Headlines

Ithaca Seeks Residents Input In Search For New Police Chief Ithaca residents can now contribute ideas about their preferences for a new police chief through an online survey. The survey is on the city’s website. The Ithaca Voice reports it’s available in four languages: English, Spanish, Chinese and Russian. The search was reopened after the…

New York Names Communities to be Targeted for Climate Efforts Over 1700 communities across New York State have been designated “disadvantaged” by the state’s Climate Justice Working Group. The list includes several in the Finger Lakes including the cities of Ithaca, Elmira, and Cortland. According to Gothamist, the communities are at the top of the…

Avian Flu Confirmed at Cornell Game Farm The outbreak of avian flu that was suspected at Cornell’s Reynolds Game Farm has been confirmed. According to WSYR, 500 pheasants had died from the H5N1 virus. The remaining 6000 birds were euthanized to prevent further spread of the highly contagious virus. The outbreak is the 14th to…

The city of Ithaca will receive 1.7 million dollars in federal funding to improve its transportation systems. According to Senator Schumer’s office, the funding will be used to develop a traffic signal priority system for school buses, fire trucks, and transit systems. The developments are aimed at making the local systems’s arrival and departure times…

Village Election Results are in for Tompkins and Schuyler Counties Area village elections were held on Tuesday. In the Tompkins County village of Dryden, Democratic incumbents won re-election in three positions. Michael Murphy was reelected mayor with 61% of the vote over his Republican opponent Thomas Corey who got 39%. Jason Dickinson and Thomas Sinclair…

Caroline Broadband Expansion Gets Boost The town of Caroline is taking steps to expand broadband access to its residents. The expansion effort was awarded more than $130,000 from the Tompkins Community Recovery Fund. Caroline is investing additional $330,000 of its American Recovery Act funds toward a feasibility study and partial buildout of broadband. At its…

New Proposal Filed to Expand Ithaca’s Learning Farm The Learning Farm in Ithaca is planning to expand. The organization filed documents with the town’s planning board for a kitchen facility, guest housing, parking areas, and walkways. A proposed second phase would include a welcome center and a juicing and bottling building. According to the Ithaca…

Cornell Hosts Debate on Urgency of Climate Crisis Cornell hosted a debate Friday on the urgency of reducing climate warming pollution. Professor Robert Socolow of Princeton argued that “climate science compels us to make rapid and large reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.” Professor Steven Koonin of New York University argued that it doesn’t. Both are…