TompkinsWeekly for the week of April 27th

Download the newspaper in Acrobat Format Here Climate Change Impacts Water Since 2002, the nonprofit Community Science Institute, a certified water quality testing lab in Ithaca, has worked with volunteer groups to collect local water quality data. Full Story »   Town Mulls Zoning Law Changes At the April 16 meeting of the Dryden Town Board, a public hearing on a proposed local law that would amend the town’s zoning law drew a group residents concerned that law could harm the towns anti-fracking regulations. Full Story »   A local diabetes prevention program earns national recognition page 2 The Human Services Coalition (HSC) of Tompkins County has been awarded Full Recognition from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for its National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP). To date it is the only program in New York State to receive this recognition. Full Story »   Women Build Weekend returns page 3 This is the fourth year that Sue Cosentini, owner of Cosentini Construction and New Earth Living in Ithaca, will volunteer at the Women Build Weekend offered by Habitat for Humanity of Tompkins and Cortland Counties (TCHFH). Full Story »   Lansing Village election is on Tuesday page 5 The votes will be easy to tally in Tuesday’s village elections in Lansing, as three candidates are running unopposed for three positions. The ballot includes Don Hartill for mayor and Ronny Hardaway and John Dennis for the two trustee spots. Full Story »   Bird Quest benefits the Land Trust page 8 This year marks the 10th anniversary of Spring Bird Quest, celebrating birds and the Finger Lakes Land Trust’s work to preserve their vital habitats across the region. Full Story »   Cornell Republicans host Carson address page 9 “America is still a place of dreams,” Dr. Benjamin Carson assured a standing room only crowd at Cornell University during his recent talk, “The Change We Need,” sponsored by the Cornell University College Republicans. Full Story »   County Legislature approves law targeting drilling waste page 10 The Tompkins County Legislature on April 21 unanimously adopted a new local law that prohibits in Tompkins County the sale, application, and disposal of waste associated with oil and natural gas exploration, extraction and storage activities. Full Story »

TompkinsWeekly for the week of April 20th

Download the newspaper in Acrobat Format Here Town Targets Tainted Water In the heart of Jacksonville, on State Route 96, lie several vacant lots. Houses once stood on those lots— Greek revival and cottages— where families resided and children played with neighbors. Full Story »   IC Adjuncts File Union Petition Part-time faculty at Ithaca College have filed their petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to join Adjunct Action, a project of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 200 United. Full Story »   Visiting artists/activists help create a tribute to migrant workers page 2 Public works of art can be beautiful, inspiring, informative and promote positive social change. Some do all of these things and more, and that’s the case with a recently completed mural on the walls of The Classrooms@GreenStar at the corner of West Buffalo and North Fulton streets in Ithaca. Full Story »   Charter Days is a towngown celebration page 3 The statues of Ezra Cornell and Andrew D. White face one another across the Cornell University Arts Quad, polarized by time and individual character. Each year, freshly- painted foosteps trace the immortal moment when, as Cornell legend has it, the two founding patriarchs rise from their pedestals, stride stiffly toward one another, and offer congratulations on the continued chastity of their citadel of higher learning—that is, should a virgin cross the quad at midnight. Full Story »   Local heroes recognized by the Red Cross page 8 The American Red Cross of Cortland County and the American Red Cross of Tompkins County honored 13 people and two dogs for their heroic actions during the past year at the fifth annual Real Heroes Breakfast on April 15 at Great Peak Mountain Resort in Cortland. Full Story »   Spring Writes puts the focus on local literary luminaries page 9 Writers, readers and book-lovers will all be busy April 30 through May 3, as the Community Arts Partnership presents the 2015 Spring Writes Literary Festival. Full Story »   The many benefits of composting page 10 Composting turns food scraps, grass clippings and dead leaves into a garden resource. By reusing all the nutrients in organic matter, the compost process diverts refuse from the landfill and creates a reusable byproduct in the process, beneficial to your garden and the planet. Full Story »

TompkinsWeekly for the week of April 13th

Download the newspaper in Acrobat Format Here Questions Linger Over Standoff The Tompkins County community is still reeling from the tragic standoff that transpired from Dec. 30 to Jan. 2 on Hornbrook Road in Danby, which ended with the death of David Cady and extensive damage to the Cady household. Full Story »   Power Plant Payments Proposed A public hearing in the Town of Lansing last week reviewed the Cayuga Operating Plant’s latest amendments to Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) negotiations. The meeting commenced with an hour-long presentation of the PILOT, from its rocky beginnings in 2007 up to the most recent addition of “pop-up payments” that were voted on last week. Full Story »   Grants Help Young Gardeners Thrive Seeds planted in local soil become the produce that sustains us. Full Story »   Downtown community outreach effort gets county’s support page 2 The Tompkins county Legislature has confirmed the county’s financial support for a joint program to provide a Community Outreach Worker for the Ithaca downtown area. Full Story »   On the trail of Typhoid Mary page 3 At the turn of the last century, typhoid fever was one of the top five fatal infections. In 1900 the disease struck nearly 400,000, killing more than 35,000. Ithaca was not immune; during the winter of 1903 typhoid spread among 13,000 residents and 3,000 Cornell students. Full Story »   For young women, an opportunity to learn carpentry page 5 The Youth Farm Project (YFP) is collaborating with the local Hammerstone Carpentry School for Women to provide a class for young women to learn carpentry skills. The goal of the project is to produce a portable farm stand to be used by YFP to sell their produce at various markets around Tompkins County. Full Story »   Parents extol the virtues of KDT page 8 When Kate Supron observed her son’s Cayuga Heights Elementary School classmates read and write letters to their Kids Discover the Trail! (KDT) Ithaca buddies at Enfield Elementary School, she was impressed by the connections made between students from different schools. Full Story » “Marigold Hotel” merits a second visit page 9 The law of Hollywood and its various outposts is that hits beget sequels—especially unexpected hits of modestly budgeted films. Thus “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” arrives with most of its cast intact, a mélange of British pensioners who have landed at a second-rate hotel in Jhaipur, India, that, of course, changes their lives, with new chances for selfworth, work and romance. Full Story »   Lansing business is recognized for its open arms page 10 Unity House has announced that the Lansing Xtra Mart, and specifically managers Jessica Slater-Mejia and Staci Nickerson, has been chosen by Unity House employees as the recipient of the fourth annual Open Arms award. Full Story »

TompkinsWeekly for the week of April 6th

Download the newspaper in Acrobat Format Here Questions Linger Over Standoff The Tompkins County community is still reeling from the tragic standoff that transpired from Dec. 30 to Jan. 2 on Hornbrook Road in Danby, which ended with the death of David Cady and extensive damage to the Cady household. Full Story »   Volunteer Ambulance May Disband The free ride could soon be over for Town of Caroline residents. A personnel shortage in the Slaterville Volunteer Ambulance (SVA) corps, with no relief in sight, may well result in its demise at the end of this year. This, in turn, has forced the town to consider some difficult, and costly, alternatives for providing emergency medical care and transportation to some 3,300 residents. Full Story »   Support network assists fathers in need page 2 The Fatherhood Initiative will begin offering services at the Tompkins County Community Justice Center (CJC) on April 10, providing easier access to a support group and mentoring for those in alternatives to incarceration programs. Full Story »   Global influence gives film festival special appeal page 3 The 18th annual Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) hosted by Ithaca College kicks off Monday, April 6, and runs through Sunday, April 12, exploring environmental sustainability’s economic, social, ecological, political, cultural, technological and aesthetic dimensions. Full Story »   A man of many faces takes center stage page 8 “Black Sheep” written and performed by Darian Dauchan, Kitchen Theatre, www.kitchentheatre. org. Tickets available for the final show in the series, “Mother Land” by Michelle Courtney Berry and “June 16” by Ryan Hope Travis (April 8-12). Full Story »   Soldier’s story is a tale of urban warfare page 9 “’71”, now playing at Cinemapolis, opens with concussive force, sound preceding the image of two British army recruits pummeling one another in an impromptu boxing match as their fellow recruits look on. Full Story »   Ithaca Fringe Festival will showcase a broad array of talent page 10 At the famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland, the largest arts festival anywhere, tens of thousands of people swarm each summer to take in some of 2,800-plus live theatrical shows. While Ithaca doesn’t aspire to that kind of mayhem, from April 16-19 local audiences will be treated to the second and expanded Ithaca Fringe Festival, on and around the Ithaca Commons. Full Story »