Onondaga County

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're putting away Christmas decorations and taking ornaments off the tree, Onondaga County's recycling agency wants to make sure that old tree gets re-purposed.

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

World AIDS Day was remembered in Syracuse this morning during a service of remembrance. Participants say they are worried that the disease, which has been around for over 30 years now, has become forgotten.

A new orchestra is rising out of the ashes of the old Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. The new group has announced it will make its official debut at a holiday concert December 14.

An ambulance company in Onondaga County has started a program it hopes will help one of biggest causes of injury among the elderly.  The focus is on making senior's homes safe from falls.

The flu is making an early appearance across upstate New York this fall, from the North Country through the Mohawk Valley. With the holiday season approaching, experts say it becomes more important than ever to take precautions.

Onondaga County lawmakers are considering the possibility of a smoking ban in county parks and the perimeter of county facilities.  But an initial proposal from the county executive's office needs to be whittled down before lawmakers will agree to it.

The candidates in the 24th congressional district contest were prepared for the race to go down to the wire, since polls predicted that democrat Dan Maffei and Ann Marie Buerkle were locked in a statistical tie, with Green Party candidate Ursula Rozum trailing behind. But it looks like former Congressman Maffei will be returning to Washington to represent central New York in Congress.

Election Day is here at last and polling places across upstate New York are prepared to be busy, because presidential election years tend to boost turnout.

It's not clear where it came from, but an outbreak of shigellosis, more commonly known as shigella, continues to afflict dozens of people in Onondaga County. 

It won't be someone in a police costume pulling drunk drivers over this weekend. Police agencies across Onondaga County are cracking down on Halloween partiers in what has become a busy weekend for police when it comes to drunk driving.

On October 9, the Onondaga County Legislature will vote on its 2013 budget. The budget totals $1.24 billion, approximately two million dollars larger than last year. The controversy that surfaced at the budget’s public hearing Thursday evening was about ownership changes for Van Duyn Home and Hospital, the county’s nursing home.

Onondaga County lawmakers have agreed to give a fledgling group that's trying to revive a Syracuse orchestra in central New York some seed money.

Onondaga County lawmakers begin going over County Executive Joanie Mahoney's proposed budget with a fine tooth comb Monday.  The final result will most likely look different from $1.25 billion plan Mahoney proposed last week.

Fall means budget season in counties across New York State.  Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney makes her budget pitch to lawmakers Friday.  Many governments are facing the same pressures.

It's a quiet primary day in Central New York this year.  There are only scattered elections across the area on the day that lets voters, registered in political parties, choose who will be on the November ballot.

After more than one hundred years in circulation, Syracuse's newspaper is cutting production to three days a week.

With the spread of West Nile Virus across the country, some communities have chosen to spray pesticides to kill the mosquitoes that carry the deadly virus.  Despite the death of an elderly man in Syracuse from West Nile this week, Onondaga County officials have decided against that option.  

Almost every November, voters are asked to make choices about judges, but they have almost no relevant information about how those judges will approach their jobs. Beyond knowing the candidates' party, citizens end up casting votes largely in the dark. And Family Court is perhaps the murkiest of all judicial positions.

Though the dry weather is causing hardships for some, there is at least one benefit -- mosquito populations are down in central New York.

Starting today, Oswego County will turn on its new E-911 radios. The system comes with some new features.

Central New York is waging war on litter. A wide ranging coalition of Democrats and Republicans, and state and local officials, want to get the word out that tossing trash on local roads is bad form.

Onondaga County lawmakers approved the county's share of the Onondaga Community College's operating and capital  budgets yesterday.  But, the two- year school didn't get quite what it asked for.

Onondaga County could soon be saving rain in the suburbs.

Lawmakers are considering expansion of the "Save the Rain" program, which has already kept 125 million gallons of water out of the sewage treatment plant in the city of Syracuse.

When the Manlius Swans had their eggs destroyed, there were numerous calls and letters demanding justice.

When 20-month-old Rashad Walker, Jr. was shot and killed in an apparent gang-related attack, there was silence.

What does this say about the state of gang violence in the Syracuse area, and the community's numbness - or fear - regarding it? Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick wrestles with this question, and also comments on some of the recent conflicts his office has had with other local public officials.

It was a day of remembrance today in Syracuse at the newly renovated Forman Park. Mayor Stephanie Miner, Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler, and Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh were all on hand to honor members of the police force that have fallen in the line of duty.

Syracuse’s mayor hopes her appointment to a state infrastructure commission will mean more funding for central New York.

Mitt Romney won New York’s presidential primary Tuesday without much difficulty. Romney won 62.4% of the vote statewide. Ron Paul finished second, picking up 15.7%. Newt Gingrich finished third, with 12.9% and Rick Santorum picked up 9% of the vote, despite dropping out of the race earlier this month.

It’ll be election deja-vu for some Onondaga County voters this year when it comes to the 127th Assembly District seat. An incumbent who lost two years ago is jumping back into the ring.