Today’s snapshot of what’s going on locally
Turn to the Community Page today and every day for upcoming area activities and a look at local history.
Senator Jim Tedisco, R-Glenville, and his colleagues in the New York State Senate honored Mary Lyall of Ballston Spa on Tuesday as a 2017 New York State Senate Woman of Distinction representing Tedisco’s 49th Senate District. Lyall has been a passionate and dedicated advocate for finding missing persons and helping families of missing loved ones for nearly 20 years, When their daughter, Suzanne, went missing in 1998, Mary and her late husband, Doug, turned their sadness and desperation into a positive force for change with the creation of the Center for Hope to help other families find missing loved ones and advocate for state and federal legislation and initiatives to better respond to missing person cases. In 1999, the Lyalls helped to get the Suzanne’s Law Campus Safety Act passed in New York to require all colleges in the state to have plans that provide for the investigation of missing students and violent felony offenses committed on campus. Suzanne’s Law was passed on the federal level in 2003 as part of the national Amber Alert bill, requiring police to notify the National Crime Information Center when someone between the ages of 18 and 21 is reported missing, Lyall is now working with Tedisco to pass Suzanne’s Law: The Assault Free School Zone Bill to increase penalties for violent crimes committed on any school grounds.