News

Voices opposed to Common Core testing are rising in central New York, as teachers and parents met this week at a forum in Syracuse to discuss these new education standards that bring major changes to the way math and reading is taught in public schools.

A key component of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2013 agenda appears in jeopardy, as the governor concedes he does not currently have enough votes in the State Senate to bring an abortion rights bill he has championed to the floor.

While universal background checks for gun buyers proved to be a death knell in the latest attempt to pass gun control legislation in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Charles Schumer is hoping a tightening up of current background checks is on the horizon.

The state’s attorney general and Assembly speaker have proposed an early voting system for New York that they say can improve voter participation and democracy.

The Syracuse City School District is proposing a new school that will offer a classical education for high achieving students.

The chemical responsible for the death of 14 people and injury of over 200 in West, Texas, is in wide use. Leaving many upstate New Yorkers wondering how ammonium nitrate is regulated in New York state.

If you listen to Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me! on WRVO each Saturday morning, you probably know that tomorrow night… Peter Sagal, Carl Kasell and the rest of the Wait, Wait... crew will beam their show live to movie theaters across the country. It’s the first time the show has been broadcast live across the country. WRVO’s Mark Lavonier had the chance to talk to Peter Sagal and asked him how the live show came about.

Hundreds of Finger Lakes residents gathered in Geneva recently for what’s expected to be the first of several conversations about the region’s landfills.

Syracuse firefighters have made a last gasp attempt to save Engine Company Number 7 from the Mayor's budget ax. Mayor Stephanie Miner's proposed budget would shutter the crumbling station, as well as cut four members from the ranks of the firefighters. 

Sen. Charles Schumer is continuing his assault on the misuse of prescription drugs with a proposal to tighten control over the painkiller hydrocodone.

A promoter of the buy local movement in Syracuse will hold a regional summit next month to promote local business and encourage entrepreneurs to set up shop.

The City of Elmira is just seven miles from the Pennsylvania border. And for four years, the natural gas boom in Pennsylvania’s Northern Tier crossed over the border and boosted Elmira’s economy. But that boom has slowed down.

Artists in central New York will try to bring their craft to the masses during a new art festival and conference slated for late September.

A recent report claiming there are enough qualified Americans to work in the tech industry without  expanding current work visa programs, has drawn criticism.

When philosophy professor Mike Gorr and his wife were looking for a place to retire, they took a trip from Illinois to the Finger Lakes region.

Empire State Development approved funding for two upstate food and agriculture related measures in their meeting Friday.

About 200 community members turned up in a school auditorium in Watertown Thursday night in a showing of regional support for Fort Drum. The event was billed as a “listening session” for the Army, to inform a process of personnel cutbacks and reorganization currently affecting military installations around the country.  

Younger citizens may be more active in volunteer and service efforts than previous generations, but many remain profoundly uninterested and disengaged from anything they regard as political. One organization trying to combat that is ICivics, created by former Justice Sandra Day O'Conner, to provide online, interactive educational resources for middle school students. On this edition of the Campbell Conversations, Gene Koo, executive director of ICivics, outlines the challenges to civic engagement and how the organization is trying to address them.

Three opponents of a proposed gas storage facility near Seneca Lake were released from jail early Thursday. The activists were sentenced to fifteen days after trespassing on property owned by Inergy Corporation, but were released after about a week. Inergy is seeking approval to store millions of barrels of butane and propane in an old salt cavern near Watkins Glen.

Business leaders are joining with several New York members of Congress who oppose the idea of introducing a fee for visitors crossing the border into the U.S., citing the importance of Canadians to upstate New York’s economy.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer for men. But many of those malignancies develop so slowly, the patient is never effected by it. That fact has started a debate over who to screen for the disease, and when. Lorraine Rapp and Linda Lowen, hosts of WRVO's weekly health show "Take Care" spoke with Dr. Anthony Scalzo, a medical oncologist at Hematology/Oncology Associates of Central New York, about how men should deal with this issue.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he hopes to soon create a statewide board to help fiscally strapped local governments restructure.

A new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) says there is little evidence to support the expansion of high-skilled guest worker programs, like those proposed in the immigration bill being debated in the Senate.

Gas and Oil producer Lenape Resources has filed a note of appeal as part of an attempt to overturn a court decision made in March that allowed the town of Avon to maintain its moratorium on fracking. This is the third case of this kind in upstate New York.

An unusual pair of “battle buddies” is about to deploy to Afghanistan from Fort Drum. Michael and Miranda Mogg are a father-daughter pair of soldiers with the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade of the Army's 10th Mountain Division.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s is proposing a border crossing fee for those traveling into the country from Canada. So far the idea is drawing opposition from representatives across New York state.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s is proposing a border crossing fee for those traveling into the country from Canada. So far the idea is drawing opposition from representatives across New York state.

Opponents of hydrofracking are charging there’s a potential conflict of interest with a consultant to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s environmental agency. They are asking that the years-long review of fracking in New York state be restarted. The controversy caused the consultant in question to sever all ties with a gas industry lobby group.

Dave Pasick moved back to his family’s farm just north of Utica a few years ago, naming it Szaro Farms, after an old family name.

The U.S. military is the largest consumer of energy in the federal government. But it also has a tremendous resource for generating its own energy: all the land bases sit on.