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Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay

Summer Reading Gives Children Academic Advantages

The New York State Assembly Summer reading challenges will begin appearing throughout local schools and libraries for parents and children this month. This brochure, which features a calendar and a space to keep track of reading time throughout the summer, challenges kids to read for at least 15 minutes a day for 40 days throughout the summer months with an adult or on their own.

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Aubertine

Remembering Those Who Made The Ultimate Sacrifice

Memorial Day is an important holiday with a nearly 150 year history here in New York State. It is a time to pause and reflect on the ultimate sacrifice made by so many brave men and women in defense of our way of life. This loss of life should never be forgotten and our thoughts and prayers for our Soldiers should not be limited to just one day.

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Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay

We Deserve Better; Let’s Pass a Budget Already

Because of the lack of respect our leaders have for the law—passing a budget on time—and the lack of true leadership, our communities lost parks, state workers were forced into furloughs, and the Democratic majority staged a “sit-in” at the Governor’s office and played ‘he said, she said’ in the media. As I said, we deserve better.

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Aubertine

Amid Albany Frustrations, Agriculture Is Getting Renewed Attention

With all that is frustrating in Albany right now—the budget deadlock, the lack of an Assembly companion to Power for Jobs legislation, the reintroduction of the farm labor bill—there has been good news. The Senate has passed more legislation to benefit agriculture than any year in recent memory.

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Aubertine

Once-Rare Events Show Progress of Reform

Last week, in this column, I discussed the previous week’s action by the Senate Agriculture Committee in support of farm workers, farmers and consumers through a bipartisan vote to kill the bill in committee. This is one sign that changes I pushed for and helped enact last year have begun to restore the people’s voice in state government.

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