As a forest wizard, I’ve largely given up social media, and find myself in an annoying position where I can’t yell my opinions into the void with as much ease. Hence, this new post category.
My intention here is to share some news stories (with links to the stories) and share my feelings about them, specifically feelings of how we, as a species, can and should do better.
I am not well-versed in policy or law, and am very open to being wrong about those things. Please correct any facts in the comments, and I’ll edit the post to include them. However, I won’t budge on my ethics and morals.
While this particular post is stories that made me really angry, I also plan to post about positive things, and things that I can be more positively critical of. There is a lot of development going on around the city, and I want to talk about that. For this post, though, the theme is Remember Your Humanity.
Headlines covered in this post are:
- Six confirmed measles cases, 14 presumed infected across upstate NY
- String of malpractice complaints preceded Monroe County Jail death
- Román responds to jail report; GOP questions leadership
- Wife of man killed by sheriff deputies claims 911 failed to relay that her husband was deaf
- City says wife of suicidal man never told 911 operators he was deaf
Six confirmed measles cases, 14 presumed infected across upstate NY
WXXI News | By Beth Adams
Published August 19, 2026 at 3:12 PM EDT
Four NY counties are reporting cases of Measles: Steuben County, Seneca County, Madison County, and Allegany County. Earlier in the summer, Erie County reported two measles cases.
CDC reports that during the 2025-2026 school year, exemptions from one or more vaccines among kindergartners in the United States increased to 4.2% from 3.6% the year before. Exemptions increased in 41 states and DC, with 24 states reporting exemptions exceeding 5%. [source]
While none of these cases are in Monroe county, or any of the directly neighboring counties, those neighboring counties DO share borders with counties reporting infections. It’s not unreasonable to expect measles to show up around Rochester before too long, and that’s crazy to think about.
After Trump appointed the walking leather purse that is RFK jr, my partner and I started getting a variety of vaccines at our local drugstore, including the MMR vaccine (Measles, Mumps, Rubella). It’s astonishing to me to live in a time when the secretary of health, the president, and that entire regime can literally and boldly lie about the safety of vaccines and that’s just like, that’s fine. It’s just an opinion, after all. They’re allowed to have a different opinion of the world!
And, ya know, if the result of their worldview is more dead kids, oh well too bad so sad.
Vaccinate your fucking kids or don’t have fucking kids. Christ.
String of malpractice complaints preceded Monroe County Jail death
WXXI News | By Gino Fanelli
Published August 18, 2026 at 2:49 PM EDT
Monroe County uses a vendor called PrimeCare Medical to administer medical services in its jail, and the state Commission of Correction had recommended the legislative assessment of PrimeCare Medical’s fitness to continue providing health services at the jail after a man died in custody (Brian Harmon).
However, after the death of Harmon (who died of SEPSIS after NINE days in jail), WXXI discovered that at least 10 federal lawsuits have been filed against PrimeCare’s practice in the Monroe County Jail since 2019!
Brian Harmon’s death on Oct. 1, 2023 at Strong Memorial Hospital was attributed to sepsis caused by an advanced urinary obstruction. The state report notes that Harmon was “covered in feces” when admitted to the hospital and his skin was cool to the touch.
In 2025, Sheriff Todd Baxter was asked about PrimeCare. Baxter said the department was “pretty happy” with the provider. “They haven’t done everything perfect, but neither have we, right? In the world of anything. We’re human beings,” he said. “But I don’t have any indicators saying there’s a real big problem here.”
Baxter, by the way, is a truly awful human being who needs to be removed from office yesterday. Unfortunately, the Monroe County Board of Ethics thinks he’s a Really Cool Guy. I think it’s clear that the “Ethics Board” is compromised beyond help.
The WXXI article by Fanelli ends with this damning paragraph:
“In May 2023, five months before Harmon’s death, Baxter’s re-election campaign received a $5,000 donation from Todd Haskins, the chief operating officer for PrimeCare, state campaign finance records show. Haskins appears to be the only PrimeCare executive to contribute to Baxter’s campaign. But it was the largest donation Haskins has made in a New York race and tied with two other donors for the largest single contribution Baxter received in that year’s race.”
Román responds to jail report; GOP questions leadership
WXXI News
Published August 20, 2026 at 9:50 PM EDT
This is a follow-up to the sentence in the above story about the state Commission of Correction sending recommendations to the county legislature to investigate its relationship with PrimeCare Medical.
Monroe County Legislature President Yversha Román says that she received the report via email (she specifies her gmail account, which is weird. Why isn’t a state department emailing your Monroe County email?) in December 2025, reviewed it in January 2026, and that’s the end. She did not even communicate that she received this report or recommendation to the legislature until this story broke.
For some reason, this is being reported on as a political issue. County Republicans and “some” Democrats are questioning Román’s leadership, which is, I think, extremely fair.
“I believe the Legislature’s responsibilities should be carried out through a process grounded in law, appropriate legislative procedure, and sufficient information,” Román wrote. “I do not believe it would be responsible to make a determination regarding the fitness of a medical provider without first understanding the Commission’s authority, the Legislature’s authority, obtaining the relevant information, and allowing for appropriate legal review.”
Republican Conference Leader Sean McCabe criticized Román’s actions, writing that “she made these decisions in a vacuum while the Legislature sat in the dark.” McCabe wrote that Román’s “admissions further raise serious questions about whether the judgment demonstrated throughout this matter is consistent with the leadership this Honorable Body should expect from its president.”
Sorry to agree with a Republican, but yeah, if people dying in the jail you run are dying at an alarming rate, you need to do something about it. Nothing is the one thing you shouldn’t do.
And, in this political climate, I think we should really pause when we find ourselves agreeing with “the other side.” First, because there ARE common-sense issues that impact all of us, regardless of our political affiliation, and second, because Democrats are fucking losing while Republicans burn the country down. This sort of leadership fuck up (and it is, without a doubt, a complete fuck up on Román’s part) could cost the county its democratic majority for generations. Román needs to go right now.
Wife of man killed by sheriff deputies claims 911 failed to relay that her husband was deaf
WXXI News | By Gino Fanelli
Published August 20, 2026 at 3:24 PM EDT
This is such an odd choice for a headline, especially once you read the story and find out that the officer-worn body cam footage is now available online.
In short, Gregory Kase was a profoundly deaf individual who checked into a hotel in Henrietta with the intention of ending his life by suicide. He was communicating with his wife (Bonnie) via text. She knew that he was dealing with significant mental illness, and when she realized that he was in danger of hurting himself, she called 911.
Police arrived at the hotel and hotel staff showed them to the room. Police kicked open the door (were staff unable to unlock it??). Kase, 62, can be heard saying “I’m right here” from the bathroom, which is directly in front of officers, who have their guns drawn (???).
Officers are yelling orders at Kase who keeps saying “what?” and “I can’t hear you.”
He comes out from behind the bathroom door, becoming visible to the officers. He is naked, and in his left hand is a box-cutter. As he begins to slowly come toward the officers, they shoot and kill him. The entire interaction is less than 30 seconds. [Another report says the box-cutter was in his right hand. In the video, it appears to be his left, but the video might be reversed or maybe I’m just wrong!]
Chief Deputy Michael Fowler said “Mr. Kase made a choice. His actions dictated how this incident ended. He had repeated opportunities to put the knife down or stay in the bathroom.”
And yet, the headline is about how police didn’t know he was deaf.
How would that have changed anything? If two 6-year sheriff’s deputies both shot at and killed a naked man with a box-cutter in a visibly wet bathroom in under 30 seconds, what difference could his disability possibly have made?
They already knew he was suicidal. They already knew he was alone in the room. They already knew he was 62.
They fucking killed him anyway.
How any human being can watch that video and find that the cops are in the right is beyond insane to me. This is expressly about the lack of humanity inherent to American police forces, and it’s abundantly clear that Deputies Christopher Piper and Nichole Gorman really wanted to kill a guy. They really wanted to shoot their guns. It’s clear they wanted that from the start. Why else would they have their guns drawn in this situation? All outta pepper spray? Is the taser outta battery? Did you forget how to talk and use your fucking words to deescalate?
City says wife of suicidal man never told 911 operators he was deaf
WXXI News | By Gino Fanelli
Published August 21, 2026 at 2:21 PM EDT
And, because the issue of whether or not deputies knew the Gregory Kase was deaf before murdering him in cold blood without dignity was central to WXXI’s and Gino Fanelli’s reporting, the City of Rochester wasted no time in reviewing the 911 tapes (something that takes a regular citizen months of waiting for FOIA requests) with the express intention of casting doubt on Kase’s widow, and supporting the little-dick machismo that is policing in this country.
The article impotently ends by saying, “In a notice of claim filed Thursday, Shields [attorney to Bonnie Kase] argued that Bonnie Kase had told the 911 operator that Kase was “profoundly deaf.” It also notes that Kase did not make any threatening movement and was standing naked on a wet tile floor when he was shot.”
THAT IS THE END OF THE ARTICLE.
Turns out she was wrong! I mean, also it appears that he was still killed in cold blood, but she was wrong! Yay! It’s so easy to root for the police!
This article is fucking FRONT PAGE NEWS (as shown by the featured image of this post).
I can’t help but feeling that both WXXI and the City of Rochester have lost the plot and are, seemingly, trying to discredit the widow of a man who needed help, but was instead murdered by tax-payer funded employees. How is that not the headline?
If one calls 911 to report someone trying to take their own life, one would assume ambulances and medical professionals would arrive to bandage and treat, not wanna-be tyrants hungry for blood.
Conclusion
To end this post, I want to include the bulk of a letter I sent to my county representative:
I am so upset over the murder of Greg Kase on August 9 by Monroe county Sheriff’s deputies Piper and Gorman.
Now that the body cam footage has been released, we can see that there are roughly 30 seconds between the hotel room door being broken down, the the officers murdering the victim.
I can’t understand how any human being, much less a trained Sheriff’s Deputy, would be afraid of an older naked man in a hotel bathroom with a box cutter. There is literally no reason to have ended a life.
Chief Deputy Michael Fowler said, as reported by Gino Fanelli for WXXI, “Mr. Kase made a choice. His actions dictated how this incident ended. He had repeated opportunities to put the knife down or stay in the bathroom.”
Having watched the footage, this is an insane thing to say.
What Michael Fowler is saying is that his deputies can’t handle any situation, and that you should only call 911 if you want your loved one to be murdered by his employees.
At the VERY LEAST, Piper and Gorman should be fired and receive no benefits. They should be ineligible for work that requires them to carry a fire arm. They have both been on the force for 6 years. They should have been able to handle this with no issue.
Beyond that, Michael Fowler should be fired. His comments are so beyond disgusting, that the entire institution of the Sheriff’s Office is stripped of its integrity, causing the community to lose trust in our public safety infrastructure (this argument is giving their department a significant amount of grace).
Also, Baxter needs to go, but since he’s elected, and pretending to be a democrat, that’s more of a long term goal.
What I’d love you to do, if possible, is to put pressure on your colleagues in the legislature, on the county executive, on anyone in local government to make them realize that this death was not warranted, that Gregory Kase should still be alive, and that we cannot accept public servants wantonly killing us.
Qualified immunity needs to end. We are paying for county employees to, literally, murder people who need help. That is so, so disgusting, and SHOULD be patently unacceptable. Instead, murder by police is now a political position. Either you’re conservative and believe police are always right, or you’re not and you believe murder is wrong. It *is* wrong legally, ethically, morally, and spiritually. It’s entirely wrong to kill a person. Especially if you are meant to protect them.
I’m upset and scared and angry and I don’t know what to do about it. Monroe County deserves better than this. Together, we have to do something about that.
Other stories that caught my eye:
- Greece cancels retiree health coverage for former top official
- Former Republican Deputy Town Supervisor Michelle Marini pleaded guilty last year to felony charges of grand larceny and offering a false instrument for filing. This included having town employees install a water heater in her home. The new Democratic Greece Town Supervisor has canceled her town-paid health coverage (YAY!), but she still receives $5,069.91 per month in pension payments following her resignation. (what the fuck! Republicans steal from you, plead guilty, pay a fine, and then you keep paying them to do nothing. Great plan.)
- Rochester is struggling to police street parties. Is there a better way?
- I can’t help but feel that our “Democratic” mayor has no actual idea of how to impact “street violence.” He’s done a lot of good! But the social aspect is really really lacking in his mayorship.
- Million-dollar improvements planned for Parcel 5
- I’m not a “Parcel 5 Should Be a Park” person. Not that I’m anti-park!! Quite the opposite. However, the weird focus on Parcel 5 (what a name) has completely erased other downtown parks from our collective consciousness. I’m glad this park is getting upgrades (it has the only 24/7 public bathrooms IN THE ENTIRE CITY), but I also want to see significant improvement to other center-city parks. Improvement does not necessarily mean renovation. The Austin Steward Plaza renovation, for instance, for the first time made the Sister Cities Bride accessible, allowing for wheelchairs, scooters, and bikes to pass through the park. THAT is awesome and I love it. The removal of all old-growth trees, the removal of all benches with back rests, and the complete lack of upkeep feels like it needs to be front and center when we start talking about massive park improvements. Mayor Evans has showed us that he isn’t good at improving parks. Why should we believe him now?
- Monroe County ticketed thousands of drivers last year for passing stopped school buses
- Good! If you pass a school bus with their lights on, eat shit!
Resources For Monroe County NY Residents ONLY
Monroe County Find Your Legislators
Find and email your local representatives if anything in this post got you riled up. People always forget to contact their reps and go right for the executive branch. Contact your reps (and city council members) with all your issues. Make them aware of what they need to fight for if they want our votes. Yes, it’s a good idea to contact the Mayor and the County Executive as well, but your immediate representatives are the best and often-overlooked first point of contact.
Contact WXXI
I used mostly WXXI reporting in this post, because the other local news companies are so, so awful. WXXI is at least publicly funded. If you have feelings about their reporting, let them know.
211 Life Line Finger Lakes
Before you call 911, call 211 to see if non-police resources are available. I KNOW it’s a massive pain in the ass to have to manually search for help when an obvious resource like 911 exists. But, we have successfully built a society that is killing us when we ask for help. So it will behoove you and yours to take the time and effort and energy to look harder, to ask for more help. It could save your life.
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