James Hansen, retired director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, will give the keynote address at the Rochester Sierra Club’s annual Earth Day environmental forum, which starts at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21.

Hansen has spent three decades warning US and global leaders, as well as the public about the threat of climate change and its link to carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels. He retired from NASA in 2013 to focus on climate activism. He’s now director of climate science, awareness, and solutions at Columbia University's Earth Institute and also works closely with Citizens’ Climate Lobby (City’s interview with Hansen is here.)

The forum will be held Monroe Community College’s auditorium. However, the auditorium seating has all been reserved. Walk-ins may get a sea, on a first-come, first-served basis, if seats become available. The Sierra Club also has an overflow room, where Hansen’s speech will be streamed, but it also has limited seating. Details are available on the Rochester Sierra Club’s website. 


Wegmans and the City of Rochester will hold a public information meeting on the company’s proposal to improve the parking lot at the East Avenue store. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22, in the East Avenue Wegmans’ conference room, near the Market Café.

Wegmans wants the city to convert Probert Street, a one-way between East and University, back into a two-way street. And it wants a driveway from the parking lot onto Probert. Company officials say that the changes will relieve congestion near the East and University entrances. They also say that some drivers have been using the lot as a cut-through between East and University, and that restoring two-way traffic on Probert will help that problem. BY JEREMY MOULE 


The activist group Metro Justice will rally at the April 23 Board of Education meeting of the Rochester school district. The group wants the board to rewrite the district’s code of conduct regarding suspensions.

“Students — specially (sic) those of color, with special needs, those in poverty, English language learners, and LGBTQ students — are being pushed out of the classroom for minor incidents,” says a press release from Metro Justice.

An overly punitive code of code contributes to the school-to-prison pipeline, the group says. Suspensions increase a student’s chance of dropping out, the press release says, as well as being incarcerated.

The rally starts at 6:30 p.m. at the district office, 131 West Broad Street.


Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren will lead a work session to get public input on the city's 2015-16 budget at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21 in the City Hall atrium, 30 Church Street.

Discussion topics include jobs and business development programs; public safety issues such as police body cameras and fire safety programs; and neighborhood issues such as special events, recreation, and library and literacy programs.

The city's is facing a $34.8 million budget gap.

Refreshments will be served and free parking is available on the street and in the Sister Cities Garage, 28 North Fitzhugh Street. BY CHRISTINE CARRIE FIEN 

The Northeast Charters Schools Network will present a talk by Howard Fuller at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21. Fuller is the former superintendent of Milwaukee’s public school system, founder of Black Alliance for Educational Options, and the author of “No Struggle, No Progress.” He is also a strong supporter of school choice and charter schools. He will be at the Radisson Hotel Rochester, 120 East Main Street. BY TIM LOUIS MACALUSO