TompkinsWeekly for the week of October 26th

Download the newspaper in Acrobat Format Here County Mulls Drone Law The rise of new technologies is often followed by unforeseen legal questions, prompting legislators to create laws that address the new issues. With the cost of a personal unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), or drones, now below $300, more people are buying them and flying them, which raises privacy and safety concerns regarding their use. Full Story »   Budget Amendments Adopted The Tompkins County Legislature has formally adopted amendments to the County Administrator’s 2015 Recommended Budget and the Capital Program for the next five years, as recommended by the Expanded Budget Committee. There were no changes to the package recommended by the Expanded Budget Committee before the legislature’s vote. Full Story »   A celebration of insects at Cornell page 2 Cornell University’s Entomology Department opened the doors of Comstock Hall on Saturday, Oct, 17, and invited the neighbors in. More than 1,500 people visited the student- organized insect fair dubbed Insectapalooza. This year was the 12th anniversary, celebrating the “Bizarre, Bad, and Beneficial” denizens of the bug world with an arthropod zoo, origami, face-painting and an entire room set aside for the Battle of the Bugs. Full Story »   Council seats on the ballot in Caroline page 3 Town of Caroline voters will elect two town council members in November, with four candidates vying for the four-year seats on the ballot. And a changing of the guard will take place in the town next year when Don Barber steps down after 22 years as supervisor, to be replaced by Mark Whitmer, who is running unopposed for the leadership post. Full Story »   Wine and spirits producers get a boost from New York State page 5 “The whole winery is bubbling away,” says Maren Hosmer, owner of Hosmer Winery, referring to the fermentation of red wines on site in Ovid, north of Ithaca on State Route 89. On sunny weekends like those this fall, the tasting room has been full of folks enjoying Riesling, Cabernet Franc and many other varieties. Full Story »   Carbon offset effort benefits area residents page 8 Anybody who is concerned about climate change hits a very slippery slope early on in the thought process, namely: Isn’t it at least a little hypocritical to rail against fossil energy exploration when it is highly likely you drive a gas-guzzling car and/or heat your house with fossil fuels? What about taking airplane trips to visit friends and family or to pursue your business? How does this behavior jibe with a sincere attempt to support green energy alternatives and slow down climate disruption? Full Story »   Radical vision is documented in film on Black Panthers page 9 There’s a clip of “Soul Train” early in “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution” (playing at Cinemapolis) which lightly but succinctly makes the point that the Panthers were at the center of the zeitgeist in the radical Sixties. Full Story »   Pets have adverse ecological impacts page 10 The book “Time to Eat the Dog? The Real Guide to Sustainable Living” by Brenda and Robert Vale reports on ecological effects of owning pets. Owning an average sized dog uses the yearly energy equivalent in dog food and other aspects of dog care of twice that of an average SUV driving 6,000 miles per year. A cat’s carbon footprint is around that of a compact car. Full Story »   Artists will go the distance in CSMA Marathon event page 11 For two weeks of creative exchange in November, the gamut of community artists, arts patrons and enthusiasts will devote or “get back to” their artistic callings on behalf of the Community School of Music and Arts and its charitable mission: to keep local arts education accessible to anyone and everyone. Full Story »