Archive: News

New state regulations regulations have been adopted to strengthen the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, known as "RGGI," the nation's first regional program to cap and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector. The regulations, which have been adopted by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, advance New York's portion of the 30 percent regional cap reduction from 2021 to 2030, ensuring that regional emissions are 65 percent below the starting cap level by 2030, and will align New York's cap with the other participating RGGI states. These emissions reductions support Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's requirements under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 85 percent by 2050, and fulfill the Governor's January 2017 State of the State challenge to the RGGI states to further strengthen the program, which yields environmental, health, and economic benefits.

"The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative not only set the standard for climate leadership during the last decade, but also set the stage for New York's landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act," Cuomo said. "Reducing the RGGI cap will lower greenhouse gas emissions even further, all while providing valuable resources to expand our clean energy economy. New York has been at the forefront of the fight against climate change and we will continue help push the nation forward towards a cleaner future."

On World AIDS Day, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo Tuesday announced that based on the most recent data from 2019, New York State has "bent the curve" on the HIV epidemic, a primary goal of the Ending the Epidemic initiative. According to the new data, the estimated number of new infections, or HIV incidence that occurred statewide in 2019, fell to an all-time low of 1,700 cases. HIV incidence has declined each year since the start of ETE, with a 38 percent decrease over that time frame. New confirmed HIV diagnoses in 2019 also reached an all-time low of 2,377 — a four percent drop from 2018 and a 31 percent drop since the start of ETE.

"Today is World AIDS Day and I know everyone has been consumed with the COVID pandemic, but we've also been consumed with ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic," Governor Cuomo said. "We're releasing the 2019 data which shows that HIV incidence and diagnoses have fallen to record lows in New York. The estimated number of new infections or HIV incidence that occurred statewide in 2019 fell to an all-time low. HIV incidence has declined each year since we started the End the Epidemic campaign - 38 percent decrease over that timeframe, so that is extraordinarily good news and we're going to continue to work on that. Now more than ever, with states facing steep deficits as a result of COVID, the federal government must provide funding so we can continue supporting the lifesaving work of HIV/AIDS service providers."

Following the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Tompkins County and surrounding areas, the Tompkins County Health Department is urging the community to remainvigilant and continue to take steps to reduce community transmission of COVID-19.  The HealthDepartment is also reminding residents of quarantine and isolation requirements, and that all non-essentialgatherings and travel are strongly discouraged.  Previous recent health alerts (below) warned of oissible exposure at BJ’s Wholesale Club, Ithaca Ale House, the Meadow Street Walgreens, and TCAT Route 32.

"We are seeing our highest numbers of cases since the start of this pandemic. It is not even a week since Thanksgiving, and we are already seeing evidence of spread due to small gatherings and people visiting friends and family for the holiday. More than half of our 34 cases on December 1 are connected to Thanksgiving gatherings and related travel," stated Frank Kruppa, Public Health Director.  "Health Department nurses and contact tracers are working through unprecedented numbers of cases, and continue to maintain excellent turn-around time in notifying all positive cases and close contacts. However, due to the high volumes of cases in surrounding areas, we are seeing delays in our Health Department being notified of positive cases in those counties who may have close contacts or exposures here in Tompkins County. This has a ripple effect, causing delays in Tompkins County residents being notified to begin quarantine." Kruppa detailed the County's contact tracing capacity in a presentation to the Tompkins County Legislature on December 1; that presentation can be viewed on the County's YouTube channel.

The Tompkins County Health Department (TCHD) reported last Saturday that two Oak Hill Manor Nursing Home residents died from COVID-19. The deaths were confirmed by the New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH), the agency that manages contact investigations and testing for long term care and skilled nursing facilities in the state.

39 Oak Hill Manor residents and 13 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19. Oak Hill Manor administrators are working with the NYS DOH to complete contact investigations and to isolate all positive cases to stop the spread. TCHD continues to work with nursing homes in Tompkins County through regular calls, but NYS DOH takes over all monitoring if positive cases occur in long-term care and skilled nursing facilities.

On November 19th the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) approved a precedent-setting agreement hammered out between grassroots environmental groups, the NYSEG and RG&E utilities, and energy regulators to stop growing gas sales and turn toward renewable heating alternatives, while keeping gas rate increases low. The PSC additionally agreed with grassroots environmentalists and consumer advocates that the utilities' proposed electric rate increases were too high and ruled to reduce them to 2% per year or less.

At a voting session held by the PSC, the state's energy regulatory body took a proposal negotiated by parties to the NYSEG/RG&E rate cases and further modified it to reduce electric rates in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis. The Commissioners' actions today were more in line with what environmental parties had called for: approval of the landmark gas settlement and a repudiation of unconscionable rate increases on the electric side.

The Alcohol & Drug Council of Tompkins County announced in February 2019 that it had secured a site that will be the first in Tompkins County to provide open access addiction treatment services seven days a week, including a 40-bed medically supervised detox and stabilization unit. 'The Council' officials say that befor buying the building they specifically confirmed with the then Village of Lansing Code Enforcement Officer that their plan is an allowed use under the Village zoning ordinance. But the project hit a snag last month when current Code Enforcement Officer Michael Scott ruled that the project is a 'hospital', which is not an allowed use. 'The Council' officials say they plan to fight the designation.

"The point is we were given this funding because we're not a hospital," says Alcohol & Drug Council of Tompkins County Executive Director Angela Sullivan, MPA, MAIR. "And it's a lot of money. We were granted a great deal of money because the need was great. They looked at Tompkins County and this particular site and said, yes, we are going to fund this organization to do this project and that location."

The Tompkins County Legislature unanimously approved Wednesday a financing plan that will increase the annual household fee to $70 for 2021. This $10 increase from the annual fee in 2020 is designed to help offset a significant increase in costs for contracted recycling services. The total proposed 2021 annual fee including all categories in the resolution (residential, colleges and schools, and businesses) is just over $4.1 million.

The approved five-year contract with Casella Waste Systems includes single stream recycling and solid waste handling, the operation of residential drop off areas, construction and site improvements at the Tompkins County Recycling and Solid Waste Center, and contractor employee living wage requirements. Casella Waste Systems was the only contractor to submit a proposal. The increase in cost is a result of significant changes in the recycling industry and markets since the institution of the previous ten-year contract, as well as increased costs and decreased revenues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tompkins County Administrator Jason Molino and Public Health Director Frank Kruppa presented the 16th bi-weekly COVID-19 update to the Tompkins County Legislature at its Tuesday meeting. The update came as the County surpassed 1,000 total positive resident cases since the beginning of the pandemic and as total active cases number reached 193, the highest active number to-date. Kruppa detailed the County's vaccination distribution planning, including his opinion that it is promising how much vaccine the U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates will be available for rollout. The Health Department, in partnership with Cayuga Health Systems and long-term care facilities, is discussing how to distribute vaccine to priority populations such as healthcare and long-term care workers.

Molino detailed New York State's 'microcluster' zone metrics, sharing that while it would require a 3.5% infection rate to enter a yellow precautionary zone, the County estimates the local infection rate at ~0.64%.

Lansing School Superintendent Chris Pettograsso shared reopening plans with the Board of Education at their November 23 meeting -- or rather she shared the administration's plans for sharing plans. Pettograsso said that one of the lessons of this first semester under COVID-19 regulations is that as administrators talk through possible action plans, people have been taking them as actual plans , rather than a part of the process of planning.

"We are not prepared to share information much more than we have already about reopening," she said. "One of the things that we learned is when we do share some plans, people latch on to certain plans when we're just kind of sharing ideas. So we're going to wait a little bit."

New York State Police issued 1,779 tickets during this year's Operation Hardhat, an initiative between State Police, the New York State Department of Transportation and the New York State Thruway Authority, to crack down on work zone violations and highlight the importance of safe driving when encountering construction, maintenance and emergency operations along state highways. With dozens of details held in almost every region of New York State, the number of violations issued was 69.8 percent higher than the 1,048 tickets issued by State Troopers during all of 2019's Operation Hard Hat.

"Building and maintaining a 21st Century transportation system cannot be done without the work performed by highway construction workers and it's imperative we do all we can to make their jobs as safe as possible," Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said. "Preventing tragedies takes everyone working together, so while the state will continue to crack down on those who endanger those working on our roadways, I am urging all New Yorkers to not only obey the speed limit and other traffic laws, but to do the right thing and use care while traveling through work zones."

Effective last Friday (November 13) at 10 p.m., bars, restaurants and gyms or fitness centers, as well as any State Liquor Authority-licensed establishment, will be required to close from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily. Restaurants will still be allowed to provide curbside, food-only pick-up or delivery after 10 p.m., but will not be permitted to serve alcohol to go. The State Liquor Authority will issue further guidance for licensees as to what sales are continued to be permitted.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo also announced that indoor and outdoor gatherings at private residences will be limited to no more than 10 people. The limit will be implemented due to the recent prevalence of COVID spread resulting from small indoor gatherings including Halloween parties. These gatherings have become a major cause of cluster activity across the state. Further, this public health measure brings New York State in line with neighboring states including Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. This new rule is also effective Friday at 10 p.m.

Village of Lansing Mayor Donald Hartill explained to the Board of Trustees Monday the reasons approving a sewer rate hike, as well as giving a progress report on the new sewer that is expected to be constructed after this Winter on and around Cayuga Heights Road. Sewer users pay for two pieces of their sewer usage. First is a quarterly payment for the use of the Cayuga Heights wastewater treatment plant, and there is a Village of Lansing charge on top of that, which goes to pay for maintenance on Village sewer infrastructure.

"We are, by far, the biggest user of the plant," he said. "One of the things that's happening is that Borg Warner is learning how to recycle their water. They're one of our biggest producers for wastewater, so that's going to cut down our flow significantly coupled with the fact that Cayuga Heights is in the process of upgrading their plant. All of those things coupled together are bringing about this need for an increase in the sewer rate, which is a bargain in any case."