- By Suzana Jelovecki
- Around Town
Print 
Healing properties of mushrooms have been gaining popularity and interest in the scientific and medical world over the past decades in Western cultures. However, in many indigenous traditions around the world, as well as in most Asian countries, fungi have been a well known and highly praised medicine and food for the body, mind and soul for thousands of years. The first herbal book in Chinese medicine, locus classicus of premodern and contemporary Chinese herbal medicine, Shen Nong Ben Cao (The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica), opens its discussion of herbs with classification of the most superior mushroom of all: the Ganoderma (Latin), Ling Zhi (Chinese) or Reishi (Japanese) mushroom.Because of the diverse meanings of the word Ling and the word Zhi (Reishi is Sino- Japanese for Ling Zhi) there are numerous of interpretations of Chinese and Japanese names for the Ganoderma mushroom in English translations: 'Immortal Weed', 'Divine Mushroom', 'Auspicious Mushroom', 'Numinous Mushroom', 'Mushroom of the Soul', and 'Marvelous Fungi', just to name the few. The Latin name for most similar species of Ganoderma coming from Far East is Ganoderma lucidum. The name is interesting compound of old Greek and Latin words ( ganos- bright,shiny and derma- skin, old Greek) and lucidum Lat. which means again shiny, bright. Common English name for particular species is lacquered bracket. Ganoderma is a bracket mushroom which grows directly from the stump or the trunk of the dead tree. Surface of the mushroom is very shiny and it almost looks like being lacquered with some translucent shiny gloss.
Each year Ithaca City School District (ICSD) students, staff, and school programs receive awards and scholarships totaling more than $6,000 from funds managed by the Ithaca Public Education Initiative (IPEI). Grants and awards are distributed annually based on each fund's criteria and to enhance educational opportunities.
Aurora, New York— Wells College’s incoming President Jonathan Gibralter, Ph.D., received the Senator Harold Hughes Memorial Award from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health. NIAAA Director George Koob announced his selection during the 139th meeting of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism on Wednesday, June 10, 2015.
The Tompkins County Solid Waste Division, in partnership with the Village of Cayuga Heights, announced the opening of a food scrap recycling drop spot at 836 Hanshaw Road.
I may look like a lion, but really I'm a teddy bear at heart! I arrived at the shelter after I was out wandering around by myself, but thankfully the SPCA took me in and cleaned me up! My coat was full of mats and ticks and my eyes were irritated due to my eyelids being turned in. After some good TLC, I'm now ready to find my forever home. Everyone says I'm a true Chow Chow with most of the breed personality traits. I would love an owner who has had one like me before, and preferably a quieter home with high school aged children or older. If you would like to meet me, please e-mail: 
It's inevitable that some kids will feel alone at recess, watching their classmates play while they sit apart, wishing some one would play with them. Last Friday the entire RC Buckley Elementary School population was on the playground to celebrate the unveiling of two 'Buddy Benches' that they hope will solve that dilemma. The idea is simple: when a kid wants someone to play with or just to make a new friend he or she sits on the bench. That's a signal for other kids to come over and invite that kid to play.
Ian Statema was named as the recipient of the 2015 Lee Strebel Memorial Award for Enthusiasm in the Performing Arts. Statema accepted the award at the Ithaca High School's Underclassmen Awards Night, June 2, 2015 in Ithaca High School's Performing Arts Center Kulp Auditorium. The Lee Strebel Memorial Award is presented each year to an Ithaca High School student who has not only participated in the performing arts at the high school level, but has shown extraordinary spirit in that pursuit. 
Tompkins County Chief Transportation Planner Dwight Mengel has been awarded the 2015 George Rucker Award from the Community Transportation Association of America. The award was presented June 3 at the association's 2015 Community Transportation Expo in Tampa, Florida.
Five local elementary schools joined forces with Cayuga Radio Group and United Way of Tompkins County for the Third Annual 'Cans Along Cayuga' food drive during this year's Ithaca Festival Parade.
It's the end of May and parents are focussed on the last few weeks of school. But Town of Lansing Recreation Director Steve Colt says now is the time to sign up for summer recreation programs. Many of the programs are filling up, but Colt says he especially needs parents to sign up baseball players for the 13 year old team and the Babe Ruth team for ages 13 through 15.
Hello! I'm Dozer. I'm a young, introverted, tuxedo-wearing guy who is looking for a home ready to help me overcome my fears. Like most introverts, I'm shy around strangers, but a silly, playful guy around my friends! I love long walks in the country and chasing tennis balls. I like cats, but big dogs make me a little nervous. My new family should have older teens or no kids, so I know everyone in the household will be able to protect me when I'm scared. I'm housebroken and haven't chewed on anything except my own toys in my foster family's home. If you want to learn more about me and arrange to meet me in my foster home, call (607)257-1822 ext. 221 or e-mail the shelter behavior team at: