Honeywell International Will Spend Millions On Cleaning Polluted Areas In Camillus and Geddes

Honeywell International reached an agreement with the state Tuesday night in regards to cleaning up polluted wastebeds in Camillus and Geddes. The waste beds are on over 670 acres of land near Onondaga Lake. The land was polluted for years by its previous owner, Allied Signal Corporation, who merged with Honeywell International in 1999.

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) says that the agreement calls for several million dollars to be spent on capping polluted wastebeds and improving the area. Honeywell plans to use a green-solution, by planting willow shrubs on the wastebeds. The willow shrubs will help to absorb water that would otherwise carry salts into Onondaga Lake and Nine Mile Creek. Under the agreement, Honeywell also:

• Building a boat launch on the southwest shore of Onondaga Lake
  
• Allow public fishing on its property near Nine Mile Creek and its property off Tully Farm Road
  
• Pay over $150,000 for future Onondaga Lake observation

• Pay a $100,000 fine to New York

Diane Carleton, Regional Public Affairs Director for the DEC, says the land does not pose a threat to anyone, but Honeywell International must still take action.

"It isn't really a danger to people, but its more of a danger to the environment," Carelton said. "We want to clean the whole area up becasue those are chemicals that were contaminated, and they need to be removed."

Carleton said the agreement the state made with Honeywell International will be closely monitored for years to come. Honeywell International must run all operations through the DEC, ensuring the wastebeds are cleaned up properly.

"Its not as though they have free range to go and do whatever they want to cleanup," Carelton said. "The cleanup and proposals for the cleanup get monitored by the DEC."

Carelton said the wastebed cleanup will take about 10 years.

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Team 3 Rundown Rationale

By Kevin Belbey (NCC News)

November 17, 2010, 3:30 pm

Team 3 consisted of myself, Kevin Belbey, as producer, Kimberly Caruba as anchor, Ethan Kwassman as a reporter with a recorded wrap, and Chet Davis as a reporter with a live wrap. We had mostly local stories, but also had three national stories to end A block. As far as pacing, I made sure there was at least one reader in between each set of stories that had soundbites.

A1: Headlines

For the Headlines, we teased three stories spaced out throughout the newscast. The three stories we teased were A2, A4, and A7.

A2: Flu

With no breaking national or local stories, I decided to lead with Ethan Kwassman’s recorded wrap story about the Onondaga County Health Department encouraging residents to get the flu vaccine. Ethan was able to interview the Medical Director, Quoc Nguyen, and get the latest updates on the number of Syracuse residents with flu. Great story, Ethan.

A3: Cigarettes

Keeping it local, we went to a reader about Cayuga Indian Nation receiving over 7,000 cigarette cartons taken away from them two year ago when they got in trouble over tax evasion charges.

A4: Budget Gap

The next story stayed local but went back to a story with soundbites. Kimmie did a terrific anchor-actuality story about the Syracuse School District facing a possible 50 million dollar budget gap for the next school year.

A5: Weeks Renovations

In A5, we transitioned back to a reader about Weeks Elementary School. The school was originally supposed to have renovations this winter, which would have forced students to relocate during the school year, but the renovations have been postponed. It had a good flow from the last story by staying education-related.

A6: Clean Up

Next, we stayed local and went with Chet’s live wrap about Honeywell International agreeing to spend millions to clean waste beds in Camillus and Geddes. Chet did a very good job with the story.

A7: Four Loko

From there, we went with a Four Loko reader which I thought could bridge the gap from local to national because it is a beverage used by those in the Syracuse area, and has also been a hot topic in New York state. In response to the FDA preparing to ban their drink, Four Loko has decided to pull caffeine from its drink to make their drink safer.

A8: Speaker of House

Heading back to a story with soundbites, we had Kimmie’s second wrap which was about John Boehner, as he was expected to be voted Speaker-to-be.

A9: Republican Resignation

We closed out the block with a reader in case we needed to drop something if we were over on time. We wound up being good on time, so Kimmie read the story about a Republican National Committee strategist who quit and left a scathing letter of resignation on his way out.

A10: Tease

We had a quick tease, mentioning the kicker story and the weather

B1: Kicker-Harry Potter

We had a 20 second reader about the release of the seventh Harry Potter film Thursday night. Regal Cinemas in Carousel Mall has already sold out 13 midnight showings and even added a 3 am showing due to such high demand to see the movie on opening night.

B2: Weather

Kimmie finished up the newscast with the weather by reading tonight and tomorrow’s weather forecast and the current temperature and conditions. Preparing to time out perfectly, the extra weather didn’t need to be read and Kimmie did a good job of checking out the clock as time ticked down.

End of Show

Kimmie read the close and finished our newscast on time.

Floater1: Camillus Hunter

The first floater was a 20 second reader about a 79 year old man from Camillus being found dead after going missing on a hunting trip. The floater didn’t need to be used.

Floater2: SU Hoops

The second floater was a 10 second reader in about the results of yesterday’s Syracuse University basketball game and a couple stats from the game. This floater also didn’t need to be used.

Team 4 Rundown Rationale

by: Lauren Fabrizi (NCC News)

Oct. 17, 2010, 2:56 p.m.

Our two-person team consisted of myself, Lauren Fabrizi, as producer and Marquise Francis as anchor. We used reporter wraps from Tim Killian and Andrew Kanell.
Music & Heads:

I teased a local (A2), national/international (A7), and state (A9) story to cover multiple aspects of the newscast.

A2 Syracuse Budget:

Our first story was about the Syracuse school district budget. I chose to lead with this live wrap from Andrew because it was a local story, and very newsworthy as the projected $50 million budget gap for next year is a record high. Andrew got a nice sound bite from the vice president of the Syracuse School Board.

A3 SU Transfers:

Our next story was an anchor actuality on an Onondaga Community College and Syracuse University program that will allow OCC students to easily transfer to SU after two years. A similar program was also established between SU and Georgia Perimeter College. I used this story after the school district budget story because the 'school theme' flowed nicely. Marquise obtained a good sound bite from a Georgia Perimeter College admissions officer.

A4 Laundry:

Keeping with local news, the following story was a reader on a Syracuse Housing authority accountant who stole $176,000 in laundry machine token money over the course of 17 years. I used a reader here to keep the pace going well.

A5 Honeywell:

Another local story covered Honeywell International and how it plans to clean up hundreds of acres of polluted wastebeds near Onondaga Lake in Camillus and Geddes. The story was a recorded wrap done by Tim. I decided to use this story next because it kept with our 'local' flow. Tim obtained a good sound bite from the public affairs director for the Department of Environmental Conservation.

A6 Catskills:

Moving from local news to state news, our next story was about a casino in the Catskills. To keep up with good pacing, I used a reader to cover this story. It discussed how New York Gov. Paterson is working to approve the construction of an Indian-owned casino in the Catskills.

A7 Cholera Outbreak:

Transitioning from state news to national/international news, Marquise's anchor actuality on the cholera outbreak in Haiti was next. This was a newsworthy story as the cholera outbreak is a timely occurrence, and also, because it has killed over 1,000 Haitians, with over 17,000 hospitalized. Marquise used a sound bite from an International Relations spokesman, found on ABC newscall.

A8 Four Loko:

The next story went from international news to national news. A reader was used to cover the alcoholic beverage Four Loko, and that its manufacturers will be removing caffeine and two other ingredients from its content. This was a newsworthy story in that Four Loko has been in the news recently.

A9 Empire State Games:

Our last story before the break returned to state news. Another reader was used to cover the cancellation of the Empire State Games because of New York's $9 billion budget gap.

A10 Tease:

I teased a story on the engagement ring that Prince William gave his fiance along with the weather.

B1 Royal Wedding Ring:

A reader was used for the kicker, which described how a jewelry store in Manhattan is making replicas of the engagement ring that Prince William gave to his fiance, Kate Middleton. I used this story for the kicker because it is timely as Prince William has recently proposed to Middleton, and because it is a light-hearted human interest piece.

B2 Weather:

The weather covered today, tonight, tomorrow, and weekend weather. But in order to end the show on time, only the current weather condition was needed.

B3 Music & Close:

After reading the current weather, Marquise finished his close just as the music came up, finishing the show very close to on time.

Z1-Z3 Floaters:

Three floaters about cigarette sales in Caygua County, a Buffalo school cafeteria manager, and an amateur golfer were not needed.

Overall, the show ran very smoothly. We printed our scripts before the deadline, and made it to the control room with over 5 minutes to spare. Because A5-A7 ran longer than estimated, I dropped the A8 reader on Four Loko, and Marquise read only the current weather condition to get us out on time.

Syracuse School District Budget Deficit

by: Kit Rodophele (NCC News)

November 17, 2010 1:28 p.m.

The Syracuse school district is predicting a 50 million dollar budget gap next year. The new Syracuse budget coalition, a group that includes Say Yes to Education and the Syracuse School District's Board of Education, are now looking at a long list of potential budget cuts and ways in which to bring in more revenue.

Some ideas include:

-Going after specific education grants
-Restructuring special education to reduce the number of students who get services
-Persuading the state to more equitably distribute aid to high-need districts
-Closing district schools
-Increasing class sizes

Closing the Gap:

Though there has been speculation of massive job cuts to close the gap, the President of the School Board, Dick Strong, says that the coalition has not yet decided on what cuts will need to be made, but closing the gap is the main focus and the coalition will make that happen however they can.

"In large, urban districts, we have budget gaps, and we find ways to figure it out. Will we figure this one out? Probably not to the success we have in the past, but the goal is to close the gap," said Strong.

Strong said that every year, people have to learn to cope with disappointing budget cuts and that, though parents and students may be upset by the cuts recommended by the coalition this year, sacrifices in all areas need to be made in order to close the gap.

Syracuse University transfers

New agreements with two community colleges makes it easier to transfer into SU

By: Marquise Francis (NCC News)

November 17, 2010 12:36pm

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Onondaga Community College and Syracuse University announced at ten this morning a new program that will make it easier for students to transfer to SU after two years at OCC, according to the Post Standard. The agreement between the area's two largest schools will guarantee admission for OCC graduates to SU as long as they maintain a 3.0 GPA and good academic standing.

An identical agreement between SU and Georgia Perimeter College in Atlanta has also been enacted. Admissions Office Representative for Georgia Perimeter College, Nina Hudson, feels like the partnership is great for the students. "Students are always looking for a four year degree," Hudson said. "They're looking to see how they can earn their Bachelor's degree. So by these schools coming together with Georgia Perimeter College, I think it's going to be a big impact."

SU will also give entering OCC freshmen an estimate of what their financial aid package will be at SU. “This gives families the opportunity to do serious financial planning at the same time the student is doing serious academic planning,” said Don Saleh, SU’s vice president of enrollment management.

Each year about 60 students transfer to SU from OCC, according to Saleh, and with the new agreements this number is sure to rise. No further representatives from Syracuse Univeristy or Onongada County College were availible for comment at the time of this story.

Syracuse Schools Facing Budget Troubles

By Andrew Kanell (NCC)
November 17, 2010, 11:30 a.m.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The projected $50 million budget gap Syracuse schools are facing next year is a record high. That has prompted the distrcit to seek advice from outside consulting firms about the budget for the first time.

Vice President of the Syracuse School Board, Patricia Body, says the state of New York's own financial problems are the cause of Syracuse's predicament.

"Because the state had a shortfall," Body said, "they held back our share of funding so that they could balance their budget and that kept making us fall behind."

The budget shortfall may be exacerbated by the current economic climate, but Body considers it to be a deep-seated problem.

"The formula for the state is proportionally not fair because the suburbs have a higher tax base and urban schools do not," she said. "So often times the urban school need more money, but the state's funding doesn't allow that."

Body hopes that urban schools receive more money once Andrew Cuomo takes over as governor. In the meantime, here are some proposed solutions to the budget gap:

- Increasing class size.
- Reducing employee benefits.
- Taking away automatic pay raises for teachers.
- Closing certain schools.

The Superintendent, Daniel Lowengard, has until January 12 to prepare a budget, at which point he will take it to the School Board for approval.

To listen to an NCC radio news report on this topic, as well as soundbites from Patricia Body, click below.

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Special Olympics heading to Central New York

by Kevin Belbey (NCC News)

Nov. 10, 2010, 7:30 p.m.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - For the second consecutive year, the Special Olympics Winter Games will take place in Central New York. Bryan Norris, the Director of Competition for the New York Special Olympics, says that Central New York was a natural fit for the games.

"We look for a community that has the ability to host our events logistically, and then we also look for the community's support," said Norris. "We've definitely gotten that and see that first hand, with he outpouring of volunteers and the financial contributions that we've received."

The six events and locations during the games are:

• Floor Hockey at the OnCenter
• Figure Skating at the War Memorial
• Speed Skating at the War Memorial
• Nordic Skiing at Highland Forest
• Snowshoeing at Thornden Park
• Alpine Skiing at Toggenburg Mountain

The Olympics begin February 4th with an opening ceremony and continue through the 6th.