The Ithaca Community News (ICN) is a non-profit news service bringing alternative news and views from Ithaca, NY to readers all over the world. ICN is also a weekly email newsletter with more than 8,000 subscribers.
Paul Glover founded ICN in 2000 and published it for five years before handing the reins to Elizabeth Field, a freelance journalist, in November, 2005.
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Happy New Year!
In this issue:
Ithaca Community News is a free, weekly newsletter that zooms to your inbox every Wednesday. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to elizabeth@ithacanews.org with "Unsubscribe ICN" in the subject heading. Editor and Publisher: Elizabeth Bauchner. Founded by
Ithaca Community News home page: http://www.ithacanews.org
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NOT OFFICIALLY NEWS
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Elizabeth changes her name from Bauchner to Field. You may have noticed in the return name field that this newsletter came from Elizabeth Field. That's her (old) new name.
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The Millennium Simulation Project:
Scientists at the VIRGO Consortium are carrying out supercomputer simulations of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the evolution of the intergalactic medium. You can download video simulations of galaxies forming here:
http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/galform/virgo/
The Millennium Simulation Project, a 2-minute, three dimensional computer simulation takes us through a journey of numerous galaxies. What we see in the simulation would take light more than 2.4 billion years to travel:
http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/galform/virgo/millennium/index.shtml
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ICN NEWS
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Articles and news briefs on the ICN site:
Guest Commentary: Why we're Boycotting Maté Factor on the Commons, by John Sullivan: http://www.ithacanews.org/op-ed.htm?newsID=170
Village at Ithaca and ICSD Collaborate on First Annual Equity Report Card:
http://www.ithacanews.org/news.htm?newsID=167
Local Fleets to Purchase Biodiesel in '07, by
http://www.ithacanews.org/news.htm?newsID=168
Ithaca Free Clinic Turns One This Month; Offers More Programs and Care, by Susan Weitz: http://www.ithacanews.org/news.htm?newsID=169
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New Poll on the ICN web site:
Do your New Year's Resolutions Include:
Cast your vote at http://www.ithacanews.org
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NEWSLETTER SPONSOR. At the ITHACA BAKERY and COLLEGETOWN BAGELS, we feed customers more than food. Independent and family-owned, we are in and of
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WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE YOUR AD HERE?
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THANKS TO THE DONORS WHO HAVE DONATED IN THE PAST.
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ITHACA LABOR NEWS
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Public Hearings on the ICSD facilities bond project:
More info on the facilities bond projects:
http://www.icsd.k12.ny.us/board/FacilitiesBond2006/
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Ithaca Common Council to Discuss Resolution to Keep Lakeside Nursing Home Open: Tonight, January 3, 7:00 pm, City Hall, 108 E. Green Street. Residents are being asked to come to show support for keeping Lakeside open. Three minute public comment period precedes meeting.
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7th Art Corp. to host benefit for new Art House Theatre, January 19, 7:00 pm at Cinemapolis, Center Ithaca, the Commons, Ithaca. The premiere screening of Pedro Almodovar's Volver will be a benefit to kick off 7th Art's capital campaign for "A Theater As Good As Its Movies!" The event will include hors-d'oeuvres donated by Ithaca restaurants, wine-tasting, Spanish guitar music, a screening of Almodovar's vibrant Volver (starring a cast of wonderful girls and women, including Penelope Cruz and Carmen Maura), and a post-screening audience discussion of Almodovar and Spanish cinema. Tickets cost $35.00, and are on sale at Fall Creek Pictures and Cinemapolis.
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Tompkins Workforce NY has a new calendar of employment counseling services:
http://www.my.calendars.net/wfny
Located in Center Ithaca on the Commons, Tompkins Workforce NY offers employment related services to jobseekers and employers:
http://www.tompkinsworkforceny.org/
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ITHACA SUSTAINABILITY
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Documentary Film: "The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil."
Thursday, January 11, as part of the Sustainable Tompkins monthly gathering and sponsored, in part, by Tompkins County Relocalization Project (TCLocal). The gathering will begin at 6:00 pm with a potluck dinner at GIAC, 318 N. Albany Street, Ithaca.
About the film and gathering: Petroleum industry experts agree that global oil production will reach a peak and then begin an irreversible decline some time in the next 20 years, with profound implications for our way of life and even our food supply. Cuba got an unwilling preview of the future when oil imports collapsed with the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. This story of Cuba's successful management of energy descent through permaculture provides an eye-opening look at the challenges facing us, the solutions provided by a transition to organic farming, and the social changes wrought by a return to local food production. Discussion will follow film.
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Cornell to Host Second Annual Conference on Facilitating Sustainable Agriculture Education.
From July 11-14, 2007, Cornell will host a conference on how our colleges and universities can facilitate sustainable agriculture. Last year's conference was held at Asilomar in California. Organizers expect to host a diverse range of faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students, administrators, extension educators, and farmers and food system practitioners who are active or interested in sustainable agriculture education.
More info:
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News from Cornell Chronicle online:
Solar panels on Day Hall will make enough electricity to light the clock tower: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Dec06/DayHallSolar.ws.html
Nevada native returns to conservationist roots, with a CU degree. Having graduated from Cornell a semester early this week, Lisa Gilbertson will head back home, where she hopes to pursue a career in environmental conservation -- a career path she has long sought: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Dec06/lisa.gilbertson.profile.aj.html
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ITHACA WAR AND PEACE REPORT
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Two upcoming events that celebrate Martin Luther King Junior's life and work:
GIAC Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast, Saturday, January 13, 9:00-11:00 am, BJM School, 302 W. Buffalo St., Ithaca. Breakfast is sponsored by the staff and Board of Directors of GIAC. Cost is $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and youth, $10 family of 4 or more and children under 5 free. Featuring guest speaker Alan Gomez, Assistant Professor of Latino/a Studies, Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity at Ithaca College. The Peacemaker Award will be announced by CDRC as well as the winners of the TC Human Rights Commission MLK poetry and art contest. If you're interested in volunteering, helping to cook breakfast and clean-up, please contact
Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service: Make it a Day On, Not a Day Off
The 13th annual celebration of the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be held on Monday, January 15. This year's festivities will begin at 9:30 am at GIAC, 318 N. Albany Street, with workshops for children and adults. Tompkins Community Action will be running a poverty simulation to educate participants on what it means to live in poverty. The luncheon, free to the public, will begin at 12:00 pm in the Beverly J. Martin School gym, 302 W. Buffalo St., featuring keynote speaker James Brown, Director of United
The day is organized by the Greater Ithaca Activities Center; the Multicultural Resource Center; The CRESP Center for Transformative Action; the Cornell Public Service Center; the GreenStar Cooperative Market, Ithaca College's Office of Multicultural Affairs, Campus Life at Cornell University; Ithaca College's Center for Student Leadership and Involvement; and Cornell Cooperative Extension of TC and community members. It is co-sponsored by a 2006 Community Celebrations Grant from the Tompkins County Legislature and the City of Ithaca.
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FEATURED EVENTS
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Now on the web! Check out our events calendar:
http://ithacanews.org/events.htm?catID=1.
Just some of this week's listings: Bound for Glory Schedule; art openings; Crossing Borders and more. Don't miss out! Calendar is live, same format as newsletter, updated almost daily, and searchable.
To submit an event listing: http://ithacanews.org/contactpr.htm.
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CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
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"LITE-In-Winter" Favorite Trails Contest. Entry deadline: January 15!
Do you have a favorite walk or hike that you enjoy in the fall or winter months—on foot, cross-country skis, or snowshoes? Is it especially scenic, historic or educational, great for kids, for seniors, or for beginning to experienced hikers/walkers? It could be an established trail, or one that you've made up.
Send it in to Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, and you may win a GARMIN eTrex Vista Cx GPS, a $50 gift certificate from Cayuga Ski & Cyclery, an Equipment Rental certificate from Eastern Mountain Sports, or a "Guide to Hiking the Trails of the Finger Lakes" from Cayuga Trails Club.
Winning entries may be featured in the Ithaca Journal and on the CCE website. Winners will be announced on Sunday, January 28, at 11:30 at the Cass Park Pavilion next to the Ithaca Children's Garden as one of the free family events associated with the Light in Winter Festival.
See details and printable or online forms at: http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/tompkins/trails/contest.htm
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CLASSES, LECTURES, SUPPORT GROUPS
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Now on the web! Check out listings for cool classes, lectures and more:
http://ithacanews.org/events.htm?catID=8. Just some of the newer listings: Green Building Seminar Series; Classes on mindfulness-based stress reduction; Writing Through the Rough Spots, and more. Don’t miss out!
To submit a class listing: http://ithacanews.org/contactpr.htm.
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YOUR LETTERS
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On Voting Security from
Dear ICN Community,
What a difference an election makes! I trust you're feeling as relieved about the last one as I am, even knowing how much work is ahead of us to end the war and make our government work for the American people.
One of the major challenges ahead is how elections are conducted and how the votes are counted. Here in New York we've watched as other states struggled with new voting machines, knowing that the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires New York to also choose new technologies before the next Presidential election. To know how badly things can go, you only have to watch the debacle in Florida (again!), where electronic touch screen voting machines failed to record 18,000 votes in a hotly contested election for Congress.
Many of us in the state are comforted by the fact that New Yorkers for Verified Voting is working to protect our votes. I'm writing today to ask you to join me in supporting NYVV (http://www.nyvv.org/index.shtml) with your tax deductible gift, so that we can have confidence in our elections in the future.
The message below is from Bo Lipari, a fellow upstater who started NYVV following the 2004 election. Bo's thorough research and analysis of voting technologies have been vital in educating people about the issues involved with HAVA. As a county legislator I've called on him many times for the most current and accurate information about election issues. I've watched NYVV fight what was an uphill battle in New York State against electronic voting machines. Thanks to their tireless advocacy, NYVV has made New York’s election rules "among the strongest in the nation" and "...resulted in endorsements for paper ballots and scanners from every major newspaper in New York State." (Be patient; the download takes a few seconds.)
The battle is far from won, though. NYVV is fighting for us, and they need our support to continue their work. Visit their website to see why this matters so much.
You can make a tax-deductible donation at http://www.nyvv.org/donate.shtml or by sending a check to:
NYVV
PO Box 163
Thank you so much for your consideration of this request. Peace to you and yours in the New Year!
---Martha Robertson
--[REPLY]: Thanks Martha, for keeping us informed about this important process, and the work that NYVV is completing on behalf of all of us. Following is the message from Bo Lipari:
Friends and supporters of New Yorkers for Verified Voting,
The November election brought an explosion of reports on voting machine problems throughout the country. States had problems with voting machines, from long lines in Colorado to 18,000 lost votes on DREs in Florida. Cuyahoga County, Miami Dade County, New Mexico, and Maryland are all considering scrapping multi-million dollar purchases of touch screen DREs in favor of paper ballots and precinct ballot scanners.
New Yorkers for Verified Voting has been at the forefront of the fight for secure, auditable elections. We’ve got the truth out about the dangers of DREs and made New York’s voting machine regulations among the strongest in the nation. Our ongoing media efforts have resulted in endorsements for paper ballots and scanners from every major newspaper in New York State. I travel throughout the state presenting, educating, advising and speaking to citizens, legislators, the media, and election officials.
Most important, we’ve fought back successfully against the deep pocketed voting machine vendors who once brashly claimed “New York is a DRE state.” Our work has had a real impact: according to a spokesman for the New York State Board of Elections, “Scanners have a leg up now, especially with what we’re hearing about DREs...”
NYVV has worked tirelessly ensuring that the right choices are made for voters, not vendors. With a new legislative session beginning this January, we’ll make our voices heard in Albany, pushing for new legislation to adopt a single statewide paper ballot based voting system, and taking the voting machine decision out of the hands of unaccountable election commissioners.
NYVV needs your help today to make this work possible. Our organization operates on a shoe string budget; all work is done on a volunteer basis. But the costs of maintaining an office and website, public outreach, travel and telephone can only be met if our supporters donate to the cause. We’ve come a long way, but we still have so much more work to do.
---Bo Lipari, Executive Director, New Yorkers for Verified Voting