radioNOVO News NY News Roundup for August 24, 2026

Good morning.Federal authorities have arrested an Albany woman accused of plotting an ISIS-inspired bomb attack on the New York State Capitol to target lawmakers. FBI agents say thirty-five-year-old Jessica Bowie surveilled the capitol building, purchased bomb-making supplies at a local Home Depot, and communicated with undercover agents. Bowie faces up to twenty years in prison for attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.Lawmakers and law enforcement across New York are demanding Governor Kathy Hochul restore nearly seven million dollars in cut funding for Child Advocacy Centers. The state budget reductions threaten to eliminate or severely curtail forensic interviews and recovery services for child abuse victims by October first, affecting local centers in Steuben, Schuyler, Chemung, Yates, and Ontario counties.New York State Attorney General Letitia James has announced the arrests of seventeen people in connection with a major drug trafficking ring extending across Western New York and Puerto Rico. State officials say the network operated out of barbershops and restaurants to distribute large quantities of cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl throughout Erie, Monroe, Onondaga, and Niagara counties.Upstate health departments are monitoring a growing number of measles cases in unvaccinated residents across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes. Health officials in Steuben, Allegany, Seneca, and Erie counties are working alongside the state Department of Health to conduct contact tracing following new confirmed infections, though leaders emphasize the risk remains low for fully vaccinated individuals.In state politics, the race for New York Governor is heating up as Governor Hochul launches a multimillion-dollar statewide ad campaign focusing on tax cuts and school meal programs. Meanwhile, Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman is making campaign stops across Western New York, criticizing state bail laws and voicing opposition to industrial wind turbine projects along Lake Erie.And a new risk analysis from insurance broker Aon projects that New York employer healthcare costs will rise by nearly ten percent next year. That increase could push average annual spending to nineteen-thousand dollars per employee, marking the fourth consecutive year of near double-digit increases for business owners.For more news, download the radioNOVO app. I’m Codi Gaboff, radioNOVO News, a service of Seven Mountains Media.