Here’s the Ithaca Minute from 14850 Today for February 13th.

Ithaca radio station WVBR has a new format this week. Fifty years after the transition to rock music and over twenty years after adopting the Real Rock Radio slogan, WVBR is now Ithaca’s Alternative.

The new format “will feature classic artists like Nirvana, the Foo Fighters, and the Strokes, along with the best newcomers… like the Cold War Kids and Tame Impala.”

WVBR’s TJ Hurd tells us much of the new playlist “has been taken from the alternative music we already play, but we’ve been expanding a bit further into the discographies of our core artists.”

Governor Cuomo issued an executive order late last month authorizing funding for flu vaccines for children regardless of their families’ ability to pay, and this week he’s put forward legislation to codify the order. There have been four confirmed pediatric flu deaths in New York this season. Local pharmacies like Rite Aid and CVS offer walk-in flu vaccines, and Cornell, Ithaca College, and the Tompkins County Health Department offer vaccination by appointment.

And the fifth annual Mardi Gras fundraiser for the United Way is Tuesday night at Lot 10, featuring celebrity guest bartenders and music from Casey Max and the DixieKats.

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