Archive: Around Town

Once you get to work it takes almost another hour to get to work.  Because after about five minutes taking the elevator to the nearly 100 year old Cayuga Salt Mine -- the deepest rock salt mine in the United States -- you have another 45 minute ride through seven and a half miles of tunnels before you arrive at the active mining site.  Round trip, that's nearly two hours of daily commuting, plus however much time it takes you to get to the mine from home.  Controlling the air flow over that distance is difficult, and the drop in voltage in seven and a half miles of electrical cables is significant, posing safety challenges for workers.  If something unfortunate should happen, miners have to evacuate using the same route, and with all three mine lifts at the southern end of the mine, escape routes are limited.

That's why Cargill Deicing wants to build a new $42 million mine shaft close to the current active mining area that will provide a safer work environment, cut the commuting time, and an ample supply of electricity and air for another century.  In 2012 Cargill officials met with neighbors to get questions answered about the 2,500 foot deep elevator shaft that would soon be their new neighbor.  Last week over 30 neighbors and town officials came back for an update.

"Were waiting for the process to play itself out to give a status update when we knew what the permit status was," says Mine Manager Shawn Wilczynski.  "But we felt, since it was taking so long, it was prudent to invite our neighbors back.  We met primarily with neighbors we had (originally) reached out to and some other stakeholders including Town of Lansing representatives and some other folks.  I'm very appreciative that we did.  Cargill strives to be a responsible company and a good neighbor."

A Disney vacation is a dream for most kids – and for parents as well. Our first trip was hosted by Mom and Dad back when our youngest was 2. We left her at the camp with Grandma and Great Grandma while Dad, Janet and I with our two older kids made the journey to the Magic Kingdom. 1982.

Back then you paid admission to the park – Magic Kingdom was the only venue – and paid again for each ride. The very best rides were "E-Ticket", the most expensive. Pirates of the Carribean, the Haunted House, 20,000 leagues under the Sea were all E-tickets. The kids didn't care. They had a blast – and Janet and I did too.

The Discovery Trail honored Charlie Trautmann with the Explorer Award March 18th during his retirement celebration as Executive Director of the Sciencenter. The purpose of the Discovery Trail Explorer Award is to recognize individuals who have made a significant contribution to the Discovery Trail through their service.

Trautmann, founding member of the Discovery Trail, was honored for his extraordinary leadership in education during his 18 years of service on the Discovery Trail board. Previous Discovery Trail Explorer Award recipients include: Terry Byrnes, Roy Park, Kim Fontana, Don Rakow, Jennifer Engle and Frank Robinson.

Families and individuals of all ages are invited to attend the Third Annual Taste of Muslim Culture event, which will include more than 15 countries!

Come experience the tastes, smells, sounds, of this diverse community. All are welcome.

• Date and Time: Sunday, April 30th, 2017 12-4pm
• Location: Gym @Beverly J. Martin Elementary 302 W Buffalo St, Ithaca NY
• Tasting Trays will be sold starting from $10
• Activities Include: Try on Cultural Clothes and Photo Booth, Henna and Hijab in Style Booth

Proceeds will go toward building Ithaca’s first Mosque

Wondering what this event will look like? Click here for photos from the last event.

Cornell University joined sixty-seven of the nation's most respected colleges and universities in an alliance to substantially expand the number of talented low- and moderate-income students at America's undergraduate institutions with the highest graduation rates. This growing alliance, called the American Talent Initiative (ATI), supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, brings together a diverse set of public and private institutions united in this common goal. ATI members will enhance their own efforts to recruit, enroll, and support lower-income students, learn from each other, and contribute to research that will help other colleges and universities expand opportunity. (See below for a list of ATI members.)

Launched in December 2016, the American Talent Initiative is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and was founded with a national goal of educating 50,000 additional high-achieving, lower-income students at the 270 colleges and universities with the highest graduation rates by 2025. Based on the most recent federal data available, there are approximately 430,000 lower-income students enrolled at these 270 institutions. ATI's goal is to increase and sustain the total number of lower-income students attending these top-performing colleges to about 480,000 by 2025. To reach this ambitious goal, ATI aims to add more top-performing colleges to its membership in the coming months and years.

After a successful crowdfunding campaign with an amazing amount of help from the Ithaca community, Code Red Robotics is headed to World Championships this weekend to compete with their robot.

Code Red Robotics is a student-led robotics team from Ithaca High School. Under the guidance of teachers and community mentors, Code Red members have an opportunity to learn about technology, engineering, leadership, and more. Code Red Robotics is a team within the world-wide organization known as FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).

Dear Margaret: I have been divorced for over a year, and my social life has taken a dive. My ex-husband is a very prominent and respected businessman in our hometown. I expected that I wouldn’t be invited to couples social events, but what I didn’t expect was that our friends took sides. Worse than that, I feel shunned. From what I gather, my ex’s life has gone on without a hitch and enjoys socializing with all of our friends – now his friends, my former friends. My mind goes to the place where I imagine he says all kinds of horrible things about me. The truth is, one day he told me he’d been cheating on me for several years, and he was finally leaving me. I am slowly getting back out in the world and engaging in new activities, but I’m so hurt by my friends’ dismissal of me. I want to reach out and tell them the truth of what happened, but I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do.
Lost Friends After Divorce

by Emily Selland

Hi new friends, I'm June! I am an amazingly beautiful feline who arrived at the shelter as a stray from Newfield. All of the staff and volunteers feel that I must have been loved at some point in my life because of how sweet I am! I'm enjoying the creature comforts of living indoors like soft beds, daily meals, and huge windows to watch the birds out of... one of my favorite activities! The more toys the better - so makes sure you have plenty of toy mice, wand toys, and jingly balls to bat around! I am on a special food that helps my sensitive stomach, but it's a small price to pay for the amount of love I'll give you in return! 
June is one of our longest term residents and is ready to find a true forever home!

Visit the SPCA Web Page

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We live in such a delightful region that picking just one destination is not satisfactory. Consider a day trip around Cayuga Lake this spring or summer.

Start with King Ferry Winery just up Rt 34B and a left turn on to Atwater Rd. The home of Treleaven Wines, King Ferry Winery features a series of Chardonnay wines to match any pallet. I'm not a Chardonnay drinker – I don't care for the 'oakiness' that most of the varietals have, but there were a couple of those wines that followed me home. They create a lovely selection of other wines as well including my favorite, their Cabernet Franc Reserve.

Kids Discover the Trail! Ithaca has expanded its program this year to include Trail Talks, a series of fliers sent home with students after each KDT! trip designed to encourage family conversations.

The idea came after professional development sessions for teachers in the Ithaca City School District (ICSD) on facilitating positive home-school communication. "The KDT! Ithaca Advisory Committee considered ways we could better connect our trips to students' families," said Randi Beckmann, Teacher Liaison for KDT! Ithaca. "We came up with the idea of 'chat packs', later called Trail Talks, which would be sent home on the day of the trip to prompt family communication about their KDT! experiences."

Vice President Joe Biden will give the keynote address at this year's Senior Convocation, Saturday, May 27, during Cornell's 149th Commencement Weekend. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in January, Biden has represented the United States in every region of the world, traveling to more than two dozen countries.

"We're really excited about having Vice President Biden. No matter what you believe politically, you must respect his outstanding character, leadership and decadeslong service to our country, as well as how he has overcome personal adversity. He is a true American," said Matthew "Chewy" Baumel '17, chair of the student-run 2017 Convocation Committee, which selects the speaker.

Dear Margaret: What should I do, or say, to a friend who only calls me when she needs something? She's asked me to pick up her child from school when she's held up at work, bake cupcakes for a social event because she raves about my baking, wants me to watch her house and pick up her mail when she goes away, and more. She always tells me that if there's ever anything she can do for me, to just ask! She always pays me for out-of-pocket expenses, but never for my time. I am apparently self-sufficient, as I've never needed to ask her to reciprocate in any way. However, I have asked her on many occasions if she wanted to go out for lunch, a movie, or other social event, and the answer has always been, "I'm just too busy." I like this person, but feel like I'm being used. How can I make this a more equitable relationship so I don't feel like she's taking advantage of me?
One-sided Friendship