April 19, 2022 Daily Headlines

This May Bike Walk Tompkins will be hosting “Streets Alive! Ithaca'' a community event on the city’s southside. According to the Ithaca Journal, the event will shut down neighborhood streets to motor vehicles for several hours to allow residents to enjoy various activities. The event is scheduled for Sunday May 1st beginning at 1 P.M. and ending at 5. The route will be set up on Plain Street from the Southside Community Center to Wood Street. Parts of Wood Street and S Titus Ave will also be closed for the event. 

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New York state has approved the first grower licenses for adult use marijuana. According to Syracuse.com, the state Cannabis Control Board has approved 52 conditional cultivator licenses to hemp farmers. Among the approved growers was Enfield Glen Hopyard LLC, a Tompkins based company. Cultivators say they are on track for their first harvest to be ready in five to six months. 

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On Friday, 200 people gathered at Niagara Square in Buffalo to protest Governor Hochul’s handling of a revenue sharing dispute with the Seneca Nation. According to the Democrat and Chronicle, many of the protesters were Seneca Nation members. New York state and the Seneca Nation have been in a years-long dispute over slot machine revenues from casinos in western New York. In January the Seneca nation agreed to make casino payments, but paused the payments when the National Indian Gaming Commission began reviewing the situation. In March, while the nation was still reviewing the commission’s report, New York state moved to seize the funds from the nation. The state also issued a subpoena which froze tribal bank accounts. At the time Nation president Matthew Pagels said the frozen accounts were crucial for Seneca peoples saying the state’s actions held “Seneca people and thousands of Western New York people and families hostage." This led the nation to pay $564 Million to New York state. Protestors went so far as to call Hochul’s actions an act of war. Protesters went on to call for further autonomy for the Seneca Nation.