This document summarizes a local newspaper. It reports that the number of students opting out of state testing has slightly decreased from last year. Rental housing in the city is deteriorating as the number of units decreases and costs rise. It also discusses the ongoing investigation into the 2014 death of toddler Nayla Hodnett, whose aunt believes signs of abuse were missed.

1. Snow
likely, 29˚
Forecast, Page B6
QUESTION OF THE DAY Today’s Thought
“Your actions, and
your actions alone,
determine your
worth.”
— Evelyn Waugh,
(1903-1966)
Would you vote for Barack
Obama for a third term?
To give your answer, go to
http://www.post-journal.com
www.post-journal.com APRIL 10, 2016
The Sunday Post-Journal
JAMESTOWN, N.Y. VOL 189 NO. 321
To subscribe, call 487-1222
Single copy, $1.50
Thank you
Jesse McIntyre of Jamestown
for subscribing to The Post-Journal.
LIVING
Pg. B1
REGION
Fresco Pizza Champions
Slice Of History Event
A Second Time
In Search Of The Light
And Grace Water Gives
Pg. D1
BY KATHLEEN
HENNESSEY AND
EMILY SWANSON
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — As
many in the United States
hold their noses in the
search for the next presi-
dent, they’re increasingly
warming to the president
they already have.
Buoyed by some good
economic news and a surge
of goodwill from his base of
supporters, President
Barack Obama is seeing his
approval rating rise. That
puts Obama, who leaves
office in January, in a posi-
tion to remain a force in the
political debate at a point in
his final term when some
others faded into the back-
ground.
For the first time since
2013, half of those ques-
tioned approve of the job
Obama is doing in office,
according to an Associated
Press-GfK poll. The survey
found the apparent uptick in
approval extended across
issues, including foreign
affairs, immigration and,
most notably the economy,
where people said they felt
slightly better about their
own prospects and Obama’s
stewardship.
Asked about their opin-
ion of Obama more general-
ly, those surveyed were
more likely to give him a
positive rating than any of
the candidates for president,
Republican or Democrat.
Terry Trudeau, 66, said
he preferred Obama to “all
of them” running for the
White House.
“One of the qualities I
like is he’s been able to
work with other countries
and make deals,” Trudeau
said, citing Obama’s cli-
mate change pacts with
China as an example. “Don-
ald Trump will never be
able to do that. He would
try to bully them.”
Obama’s numbers remain
modest.
Compared with his pred-
ecessors, he’s well above
Republican George W.
Bush, who had about a 30
percent approval rating at
this point in his presidency,
but below Democrat Bill
Clinton’s roughly 60 per-
cent, according to polls con-
ducted by Gallup. Still,
where each of those second-
term presidents largely sat
on the sidelines during the
races to replace them,
Obama is poised to stay in
the game.
See APPROVAL,
Page A6
President Barack Obama reacts while playing
tennis during the White House Easter Egg Roll at
the White House in Washington. Americans’
ratings of Obama are creeping up. More than
half of Americans, 53 percent, have a favorable
opinion and 44 percent have an unfavorable
opinion of the president, according to a new
Associated Press-GfK poll. That’s an
improvement since February, when
45 percent said they rated him favorably.
AP file photo
Improved Economic Outlook Boosts Obama Approval
“One of the qualities I like is he’s been able to
work with other countries and make deals.”
¯ Terry Trudeau
Obama supporter
BY KATRINA FULLER
kfuller@post-journal.com
The local opt-out move-
ment appears to have died
down, according to area edu-
cation officials.
Area superintendents are
reporting a slight decrease in
state testing opt-outs for the
English language arts exams
than those in 2015.
Last year, parents across
the state chose to keep their
students out of third- through
eighth-grade state testing
after citing complaints such
as overtesting, issues with the
testing company, Pearson
LLC, and the connection of
state testing scores to teacher
evaluations.
However, for testing this
year, changes have occurred
which allowed for untimed,
shortened tests, teacher input
on questions and a delinkage
of test scores and teacher
evaluations. Also, the con-
tract for third- through eighth
grade state testing was award-
ed to Questar Assessments
Inc. and the contract with
Pearson LLC was not
renewed.
Falconer Central School
District reported Friday that
119 students in sixth through
eighth grade refused the test,
while 48 students in third
through fifth grade opted out,
according to Steve Penhol-
low, superintendent.
He said the figures were
from the second day of Eng-
lish language arts testing.
Jamestown Public Schools
District reported 30 students
refused to take the state
assessments, said Tim Mains,
superintendent.
“I think most of the folks in
Jamestown want their kids to
take the test,” Mains said,
adding the district had also
taken steps to let parents
know of the changes for the
test. “In Jamestown, people
are overwhelmingly taking
the test.”
He said each school makes
the decision of how to organ-
ize the assessment arrange-
ments.
Mains said Jefferson Mid-
dle School has seventh- and
eighth-graders in the gymna-
sium, but most others take the
test in their own classroom.
A minimum time for test
taking is determined and
teachers will not accept a test
from a student until that time
has passed, he said. After-
ward, if other students are
still working, the students fin-
ished with the test are
allowed to sit and read or do a
quiet activity, Mains added.
See OPT-OUT, Page A3
BY DENNIS PHILLIPS
dphillips@post-journal.com
The number of available houses
for rent has been dropping in the
city while the cost to rent is on the
rise.
According to the U.S. Census
Bureau American Fact Finder
American Community Survey
three-year estimates in 2013, there
has been a decrease in the number
of rental houses in the city by 422,
a 6.2 percent drop. In 2007, there
were 6,774 rental houses in the
city, dropping to 6,352 in 2013.
Patrick Morris, CODE Inc.
executive director, believes the
decrease in the number of rental
housing, some of which had more
than one apartment, is because
most of them have been con-
demned, and have been or are in
the process of being demolished.
He said some of these rentals have
been condemned because there is a
rental housing crisis when it
comes to inadequate plumbing or
incomplete kitchens.
A housing unit is considered to
have inadequate plumbing if it
doesn’t have a toilet that flushes, a
bathtub or shower or hot and cold
running water. A housing unit is
considered to have no kitchen if it
doesn’t have a sink with a faucet, a
refrigerator or a stove or a range.
The U.S. Census Bureau doesn’t
keep statistics on housing units
that don’t have adequate plumbing
nor kitchens.
According to the U.S. Census
Bureau, in 2007 there were 53
houses in the city with inadequate
plumbing. In 2013, there were
185, an increase of 132. In 2007
there were zero housing units in
the city found not to have a
kitchen. In 2013, there were 218
houses in the city considered not
to have a kitchen.
‘‘You can see in the census
data we have a deterioration in
housing,’’ Morris said.
He believes the deterioration in
rental housing in the city is
because of the low vacancy rate.
He said only about 2 percent of
the rental apartments in the city
are unoccupied. He added this
number should be around 5 per-
cent.
‘‘People are choosing to rent
without complete units — without
a kitchen, without plumbing —
because there is nothing else
available to them,’’ Morris said.
With demand high for rentals,
prices are increasing too. Accord-
ing to the U.S. Census Bureau, the
median monthly cost to rent an
apartment in Jamestown was
$503 per month in 2007 and
$601 per month in 2013, an
increase of almost 20 percent.
See HOUSING, Page A3
City Rental Housing Deteriorating, Increasing In Costs
BY A.J. RAO
arao@post-journal.com
Ever since her toddler niece,
Nayla, was abused and tragically
beaten to death two years ago,
Camille Hodnett has urged herself
to look up.
For every time she sees the
large-framed photograph of Nayla
hanging inside her home, she is
again reminded of a cold and all-
too-painful reality, one in which an
innocent toddler from Jamestown
can be murdered and not a single
person is charged, convicted or
sent to prison as a result.
Indeed, Hodnett, desperate for
answers, is not backing down, con-
fronting what she believes is an
impotent justice system and a bla-
tant case of negligence on the part
of those required to report child
abuse.
Red flags, she insisted, were “all
over the place.”
“No one wants to come forward
and say they messed up,” Hodnett
said. “But I think everyone
involved dropped the ball.”
Hodnett directs much of her ire
toward her younger sister — and
Nayla’s mother — Angel.
In 2014, Angel lived with her
children, then 3-year-old Ezra and
16-month-old Nayla, at a 218 1/2
Newland Ave. home. At the time,
Angel was having a rocky on-
again, off-again relationship with
another Jamestown man, then 30-
year-old Tyler Perez, according to
Hodnett.
See INVESTIGATION,
Page A3
Area School
Districts Report
Lower Opt-Out
Figures For ELA
Nayla Hodnett Investigation Continues
JJuussttiiccee IInn WWaaiittiinngg
Pictured is Camille Hodnett looking at framed photograph of her niece, Nayla, in her Jamestown
home. Nayla died of an apparent beating on April 17, 2014.
P-J photo by A.J. Rao
“No one wants to come forward and say they messed
up. But I think everyone involved dropped the ball.”
¯ Camille Hodnett
Aunt of Nayla Hodnett
“People are choosing to rent without complete
units — without a kitchen, without plumbing —
because there is nothing else available to them.”
¯ Patrick Morris
Executive director of CODE Inc.
A – LOCAL C – SPORTS
D – LIVINGB – REGION
Deaths A2
Opinion A4, A5
Scoreboard C6
Chamber B3
Stocks B4, B5
In Years Past B6
Weddings D2
Watershed D4