Corning 2Q profit falls sharply, but exceeds Wall Street forecast

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Corning Inc. said Monday its second-quarter earnings skidded to $611 million from results inflated by a big one-time gain a year ago, but the specialty glass maker still beat Wall Street expectations on resurgent demand for its flat-screen television monitors.

Police: NY driver said she felt sick before fiery wrong-way crash that killed 8

HAWTHORNE, N.Y. — A minivan driver apparently wasn’t feeling well before going the wrong way on a suburban parkway for nearly 2 miles, leading to a fiery wreck that killed eight people, police said Monday.

First Niagara purchasing Harleysville National for $237 million in all stock deal

BUFFALO, N.Y. — First Niagara Financial Group Inc. said Monday it will acquire Harleysville National Corp. for $237 million in an all stock deal — its second Pennsylvania acquisition in four months.

Corning 2Q profit of $611 million exceeds Wall Street forecast

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Specialty glass maker Corning Inc. said Monday it earned $611 million in the second quarter, topping Wall Street’s expectations on a resurgence in demand for its flat-screen television glass.

NY police probe for cause of wrong-way crashes that killed 8 people, including 4 young cousins

BRIARCLIFF MANOR, N.Y. — Authorities are trying to determine how a woman driving a minivan carrying two of her children and three young nieces got onto a suburban parkway heading in the wrong direction, leading to a fiery crash that killed eight people and left a 5-year-old boy severely injured.

4 cousins, a mom, 3 others die in fiery wrong-way crash on suburban NYC parkway

BRIARCLIFF MANOR, N.Y. — A family’s minivan going in the wrong direction crashed into two cars on a suburban parkway on Sunday, killing eight people, including four young cousins and the mother of one of them.

4 kids, 4 adults die in fiery wrong-way crash on suburban NYC parkway; 5 hurt in other crash

BRIARCLIFF, N.Y. — A family’s minivan going in the wrong direction crashed into two cars on a suburban parkway on Sunday, killing eight people, including four young children who were related to each other.

Police: 7, including 3 children, dead in fiery wrong-way crash on suburban NYC parkway

BRIARCLIFF, N.Y. — Police say a three-car crash on a parkway in suburban New York City has killed seven people.

Police: 7, including 3 children, dead in fiery 3-car crash on NY suburban parkway

BRIARCLIFF, N.Y. — New York state police say seven people have died in a three-car crash on a parkway in suburban New York City.

Southwest flight from Connecticut to Florida makes unexpected LI landing

RONKONKOMA, N.Y. — A Southwest Airlines flight headed to Florida had to make an unexpected stop at an airport on New York’s Long Island.

Tougher measures taken along US-Canada border as marijuana and ecstasy smuggling surge

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — The world’s longest undefended border. It’s a catchy yet increasingly imprecise term for the U.S.-Canada frontier, as authorities on both sides ratchet up efforts to curb bustling traffic in illegal drugs and guns.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts climbs 28 percent mostly on gain from Italian tax incentive program

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. said Thursday that its second-quarter profit rose 28 percent as the lodging chain benefited from tax incentives in Italy.

NY judge stays injunction preventing Paterson’s appointee from serving as lt. governor

ALBANY, N.Y. — A judge has at least temporarily stopped a restraining order blocking Richard Ravitch from serving as lieutenant governor of New York.

NY jury rules against free-speech claims of anti-war demonstrators at West Point game

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — West Point officials who ordered anti-war demonstrators out of an Army-Navy basketball game did not violate their First Amendment rights, a federal jury decided Wednesday.

PepsiCo 2nd-quarter profit falls 2 percent as sales slow but still beats expectations

MILWAUKEE — Soft-drinks and snack maker PepsiCo’s second-quarter profit and sales dropped slightly as consumers continued limiting their purchases of soft drinks but bought more snacks as the company promoted larger bags of chips.

Judge blocks NY lieutenant governor appointment made during state Senate gridlock

MINEOLA, N.Y. — A judge has issued an order blocking the appointment of the man New York Gov. David Paterson had named as his lieutenant governor.

NY state, city agree to pay record $540M for false Medicaid bills; whistleblower to get $10M

ALBANY, N.Y. — The state and city of New York agreed Tuesday to pay a record $540 million to settle allegations they helped overbill the federal government for Medicaid services.

Wife of man killed in NY hotel said in 2002 police report he hit her often, broke her nose

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The wife of a man who was killed last week in a suburban hotel told police in 2002 that he often hit her and once broke her nose.

Niagara Falls tourism officials pass on ‘Wonder of Nature’ poll, worry honor might be costly

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Niagara Falls will not be among the “New 7 Wonders of Nature.”

NY police union contends staff cuts to blame for leaving body in street for hours

BRENTWOOD, N.Y. — A stabbing victim’s body was left in the gutter of a Long Island street for at least eight hours, sparking a disagreement between a union and police management over reduced staffing.

Feds charge 3 men in interstate jewelry store robbery ring, 2006 slaying of NY policeman

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Federal authorities have filed conspiracy, robbery and murder charges against three men accused of a $1 million jewelry store robbery that left an upstate New York policeman dead.

New York men who helped build module that landed on the moon still take pride, 40 years later

BETHPAGE, N.Y. — John Devaney and his colleagues weren’t exactly sure what Neil Armstrong would set foot on when he climbed down the ladder of the lunar module to the surface of the moon.

Privileged childhood in Fla. hotel leads to stormy life that ends mysteriously in NY hotel

RYE BROOK, N.Y. — The investigation of a killing in a New York hotel room has widened into Florida.

NY man admits freezing body of his 98-year-old dead mother, cashing her Social Security checks

COLCHESTER, N.Y. — An upstate New York man has admitted he stuffed his 98-year-old dead mother in a freezer so he could keep cashing her Social Security checks.

Police say teen on New York’s Long Island torches BMW because he ‘hated the car’

FREEPORT, N.Y. — Most drivers who don’t like their car either trade it in or sell it. Police on New York’s Long Island said a teenager set his BMW on fire “simply because he hated the car.” Nassau County police didn’t offer additional details on the alleged motive.

NY prosecutor pursues report that passenger drove commuter train on Long Island

MINEOLA, N.Y. — A prosecutor says criminal charges are possible after reports that a Long Island Rail Road engineer let a passenger operate a train bound for New York City.

NY man guilty of hate crime in transgender slaying; only 2nd such conviction in US

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A jury in upstate New York has convicted a man of a hate crime for killing a transgender woman.

Police say teen on New York’s Long Island torched car because he hated it

FREEPORT, N.Y. — Most drivers who don’t like their car either trade it in or sell it.

Pentagon chief Gates says more US troops than first planned may end up in Afghanistan

CHICAGO — The Pentagon’s chief said Thursday he could send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan this year than he’d initially expected and is considering increasing the number of soldiers in the Army.

Witnesses say NY hate crime suspect used anti-gay slur before transgendered victim was killed

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Two prosecution witnesses who were at a New York house party when a transgendered woman was murdered testified the man accused of the killing had directed an anti-gay slur at the victim.