CANTON — A state Labor Department inspection report of the St. Lawrence County Highway Department cites 33 safety violations, 24 of them serious.

Serious violations in the report, released Wednesday, include the lack of a “no smoking” sign on a diesel pump at the Potsdam building, no middle railings on stairways, no blade guard on a band saw, electrical breaker panel switches were not properly labeled or covered with blue tape, a locked side exit in the Russell building, unmarked exits, and an “exit” sign above a men's bathroom door.

Violations are considered serious “if there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result,” according to Labor Department spokesman Joseph B. Morrissey. The only other violation classification is nonserious.

“Ninety percent or more of the items have already been addressed,” said William E. Dashnaw, highway superintendent. “There are a few other items that will be taken care of.”

The inspection by the Labor Department's Public Employee Safety and Health Bureau was conducted in February. State officials said the inspection was routine, but several Highway Department employees said they had lodged complaints with the state because inadequate training was putting workers at risk.

See Thursday's Times for more information.

MADRID — The migrant farmworker who died in a fire at a dairy farm last month has been identified as Mario Antonio Martinez.

St. Lawrence County Coroner James M. Sienkiewycz said Wednesday that arrangements are being made to return the 26-year-old to his home in the country of Mexico.

An autopsy found Mr. Martinez died from smoke inhalation. Mr. Sienkiewycz ruled the death accidental.

Three others were injured in the Feb. 24 fire in a manufactured home at Mapleview Dairy, 307 Jones Road. The blaze, which spread rapidly, started from food left cooking unattended, fire officials said.

Firefighters discovered Mr. Martinez’ body in a bedroom.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Former Gov. George Pataki, perhaps the most popular Republican in New York, is endorsing Rick Lazio in his GOP bid for governor this year.

Pataki is scheduled to make the endorsement Wednesday afternoon in Manhattan.

Lazio is a former congressman from Long Island who has collected endorsements from most Republican county chairmen and many Conservative Party leaders around the state.

Lazio spokesman Barney Keller says Pataki's backing is another indication Lazio has support to, as he put it, sweep clean the dysfunction in Albany.

Pataki, who retired as governor four years ago, is considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. The polls show Pataki has strong support statewide for a return to politics.

Some Time Warner Cable Inc. customers couldn't hear WWNY-TV7 for about an hour Tuesday night.

“The entire north country region was affected,” Mr. Unaitis said. “But the issue was not on the HD feed, only the analog signal was affected.”

A technician was on-site to fix the issue, which affected only WWNY's transmission. That was because it was an issue with a channel modulator that supplies service to that channel only. WWNY is transmitted on channel 4 for Time Warner customers.

“There was an audio issue that we were responsible for,” said Time Warner Cable spokesman Jeffrey A. Unaitis. “We were notified by 6 p.m. and the issue was corrected by 7:15.”

The station had viewers notifying of the problem.

“The calls became really intense around the 6 o'clock news, but we experienced the problem a little before,” said James C. Corbin, program director at WWNY.

The station checked to see that the broadcast feeds had full audio, then contacted the cable provider.

“We monitor the signal from our transmission and it was all okay,” Mr. Corbin said. “Things like this happen — we're all subject to equipment failures.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is pushing a new anti-fraud plan and his top health official is challenging the nation's insurers as the administration cranks up the pressure for a sweeping overhaul of the nation's medical system.

Obama is to speak Wednesday in suburban St. Louis and then travel to northeastern Ohio on Monday, his third health care event in a week. His speech comes as congressional Democrats stand on the brink of delivering the president a dramatic success with passage of his massive overhaul legislation — or a colossal failure if they can't get it done.

As part of the administration's campaign, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sketched out a stark choice for insurers: oppose reform and eventually lose customers, or work with the White House to improve the legislation.

She told insurers in a speech that if overhaul fails, premiums will continue to rise and employers will cancel coverage. She said the industry may make money initially, but "this kind of short-term thinking won't work in the long run for the American people or our health care system. It won't work for you."

Sebelius called on insurers to take the millions they might spend on attack ads and give Americans relief from rising double-digit premium increases, and "instead of spending your energy attacking the parts of the president's proposal you don't like, you can use it to strengthen the parts you do."

Sebelius' plea comes as business groups that oppose the legislation are stepping it up, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announcing a coordinated campaign to spend as much as $10 million on ads, starting Wednesday, saying, "Stop this health care bill we can't afford."

Karen Ignagni, the insurance industry's top lobbyist, said the companies continue to oppose the Democratic bill because they don't believe the legislation will reduce costs. The industry is preparing a list of cost control ideas for Obama.

But Sebelius' speech calmed the war of words between the administration and insurers — at least temporarily.

"I am certainly not here to vilify the hard working employees of insurance companies ... or blame insurance companies for all the problems in our system," Sebelius said.

Ignagni, who has accused the White House of waging a "campaign of vilification," told reporters afterward she appreciated the gesture. "We think now could be the beginning of a change and we could move from vilification to problem solving," she said.

The state Education Department awarded $402,632 to six North County Library System facilities Tuesday for improvements, according to state Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, and Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell, D-Theresa.

The Carthage Free Library was given $311,472 to renovate. The library plans to build ramps, lifts and bathrooms for disabled patrons, install a new heating, ventilation and air condition system and construct a 1,100 square foot addition for a computer lab and community room.

The other awards were:

• $43,800 for the Ogdensburg Public Library to fix its roof and rehabilitate two chimneys.
• $20,888 for the Bodman Memorial Library to build a ramp and bathroom for disabled visitors and expand their children and teen areas.
• $13,750 for the Potsdam Public Library to make a partial roof replacement
• $7,272 for the Canton Free Library, Morley branch, to replace its roof, front door and eight of its windows
• $5,450 for the William H. Bush Memorial Library, Martinsburg, to rebuild its parking lot.

“With libraries facing a possible fifth cut in state aid in two years, the availability of funds for construction are essential,” said Stephen B. Bolton, the library system director, in a statement. “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assemblywoman Russell not only for these grants, but for her sincere support of public libraries.”

Mr. Aubertine added: “Libraries remain an essential resource in our communities and I will continue working to protect funding where we can to ensure these types of quality investments continue.”

PUL-E-CHARKHI, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised the possibility Wednesday that some of the U.S. forces involved in the Afghanistan surge could leave the country before President Barack Obama's announced July 2011 date to begin withdrawal.

Without giving specifics, Gates said, "It would have to be conditions-based."

Gates made the remarks during a visit to a dust-blown training ground in Kabul province where Afghan soldiers come for weeks of training under U.S. and British instruction. British Brigadier Simon Levy told Gates that if NATO countries contribute more trainers, the project to expand the Afghan army will keep pace.

In a press conference with Gates, Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said his country is ashamed to have foreigners assuming its defense, and eager to take over the job. He referred repeatedly to the goal of some handover of responsibility by the fall of next year. The goal is to expand the Afghan National Army to 171,000 by then, and the police force to 134,000.

"I hope by that time we will be able to have the responsibility for the physical security of the country in different regions," Wardak said. "That process will continue as we go further and the numbers increase and our capabilities increase."

Gates said, "We will begin that transition no later than July of 2011, but the pace will depend also on conditions on the ground."

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A new poll shows the percentage of New York voters who say scandal-plagued Gov. David Paterson should serve out his term has edged upward.

The Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday shows that 50 percent said Paterson should serve until the end of his term rather than resign. Another 39 percent said he should resign, with 11 percent undecided.

A Quinnipiac poll released last Friday showed 46 percent of voters said Paterson should complete his term while 42 percent said he should resign. In a poll released earlier last week that number was 61 percent.

The poll questioned 1,454 New Yorkers Friday through Monday. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer accused political opponents Wednesday of trying to exploit the controversy surrounding former Rep. Eric Massa, who resigned from Congress amid accusations of sexual harassment.

"I think there were some people that did jump in and try to use this for political purposes," the Maryland Democrat said in a nationally broadcast interview, apparently referring to critics who embraced Massa's charge that he was pressured to leave by majority Democrats because of his opposition to the health care overhaul bill.

Asked directly if he or any other Democratic leaders brought pressure on the New York Democrat to step aside, Hoyer replied, "No, absolutely not."

But in an interview on NBC's "Today" show, he declined to say whom he was referring to in saying political opponents had tried to leverage some tactical advantage as a result of the Massa scandal.

House Republican Whip Eric Cantor declined to directly address Hoyer's assertion, telling interviewers: "I think I'm a little taken aback and stunned by all of this. I don't know the facts of this at all. I know that the American people are sickened by all of this."

Hoyer said one of his staffers had alerted him on Feb. 8 that a staffer working for Massa had complained of being harassed.

Hoyer said he told his aide that the person making the complaint "needed to immediately bring this to the attention of the Ethics Committee, and I said further, 'If you don't make the complaint, I will.' "

He said he had not discussed the allegation directly with Massa because he thought the ethics panel was the "appropriate" forum for investigating the complaint.