ICN News Archive

Ithaca Community News on Hiatus

March 2nd, 2007
Dear Readers, In early February, ICN ceased publishing due to lack of funding. For now, the newsletter archives will remain on the web site. In the future, ICN may return.
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A new view of the Ithaca Commons

February 20th, 2007
Ancient Wisdom Productions is pleased to announce the new Commons Cam overlooking downtown Ithaca. Images from this webcam update every fifteen-seconds, twenty-four hours a day, and are available to the general public at www.exploreithaca.com.
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LACS 'Infuses' Students with Social Justice Themes for 3rd Annual Infusion Day

January 23rd, 2007
Students at the Lehman Alternative Community School took a day off from regular classes on Monday to attend workshops and presentations focused on social change, youth activism and sustainability.
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Nathan Poffenbarger Receives Maximum Sentence for Hate Crime

January 23rd, 2007
On Monday, January 22 Nathan Poffenbarger, 21, a former Cornell University student, received the maximum sentence of one and one-third years to four years for stabbing Charles Holiday on February 18, 2006, and for tampering with the evidence.
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Ithacans Arrested in Washington DC for Action against Guantánamo

January 16th, 2007
Last Thursday, January 11, seventeen Ithacans traveled to Washington DC as part of an International Day of Action to shut down the US Military Prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Clare Grady, Danny Burns, Peter DeMott and Chris Tate, from Ithaca, were among those who participated in a low-level action inside the Federal District Courthouse that led to the arrests of 89 people.
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13th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Focuses on Poverty

January 16th, 2007
A few things were a little bit different about this year's annual Martin Luther King Jr. event at the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) and Beverly J. Martin School on Monday, January 15. For one, the timing was different, with workshops being held in the morning before the annual luncheon, instead of in the afternoon. For another, this year's event focused on poverty, which was one of Dr. King's focal points.
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Tompkins Workers' Rights Center Joins New Statewide Coalition

January 16th, 2007
The Tompkins County Workers' Center recently joined with a coalition of community organizations and other advocates, spearheaded by the Brennan Center for Justice (of the NYU School of Law), to address the growing problem of minimum wage and overtime violations in New York State.
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Ithacans Head to DC for International Day to Shut Down Guantánamo

January 9th, 2007
Thursday, January 11 marks the five year anniversary of the first twenty prisoners in the War on Terror to be brought to the U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Since that day, over 1,000 people have been imprisoned without being charged for a crime, let alone tried or convicted. Many have been released due to lack of evidence against them, but 430 prisoners remain.
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MLK Jr. Committee Stalled in City

January 9th, 2007
On November 1, the Board of Public Works rejected the proposal to rename State Street Martin Luther King Jr. Street, but passed a resolution that included the formation of an ad hoc committee, appointed by Mayor Carolyn Peterson, to review "equally visible and significant ways" for honoring Dr. King.
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Ithaca Free Clinic Turns One This Month; Offers More Programs and Care

January 2nd, 2007
On a recent Thursday afternoon, a little before 4:00, people begin to fill the waiting room of the Ithaca Free Clinic. The Clinic, which celebrates its one-year anniversary this month, provides clients with the services of medical doctors, acupuncturists, chiropractors, masseurs, herbalists, reiki practitioners, and more—absolutely free.
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Local Fleets to Purchase Biodiesel in ‘07

January 2nd, 2007
Several large users of diesel fuel in Tompkins County have committed to buying more than half a million gallons of biodiesel in 2007. Using the fuel will result in slightly lower engine emissions.
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Village at Ithaca and ICSD Collaborate on First Annual Equity Report Card

January 2nd, 2007
On December 20, the Village at Ithaca and the ICSD presented to the community its First Annual Equity Report Card. It is likely that this is the first report card of its kind in the nation.
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Local musician Marie Burns' anti-war song nominated "Best Song of the Year"

December 12th, 2006
"Bring Them Home," Marie Burns' anti-war song inspired by a lifetime of living with the fallout of war, has been nominated "Song of the Year" by the Folk Alliance of North America, which includes all of the United States and Canada and, Marie explains, is "sort of the folk subculture of the music world."
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Ithaca Car Share wins grants; will start carsharing soon

December 12th, 2006
Earlier this month, Ithaca Car Share, a new organization that plans to provide a small fleet of mostly hybrid cars to members who can use the cars in hourly increments, was awarded two grants totaling $177,220 by New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) and New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA).
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Local 'Right-Angle' Talk Show Host Returns from Iraq

December 12th, 2006
In November, Mark Finkelstein, the local talk show host of Republican-produced Right Angle and blogger on NewsBusters.org, took a two week trip to Iraq on a Pentagon-funded tour that included Fallujah, other places in the Anbar Province, and a couple of days in the Green Zone in Baghdad.
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Newly Released Report shows NY Unemployment Program Failing Many Local Workers

December 5th, 2006
Thursday, December 7, join Terry Sharpe, President of UAW Local 2300, Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, Pete Meyers from the Tompkins County Workers' Center, Debbie Minnick, President of Ithaca Paraprofessionals, and other local labor leaders to hear about a newly released report detailing the failings of New York State to adequately provide unemployment insurance to thousands of New Yorkers. Workers will also talk about their problems getting benefits when they have been laid off.
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Ithaca College to Host Week of Action for Burmese Refugees in Ithaca

November 28th, 2006
Terry is a small boy in kindergarten at Belle Sherman who is new to Ithaca. Cute and shy, with a warm, friendly smile, he's busy making friends and learning the English language. His family has just been granted refugee status and moved to Ithaca by way of Burmese refugee camps.
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Barbara Lifton Listens to Community Speak on Racism

November 28th, 2006
On November 15, New York Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton (D-125th) held a listening session in the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) after comments made in a pre-election letter to Democrats stirred strong emotions and accusations of racism.
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Ithacans Return from SOA Protests in Georgia

November 22nd, 2006
Around two dozen Ithacans joined the thousands of demonstrators this past weekend in Fort Benning, Georgia, to protest the infamous School of the Americas, a military training base for Latin American soldiers. Graduates of the school have been implicated in some of Latin America's worst civilian massacres.
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Native Ithacan Opens Home for Orphans in India

November 22nd, 2006
For Elizabeth Sholtys, a native Ithacan and current senior at Emory University, there's more to getting an education than just writing papers and reading books. At twenty-three, she's already opened the Ashraya Initiative for Children, a home for orphaned children in Pune, India.
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Get Stuffed This Thanksgiving with Local Foods

November 15th, 2006
Thanks to the success of last summer's Second Annual "Buy Local Foods" campaign through Cornell Cooperative Extension, CCE is holding a 50-Mile Thanksgiving to promote the purchase and consumption of local foods during this holiday season.
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Forum in Ithaca Focuses on Needs of Local Children

November 15th, 2006
“How are the children?” asked George Ferrari, Executive Director of the Community Foundation of Tompkins County last Thursday in the GIAC gym. He continued, “What are the urgent needs of children in the community? What are the roles and responsibilities of groups in our community to respond to those needs?”
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Syringe exchange program in Ithaca only one for miles

November 8th, 2006
Next Wednesday, November 15, the Southern Tier AIDS Program (STAP) will host an open house for their Syringe Exchange Program—the only such program that reaches rural populations in New York State.
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Community Resource Center to Honor Trumansburg Youth Worker

November 8th, 2006
A popular kid's attraction at this year's Grassroots Festival was a little wooden playhouse next to the Infield Stage. Shaped like a one room schoolhouse, the building was a tribute to local youth worker Jolene Uticone who had been spearheading an effort to create a community school/teen center in Trumansburg before succumbing to cancer last spring.
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Ithaca's MoveOn Office Becomes Top Volunteer Recruiting Office in Nation

November 1st, 2006
Last week, thanks to efforts of Annie Weinberg of MoveOn.org and the dozens of volunteers who have come to Ithaca to help get progressives to the polls, Ithaca's MoveOn office in the DeWitt Mall recruited the most volunteers of all MoveOn offices in the nation, including offices in New York City, San Francisco, and other big cities.
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Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance Walk-A-Thon Raises Awareness, Funds

November 1st, 2006
Last Saturday, about 500 people attended the 13th Annual Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance Walk-A-Thon on the Ithaca Commons. People of all ages, races, and classes came together to raise awareness about breast cancer and other types of cancers.
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Sustainability Expert Visits Ithaca

October 24th, 2006
On Tuesday, October 24, Dr. Tony Cortese, a renowned expert on sustainability issues in higher education, gave a keynote address at a luncheon and networking session at the public library for local leaders in the sustainability movement.
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Ithaca-Based Radio Project Tells Story of Native American children; Wins National Award

October 24th, 2006
Homelands Productions, a non profit radio production company headed by Jon Miller of Ithaca, has won the 2006 Edward R. Murrow Award for best national radio news documentary. The winning show, "Saints and Indians," was produced by former freelancer Kate Davidson and looks at the emotional experiences of Navajo children placed in Mormon foster homes throughout the second half of the twentieth century.
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Target Store Targeted

October 24th, 2006
The local Target store at the Pyramid Mall in Lansing was itself the target of local activists Tony Del Plato and Margaret McCasland earlier this month. The two donned hazmat protective gear to bring to customers' attention the fact that Target still stocks merchandise made out of or packaged in polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a known carcinogen.
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Save Sapsucker Woods Campaign Gains Momentum

October 10th, 2006
Recently, a group calling itself Save Sapsucker Woods formed to oppose the development of a 47-home subdivision bordering Cornell's Lab of Ornithology and Sapsucker Woods, in Northeastern Ithaca. Rocco Lucente has been granted preliminary approval to build the Briarwood II subdivision, which will take at least ten years to build, create new roads, and destroy eighteen acres of woodland habitat.
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Kitchen Theatre's Main Stage Presents Environmental Comedy 'Clean Alternatives'

October 10th, 2006
Next week, the Kitchen Theatre's main stage productions will offer Brian Dykstra's "Clean Alternatives," a play that, while not satire in form, manages to satirize American environmental policies.
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Crossing Borders in the Throes of Growing Pains

October 10th, 2006
Crossing Borders, a two-hour multicultural concert series that is broadcast live Saturday evenings on WVBR, recently moved to its new home from the Carriage House Café to Club Euphoria, in the Masonic Temple in downtown Ithaca.
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"I Reject These Labels" for Three Shows Only

September 30th, 2006
Fans of last year's "Black Stuff" won't want to miss this weekend's solo performance by LeVan Hawkins at the Kitchen Theatre. "I Reject These Labels" is Hawkins' self exploration through the labyrinth of race, gender, family, love, rejection, and fear.
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Refugee Writer Finds Asylum in Ithaca

September 26th, 2006
"I like words, I like the way they sound. Yet I cannot speak them." Those were some of the words spoken last Sunday by Sarah Mkhonza, a dissident writer from Swaziland, as she read from two works-in-progress to a packed house in the Unitarian Church.
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South Hill Apartment Buildings Go Solar

September 22nd, 2006
Solar panels are now covering the entire south side of the apartment building roof at 320 Hillview Place. This 100 panel, 16.7 kilowatt system will provide electricity to 14 apartments at 320 Hillview and for the neighboring building at 514 South Aurora Street.
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Annual Gospel Block Party Brings Community Together

September 20th, 2006
Community members of all ages and races gathered together at the First Baptized Church of Jesus Christ, on First Street in Ithaca, for the Second Annual Gospel Block Party. The sun broke out just as the party was getting started, blessing the grounds with likely one of the last warm Saturdays of 2006.
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Annual Labor Day Picnic Celebrates Workers, Worker's Rights

September 10th, 2006
Seventy-five members of the Immigrant Rights Coalition joined over 300 union members and community supporters for the 23rd Annual Labor Day Picnic on Monday, September 4 at Stewart Park.
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ABC Café Creates Exquisite Local Foods Night

August 29th, 2006
Last week, Josh Dolan from the ABC Café invited me to join him for "Local Food Night" at the restaurant, which happens every Sunday. The meal began with a two-bean chili and "flower power" salad—complete with local lemon cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and blueberries—and served with bread. Then we moved onto the main dish...
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Nagasaki Day: Remember, Never Again

August 10th, 2006
On August 9, about 150 people gathered on the Ithaca Commons to reflect on and remember the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, on August 6 and 9, 1945.
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Anti-War demonstration August 1

August 1st, 2006
About 30 demonstrators gathered at Clinton and Meadow Streets in Ithaca on August 1 to demand an immediate end to bombing and missile strikes by Israel and Hezbollah and for an immediate cease fire in Lebanon and Gaza.
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Click here for photos and weekend updates of Grassroots!

July 21st, 2006
Ithaca Community News has a new photo gallery! Check here to see lots of great photos of Grassroots throughout the weekend.
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Buy Local Food Campaign Gains Momentum in Ithaca

July 16th, 2006
The average distance our food takes to reach us is 1500 miles, a rather grim statistic pointed out by Lael Gerhart of the recently formed Buy Local Food campaign at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Gerhart was speaking to a crowd of about fifty participants at the Sustainable Tompkins monthly meeting on July 13.
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Get Ready for Grassroots!

July 16th, 2006
It's that time of year again, when the good folks of Trumansburg start preparing for about 12,000 campers, musicians and festival-goers. Aging hippies, young families, teenagers who grew up going to Grassroots, and newcomers alike will soon descend on the Trumansburg Fairgrounds to witness and participate in the 16th Annual Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance July 20-23.
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Will the city approve a plaque in memory of Redbud Woods?

July 3rd, 2006
The Board of Public Works (BPW) is set to vote July 5 on a proposed plaque on city land that would commemorate Redbud Woods and the struggle to save it.
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City passes resolution in support of single-payer health care

July 3rd, 2006
On June 7, Common Council and Mayor Carolyn Peterson passed a resolution 9-0 (with one abstention) in support of H.R. 676: The US National Health Insurance Act. The resolution calls on the congress of the United States to pass sweeping single-payer legislation that would cover all Americans' basic, preventive, and emergency health care needs.
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Juneteenth Celebration Draws Hundreds

June 25th, 2006
On Saturday June 24, the Southside Community Center welcomed several hundred participants in the nation's oldest celebration commemorating the end of slavery.
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Sustainable Tompkins forms Partnership with Youth Leaders, GreenStar

June 20th, 2006
What does the future of the sustainability movement hold for young and old alike? Could people across generations work together, learning from each other? Members of Sustainable Tompkins and The Tompkins County Youth Connect think so.
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Pumping for profit: water as a commodity vs. water as a common right

June 19th, 2006
Could the vast bodies of fresh water cradled in the Great Lakes and the Finger Lakes or stored in New York's many underground aquifers become a commercial product, piped away in huge canals, or bottled and sold bit by bit? Could our municipal water systems be taken over by a company from Germany with a British name (Thames)? Absurd as this all sounds, it is possible.
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LACS fights Racism with 2nd Annual Infusion Day

June 13th, 2006
Last Friday, students at the Lehman Alternative Community School hosted and attended a day-long series of workshops and entertainment designed to help students identify and fight racism.
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Ithaca Paraprofessionals to hold rally June 10

June 6th, 2006
Ithaca City School District paraprofessionals will hold a rally on the Commons at noon on Saturday, June 10 to boost morale to their members?¢‚Ç¨‚Äùwho have been working without a new contract since June, 2005?¢‚Ç¨‚Äùand to bring awareness to the community regarding their contract issues.
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Erin Brockovich visits Ithaca to help South Hill residents

June 5th, 2006
On June 1, Erin Brockovich spoke at GIAC to a standing-room only group of residents concerned about toxic pollution in the South Hill area from the former Morse Chain Factory, now Emerson Power Transmission (EPT). She was joined by two lawyers whose firms she consults with: Stan Alpert of the Alpert Firm in New York City, and Shawn McCann from Girardi and Keese in Los Angeles.
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Greensprings natural cemetery opens for business

May 23rd, 2006
On May 21, Greensprings Natural Cemetery opened for business in Newfield. It's the first "green" cemetery in New York State and only one of five in the country.
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Update on the Saint Patrick's Four from Mary Ann Grady Flores

May 23rd, 2006
This past Friday, May 19, Teresa Grady of the St. Patrick's Four, was released from Danbury Federal Detention Camp. She was greeted by a group of us who traveled to receive her, including her son Michael who came in from California.
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Ithaca Biodiesel fundraiser deemed success by organizers

May 23rd, 2006
On Mother's Day, The Haunt in Ithaca hosted a fundraiser for Ithaca Biodiesel, a new not-for-profit business that will recycle restaurant fryer oil into fuel for diesel engines.
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"Labor" to open this weekend with only four shows

May 17th, 2006
thacans are not going to want to miss Councilwoman Michelle Berry's one-woman play, "Labor," opening Friday May 19 at the Kitchen Theatre Company. She will perform the play this Friday and Saturday, and then again June 16 and 17.
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Paul Glover's Giro dell'Italia (Tour of Italy)

May 16th, 2006
The following is a personal account of Paul Glover's recent trip to Italy to speak about cooperative economic development, local currency, and creating jobs that help protect the environment.
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Last Chance to See the Accidental Activist

May 7th, 2006
If it's been a while since you've seen a spunky, Jewish actress portray a Sudanese woman who started an anti-war movement, there's still time to catch one in the Accidental Activist, with four more performances at the Kitchen Theatre.
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ICSD BoE Candidates field questions from PTA

May 6th, 2006
On May 16, Ithaca city school district residents will be asked to vote for three new school board members and to vote on the school budget for next year. What follows are the candidates responses to a questionaire distributed by the PTA Council. Candidates responded to questions on budget priorities, equity in the school district, and more.
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Nearly 400 participate in Ithaca Immigrant Rights Rally

May 4th, 2006
On May 1, the Commons in downtown Ithaca was packed with nearly 400 immigrant rights activists. The rally was part of a national day of action to declare "No Human is Illegal."
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Resolution to Impeach George W. Bush

May 2nd, 2006
The Finger Lakes Progressives, a loose coalition of concerned citizens and groups from a multicounty region of New York State and the northern tier of Pennsylvania, have unanimously passed a resolution to impeach George Bush.
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Hillary has Progressive Challenger in Sander Hicks

April 26th, 2006
Sander Hicks, a progressive and Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate visited Ithaca last week and spoke about his campaign at the Workers' Rights Center on Friday April 21.
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Bookery II to Reopen April 17

April 11th, 2006
Amidst the construction and debris from Gary Weissbrot's remodeling efforts, on April 6 it didn't look like he would have the Bookery II ready to re-open on April 17, but that's the plan. "We're going to open on April 17 no matter what," says Weissbrot. "Even if there are no books."
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Forum for Equity addresses racism and more in the ICSD

April 10th, 2006
On April 6, community residents packed the gymnasium at the Southside Community Center for a Forum for Equity. Sponsored by the Village at Ithaca, the forum was designed to let the board of education, and future candidates, hear of the issues that are important to the Village.
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Ithaca Free Clinic Celebrates with First Annual Gala Event

March 28th, 2006
On Saturday, March 25, at least 125 health care advocates celebrated the long-awaited opening of the Ithaca Free Clinic with a scrumptious array of Hors D'Oeurves and spirits prepared by chefs at Olivia Restaurant. The Gala Event also included live music and dance, as well as a silent auction and a live auction.
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Unity Walk Draws 130, Promotes Community Between Races

March 26th, 2006
On Saturday, March 25, over 130 people of various ages and races attended the Unity Walk from Calvary Baptist Church on Albany Street in Ithaca to the St. Paul‚Äôs United Methodist Church on Aurora Street. Afterward, many walkers stayed at St. Paul‚Äôs for the annual Lift Every Voice concert and fundraiser for the Village at Ithaca.
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Iraq War Veteran, Blogger and Author, Speaks at Ithaca College

March 24th, 2006
Colby Buzzell gained notoriety in 2004 when his Iraq War blog began to garner attention, first from hordes of fans, then the media, and eventually, his supervisors in the US Army.
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Ithaca Anti-War Rally Attracts 150

March 24th, 2006
Over 150 people attended an anti-war rally in Ithaca on Saturday, March 18, 2006 as part of the Global Call to Action, according to John Hamilton, one of the rally‚Äôs organizers.
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Ithaca Community News Thanks Sponsors for Tonight‚Äôs Event

March 18th, 2006
On Saturday, March 18, the Ithaca Community News launched its new web site during a benefit dance party at the Women‚Äôs Community Building with local band Thousands of One. Elizabeth Bauchner, ICN‚Äôs editor and publisher, couldn‚Äôt have made the night a success without the evening‚Äôs many sponsors.
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Community Supported Agriculture Supports Local Farmers

March 15th, 2006
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a partnership between farmers and community members in which farmers agree to produce a certain amount of food over the course of the season and community members agree to buy it by paying for it in advance. The consumer usually receives a weekly portion of whatever is ready for harvest.
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Tompkins County Peak Oil Plan Gains Momentum

March 15th, 2006
In today‚Äôs Internet age, it sometimes happens that a phenomenon becomes better known on the web than in its own locale. Such may be the case with a project called the Tompkins County Relocalization Plan (TCRP), an online research project designed to develop an emergency plan fro re-localizing distribution of goods and services in response to irreversibly rising oil prices, according to organizer Bethany Shroeder.
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Students Hold Rally Against Institutional Racism

March 1st, 2006
In the aftermath of a violent and racially motivated stabbing that occurred on Cornell's West Campus last Friday, students have come together to demand that administrators take proactive steps to address issues of racism and violence at Cornell.
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New "Beanery" in Caroline Offers Sustainable Vision

February 15th, 2006
CAROLINE, NY. Last December, a stream of cleaned, locally-grown, organic black beans tumbled down a chute in an old barn bound for ABC Cafe, Viva Tacqueria, and other local businesses. The event capped a season of dreams, dedication, investment and hard work by Erick Smith and Dan Lathwell, partners in Cayuga Pure Organics.
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