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Local News: May 13, 2024

State Targets ICSD for Improvement Ithaca City Schools have been targeted for improvement under New York’s Every Student Succeeds Act. Enfield and Beverly Martin schools had already been identified as needing improvement. According to the Ithaca Times, the district received the new designation after Dewitt and Boynton middle schools also received poor marks. The state’s report card showed that Black students at the middle schools were disproportionately absent and in need of academic improvement.  Now that four schools in the district have been targeted for improvement its been labeled a “target district.” State law requires target districts to develop a District Comprehensive Improvement Plan. About 18% of New York’s school districts have the…

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Youth Farm Project Celebrates Earth Week with Greta Garrison of the Youth Radio Project

By Felix Teitelbaum

Youth Farm Project participants Stella Sapp-Dietrich and Etienne Exantus and Ray Hage Assistant Director of Cornell’s Science & Technology Entry Program (STEP) with Greta Garrison of the Youth Radio Project on WRFI.

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CREATIVES: New Voices Literary Festival Preview with Raul Palma [AUDIO]

By Felix Teitelbaum

Listen to author Raul Palma in conversation with student organizers April Morales, Emily Trage, Riley Rhoder and Professor Jacob White. The 2024 New Voices Festival runs from April 24-26 at Ithaca College and in your community.  

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Tune in, Turn on, and Take Part! Join Us for WRFI’s Spring “Fun” Drive and Be Part of this Community-Powered Radio Revolution!

By Felix Teitelbaum

What does community radio mean to you? We think this commercial-free, free-form, independent station helps make our listeners lives-and life in our communities-just a little better. We strive to make programing that opens ears, opens hearts, and leads us to ask important questions about our world. Even if it’s just to ask yourself, “What in…

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LISTEN: Freedom of Expression at Cornell – Academic freedom

By Celia Clarke

This is the last of my three stories about freedom of expression at Cornell University this year. Here are links to the first and second stories. The academic theme at Cornell this year is “Freedom of Expression.”  In earlier stories, we reported about the general mood at Cornell around free speech, and students’ opinions about…

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Latest from the WRFI News Team

Daily features and interviews from our community

Interview: The Reverend Billy Talen on shopping, activism, and the end of the world

By Felix Teitelbaum | November 27, 2020 | Comments Off on Interview: The Reverend Billy Talen on shopping, activism, and the end of the world

It’s black Friday, and, as the coronavirus spikes around the country, retailers closely eye holiday spending. Radical performers Reverend Billy Talen and the Church of Stop Shopping blend activism, music, and humor to trace the connections between consumerist culture, climate crisis, and the coming “shopacalypse.” “Reverend Billy Radio – Preacher for the Planet” makes it’s…

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Coronavirus Update, November 27, 2020

By WRFI News Staff | November 27, 2020 | Comments Off on Coronavirus Update, November 27, 2020

A second Covid-19 testing center opened today in Tompkins County.  The Ithaca Voice reports that Cayuga Health Systems is operating a sampling center at 412 North Tioga street on property owned by Tompkins County.  The hours will be 8am to 4pm Monday thru Friday. The new center will operate as a walk-up and will use…

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Area Congregations Together Hosts 2020 Virtual Thanksgiving Service

By Esther Racoosin | November 26, 2020 | Comments Off on Area Congregations Together Hosts 2020 Virtual Thanksgiving Service

  On November 22, 2020, Area Congregations Together, also known as ACT, hosted a virtual Thanksgiving Service.  Suzanne Scholten, one of the organizers of the service, talks about how ACT decided on the theme for this year’s event, “Finding gratitude in hard times: What I learned from the impacts and challenges of Covid-19, economic crisis,…

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Coronavirus Update, November 24, 2020

By WRFI News Staff | November 24, 2020 | Comments Off on Coronavirus Update, November 24, 2020

Watkins Glen School District Superintendent Greg Kelahan announced Monday, November 23 in a phone interview that his district would move to all remote learning starting Monday, November 30.  This is in advance of preparing all the schools in the district for full time in-person learning starting after Christmas break. The Odessa File reports that during…

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