Chautauqua County Sheriff James B. Quattrone today announced that former clerk-treasurer of the village of Bemus Point, Jennifer Jaegar, pleaded guilty to the theft of more than $58,000 in village funds.

Jaeger, 39, of Bemus Point, admitted that from 2015 to 2020 she wrote village checks to herself using forged signatures of officials and had village officials sign blank checks, which she then cashed.

“Former Clerk-Treasurer Jaeger disregarded the distinction between public funds and her own pocketbook,” DiNapoli said. “Thanks to our partnership with Chautauqua County District Attorney Schmidt and Sheriff Quattrone, we have held her accountable for her violation of the public’s trust and recovered the stolen funds.”

“This is not a victimless crime,” said District Attorney Jason Schmidt.  “The Village of Bemus Point, like many of our local municipalities here in Chautauqua County, is engaged in an every-day battle to service its residents with precious little money.  Every dollar stolen is a dollar not spent on the community.  Here, we secured full restitution to the Village for the money which was stolen.  The plea resolution was conditioned on full repayment up front, and this is the only reason why a reduction in the charge was put on the table, to guarantee that Bemus Point gets all its money back now, and in one shot, rather than face the uncertainty of pursuing repayment through the civil judgment enforcement mechanisms available under the law.  This was our number one concern.”

Jaeger pleaded guilty to petit larceny, a class A misdemeanor, today in Town of Ellery Court and was sentenced to pay back $58,100 in restitution to the village.

The arrest was a result of a joint investigation between the State Comptroller’s Office, the Chautauqua County District Attorney’s Office, and the Chautauqua County Sherriff’s Office.

Source: Weekend vax clinic brought big crowds and community partnerships | Sun Community News PLATTSBURGH | With a larger crowd than expected, a weekend vaccination clinic among local organizations and pediatricians brought an energetic partnership that wound up g