Archive: News

In 1916 Ithaca's Wharton Studios filmed 'The Mysteries of Myra ,' a 15 part serial with an occult theme.  It was based on a story by Hereward Carrington, and Harry Houdini served as a technical consultant to the film's directors Theodore and Leo Wharton.  Few of the Whartons' films still exist, but that will change this summer when Episode 1, 'The Secret Chamber' is recreated.  While the new production company is based in Pennsylvania, some of the filming will take place at the original locations in Ludlowville.  Local film historian Terry Harbin plans to show the locations to director Eric Stedman as well as some of the cast tomorrow.

"We plan on filming some of the episodes from this series that is lost," Harbin says.  "None of the original footage exists, except for some parts that are in museums in England.  We're attempting to get some actual footage from them, but other than that it's lost."

Congressman Michael Arcuri kicked off his re-election campaign for Congress representing the 24th Congressional District in New York, surrounded by a large crowd of family, friends and supporters in Utica Monday (May 17th).

Framed by the backdrop of historic Union Station in Utica, he spoke about the connection between our region’s glorious past and his vision for growth and prosperity for the future.

Legislature Urges State Hydrofracking Ban

The Legislature is calling upon New York State to ban all hydraulic fracturing operations to extract natural gas from shale until independent scientific assessments are competed to determine the risk of hydraulic fracturing, the greenhouse gas emissions it would produce, and its economic and social costs.  The action supports legislation proposed in the State Senate and Assembly.  After listening to more than an hour of impassioned public comment from more than 20 residents who urged support of the ban and another half-hour of discussion, mostly focused on wording changes, the measure was approved by a 13-1 vote, with Legislator Peter Stein voting no. (Legislator Carol Chock was excused.)

Lansing Supervisor Scott Pinney reported that the bids to construct the Warren Road Sewer have come in, and construction on the project could begin as soon as a month to a month and a half from now.  That project promises to bring new building to Lansing, as well as retaining jobs and bringing new jobs to the Town.  Pinney said that town officials will be vetting the low bidder over the next week to make sure everything in the project is covered.

"The good news is that the low bid was much lower than we anticipated," Pinney told the Town Board Wednesday evening.  "It came in at $1.3 million even, which is really good news.  We have a meeting with him Tuesday to go over the numbers and make sure everything adds up right.  I think the low bidder is a reputable company, but we'll wait to meet with them to make sure everything is correct on the bid sheets."

Since the last restaurant in the old Chris & Greens building on East Shore Drive closed years ago the possibility of demolishing the prominent eyesore has been brought up every year at Lansing Town Board meetings.  For years there was nothing the Town could do because the building was structurally sound.  Now the integrity of the building is not as sure, but Town officials say they would like to work cooperatively with the owner to come to a mutually beneficial solution.

"I'm going to try to get him in here to talk to Jeff about the possibilities," Town Supervisor Scott Pinney said.  "I think we have something that will work."

After a long day at the polls the votes were tallied, and Lansing's voters had approved a $24,377,906 budget 552 to 246.  The voters also approved the purchase of two 66-passenger school busses and a Suburban van 520 to 264, costing up to $275,000.  Additionally two school board seats were filled with incumbent David Dittman receiving 543 votes and Christine Iacobucci receiving 472 votes.

"We are excited that our trust in the community for their intelligence and awareness about what's going on is being returned to us in believing that we are presenting them with something that's fair, and something that we truly need," said Superintendent Stephen Grimm after the votes were counted.  "We're excited about the confidence that provides us."

Buildings & Grounds Supervisor Glenn Fenner was on hand Monday to tell the Lansing Board of Education about progress on capital projects that are in progress.  Much of the work is done on the Energy Performance Contract, and it has already yielded significant savings in energy costs.  The next stage will be the drilling of 40 geothermal wells on the west side of Lansing High School, to be used for heating and cooling the building.

"It makes a considerable amount of noise," said Superintendent Stephen Grimm.  "We don't want to have it happen during the day until after graduation."

The Legislature’s Budget and Capital Committee today made a preliminary recommendation on the salary levels for the County’s elected positions of County Clerk and Sheriff for the 2011-2014 term.  But while they recommended salary figures and justification, committee members made clear that their primary goal was to move the salary question to the full Legislature for discussion and action. Both positions are up for election this November, and the Legislature needs to establish the salaries before the new term begins.

Only about ten people showed up for a Lansing Central School District budget hearing Monday.  Superintendent Stephen Grimm presented the $24,377,906 budget that property taxpayers will be asked to approve next Tuesday' (May 18th) vote.

"If you look at last year's presentation I had 'achieving excellence' and 'planning for the future,'" Grimm said.  "Now with the economic fiscal state we're looking at preserving excellence.  That's been our focus.  How do we preserve what we have with the decreased revenue we are getting?"

Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit Inc. will be forced to borrow money to make ends meet as it, along with public transit agencies statewide, will not receive its scheduled quarterly state funding on time next week.

TCAT had expected to receive about $750,000 in Statewide Mass Transit Operating Assistance (STOA) for its operating budget the third week in May. Unfortunately, Governor David Paterson’s office rejected a request to include STOA payments for transportation systems in an emergency spending bill aimed at keeping the state government operating during the persistent budget stalemate.

Communication, or the lack of it, was the main issue at Tuesday's Ithaca City School Board meeting. Several people from Belle Sherman Elementary School protested the new rotational schedule for art, music, and physical education.  Art teacher Iris Millich noted that the schedule doesn’t allow for the differences among the three disciplines, and does not, as promised, reduce the time students spend away from class. She also objected that the teachers were not included in the decision. Other parents and teachers added their agreement.

Jill Firman of the Belle Sherman PTA noted that the schedule is developmentally inappropriate for young children, and suggested that the administration wait to implement the new rotational schedule until the 2011-2012 school year. Beth Gerrard, also of the Belle Sherman PTA, followed up on Firman’s speech by presenting a petition with 252 signatures.

There was a disappointing showing of only a half dozen people at Tuesday's 'Meet the Candidates Night' in the Lansing High School cafeteria.  Board member David Dittman is running for a second term, and former board member Christine Iacobucci is running to fill a seat being vacated by Michael Cheatham.

Sponsored by the Lansing PTSO, the event was moderated by the League of Women Voters' Kay Sharp.  Debbie Levin, also a League member, was the timer, though with so few people candidates were allowed to go over the allotted time with their answers to questions from the audience.  The election is scheduled for next Tuesday, May 18th, from 7am to 9pm at the Teacher Center located at R.C. Buckley Elementary School.

Editor's Note:  What follows is a transcript of the meeting.  I have shortened the moderator's and questioners' remarks, but have strived to quote the candidates verbatim.