Ellen Abbott

Letters have started going out from radiologists to women, after normal mammograms, to alert them to a condition that might make it harder for doctors to find breast cancer.  A state initiative called the "Breast Density Inform" bill ultimately may force women to have a deeper discussion with their doctors about their risk factors for breast cancer.

Onondaga County lawmakers this month approved a new staff member for the Veterans Service Agency. an increase of returning veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan is putting more stress on the agency.

In less than two weeks, the Post-Standard as central New York knows it takes a turn toward the future as it cuts back on print editions of the newspaper in favor of a digital website. The new Syracuse Media Group, which includes the reporting and sales sides of the digitally-focused  business, will soon be working out of a renovated bank on South Warren Street.

Syracuse-area Rep. Dan Maffei is getting reacquainted with central New York voters. The first of a series of listening tours this week focused on business in the new 24th Congressional District.

The political season in the city of Syracuse has begun.  Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner has made a relatively early announcement of her intentions to run for re-election.

Reaction to New York's new gun control law from prosecutors is generally positive. For one central New York District attorney it closes some loopholes, but leaves others open.

A food desert on Syracuse's north side is no more.  The grand opening of a TOPS Grocery store means a place to shop in one of the city's most diverse neighborhoods.

A former Syracuse television sportscaster, and Syracuse University employee stands accused of unlawfully recording video of male student-athletes in a locker room, without their knowledge. 

Last year was a record year for attendance at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse. Several factors combined to make the zoo the place to go last year.

Madison County hopes to become a hub for the recycling of agricultural plastics.  It's a waste that's created on farms that's been a problem for years.

It's only a matter of time before the ash tree population in central New York is decimated by the Emerald Ash Borer. A task force is at work getting ready for the invasion of the deadly insects, that are now in massive numbers only two counties away from Onondaga County.

Upstate New York's struggling economy will get a boost if plans proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in his State of the State speech in Albany Wednesday move ahead.

Gun control legislation is on the lips of many politicians in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut school shooting.  But New York's senior senator says that while he supports some gun control, he doesn't want any legislation to go too far.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) wants to make it harder for phone hacking rings to rip off New York state businesses. Schumer is hearing from New Yorkers about dozens of businesses that are racking up huge phone bills because of these hackers.

The United as One Coalition is taking its case for an Onondaga County jail oversight board to county lawmakers.  Coalition members want the Onondaga County Legislature to create a board that they say could ultimately save lives.

If you have an old cell phone stashed in a drawer that you don't use any more, you can help a soldier overseas keep in touch with home.  Central New York's "Cell Phones for Soldiers" annual collection drive continues, as does the need.

Members of the 113th Congress will be sworn in January 3 -- and part of the new Congress will be a familiar face returning to Washington to represent the Syracuse area in a redistricted seat.

What used to be the Sainte Marie Among the Iroquois Museum on Onondaga Lake will be transformed into a new kind of museum in the next year. The new Great Law of Peace Educational Center will tell the story of upstate New York's Native Americans, from their point of view.

In the midst of treatments, tubes and needles, there's a place for patients at the Golisano Children's Hospital in Syracuse to go and find some peace.  A one-of-a-kind multi-sensory room takes kids away from the stress of a hospital setting.

Some of the larger hospitals in New York state are worried about one aspect of the Affordable Care Act: academic medical centers are slated to lose millions of dollars in a particular kind of Medicaid payment over the next few years.

There could be some surprises for taxpayers in 2013. Many of them may find themselves with a bigger tax bill next year.

The new iteration of the New York state Senate will look different in 2013 with the new power sharing agreement in place between Republicans and breakaway Democrats, and two central New York lawmakers will be in the thick of it.

Central New Yorkers make the most trash over the holiday season, which only makes recycling all the more important this time of year, says one of the region's recycling agencies.

The name of each victim followed by a chime. That simple gesture was the cornerstone of a service of prayer, healing and hope at Temple Concord in Syracuse this morning.

Onondaga County lawmakers have taken the first steps to moving the 185 year old Van Duyn nursing home off county tax rolls.

Students from the Southside Academy Charter School in Syracuse marched around the neighborhood this morning to make a statement that bullying won't be tolerated in their school.

He won't be sworn in until January, but congressman-elect Dan Maffei is carefully watching the fiscal cliff negotiations in Washington.

At the end of this week, the biggest Christmas giveaway in central New York takes place and the high numbers of families who signed up for the annual Christmas Bureau shows an economy that's still hurting.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is optimistic that the President Barack Obama and leadership of the House of Representatives will cut a deal to prevent the so-called "fiscal cliff."  New York's junior senator predicted there would be progress soon during a visit to Syracuse Friday.

Friday night a new symphony orchestra is unwrapped for central New York, as the orchestra that replaces the bankrupt Syracuse Symphony Orchestra takes the stage for its official debut.