radioNOVO News NY July 22, 2026

Good morning,We begin with major policy moves out of Albany impacting energy costs and tech development across the Empire State. Governor Kathy Hochul has enacted the nation’s first statewide moratorium on new large-scale data centers. The executive order halts state environmental permits for facilities consuming fifty megawatts or more for up to one year. The pause allows state agencies to establish a regulatory framework to protect ratepayers, utility grids, and local water supplies. At a public roundtable in Western New York, residents raised strong concerns over rising electric bills and environmental impacts as state grid operators report gigawatts of pending data center applications.Turning to state security, a Hudson Valley man is in federal custody following an attack outside an immigration court in Lower Manhattan. Authorities arrested forty-three-year-old Andrew Arrabaca, an Army veteran from Poughkeepsie, after he allegedly ignited an incendiary device using fireworks and gasoline outside Twenty-Six Federal Plaza. Officials say Arrabaca carried multiple weapons and an anti-I-C-E sign before being tackled by federal agents. The F-B-I's Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the incident, which left three people with minor injuries.In state legal news, a major Western New York arson case has reached a guilty plea. Forty-two-year-old John Burns pleaded guilty to federal charges for destroying the iconic Old Pink nightclub in Buffalo two years ago. The fire caused over one-point-two million dollars in damage following an altercation outside the venue. Burns faces at least five years in prison at sentencing in October.Finally, for families across the Southern Tier and Western New York, help with back-to-school costs arrives next week. The annual "School Rocks Backpack Giveaway" returns Sunday, July twenty-sixth, at participating T-C-C and Wireless Zone stores, including locations in Elmira, Corning, Hornell, and Bath. Free backpacks will be handed out starting at one p.m. while supplies last.That is your New York State Roundup for this morning. For more news from across the state, download the radioNOVO app. I’m Codi Gaboff, radioNOVO News, a service of Seven Mountains Media.