News

It's been ten years since Syracuse-area oncologist Dr. Rafil Dhafir was arrested for crimes involving the Muslim charity Help the Needy.  Dhafir continues to serve a 22-year prison sentence after he was convicted of violating U.S. sanctions against his native Iraq by sending money there. In 2005, a federal jury convicted him of 59 felonies, including fraud and tax evasion, among other things. But Dhafir's conviction and incarceration still has some central New Yorker's crying foul.

The Broome County Legislature recently approved a new Office of Energy Development, but the purpose of the office is not clear.

A leading budget watchdog group is urging rejection of a key component of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget plan. It would allow cities and schools to put off some payments to their pension funds.

The daughter of Harry Belafonte and Julie Robinson, Gina Belafonte grew up in a household filled with the leading civil rights activists and entertainers of the day, and she went on to become an actor, producer, and civil rights activist in her own right.

The Onondaga County Legislature is expected to join a growing list of county governments cementing their opposition to New York's new, stricter, gun control laws.

Many 16-year-olds might dream about starting their own business. But it takes a special kind of teenager to turn an operation launched in his parents' basement into a six-figure profit earner in just four years. After succeeding wildly with his web development and design company, North Shore Solutions, Clarkson University junior Matthew Turcotte, now age 20, is embarking on his second venture: commercial real estate.

Opponents of a proposed underground gas storage facility near Seneca Lake are ramping up for a legal fight as a decision on the project nears.

A large number of schools across the state will receive $87 million to be used for technology. The state Education Department announced that low-income public and charter schools will be receiving a voucher that can be used to purchase computer software, hardware and equipment needed for computer networks and technology infrastructure.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo made several changes to his budget plan in what are called 30-day amendments. These amendments range from imposing a teacher evaluation plan on schools in New York City, to cutting the cost of hunting licenses.

During his visit to western New York on Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo reacted to the backlash by Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) against his executive budget proposal that would remove their powers to grant state sales tax exemptions.

The Onondaga County sheriff’s office is speaking out on New York’s new gun control rules for the first time.

In March, many places in central and northern New York will hold local elections. Among them is the village of Dresden on Seneca Lake, where residents will vote in a new mayor.  But, there’s just one problem: no one’s running.

A group pressing for public campaign financing has compiled a list of large corporations who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to some New York lawmakers. They charge that the donations are preventing the legislature from closing what they say are corporate tax loopholes.

Researchers from the University at Buffalo conducted the state's first large-scale earthquake simulation on Tuesday to determine how prone unreinforced masonry walls are to quake damage.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he will make several changes to his budget using 30 day amendments, including imposing a teacher evaluation plan on New York City, and cutting the cost of hunting licenses.

A manufacturing company in Auburn, N.Y. has announced it will be closing its doors by the end of 2014.

New York State's financial overseer is warning Syracuse's finances face "systemic problems."

SUNY Adirondack in Queensbury and the Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or BOCES, serving the surrounding counties are partnering on a new science and technology program for high school students.

New York state's largest teachers union has filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s property tax cap, arguing it is unconstitutional.

A coalition of upstate New York universities and defense contractors has submitted a bid to become a federally designated testing and research site for the integration of unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, into domestic airspace.

The Small Business Administration is bringing a free training program back to central New York for the third time.

The cost of going to college is an issue of growing concern among students, their parents and public officials. Now the State University of New York is introducing a tool to help applicants figure out exactly how much it will cost them to attend.

There was an almost constant collecting of index cards in Hendricks Chapel Tuesday evening, each containing a question on the issue of gun violence in America. The questions were for five panelists participating in what was billed by Syracuse University as a discussion, not a debate, on gun violence in America.

The New York Thruway Authority's decision to layoff 234 staff as part of a strategy to address its financial predicament includes the loss of 42 canal workers who maintain 57 locks along the 524-mile length of the Erie Canal that connects the Hudson River to Lake Erie in the west.

The Port of Oswego could be in line for some business-boosting help from the federal government. Sen. Charles Schumer is hoping to use his clout to get some help to keep the port growing.

The automatic federal budget cuts that are slated to go into effect in March would have a big impact on programs that help the poor and elderly in Syracuse.  Advocates for these programs are urging Congress to do something to prevent the across-the-board spending cuts knows as sequestration.

At a public meeting in Hinesburg, Vt. last month, residents crowded into the town hall to ask questions about a natural gas pipeline that might be going through their community.  

Mark Ames wasn’t too happy. "I’m not interested in having a gas line either through in front of my house, 20 feet in front of my house, or behind my house, through my fields," he said.

In Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed budget, the state’s Industrial Development Agencies, or IDAs, would no longer be able to grant state sales tax exemptions for economic development projects. Instead, that authority will go to Cuomo's Regional Economic Development Councils.

The grand opening of a new health clinic on Syracuse's South Side was held over the weekend. A group called the Muslim American Care and Compassion Alliance started the free clinic with the goal of treating preventable diseases in an under-served community.

Working in the key battleground state of Ohio, Ashley Bryant was an integral player in President Obama’s internet-based mobilization effort in the 2012 election.  In this edition of the Campbell Conversations, Bryant—the Ohio digital director for the President’s campaign—recounts her experiences on the ground and in the trenches, explains how the campaign integrated the Internet into its strategy, and reflects on how marketing a political brand is both similar to and different from marketing a commercial brand.