State Senator Mike Nozzolio In an effort to promote the natural beauty of the greater Finger Lakes region and support the tourism industry, State Senator Mike Nozzolio Wednesday announced that he will be holding a Finger Lakes tourism photo promotion that invites the public to share their favorite Finger Lakes photos on his Facebook page.

“From the rich beauty of the Finger Lakes to the unique small towns and villages scattered throughout my District, we live in one of the most beautiful and historic areas in the entire world.  In an effort to promote the continued growth of tourism in our region and share the natural beauty of the Finger Lakes, I will be hosting a photo promotion on my Facebook page, beginning Monday, July 1st.  This promotional effort will highlight the natural beauty and history of our region and allow local residents, tourists, and businesses to ‘share’ their favorite photos of our beautiful communities,” said Nozzolio.

At the 18,000 square foot facility products from many regional farms will be processed and packaged for convenient pick-up by distributors, who will deliver the products to grocery stores, schools, healthcare facilities, restaurants and food pantries throughout the region.

First, find a problem, Ian Krywe tells his students.

The Ithaca High School technology teacher requires the seniors in his year-long Engineering Design and Development (EDD) class not just to choose a project to complete during the class, a capstone course in which they apply the principles they've learned in four preceding engineering classes.

Only after they identify a real-world engineering challenge do the students decide on a project. Then, they must research the ways that other inventors have tried to solve the challenge, before designing, building, testing, and re-designing their own solution—all in just nine months.

For the second year in a row more than 100 supporters bid on unique auction items to raise $5,510 to benefit a wide range of programs and services provided by the Ithaca Youth Bureau (IYB) to area youth and individuals of all ages with disabilities.

The online auction, held from May 23 to June 7, was sponsored by the Friends of the Ithaca Youth Bureau (FIYB).

Auction items included "dates" with Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick, Dr. Luvelle Brown, superintendent of the Ithaca City School District, and Deb Mohlenhoff, a member of the Ithaca Common Council. Also offered were items donated by area artists and businesses.

Beth Wixson, kindergarten teacher at South Hill Elementary School, is no stranger to winning educational grants. In the last few years, she has been awarded Ithaca Public Education Initiative (IPEI) grants for a family reading program, a project that brought fifth-graders and kindergarteners together to sew quilts, and an activity center that can transform into anything from the Pony Express to a miniature Ithaca Bakery. This year, she may have outdone herself with her IPEI Teacher Grant selected by the review committee for its innovation and excellence and named one of the annual Charles E. Treman Jr. grants: “Introducing Kindergarteners to Architecture.”

Two 2012-13 Teacher Grant recipients were selected to be funded by the Charles E. Treman Jr. Teacher Grant Endowment of the Tompkins Charitable Gift Fund in memory of the former president of the Tompkins Trust Company.  Andrea Volckmar of DeWitt Middle School received the other one this year for “Ellis Island Immigration Experience”.  Her “community partners” were Thamora Fischel, Southeast Asia Program at Cornell, and Steve Yale-Loehr, author, professor and immigration lawyer.

It was a sunny fresh June day in the Fall Creek neighborhood of Ithaca – the kind of day when memories of winter storms or summer heat waves fade away – but the crew from local energy contractor, Snug Planet, were utterly focused on preparing Deborah Thompson’s historic home on Marshall Street for exactly that kind of weather.

Thompson is the latest recipient of a grant from the Finger Lakes Climate Fund, a program of local nonprofit Sustainable Tompkins.  The program offers travelers and building owners a way to take responsibility for their fossil carbon emissions by making donations to the Fund.  They can use the Fund’s carbon calculator to determine the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from their air and car travel or building electricity and heating, and then make a donation that will pay to offset an equal amount of carbon by improving energy efficiency in the homes of modest-income residents.

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	A few years ago, my heart stopped functioning properly. A cardiac artery was blocked, and I felt some strange and scary symptoms. The blockage was relieved with a stent, and the hospital that installed it included a detailed lecture to all such patients. They don’t want to see us again. Heeding that information has kept me healthy, and I want to share what I’ve learned with everyone who’s had a heart attack or has the potential.

What can you put on your food to make it taste more like what you used to eat? You can’t use butter any more, so try SmartBalance or Olivio. Either will melt convincingly over your hot veggies.

You can make an acceptable cheeseburger by frying a frozen Bubba turkey burger (sold at Lansing Market and Target) in canola oil and melting a slice or two of vegan cheese on top. Build your burger with bread, Hunt’s catsup, burger, cheese, lettuce, home made mayo, and bread. The mayo will contribute to the greasiness you expect with a juicy burger.
Yes, Hunt’s, not Heinz. Might as well have the best. Cook’s Illustrated was surprised that Hunt’s was so much better when they ran a test, and boy, are they right.

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	This week: why Hartz resigned and what's wrong with education in New York. Next week: A look back at four years as principal.

Eric Hartz has served as Lansing High School Principal for four years.  Before that he spent four years as Groton High School Principal.  On May 13th he resigned.  What made that significant was that in his resignation letter he said he wasn't resigning from Lansing High School, but from education altogether, because state mandates had made it impossible for him to function as an educator.  While Hartz hopes to keep a finger in the pie by teaching education part time on the college level, he has lined up a job as salesman for a construction management firm. 

Last week Superintendent Chris Pettograsso alluded to the difficulty of attracting talented and experienced administrators even to as desirable a school system as Lansing.  Educators are less willing to move to new positions where they lose seniority and security. 

Hartz's resignation is an indictment of education in New York.  He says onerous unfunded mandates that clearly punish successful school districts like Lansing force teachers and administrators to spend more time on paperwork and testing and less on actually teaching kids.  When Hartz sat down with the Lansing Star last week he spoke passionately about the state of education in New York and his experiences during his tenure in Lansing.

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SMART TALK

By Dr. Les Terse

GENEOLOGY: Can you see the spelling error?  My spell check program didn't.  Those who clamber the branches of their family trees, hunting for nests of presidents and kings, are engaged in genealogy.  We don't do much spelling therapy at the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired.  We have enough work with people who say nucular. But last week, Prof. Pompus Fatuous Failem at Bedspring Tech, in nearby Los Bebedors, Texas, made us wish we did.  He wrote that minerologists had discovered oil in Lengua Loco County.  It's mineralogy and mineralogists.  And genealogy.

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Hi! I'm Nova, and I'm ready for you to take me home! Are you looking for an emotionally secure, mutually satisfying, low maintenance relationship? I am all you need. Let me sit at your feet, walk by your side, and I'll be your devoted companion forever. I'm already housebroken and should transition easily into my new forever home. My previous owner taught me some basic manners, but I could definitely benefit from (and be the star!) of a basic obedience class. Also, if there are middle-school aged children in the home, I'd be happy to call them my own as well. Come in and say hello to me-I'm sure you won't be able to pass me by!

Visit the SPCA Web Page

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Washington – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that seven university and college teams received the coveted P3 Award for their innovative solutions to some of today’s toughest public health and environmental challenges.

EPA’s People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) award competition was held at the 9th Annual National Sustainable Design Expo. Each award winning team qualifies to receive a grant of up to $90,000 to further develop their design and potentially bring it to the marketplace. Previous P3 award winners have started successful businesses and are globally marketing their technologies.