Tagged: Utica

Update, 12:45 p.m. - WRVN, in Utica at 91.9FM, has been restored to full power as of around 12:30 p.m. today.

A new state report describes the city of Utica as a city in fiscal decline. The state Comptroller's office has released a fiscal snapshot of the city as part of its new fiscal monitoring system.

The historic F.X. Matt Brewery, maker of the popular Saranac line of beers, is getting more "green" next month. It won't be making green beer on a regular basis, as some brewers do for St. Patrick's Day, but it will flip the switch on a new anaerobic digester.

Representative Richard Hanna marked what he called the official kick off to his re-election bid -- opening one of his campaign offices in Utica Wednesday. The one-term Republican has been running for re-election in the newly drawn 22nd congressional district, and in fact has already had one debate with his opponent, Democrat Dan Lamb.

The use of synthetic drugs like bath salts became a growing health and law enforcement problem in upstate New York this summer.  Wednesday, the public had a chance to learn more about this latest trend in drug abuse at a forum in Utica.

Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is on the third day of her tour of the United States. Wednesday she will be honored at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. In the audience to witness Suu Kyi receiving the highest honor Congress can give, will be several Burmese refugees now living in Utica.

A charter school in Syracuse is hoping to expand to another part of central New York. The school believes it can provide another option for children and parents.

Nick Matt ducks into side doors and up staircases while rattling off the history of the F.X. Matt Brewery in Utica.

The brew house is like a second home to Matt because it was his grandfather, F.X., who first opened the brewery 124 years ago.

If you're racking your brain to see if you've ever heard of F.X. Matt Brewery, try this: they make Saranac ales and lagers. For the older generations, does Utica Club ring a bell?

Five big new tanks have arrived at the F.X. Matt Brewing Company in Utica. But they won't be used to make the brewery's signature Saranac brand craft beer.

Instead, the tanks will act as anaerobic digesters for the brewery's wastewater.

Special bacteria will munch on the yeast and grains left floating around. The process will get the water about 85 percent cleaner before it's discharged into the sewer system, according to CEO Nick Matt.

But the digestion process also gives off methane gas and carbon dioxide.

That methane will be used to power a generator. CEO Matt says the new system will cover up to 40 percent of the brewery's electricity needs.

Utica area lawmakers, activists  and residents are trying to save the Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center.  The community is galvanizing its support of the facility, which has been in the area for over a century.

You might not think of central New York as a home for world-class sculpture, but it is.  Utica's annualS culpture-Space brings artists from all over, to enjoy the freedom to create all kinds of sculpture.

Sarah Beck gives us a tour of the city's sculpture landscape.

There are well-known communities around the world that embrace sculpture as a community art form.  You see it in the photos from places such as Athens and Rome. But many sculptors on this side of the Atlantic recognize a place in Utica as a home for sculpture as well.

In the first of two stories, WRVO's Sarah Beck introduces us to Utica's "Sculpture-Space."

Hear Part Two of Sarah's story Wednesday on WRVO's Morning Edition.