The expansion of WHCU Radio in the Ithaca, NY market continues starting in the new year.

'Ithaca's Morning News' on WHCU is now hosted by Joe Salzone. The show runs daily Monday-Friday from 6am to 9am. Salzone has been with WHCU since June and in addition to hosting duties, Salzone heads up the news operation for WHCU and the Cayuga Radio Group additional nine (9) radio stations.

On Friday, December 4, Cornell Votes, a university-wide non-partisan campaign to increase voter registration, turnout, and civic engagement on Cornell's campus, received the 2020 Students Learn Students Vote (SLSV) Award for exemplifying its Guiding Principle of Leading through Nonpartisanship.

Since relaunching under this new name in the winter of 2019, Cornell Votes has dedicated itself to building a coalition with student groups, staff, and faculty around voting regardless of party affiliation and political views. Housed within the Cornell Public Service Center, Cornell Votes set out to increase voter registration, turnout, and civic engagement.

Brad George was elected Chief at a meeting of the Lansing Volunteer Fire Department December 3rd. George will take over the job held by retiring Fire Chief Scott Purcell for the past 16 years. George served as Purcell's Deputy Chief for the latter's entire tenure as Chief. Former Assistant Chief Todd Mix will fill the Deputy Chief position.

"I am looking forward to the challenge, hoping to carry on what Scott has done for the Department and District. I want to personally thank Chief Purcell for everything he has done for the department over the years," George said.

Ithaca was ranked the 5th best college town out of 415 college towns and cities in a new Wallethub analysis. In a breakdown of large (more than 300,000 people), midsize (125,000 to 300,000 people) and small (fewer than 125,000 people)cities Ithaca ranked as the 3rd best small city college town.

University of Kentucky Professor John Thelin says community leaders can take steps to make their cities more appealing to residents and students. "I recommend that mayors and college presidents and deans of students create town-gown councils in which community leaders and students get to know one another in good discussions and congenial gatherings. I think college and university officials should take great responsibility for the conduct of students who live off-campus, especially when a campus has not provided many students with reasonable on-campus living options. City council members need to review residential zoning that is fair to all. Ideally, students would understand and willingly accept that they are citizens of the community and should be responsible to neighbors, merchants, et al," he says.

The Tompkins County Health Department is announcing new staff in two important leadership positions, both of which are key roles in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Claire Espey, Director of Community Health, and Patricia Mason, Preparedness Coordinator started at the Health Department on November 30.

"We are excited to have Claire and Pat join our team. They both bring experience and perspective that will help us through the pandemic and move our Department into the future. Claire has exhibited her passion for public health through her development work in Africa, allowing her to work across communities, local government, and policy. She brings leadership experience that will support the efforts of our nurses and contact tracers. Pat has worked at all levels of domestic government in emergency management and preparedness and will provide expertise to our COVID-19 vaccination distribution planning," stated Frank Kruppa, Public Health Director.

The Ithaca City School District is proud to announce that sixteen (16) middle school band members, from DeWitt Middle School and Boynton Middle School, have been selected to participate in the 2021 New York State Band Directors Association Statewide Middle School Honor Band.

The student participants include: Riley Hubisz, Anika Rassnick (flute), Lily Wang (oboe), Mattias Keresztes, Claire Park (bassoon), Dean Golden, Olivia Shearer, Anna Hummel (clarinet), Caedmon Sethupathy (alto saxophone), Sadie Kinast, Joseph Gonzales (french horn), Michael Perelstein (trumpet), Dylan Mohler, Claira Sine (trombone), Nicolas Poelling, Rennie Smolenski (tuba).

Tompkins Trust Company and the Legacy Foundation are pleased to announce that five Tompkins County teachers were recognized with certificates and monetary awards for their outstanding efforts to improve education in their districts. This year's Raymond Van Houtte Teacher Awards recipients are Jamie McCaffrey of Newfield School District, Josh Antoine of Cayuga Heights Elementary School, Meggie New of Ithaca High School, Josh Chase of Ithaca High School, and Jamie Zervos of Ithaca High School.

Jamie McCaffrey was honored for 17 years of education service and a variety of contributions to the students, faculty, and staff of Newfield School District. At the high school level, Mrs. McCaffrey was instrumental in bringing the Sources of Strength program, which cultivates student leadership, to the student body. At the elementary school level, Mrs. McCaffrey has coordinated the Red Paw Program, an initiative that awards students who consistently show exemplary behaviors and an alignment with the school's code of conduct. Mrs. McCaffrey also partnered with Cornell Hockey players who volunteered in the school district, which allowed the students to develop quality connections with admirable young adults.

Recently, Tompkins County high school students awarded nearly $32,000 to Tompkins County non-profits through the United Way of Tompkins County' Youth and Philanthropy (YAP) program. YAP is an annual United Way program which features a student-led grant fund, leadership training, and education on advocacy. This year's cohort was made up of fourteen students representing Dryden High School, Groton High School, Ithaca High School, Lansing High School, and the Lehman Alternative Community School. Funding for $25,000 of the awards is made possible through Triad Foundation, with an additional $6,937.50 provided by the "Moment of Movement" community fundraiser held earlier this year. (MoM also provided $12,592.50 for youth programming to the Friends of the Ithaca Youth Bureau and $6,500 for child care scholarships to the Child Development Council.) UWTC's Corporate Cornerstone Partners cover the operating expenses of the program.

During this time of uncertainty, ensuring that our older adult neighbors have access to adequate nutrition is critical. Foodnet Meals on Wheels has been experiencing a 12% increase in demand for services during the pandemic. Through emergency funding from Meals on Wheels America, Foodnet will be able to continue their efforts to creatively respond to the pandemic in Tompkins County. Funding will be used to purchase and install an external freezer to increase food storage capacity, replenish food and supplies for additional emergency meals, subsidize meal delivery equipment, and personal protective equipment.

"Like many organizations and businesses, we have had to quickly pivot our operations during COVID-19. However, the sustained increase in meal production for routine delivery and emergency meals has put strain on our operations in terms of food storage, maintaining safety requirements with costly PPE, delivery equipment, and food expenses. With additional funding, we will be well-positioned to safely produce, store, and deliver additional emergency meals throughout the pandemic, explained Jessica Gosa, Executive Director of Foodnet Meals on Wheels."

The Women Building Community (WBC) grant recipients for 2020-21 have been announced by the board of the City Federation of Women’s Organizations (CFWO).

The CFWO announced that the following projects, coordinated by the designated organizations, are the WBC Grant recipients for 2020-2021:

Cornell University plans to rename one of its main campus roads in honor of Charles F. 'Chuck' Feeney '56, founding chairman of The Atlantic Philanthropies and the university's most generous donor.

Feeney invested nearly $1 billion, mostly anonymously, throughout the university over a period of nearly 40 years. Even after his worldwide philanthropy was revealed in the late 1990s, he still chose not to connect his name in any form to the many institutions he supported. That is why there has never been a space, program, scholarship, professorship or any other entity bearing his name at Cornell.

Aurora, NY -- At the end of a typical semester, the Wells community comes together to enjoy presentations from students about their recent internships — but of course, this semester has been anything but typical! Instead, the Center for Academic and Career Advising partnered with staff from the College's Information Technology and Educational Technology departments to host this semester's presentations virtually.

During the afternoon of Saturday, Dec. 5, community members could "drop in" on any one of 29 individual presentations; topics included genetic disorders, heat pump technology, how to run a nonprofit, and interning for a U.S. congressman.

Visions Federal Credit Union helped the Children's Reading Connection (CRC) launch their new READ.SING.LOVE.BOOKS campaign at their soon-to-be-open Ithaca branch location at 410 Elmira Road near Home Depot and Kohl's.

Visions committed $17,500 from their Visions Cares initiative to support the community-wide literacy campaign. $10,000 of this commitment was donated as a matching grant challenging the Tompkins County community to step up their support of the CRC.  This donation from Visions will help the CRC fulfill its commitment to provide every Pre-K and Head Start child in Tompkins County a set of books that will come as special gifts before the holidays.