EDITORIAL: Making sense of tragedy
Lori Bresnahan was among the best. A dedicated parent, she loved her daughter, whom she adopted from China. She cared for her aging mother. She was passionate about her career as a school librarian, having worked in the Liverpool schools for several years, bringing such celebrations as Chinese New Year to the school and inspiring a love of reading in her students. Lori died terrified and in pain. She deserved so much better.
Bring back seventh-grade foreign language in Liverpool
Three years ago, the Liverpool Central School District eliminated foreign language, also referred to as Languages Other Than English (LOTE), in seventh grade in order to save money. The move was a mistake.
EDITORIAL: Spay/neuter clinics offer options
There’s no excuse to keep your pets unaltered. The Animal Alliance of Greater Syracuse, based in Liverpool, is the recipient of a $20,000 grant from the Central New York Community Foundation that will allow the organization to to purchase start-up equipment for a mobile spay/neuter clinic, which will move around to various city locations altering both dogs and cats belonging to low-income residents. And they’re not alone. The CNY SPCA also received a grant for low-cost spaying and neutering. This grant applies only to residents of the 13211 zip code and is good for 2013-14. All surgeries will take place at the CNY SPCA on East Molloy Road.
‘A day which shall live in infamy’… now forgotten by many
Few are left to remember what happened on Dec. 7, 1941. Now there are mostly memories of memories passed down through the generations. But that shouldn't stop us from commemorating what happened that day. There were only 20 or so on hand this year to remember the attack at a ceremony at the American Legion in Mattydale.
Keep safe this shopping season
’Tis the season for shopping, and our friends at the North Syracuse Police Department have offered the following tips to keep yourself safe while you’re buying gifts for your loved ones. Heed these to avoid falling victim to unsavory types this holiday season:
More women must run for office
This election cycle, more women ran for Congressional office than ever before, with 18 running for the Senate and 141 for the House. In New York, both candidates for the Senate race were women; two of the three candidates for the 24th Congressional District race, one of the nation’s most hotly contested seats, were women.
The Chicago teachers’ strike: Could it happen here?
By the time you read this, the teachers’ strike in Chicago may be over. But not before dragging the third-largest school district in the country and 350,000 students into a nationwide debate over the future of public education.
When life hands you lemons....
Alexandra “Alex” Scott was just a baby when she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a cancerous tumor that develops from nerve tissue common in infants and children. She defied all odds and learned to walk, battling one obstacle after another, beating doctors’ predictions. At the age of 4, after yet another hospital stay, little Alex decided she wanted to help others the way the doctors and nurses were helping her. She wanted to host a lemonade stand so that she could raise money for other kids fighting cancer. With that first lemonade stand, Alex raised more than $2,000.
Deadly Tahoes shouldn’t be used by troopers
Late Friday night, on a rain-slicked road, New York State Trooper Amanda Anna was driving a state-issued 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe on Oswego County Route 37 in the town of Hastings. Anna, of Liverpool, mother to 4-year-old Ethan, a former basketball star, planning her wedding to a fellow trooper, expected to finish her shift, go home to her fiancé and pick up Ethan in the morning. Instead, something terrible happened, and Amanda Anna never came home.
Let the sun shine in
“Sunshine is said to be the best of disinfectants.” United States Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote those words in a 1913 Harper’s Weekly article entitled “What Publicity Can Do” to emphasize the importance of government openness and transparency. Nearly a century later, how far have we come?
Girl Scouts can shatter the glass ceiling
For 100 years, the Girl Scouts of the USA has helped girls develop skills that will help them succeed in life. “Girl Scouts’ rich history of building girls of courage, confidence and character, girls who make the world a better place, makes Girl Scouting the premiere leadership development program for girls in the country,” said Judy Gallagher, director of communications and marketing for Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways, the local Girl Scout branch office headquartered in Cicero. “Girls learn by doing, working cooperatively with others and leading the activities they participate in.” Now, as the organization moves toward its next chapter, the Girl Scouts of the USA seeks to further expand those leadership skills with its new ToGetHerThere initiative.
You can’t legislate common sense
In the last few weeks, no fewer than ten people (and one dog) have been pulled from the ice on Oneida Lake. On Feb. 22, two adults and six children became trapped on the ice near Bridgeport when wind broke up the surface of the thin ice; they had to be ferried off the ice by emergency personnel. Barely 24 hours later, Albert Merola Jr. of Cicero and his golden retriever, Montana, fell through the ice while taking pictures along the lake’s south shore. State Trooper Ron Morse also became trapped in the freezing water while attempting a rescue. Volunteers from the South Bay Fire Department and other departments along the shore, as well as EMTs, had to pull the two men and the canine out.
No school districts served by ‘competitive’ state aid policy
Last week, we told you what we thought were the good points of the executive budget presented by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as presented in Syracuse Feb. 8, including SUNY reform, a focus on infrastructure and Medicaid relief. But we have one major bone to pick with the governor.
EDITORIAL: A state budget well-fit for CNY
The state budget process has long been marred by an overwhelming amount of politicking and grandstanding. An on-time budget was rarely heard of until 2011, the first budget season of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s tenure at the helm of the state.
Sometimes news bytes bite back
Monday night’s Liverpool Central School District Board of Education meeting contained some important discussions regarding the $10.3 million budget gap the district faces and possible solutions for that crisis, as well as the continuing day-to-day business of running one of the largest districts in Central New York. But if all you did was watch the 11 o’clock news, you wouldn’t know it. No, if you watched the television news, you learned that Liverpool was cutting back to half-day kindergarten as a cost-cutting measure.
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