New York

Eight apps to keep you safe over spring break
By Ari Gilberg
March 9, 2017 - 1:00am
Whether you’re headed to Cancun or Cabo, download these eight apps to your phone to avoid any unnecessary danger over spring break.

After spending countless hours studying for exams, working on projects and writing essays, many students want to enjoy a relaxing week away from their troubles and responsibilities. For some, this includes traveling to California, Florida or even a foreign country such as Mexico or Canada.

While traveling over spring break is a popular way for students to enjoy themselves in a stress-free environment, it can also lead to potentially dangerous situations.

ROTC students discuss their multicultural pride
By Nicole Valinote
March 3, 2017 - 4:04am
With immigration being widely discussed, ROTC students maintain their pride for their homelands, while serving the U.S.

During his first year in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, Moyan Dong crawled through the snow in civilian clothes for a training exercise for two hours. His fellow cadets wore their official ROTC gear during the exercise, but the U.S. military does not issue the gear to cadets without U.S. citizenship, like Dong. By the end of the exercise, his jacket was frozen solid.

“Dong is hardcore,” the sophomore at Syracuse University remembered a sergeant saying after the exercise.

Record temperatures surprise Syracuse University students
By Stacy Fernández
February 25, 2017 - 12:53pm
The past week brought unseasonably high temperatures and sunshine to the Central New York region.

During the winter months those on the Syracuse University campus normally walk briskly in puffy coats to get to a warm destination as soon as possible. Yesterday, these same people strolled around campus taking in the unusual February weather.

On Thursday, Syracuse set a new record daily high with temperatures reaching 69 degrees. Friday’s weather tied the all time February record high set on Feb. 19, 1981.

Dressing up with drag queens and kings
By Dayna DiJoseph
February 21, 2017 - 1:00am
Before the drag queens and kings could take the stage at Pride Union’s 15th Annual Totally Fabulous Drag Show, the participants spent hours transforming themselves.

 “Are you using that mirror?”

“No, we are just feeling ourselves, go ahead.” 

A few hours before the performers were called to the stage, the two dressing rooms bustled with drag queens in various stages of dress. Tights littered the floor, makeup was strewn across every available surface and puffs of glitter lingered in the air. Wigs rested atop a table waiting to transform the participants.

Where to find deals on your meals in downtown Syracuse
By Michaela Anne Q...
February 20, 2017 - 12:17pm
The 13th annual Downtown Dining Weeks is in full swing with local Syracuse restaurants offering three-course meals for $25.

Now through March 1 marks the 13th annual Downtown Dining Weeks, hosted by the Downtown Committee of Syracuse. During these two weeks, restaurants offer three-course meals for $25. These two weeks allow people to try restaurants that may be out of their budget, otherwise. Dining Weeks also boosts business downtown during a quieter time of the year.

SU students make prosthetic hands with kids at Central Village Boys & Girls Club
By Michaela Anne Q...
February 13, 2017 - 10:55am
Sophomore Justin Bachman led a group of SU students and local children to construct 3-D printed prosthetic hands to donate to kids in other countries.

Dressed in a black t-shirt with “Live Loudly” written on it, Justin Bachman asked a table of children at the Central Village Boys & Girls Club Of Syracuse New York, “When you woke up this morning, did you think you were going to make a hand for a kid in another country?”

My Lucky Tummy celebrates refugees’ homemade cuisine with the Syracuse community
By Nisha Stickles
February 6, 2017 - 1:44am
The All Saints Church hosted a pop-up food court dinner on Saturday, featuring international dishes for a cultural affair.

Madeline Kujabi stirred a curry-like concoction of chicken, peanut butter and tomato in a tall, slender metal pot. The dish, called domoda, emitted a heavy aroma, providing an olfactory nostalgia of the home Kujabi left four years ago: The Gambia.

 Kujabi came to Syracuse to continue her schooling as an international student. Now a senior at Bishop Grimes High School, Kujabi enjoys sharing her Gambian heritage through eating.  

High lead poisoning rates among children in Syracuse target poor people of color
By McKenna Moore
January 30, 2017 - 5:14pm
Syracuse's rate of lead poisoning among children is four times the national average.

There is a relationship between the city of Syracuse’s high rate of lead poisoning among children and its high concentration of poverty among African-Americans and Latinos, experts say.

In Onondaga County, around six percent of children tested have elevated blood lead (EBL) levels, which is above the approximately three percent of children diagnosed with lead poisoning nationally, according to a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics.

HIV prevention advocates push for change
By Samantha Mendoza
December 28, 2016 - 5:25pm
With the nation’s highest concentration of poverty among blacks, Syracuse is adopting community-oriented tactics to ending the epidemic.

Always demand a certain level of treatment. That’s what Joshua King told himself as he grew up with a single mother in the suburb of De Witt just outside of Syracuse-- “the land of opportunity,” as he calls it.

As a young black man in a city that is 84 percent white, he knew that barriers prevented him from achieving the same level of success as his peers. As a young gay black man, he knew those barriers were even greater.

SUNY-ESF professor's research links pollution to low socio-economic communities
By Katelyn Faubel
March 7, 2016 - 11:23am
Assistant professor Mary Collins' research tracked more than 16,000 US factories and their pollutants.

Research published in January by a SUNY-ESF professor linked extreme toxic pollution to minority and low socio-economic communities — and in turn added to the conversation of environmental justice at SUNY-ESF.