TompkinsWeekly for the week of October 12th

Download the newspaper in Acrobat Format Here Plastics Pollution Targeted Later this month, the Tompkins County legislature could take up legislation to locally ban the sale of products containing microbeads—tiny plastic beads used as abrasives in personal care products such as toothpaste, scrubs and exfoliating soaps. The Planning, Energy and Environmental Quality Committee is expected to consider a bill as early as Oct. 21, says committee chair Dooley Kiefer. Full Story »   Input Received on County Budget The Tompkins County Legislature held its annual Community Budget Forum on Oct. 7, inviting residents to learn about and comment on the county’s recommended 2016 budget currently under review by the legislature. Full Story »   Inmate re-entry program examined in report page 2 The Re-entry Subcommittee charged with developing recommendations regarding a a program to transition jail inmates out of the Tompkins County Jail and back into the community last week presented its report and recommendation to the Tompkins County Legislature. Full Story »   More fresh foods offered in local schools page 3 Wood’s Earth Living Classroom, a project of the Center for Transformative Action, has added the 368 Pre-K through fifth-grade students in Belle Sherman Elementary School to the list of those receiving fresh classroom snacks through the Fresh Snack Program (FSP). This marks the third school in the Ithaca City School District (ICSD) to join the program, which include Enfield Elementary School and Beverly J. Martin (BJM) Elementary School. Full Story »   Photojournalist documents the impacts of climate change page 5 You might not know the name Gary Braasch, but you’ve seen his awardwinning photographs in Time, LIFE, Discover, Smithsonian, National Geographic and, at the beginning of this year, on the cover of the New York Times Magazine. For the past 15 years or so, Braasch has been documenting the effects of what he calls “rapid climate change”. Full Story »   State shows an interest in hemp crop page 8 New York’s first legal hemp seeds are closer to being sown next spring by universities and local farmers after revised regulations were issued by the State Department of Agriculture and Markets last week. Research of industrial hemp by states was permitted as part of the 2014 US Farm Bill; legislation creating New York’s pilot program was sponsored by Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo and State Sen. Tom O’Mara. Full Story »   The science of survival in a hostile world page 9 About 20 years ago, the late Carl Sagan, during a Bailey Hall speech to students at Cornell, likened some natural phenomenon to “coupled differential equations”. When the students hissed at this reference to their math homework, Sagan remarked, “Why all the hissing? One day differential equations will save your life.” Full Story »   The pope, the planet and the poor page 10 The previous essay about Pope Francis’ June 2015 Encyclical, “Laudato Si’, mi’ Signore” (“Praise be to you, my Lord”) was published on Aug. 24. In that essay I summarized his views on environmental threats and especially global warming. Full Story »   Cornell prison education program receives grant funding page 11 The Cornell Prison Education Program (CPEP) plans to expand to provide classes and degree programs in four regional prisons, establish a consortium of regional colleges and universities participating in prison education, and create a model college-in-prison network in the region with support from a $1 million, three-year grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Full Story »