Wednesday’s Links Worth Clicking

• NY pilot expands organ recovery to at-home deaths
  Families choosing whether to donate a loved one’s organs usually have days to grapple with their decision, all while the patient lies hooked up to machines in a hospital bed…
• Dean tells AP Obama must reclaim progressive base
  Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean has a message for President Barack Obama: Reclaim progressive voters or risk both re-election and the future of the Democratic Party for years to come.
• Syracuse University researchers improve wind turbine efficiency, reduce noise
  SU researchers say tweaking wind turbine blades will increase efficiency.
• Cuomo: Denial is not a life strategy (updated)
  Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo didn’t condemn or blatantly criticize the legislature for its failure to close a $315 million budget gap on Monday, but he wasn’t thrilled with the inaction either.
• Fracking opponents celebrate, turn to Paterson
  Now on Gov. David Paterson’s desk, the measure runs through May 15 and covers the controversial hydrofracking method as well as the more conventional vertical drilling technique.
• State tax revenues rise for third straight quarter
  State tax revenues rose over the summer for the third straight quarter, giving a much-needed boost to beleaguered government budgets.
• Millions of corn kernels block interstate traffic
  A tractor-trailer hauling 22 tons of corn has overturned on an interstate highway in downtown Rochester, carpeting the heavily traveled road with yellow kernels and disrupting traffic for six hours.
• Paying for Regents Exams?
  New York State is considering charging school districts for Regents exams. The proposal says it will cost $5.93 per student.
• Local Jobless Prepare To Lose Benefits
  Today is the last day for Congress to vote an extension of emergency unemployment benefits before millions of Americans begin to fall off the rolls. With New York State’s Labor Department head asking Congress to “do the right thing” just in time for the holidays, WRVO sent Joyce Gramza to find folks who might be directly affected.
• More bad news for Senate Dems: debt
  The Senate Democratic Campaign Committee has more than $107,000 left in its campaign coffers, but nearly $2.5 million in outstanding loans
• Senate passes legislation to boost food safety
  Bill would give government new powers to increase inspections, force recalls.
• Relative says shooters who killed 20-month-old on Syracuse’s South Side targeted baby’s father
  The toddler’s death has spurred neighbors and others to volunteer more information than police sometimes get.
• NY students attempt dreidel-spinning record
  All they want for Hanukkah is a new world record.
• How To Turn Google Translate Into Google Beatbox
  For reasons inexplicable, a “Today I Learned” thread on Reddit has turned into a treatise on how to make Google Translate beatbox for you, among other things.

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