TompkinsWeekly for the week of January 19th

Download the newspaper in Acrobat Format Here Truck Safety Under Scrutiny Last June a truck driver hauling an oversized rig carrying cars made a fateful decision on his approach to the City of Ithaca. At the intersection of routes 13 and 366, the driver chose the latter. Somewhere along the way the driver, uninsured, unfamiliar with the area, and possibly with the American language, lost control of his vehicle while traveling down East State Street and crashed into Simeon’s Restaurant. Full Story »   Wind Farm Moves Forward It’s been a long road, but Black Oak Wind Farm in Enfield is finally close to breaking ground this year. The wind farm will include seven GE 1.7- megawatt turbines, which will generate about 11.9 megawatt of electricity. Cornell University has provided a big boost to the project, agreeing to purchase all of the power generated by the wind farm. Full Story »   County Legislature seeks increased scrutiny of online short-term rental operations page 2 After hearing a presentation from Tompkins County Tourism Coordinator Tom Knipe, the Tompkins county Legislature recently approved a resolution encouraging New York State to address issues related to the growth in short-term online rental services, such as Airbnb. Full Story »   Tracker focuses on animals and habitat page 3 Mammals, unlike birds, can be hard to observe in the wild. Many are active at night and wary of humans. But if we don’t know where local mammals are, we can’t protect the habitat they use. Enter Keeping Track, a Vermont-based organization dedicated to training volunteer wildlife and habitat monitors to aid in conservation. Full Story »   Land Trust adds parcel to Park Preserve page 5 The Finger Lakes Land Trust has announced today that it has purchased 25 acres as an addition to its Roy H. Park Preserve on Irish Settlement Road in the Town of Dryden. This acquisition expands the preserve to 242 acres and helps buffer Six Mile Creek—the source of Ithaca’s drinking water supply. Full Story »   Bluegrass festival returns to Ithaca page 8 The fifth annual Winter Village Bluegrass Festival, running Jan 23- 25, returns to The State Theatre of Ithaca with The Travelin’ McCourys with special guests Mr. Sun featuring Tony Trischka and Darol Anger, bluegrass marvel Michael Daves and fiddler Brittany Haas, and local favorites Richie Sterns and Rosie Newton Saturday Jan. 24, at 8 p.m. Full Story »   Our esteemed film critic bids adieu page 9 In his Gettysburg address, Lincoln predicted “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here …” It’s hard to know if he really believed this, but there’s no doubt it applies to critics. Of all the professions disrupted by the Internet, professional art criticism was an early casualty. With their profit margins under siege, many newspapers and magazines simply eliminated such stories. Once, every daily newspaper employed at least one full-time movie critic from the local community. Now most just print reviews from syndicated, out-of-town “celebrity” critics— if they print them at all. Full Story »   Renters find their comfort zone page 9 Chilly drafts are one way of learning where Arctic air is sneaking into our homes. And bare spots on an otherwise snow-covered roof show us where heated air is escaping instead staying inside to keep us warm. Full Story »