Here’s the Ithaca Minute for December 30th!

For years, Cornell men’s ice hockey has played a holiday-week invitational tournament in Estero, Florida, but with that series ended, the Big Red had an opening on their schedule for a year-end home contest against a non-league opponent, the Canisius College Golden Griffins.

Saturday’s 4pm game at Lynah Rink should have plenty of tickets available at cornellbigredtickets.com or at the ticket office. Cornell will next host Princeton and Quinnipiac for a pair of ECAC contests next Friday and Saturday nights, with both games at 7pm.

Lots of eateries and music venues open for New Year’s Eve, and there are special dinner menus at Agava on Ithaca’s East Hill and the Rook on West State Street. Lot 10 has their fourth annual Big Mean Sound Machine show, the Range has NEO Project, and Opera Ithaca is presenting the Pirates of Penzance at the Hangar Theatre. More details on who’s open and closed this weekend at 14850.com.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute for December 29th!

The City of Ithaca says Green Street, or Route 79 eastbound through Downtown Ithaca, will be closed this coming Wednesday night for placement of a crane for the City Centre project.

East Green Street will be closed from Cayuga Street to the intersection with East State Street at Seneca Way, starting at 7pm on Wednesday, January 3rd, and “until early morning Thursday.”

With area residents scrambling to prepay 2018 property taxes in the 2017 tax year to avoid changes to tax deductions under recent tax reform changes, Ithaca, Dryden, and Lansing officials are ready to take payments, which can be made online, in person, or in some cases, postmarked by December 31st.

And as 2017 draws to a close, 14850 Dining is taking a look at some of the options for celebrating the New Year this weekend in and around Ithaca. Lots of eateries open on New Year’s Eve, including several with special menus, champagne toasts, or live music. Check 14850.com for the details.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute for December 28th!

The Ithaca Fire Department says firefighters responded to a five-story apartment building on Linden Avenue in Collegetown to investigate a fire alarm, and “as they got up to the 5th floor, they found heavy smoke in the hallway.” The fire was found and contained to a utility room on the 5th floor, and “the cause of the fire appears to be a problem with the furnace. It’s the same scene, and same apparent cause, of a New Year’s Eve fire extinguished almost exactly two years ago.

The Ithaca Police Department says a 14-year-old Ithaca resident was responsible for “multiple reports of damage to vehicles and buildings” caused by a BB gun in recent incidents, but police chief Pete Tyler says, “We believe there are others involved.” According to IPD public information officer Jamie Williamson, at least nine separate incidents have been reported. In each case, damage appears to have been caused by a BB gun. Police detained the 14-year-old suspect, and the case is being transferred to Tompkins County Family Court for further action.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute for December 24th!

Nicole Marranca may have last been seen in Ithaca about four months ago, but her family hasn’t given up hope. Just days after her 28th birthday, a $500 reward was announced, for tips that result in finding Nicole. Ithaca Police reached out to the public for help in early September after exhausting all leads.

According to the Find Nicole Marranca page on Facebook, she was last seen at the Economy Inn on Elmira Road in Ithaca, and “may have left with a Caucasian male in a black pickup truck.” If you have any information that could assist in the search, please contact IPD.

A man displaying a handgun robbed Ithaca’s Shortstop Deli in the wee hours of Christmas Eve. According to a store employee, a male suspect wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and ski mask displayed a handgun and took a quantity of cash from the register before fleeing the area northbound on North Albany Street.

The incident comes just days after a similar robbery at the Byrne Dairy convenience store on North Meadow Street.

And a five-month-old reindeer named Little Buddy is back home and on the mend after life-saving treatment at Cornell University’s equine and farm animal hospital, including a blood transfusion from his brother, Moose.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute for November 8th!

“A case of pertussis or whooping cough has been identified in the Ithaca City School District,” officials warned parents in a letter that went home on Tuesday, “and your child may have been exposed.”

The school district isn’t identifying the infected student, who attends Cayuga Heights Elementary School.

The district urges parents whose children have a cough to keep them home from school and activities such as sports or play groups, to make an appointment with the child’s doctor, and to warn the doctor that the child may have been exposed to pertussis.

Democratic nominees won several contested races around Ithaca and Tompkins County in Tuesday’s general election, according to early, unofficial results from the Tompkins County Board of Elections.

A proposal in the City of Ithaca to create a new system of four volunteer advisory commissions to replace what Mayor Svante Myrick calls “dozens of committees” appears to have won by a roughly 63%-37% margin.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute for November 7th!

The Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) building in Downtown Ithaca closed for the day late Monday morning due to a water main break.

GIAC deputy director Kerry Phillips says after school and evening programs were canceled for the remainder of the day. An attempt to send a text message to parents and caregivers wasn’t successful.

The Dryden Middle School building was evacuated first thing Monday morning after a fire was discovered in a wastebasket, according to interim superintendent of schools William Locke. The fire occurred at about 7:50am.

According to Chief Mike Hall of the Dryden Fire Department, firefighters responded to a fire alarm activation and discovered that a “small fire had occurred in a bathroom” and had been “quickly extinguished by school staff.”

Chief Hall added that crews assisted in ventilation of the building, and classes resumed.

And don’t forget the Ithaca Rotary Club election day pancake breakfast is from 7am to 7pm Tuesday at Coltivare!

Polls are open in Ithaca from 6am-9pm. Where’s your polling place and what’s on your ballot? Check 14850.com.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute for November 6th!

The Ithaca Police Department says they responded to “multiple calls of shots fired” at about 10:40pm Saturday night at an apartment building in the 100 block of North Plain Street.

According to IPD Sergeant David Amaro, responding police officers “located evidence that gun shots had been fired within the building,” but there was no evidence that anyone was hit by the gunfire.

Two victims at the scene reported having been robbed by “two male suspects wearing masks and carrying long guns” who forced their way into the apartment. One victim reported being struck in the head with the butt end of a gun.

The victims reported that property was taken from the home, and suspects were last seen leaving the area northbound on North Plain Street in a red sedan.

And when election day rolls around, Tompkins County residents get to vote for plain pancakes or blueberry pancakes at the annual Rotary Club election day pancake breakfast. The 44th annual pancake breakfast will be at Coltivare, on South Cayuga Street, this Tuesday.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute for November 1st!

In a last-minute burst of sanity, Mayor Svante Myrick announced on Tuesday afternoon that the City of Ithaca is suspending its long-derided seasonal Odd-Even Parking regulations, hours before the policy would go into effect at midnight. The development is thanks to the implementation of Tompkins County’s new Swift911 system.

The change depends on area residents signing up for Swift911’s emergency notification service, Mayor Myrick says. “If people sign up we can do away with odd/even forever. If people don’t sign up we will need to go back to the old system.”

Register at cityofithaca.org, or there’s a link at 14850.com. Area residents who don’t have Internet access can register for the notification system to receive voice calls, by calling 607-266-2730.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute for October 26th!

A roughly 3,000 square foot space on the ground floor of the new building where the Chapter House once stood is now listed as “for lease,” a short walk from Downtown Ithaca or the Cornell University campus.

The developer has listed the space as “ideal for restaurant/bar,” with 3,000 square feet on the ground floor and additional space available on the lower level. The listing adds that a concept design is available to prospective tenants, and the space is offered at $35 per square foot.

Dozens of political lawn signs have been stolen in the Ellis Hollow area in recent nights, according to Tompkins County legislator Martha Robertson. Most are for Democratic candidates, as well as some Community Solar signs.

And the SPCA of Tompkins County is gearing up for Ithaca’s Wizarding Weekend, and sorting adoptable animals into each of the Harry Potter houses for the occasion.

They’ll be posting animals (“mostly long-timers”) from a different Hogwarts house each day. The SPCA’s main adoption center on Hanshaw Road is open Thursday from 12-7pm, and then 12-5pm this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

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Here’s the Ithaca Minute for October 25th!

Grocery delivery isn’t new to the Ithaca area, but it makes a big expansion this week with delivery service beginning from Wegmans and CVS. An Instacart representative says the company “plans to bring on more than 100 new shoppers” to provide the service.

Ithaca area shoppers have had grocery service for about four years, with P&C Fresh on Ithaca’s east hill and Shur-Save in Trumansburg both providing the service to their shoppers through Rosie.

And the Ithaca Department of Public Works says a contractor will be “restriping the roadway edge lines and dashed lines on Route 13” from the city line near Boynton Middle School on Ithaca’s northside down to Seneca Street, along Meadow and Fulton Streets.

The work will start around 8pm Wednesday and will last for several hours. “Motorists should expect temporary traffic delays,” says the City.

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