Live, Local, and Commercial-Free

Listen now at 89.7FM, 88.1FM in Ithaca, or 91.9FM in Watkins Glen, or using our web player.

Local News: December 5, 2023

– Residents of Ulysses to vote in special election on land purchase for recreational area – Voters in the Town of Ulysses will decide whether to buy 30 acres to become a recreational area in a special election on December 6. The town includes Trumansburg and is a few miles north of Ithaca. The town’s board voted unanimously in June to buy the property on Krums Corners Road.  But enough residents signed a petition for the special election to be scheduled. Tompkins Weekly reports supporters of the purchase say the town needs a recreational area. Some residents oppose it and say the $210,000 price tag is too high and almost double the price…

Now Playing

Reload page to refresh.

Archive Player

ELECTION FEATURE: Ithaca Common Council Ward 3 Candidates

By Celia Clarke

WRFI Community Radio and The Ithaca Voice are bringing you conversations with candidates in the contested Ithaca Common Council races and the mayoral race. I’m Celia Clarke, with Matt Butler Editor-in-Chief of The Ithaca Voice. Today, Ward 3 candidates Pat Sewell and Pierre Saint-Perez. Saint-Perez is the Democratic Party candidate.  Sewell is an Independent running…

Read More

ELECTION FEATURE: Ithaca Common Council Ward 1 Candidates

By Celia Clarke

WRFI Community Radio and The Ithaca Voice are bringing you conversations with candidates in the three contested Ithaca Common Council and the mayoral races. Matt Butler, Editor-in-Chief of The Ithaca Voice questions Ward 1 candidates.  In the first half of the hour, you’ll hear from Phoebe Brown and Zach Winn who are running for a…

Read More

This Week on The Scene: Risa Lieberwitz discusses “Make Cornell Pay” and Academic Freedom

By Chantal Thomas

On October 4th, 2023, a group of Cornell faculty condemned Cornell University’s proposed “payment in lieu of taxes” to the City of Ithaca for falling grievously short of Cornell’s obligations to the public interest. In this week’s episode of The Scene, Risa Lieberwitz, a professor at Cornell’s Industrial and Labor Relations School, places the MakeCornellPay campaign in the broader context…

Read More

Julian Eagle: A Tribute to WRFI’s Very First Youth Radio Volunteer

By JT Stone

At fourteen, Julian Eagle started working at WRFI as the station’s very first Youth Radio volunteer. This week would have been his 21st birthday and this month was the one-year anniversary of his death from Fentanyl poisoning. WRFI’s JT Stone got his start in radio working with Julian. He filed a tribute to a young…

Read More

Latest from the WRFI News Team

Daily features and interviews from our community

Local News: December 5, 2023

By Celia Clarke | December 5, 2023 |

– Residents of Ulysses to vote in special election on land purchase for recreational area – Voters in the Town of Ulysses will decide whether to buy 30 acres to become a recreational area in a special election on December 6. The town includes Trumansburg and is a few miles north of Ithaca. The town’s…

Read More

Local News: December 4, 2023

By Celia Clarke | December 4, 2023 | Comments Off on Local News: December 4, 2023

– New report says New York can’t reach climate goals by 2030 – A newly released report says that New York State won’t meet its 2030 climate goal. The legislature passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in 2019. It requires the state to get 70% of its energy from renewable sources by 2023.…

Read More

Local News: December 1, 2023

By Celia Clarke | December 1, 2023 | Comments Off on Local News: December 1, 2023

– Two Ithaca residents arrested at United Nations protest – Eighteen people were arrested at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations on Thursday. They were protesting the U.S. government’s failure to sign on to the “Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.” Ithaca residents, Teresa and Ellen Grady were among those arrested. Both are…

Read More

Local News: November 30, 2023

By Celia Clarke | November 30, 2023 | Comments Off on Local News: November 30, 2023

– Sierra Club raises concerns about proposed waste facility in Steuben County – A proposed waste facility in Bath would accept sludge and industrial waste. The Painted Post company, Momentum wants to build a facility in Bath that could accept over 100 tons of materials including construction debris, non-hazardous sludges, and contaminated soils. The Sierra…

Read More