- By Dan Veaner
- News
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The Lansing Town Board voted to schedule a public hearing for the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) required for a town-wide, $10.8 million sewer project. The public meeting will be announced on the Town Web site, but is likely to be held at the May a5th Town Board meeting. After more than a year of work on the current incarnation of the project, work on the SEQR is the first official action the town is taking leading up to a vote town officials hope will occur this September.Town Supervisor Kathy Miller reported Wednesday that the DEC has refused to be the lead agency for the environmental review. Miller said the reason is that it could be a conflict of interest for the state agency, because it regulates impacts to the lake. She said that will require the Town to take te role of lead agency, which will mean it has to pay for statistics and testing, but the cost to the Town will be about the same as it would otherwise have been.
Acting Lansing School Superintendent Chris Pettograsso is spearheading a two-tiered long-term approach to raising revenues without high tax increases. Last week she and her team rolled out this initiative in a community forum on budget and advocacy that attracted more than 50 Lansing school taxpayers. Pettograsso said Monday she plans to take a proactive approach, lobbying Albany to restore state aid. She is also working with Town officials to increase the kind of economic development that will help fund the schools.
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli commended a Houston federal judge’s decision on Thursday to allow a securities class action case against BP plc to go forward.
Rep. Tom Reed is calling for a rapid reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in the House of Representatives. “I feel very strongly that the House needs to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and I joined a group of my colleagues on a letter to leadership urging them to move forward without delay,” he said. “I believe in protecting America’s women from domestic violence in all its forms and will support legislation that bans domestic violence against all women. This is long overdue.”
The New York State Division Of Homeland Security And Emergency Services Has Awarded Tompkins County A More Than $2.8 Million Dollar Emergency Communications Grant, Supporting Enhancements To The County’s Radio Communications Infrastructure That Will Improve Communication Between Local Responders And Outside Agencies.
The Department of Health’s (DOH) Medicaid program overpaid health care providers by $7.8 million over a six month period because of flaws with its eMedNY computer system, according to a report released today by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Auditors from the Comptroller’s Office recouped about $7.5 million of the overpayments and took steps to prevent future payment errors.
Acting Lansing School Superintendent Chris Pettograsso presented a draft of next year's school calendar Monday. While the calendar is still only a draft, Pettegrasso told the Board of Education that school will start the day after Labor Day next school year. She outlined a series of 'half days' that will allow for teacher training after students are sent home. Pettograsso says half days are difficult for families and for teachers, but they are needed because of training required for an increasing number of State mandates.
One of the more exciting plans for Salt Point this season is an effort to attract a bald eagle or osprey to nest there. Town officials identified an unused utility pole in the middle of the nature preserve on which to locate a special platform capable of supporting a large nest. Lansing Park Superintendent Steve Colt got in touch with NYSEG to make sure the power is turned off, and found an unexpected resource. 
Kayak and canoe storage has been available in Myers Park for seven years. Currently three public boat racks are on the point, along with one owned by Paddle-N-More, a boat rental shop based in the park. Park Superintendent Steve Colt says that it is time to control use of the racks to provide more stable service and maintain them in the future.
Local sales tax collections in New York grew by $450 million in 2012, an increase of only 3.3 percent from 2011, according to a report issued today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. New York City had a slightly better growth rate of 3.5 percent. 
Hydrofracking was the top concern at a lively town hall meeting with U.S. Congressman Tom Reed Saturday. The Dryden Village Hall was 'standing room only' in the Tompkins County leg of a day of meetings that also took Reed to Horseheads, Owego, and Seneca Falls. Anti-fracking activists came armed with signs and hard questions in a town that has taken the lead in banning fracking within its borders. The first question got right to the point: "Do you support the home rule right of Dryden to ban fracking in our town?"