Archive: Around Town

Hey there my name is Melinda I am a ten-month-old domestic short hair/mix. I'm a beautiful girl who is looking for a loving home with people who will take good care of me. So come and visit me at the SPCA to see if I'm the right cat for you.

Visit the SPCA Web Page

----
v6i4

After more than a year of proposals, plans, designs and drafts, the Tompkins County Public Library has a new website.

The Library launched the newly-designed tcpl.org Thursday with the hopes of making the website more easily accessible and visually appealing for its patrons.

“We are tremendously excited to finally debut our new site,” Library Director Susan Currie said.  “We hope patrons will appreciate the fresh look and remote access to such a wealth of information.”

Part 3: Impact of a Charter School

	Last week we presented a look at New Roots Charter School was formed.  This week we report on the impact the school has on various aspects of the communities. Part 1: Inside New Roots Part 2: Building a School Part 3: New Roots' Impact

There are many ways to look at the impact a charter school has on a community.  There is the impact on children, first and foremost.  There is the impact on local school districts.  An impact on families.  On the local economy.  An impact on taxpayers.  Principal Tina Nilsen-Hodges, whose idea it was to found New Roots, says it is also about impacting the future.

"It grew out of my strong conviction that in times where we're seeing rapid change in terms of the climate and the economy -- all these big changes that we can see right on our horizon will require that young people coming of age now have a kind of resilience and ability to solve problems, a flexibility and capacity for collaboration and developing community that our traditional 20th century schools just don't fully support," she says.

Read more ...

Hey there my name is Alfred. I am a white/buff domestic shorthair/mix. I'm a handsome fellow who is looking for a loving home, so come and visit me at the SPCA to see if I'm the right guy for you.

Visit the SPCA Web Page

----
v6i3

Out and About in the Finger LakesThe semester for one local LACS student started bright and very early in Albany last week. Our 17 year old, "grand daughter by mutual choice" , Tigan, who has appeared earlier in this column as "Gavel Girl", talked her way into an internship at Empire Justice in downtown Albany in order to complete her alternative school required community internship. Because Jim's work also takes us to Albany and provides us with a small apartment there, we decided to turn half of our 12'x12' living room into a "Tiga-tat" room for her with some pvc pipe and 15 yards for fabric.

The first photo was taken at 6:45 am as she began the commute to her first official day of work car pooling with "Geek Guy", a.k.a. Jim Sullivan who, fortunately, works on a long term contract to someday bring the State of NY into the 21st century in an office a few blocks from hers.

Ithaca resident Christopher LaVallee is one of 200 athletes worldwide, who was recently accepted to compete in the April, 2010 RacingThePlanet 7-day, 155-mile Australian Outback rough-country foot race. LaVallee is celebrating his acceptance to the April 25, 2010 to May 1, 2010 event with a $20,000 fundraising campaign for the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes. His father is a prostate cancer survivor.

LaVallee, The Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes, and corporate sponsor ASI Renovations announced the fundraising campaign and his participation in RacingThePlanet foot race,on Friday, January 15, 2010.

On Wednesday a new writers group met for the first time in the Lansing Community Library.  The brainchild of Vickey Beaver, the group is targeted toward adult and mature minors who want together to hone their writing skills.  Beaver says the group will share and critique members' work.

"That's what a writers group is all about," she says.  "It's about joining with other people from a variety of genres, and a variety of experiences, whether they are published, unpublished, or never want to be published.  All of you want to write something for some reason that is important to you.  A writers group is all about having a place where other people are respectful and interested in the act of writing."

Part 2: Building a School

	Last week we presented an inside look at New Roots Charter School.  This week we report on how the school has been created. Part 1: Inside New Roots Part 2: Building a School Part 3: New Roots' Impact

The first two weeks at New Roots high school were more like camp than school.  You could almost imagine Anna and the King of Siam singing 'Getting to know you, getting to know all about you' as background music to accompany the activities during that period.  Students and faculty learned about each other, walked around Ithaca and learned about the history of the city and economic and environmental impacts past, present, and future.  As the weeks progressed academics dripped into the mix.  It was a very odd experience, especially for kids used to traditional schools.

10th Grade math teacher Jayson Rome says that spending that time focusing on community building was key to making the curriculum work.  He says that building a positive school culture and building a foundation for empowering students to have a voice in how they will learn is what seems to make the whole system work.  "If they don't get along, there is no curriculum," he says.

Read more ...

While some officials in Washington say the economic crisis is over, families in Lansing know otherwise.  Lansing Food Pantry director Nancy Myers says that 80 families are using the food pantry, a dramatic rise from a few years ago.  Anna Brewer decided that she and fellow members of Grace Baptist Church could do something more to help provide relief to these families.  The church will host a free monthly Thursday dinner starting next Thursday (January 21st).

"The dinner is planned each month for the Thursday prior to the Monday food pantry," she says.  "It is the latest point after the last food pantry, and before payday for most people.  It's a good opportunity to have a family meal that you don't have to pay for."

We hope everyone had as nice a holiday season as we did. Frankly, it was so nice it's been hard to get back and take the time to write about it but we did find so new places to try and had some adventures to share along the way.

 Jim's Santa suit is finally back in the closet for the next ten and a half months and we finally took the really FAT tree that we got at Moore's Tree Farm out to provide shelter for the small birds while they wait for the greedy blue jays to finish stuffing themselves at our feeders.

ITHACA, NY —  Starting on Saturday, January 23, Sciencenter visitors will have the opportunity to discover a special collection of "Made in Ithaca" exhibits featuring our newest exhibit, “Sonic Sensation”.  Special opening day activities are planned from 12 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, January 23. 

Made in Ithaca celebrates the creative talents of the Sciencenter’s Exhibits Team, which develops high-quality, hands-on exhibitions right here in Ithaca and then travels them to other science centers throughout the U.S. and Canada. 

The Tompkins County Public Library has announced plans to launch its new website later this month.

The year-long project to enhance the site included a complete redesign and significant content upgrades with the goal of creating a more user-friendly and visually appealing site.