Latest news with #Rochester-based
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
US brewer FIFCO USA names new CEO
Brewing company FIFCO USA has promoted Gustavo Cornejo to the position of CEO. Cornejo will replace Piotr Jurjewicz, who has been the CEO of the Rochester, New York-headquartered group since 2022. The new FIFCO USA has worked for the company for more than a decade, taking on roles across multiple divisions, including a stint in the US where he led sales operations. Cornejo has most recently been general manager for FIFCO's operations in northern Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico, 'where he focused on strategic growth and operational improvements', the Costa Rica-based group said in a statement. Rolando Carvajal, the group CEO of FIFCO, said: 'I am looking forward to working with Gustavo in this new capacity and I am confident in his ability to push FIFCO USA towards positive business outcomes. 'He is a strategic leader and will bring a fresh perspective towards our business challenges, leveraging deep knowledge of the FIFCO system and a clear understanding of our US business.' Since becoming CEO in 2022, Jurjewicz had prioritised the 'modernisation and efficiency', the FIFCO statement said. Carvajal said Jurjewicz's 'contributions have been significant, and we deeply appreciate his continued dedication to a seamless transition'. Commenting on his new role, Cornejo added: 'I will spend the next 100 days immersing myself in the business and working with partners internally and externally to shape a forward-looking strategy, which I am excited to share once this process is complete.' FIFCO USA caters as the US importer for Costa Rica's Imperial beer and operates the Rochester-based Genesee Brewery. The company holds the US distribution rights for Anheuser-Busch InBev's Labatt brand, It provides contract manufacturing for alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage companies. "US brewer FIFCO USA names new CEO " was originally created and published by Just Drinks, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Rochester-based organization providing aid to Haiti reacts to international travel ban
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) – The Trump administration has imposed a travel ban on 12 countries, which took effect Monday. The ban is prohibiting those primarily in Africa and the Middle East from entering the U.S. out of concerns of national security and terrorism. Haiti is among the countries affected. News 8 spoke to the leader of one local organization overseeing mission work there for years. Dr. Ralph Pennino co-founded Intervol in the late 80s and for more than three decades, the Rochester-based organization has helped to provide countless medical supplies and equipment in developing countries each year. In 2017, Dr. Pennino helped to create a school in Leogane, Haiti, which is not far from the country's capital of Port-Au-Prince. 'Right now, we've got grades 1 through 9. These are kids that wouldn't have a choice in education otherwise,' said Dr. Pennino. Regarding the travel ban, Dr. Pennino says the future of volunteerism is unclear. With a population plagued by poverty and violence, he says it only makes matters more complicated. 'Haiti, interestingly enough, has the highest number of volunteers per capita for a population that comes down to try and help Haiti. To be quite honest, there's probably going to be a lot of repair work to do because people are going to be afraid. And I understand. They're not going to go want to go there,' said Dr. Pennino. Catholic Charities closing certain refugee resettlement programs While there's no immediate answer as to when the travel ban will lift, Intervol continues to meet with students online for services like medical checkups or educational lessons. 'We'd normally send doctors down that would go to some of the remote villages to do primary care and the surgeons would go to part of the hospital. That part of what we do, I don't know how long it's going to be,' said Dr. Pennino. Dr. Pennino added for the first time in the Haitian school's history, their ninth graders are about to complete their national exams. He says that has been a positive in the midst of uncertainty. More information on ways to donate or help support Intervol's cause in Haiti can be found here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rochester nonprofit ends refugee resettlement program following federal immigration freeze
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) – Catholic Charities, a Rochester-based nonprofit, has had to end its refugee resettlement program and other related services following changes to the federal immigration policy. News 8 has learned that about 800 refugees who would have relocated to Rochester through the organization are no longer able to, as the agency is losing capacity to resettle the population over the federal freeze. That freeze, which started in January, has halted refugee resettlement and immigration programs across the country and has forced some locally-based programs to make adjustments. Immediately after the freeze took place, representatives for Catholic Charities say the nonprofit chose to raise funds and underwrite costs for existing clients. In April, their contractor agency ended its relationship with the Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, which left the organization no choice but to cut the primary program and other specialized services for refugee families. 'The main change is to our refugee resettlement program. Before the main freeze and last year in 2024, we welcomed 1,100 refugees in our community through Catholic Charities. We're unfortunately no longer able to do that because of the federal pause on refugee resettlement. What that means for us is we're losing that capacity to resettle refugees. We've lost staff as well in this process. We've had to reduce staff in a few layoffs, but we've been very successful with moving many of our people into other positions in the department or agency,' said Jim Morris, who serves as vice president for family prosperity programs at Catholic Charities. Morris added the agency is committed to working with families on next steps in the midst of uncertainty. 'What's very important to us is to maintain the capacity to assist refugees that are already here. We're doing that through programs like our refugee employment program, which places hundreds of refugees to work in our community every year. These closures are not of our own design or desire. We have had closures and funds frozen. If it were up to us, of course we would keep these programs open,' said Morris. Morris noted these changes at the federal level were seen in President Trump's first term, but says the results were not as severe. 'This time around, there's been a complete halt to refugee settlement. There was a promised review from the administration 90 days after that halt. We have not seen a review and we are not sure that exists. That report was supposed to describe the conditions under which refugee resettlement would continue. We're still not sure that is going to happen,' said Morris. In part of a statement, Catholic Charities representatives added, 'Despite these changes, CCFCS is still delivering a wide range of refugee and immigration services, including job preparation and placement, post-resettlement integration and self-sufficiency services, refugee health, and legal immigration services. If the federal administration decides to restart the admission of refugees to the U.S., CCFCS stands ready to resume that work as well. The Greater Rochester region has a long history of embracing refugees from around the world. CCFCS is proud of the role we play in this work. As we move forward, we remain most grateful for the community's support of our mission.' Meanwhile, Keeping Our Promise, a Rochester-based 501(c)(3) resettlement organization, has helped to resettle 181 individuals from Afghanistan since the federal freeze took effect in January. A spokesperson for the organization added, 'Thanks to grants from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation and the Asian American Federation, we are able to cover staff salaries. A United Way grant, and a grant from the Greater Rochester Health Foundation, is helping to cover the loss in some of the resettlement funds that would leave these families homeless and without food, but KOP must raise money to help with the resettlement of our wartime allies from Afghanistan.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Yahoo
Rochester man found himself in the middle of the trial of the century
May 24—ROCHESTER — The nation was embroiled over the death of George Floyd for about three months when Mike Pruett got the call to bring his skills to the case. Pruett, founder and CEO of MLT Group, a Rochester-based digital marketing firm, was hired by the defense team to analyze and enhance video that was a key part of the case against then-Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The high-profile case was not the first time Pruett has been called upon to examine video evidence, often manipulating the video to show evidence that might not be readily visible. "Eric (Nelson, defense attorney) called me," Pruett said. "I'd worked for him before." The biggest case he'd ever worked on — Pruett has provided video analysis on many murder cases, though none with the national profile of the Chauvin murder trial — came with hours of video evidence. "There was the Chinese restaurant (across the street from Cup Foods), the convenience store, all the bodycams, the street cameras and all the people with iPhones," Pruett said. For Pruett, the evidence started with body camera footage from one of the two officers who first responded to the scene — J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane — as they arrived at Cup Foods responding to a call that someone was passing counterfeit $20 bills. That accusation led officers to Floyd, who was parked across the street. The longest video — one of the police body camera videos — ran in length for about half an hour until Floyd was placed in the back of an ambulance and taken away, Pruett said. Some of the cell phone videos run closer to 10 minutes. All told, Pruett said, he watched several hours of video showing the same 20 to 30 minutes over and over again. So much so, that by the time the trial occurred from March 8 to April 20, 2021, Pruett said he didn't even watch the proceedings, only paying attention if he happened to see something in the news. Was any of the evidence he uncovered used in the trial? "What I heard from afterwards, from people, was that a lot of things (I found), they didn't put in," Pruett said. "But that's up to the attorneys." While Pruett said there were several things shown in the video that could be used by the defense or prosecution, what amazes him today was how people know so little about the scene despite it being such a notorious case. For example, when officers first tapped on the window of Floyd's vehicle, they seemed to have woken him up. On top of that, Floyd wasn't the only person in the car. Another man and a woman were passengers. "I've done this for over 25 years," Pruett said. "Doing forensics. Doing video enhancements. Doing slow-mos or stills for attorneys." In total, he said, he's been involved in somewhere between 200 and 300 cases, many in the Twin Cities. His career working on video for trials started when Olmsted County came to him, asking Pruett to digitize the video of a crime scene and make photos from the video. From that early effort, his reputation slowly grew until he began working on cases in the Twin Cities and as far away as Florida and Canada. "What I do is, someone will send me a video — an attorney or a police department — and they'll say, 'This is what we're looking for if you see it,' or 'Can you enhance this area here?' where they have a shot of a gun," Pruett said. "A lot of times the videos are not the greatest in the world. (But) You can enhance the blur to show, yes, that was a gun." Other than family and friends, Pruett said he doesn't talk much about the trial work he does. That includes this case. "No, I kept my mouth shut," Pruett said. "I want to be very objective to this. I try to show that I'm going to look at video and — Black, white, yellow, green, purple, whatever — if they were wrong, they were wrong." And with the proliferation of cameras — quality cameras — in public places, Pruett offers this advice for potential criminals: "People don't realize the amount of cameras that are in downtown Rochester and Mayo. ... So, stay away from Rochester."
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
As New York sees historic decrease in drug-related deaths, concerns rise on possible federal cuts
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) – New York is seeing a historic decrease in reported drug overdose deaths. With threats of looming cuts at the federal level by President Trump's administration, local leaders that specialize in drug recovery and treatment services are sharing their concerns. Recent reporting from the CDC shows New York saw a 32 percent decrease in drug-related deaths in 2024 compared to previous rates in 2023. According to the CDC, approximately 77 percent of those deaths involved an opioid, such as heroin or fentanyl. 'I think we don't really know all the reasons why we see this dramatic decrease. We do know there have been several programs that have taken up more traction. Some of that is the overdose prevention education that the Rochester community and the country have invested in as well as the Naloxone distribution. It's also education around safer opioid prescribing practices, and access to medication like Buprenorphine and Methadone,' said Dr. Sarah Bolduc, chief medical officer for Trillium Health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, drug overdose deaths surged to record levels. With the recent decline comes concern surrounding the uncertainty for continued supports from the federal government. Leaders with Rochester-based Trillium Health and Common Ground Health both say it could put programs backed by those federal dollars in jeopardy nationwide. 'There will be no treatment services available for people who want to get into treatment. There will be no funds to continue the prevention education piece of this, which is very important in our communities. We must keep doing the work until we're told we can't do it anymore,' said Jackie Dozier, director of community health and well-being for Common Ground Health. As both local agencies continue to work to meet the needs of the community, leaders say they are bracing for any possible changes in the future. 'I think we will continue to see more deaths and see less of a decline if we have less programming and support economically for this programming in the community. We believe it's correlated. We know that things like Naloxone work, and having more ready-access and people carrying it just so they can potentially help somebody that's potentially struggling on the street, I think that's very important and all of that takes funds,' said Dr. Bolduc. Last week, hundreds of national researchers and health care providers issued a letter to Congress warning about the 'dire consequences' budget cuts would present for substance use and mental health programs in the U.S., specifically in overdose prevention. More information from New York State on the CDC's latest report can be found here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
