Republican congressional candidate Dale Sweetland issued a statement Monday critical of the Democratic-controlled Congress for taking a summer vacation while schools struggle with higher energy costs.   "This is disgraceful," said Sweetland, whose rant against Congress was provoked by a story in Monday's Post-Standard citing 30 to 40 percent increases in energy costs for Central New York school districts.

ROCHESTER, NY (2008-08-04) A central New York congressional candidate says he would push federal legislation to ban New York State from passing half of its Medicaid costs down to county governments.  Dale Sweetland is the Republican candidate for the 25th Congressional District, which stretches between Rochester's eastern suburbs and Syracuse.

Dale Sweetland, a Republican, held a news conference last week to call on President Bush and Congress to release millions of barrels of oil from the reserve to lower the price of gasoline.

Nicole Venable lives and works in Washington, D.C., where she is a lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She has no ties to Central New York, and can't vote in the region's upcoming congressional election.  Still, Venable donated $800 this year to Dan Maffei, the DeWitt Democrat running for the 25th Congressional District seat. And she has plenty of company in the nation's capital from those reaching deep into their pockets to support Maffei.

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SYRACUSE -- President Bush is lifting an executive ban on offshore drilling.  The President is calling upon Congress to follow his lead and lift its ban on offshore drilling.  Such a decision may well rest with the next Congress.