Recycling Not Always 100% Safe

Located on Syracuse’s west side, NorthEast Surplus and Materials offers jobs to those locals in need of jobs most. Jim Moltion, founder and owner of the recycling company since 1995 says, “People in this area should be doing things locally because, you know, keep the jobs here, create jobs, maintain jobs.”

In addition to employing people with tough backgrounds, Moltion says unlike many other recycling agencies around the world, he no longer ships electronic waste such as TV’s and computers overseas to be recycled. He admitted to shipping waste to other countries in the past, but he says he has seen the light, in part due to a study conducted with Syracuse University. Burning of materials to extract metals abroad can lead to toxic rain in the U.S. “The prevailing winds across the Pacific Ocean, the west to east, and about five days once they burn something in China, five days later that toxic smoke comes back to us.”

Moltion says this happens too often because most people are unaware of the consequences. He suggests going to the internet to learn the truth, because, “There’s a lot of info on YouTube and Google Video that really shows what’s really happening to our E-Waste in this country and its gotta stop. We’re killing ourselves.”

Small Decline In Gas Prices Expected

Sept. 17, 2008- Crude Oil Price dropped below one hundred dollars per barrel for the first time in six months. While the average price for gasoline in the Syracuse area remains at five dollars and seventy five cents per gallon, it is still five cents below the national average, and there are signs that added relief at the pump may arrive soon.
According to Diana Dibble of AAA, of Western and Central New York, “If we have any worldwide situation that impacts crude it could go up, but traditionally this is the time of year we would see some easing at the pump.”
Recent events of last week , which had New Yorkers bracing for a sudden increase in prices, led instead to an optimism that the cost of gas will come down soon. A change in path of Hurricane Ike, brought the full force of the storm further south than expected. The shift in course in the final hours before striking landfall averted what could have been a damaging direct hit on the nation’s oil refining capacity.
Another indication of a future decline in gas prices, is the continuing decline in the U.S. economy. As the economy slows, businesses and people will lower their usage and place less demand on gasoline, causing prices to drop further.

Wind Energy in Syracuse

There are many doubts about the feasibility of installing wind turbines to create alternative energy in major cities. But, according to a few visitors at the Fenner Wind Farm in Madison county, turbines in Syracuse would not be that bothersome.

In late August, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he would look into installing wind turbines in the city to supplement other forms of energy, but said he anticipated a harsh reaction from city residents.

The few visitors to the wind farm two Wednesdays ago, said they understand why neighborhoods would dislike the massive wind turbines, but that they were an efficient way to address energy concerns.

The twenty turbines at Fenner produce enough energy to power up to ten thousand homes across New York state.

David Haarman, Operation Supervisor at Fenner Wind Farm, says wind turbine technology is getting physically bigger, which would not be good for cities.

One farm visitor, Leo Viscusi, said after working downtown he thinks there is enough wind to harness the power of wind energy. Harmaan said there was already a wind park in place in Atlantic City, where the average wind speed is comparable to that in Syracuse.

New Police Unit Aims to Stop Metal Thefts

Syracuse police have started a new investigation unit, called Operation Copperhead, to stop the theft of scrap metals.

Syracuse Police Sergeant Tom Connellan said, “We have detectives that originally went out to investigate pawn shops trying to find some property that may have been stolen. What we’ve had to do is refocus the efforts of some of those guys and put them towards going to these metal recovery guys.”

Sgt. Conellan says that there has been an average of 10-15 metal thefts per week in the last year.

Russ Gower, owner of Central New York Resource Recovery, has been working with police to identify thieves. Gower says that he has come into contact with several thieves but it’s difficult to distinguish between the thieves and legitimate metal dealers. “We’ve had women, men, old, young, some appear to be pretty affluent, they come in nice vehicles but they’re still thieves.

Sgt. Connellan suggests people spray paint their valuable metals so that they can be identified easier if stolen.

Ice Art

“This is our people’s Picasso.”

Mark FitzGibbons, the War Memorial Superintendent, and his crew say they have a lot of fun with their job – especially one part in particular.

Every year, right around now, they install the hockey rink for the Syracuse Crunch’s upcoming season.

Yup, they have to put up the boards. And yup, they have to make the ice. But sandwiched inside that giant block of water is where you’ll find their, “Picasso”: the ads and the logos.

To create the canvas, they lay down a quarter inch of ice.

Then it’s time to break out the giant stencil – or as FitzGibbons calls it: “the pounce.” Why is it called a pounce? Hold onto that thought. It’ll be explained in a minute.

The pounce works exactly the way you’d think a giant stencil would work.

It has the outline of an ad or logo on it. FitzGibbons and his crew place the pounce on the ice and dump a bunch of chalk on it to transfer the outline to the ice.

To make sure the chalk goes through the pounce and the outline is crystal clear, the workers will jump, step, and “pounce” on the pounce. There you go. That’s why it’s called a pounce.

Things get a lot simpler after that.

“We paint by numbers,” said FitzGibbons. “We have a picture of the logo. We know what colors go where. And we just start painting.”

Sure, Picasso didn’t paint by numbers, but the crew says it takes pride in its work.

“We allow them to put their initials in some of the logos that they do,” said FitzGibbons, “because it’s theirs. It’s their artwork.”

Once the painting is done, they frame the artwork with another inch of ice. The finished product looks a little something like this…



(Lauren Long / The Post-Standard)


…Hey, it’s no Picasso, but it’s their Picasso.

OCRRA's Decision Helps Local Business

OCRRA's decision to accept old television sets for free so the TV can be recycled for free will actually help one private recycling center.

Northeast Surplus and Materials also recycles televisions, but charges customers 20 dollars for each television set they want to drop off.

Despite charging the recycling fee, Northeast Surplus still loses money on each television set it accepts.

"It comes out to 36 or 38 dollars to recycle a television," says Northeast CEO Jim Moltion, "if OCRRA is doing it for nothing God bless them."

Moltion says televisions are the one item he loses money on because of the work that goes into them.

"It's labor intensive and we lose money. So I'd rather not see any unless I can charge 40 dollars to cover my costs," explain Moltion, "I recycle the televisions properly even though I take a loss because of the chemicals."

Moltion did a study with Syracuse University that showed toxic smoke from materials burned in China drifts over to the United States in five days.

He says that's when he decided to stop shipping his televisions overseas and start recycling them himself.

"I saw the light, there's a lot of information on YouTube and Google Video that really shows what happens to our e-waste," says Moltion, "If we don't stop, we'll kill ourselves."

New Voting Machines training held for County Election Inspectors

Nearly two dozen Onondaga County election inspectors met Wednesday morning at the DeWitt Community Library for training on new voting machines for the disabled.

Each machine is equipped with a computer screen and audio capabilities for those with both vision and hearing disabilities. One drawback, a ballot takes 25-30 minutes to complete because the voter must go through each and every possibility before marking their final vote.

“This will allow them to do it themselves without interfacing,” county election inspector Greg Clark said.

The New York State Board of Elections said 53 counties throughout the state are using the Sequoia ImageCast voting machines after the federal Help America Vote Act required polling places to provide disabled voters with means to vote independently.

“In the long run, this is going to be our future, I believe,” county election inspector Mildred Turner said.

The Board of Elections says anyone who wants to can use the new machines and the plan is to make them the primary voting method by next year.

Syracuse Police Cracking Down on Scrap Metal Theft

The scrap metal theft rate in Syracuse is as high as it's ever been, say Syracuse police.

The increasing rate correlates to rising prices in the world markets for copper, aluminum and other valuable metals. Syracuse police say the rising theft rate has prompted them to launch Operation Copperhead, an initative that uses detectives previously assigned to pawn shop investigations.

"In 2007, with the information we were provided, we were involved in at least 15 arrests, so that has to be making a difference," said Russ Gower, president of Central New York Resource Recovery. Gower said his company, which specializes in metal recycling, lost nearly $20,000 in one incident of theft.

Police say they have urged more contractors in Syracuse to specifically mark the metals in their buildings, which would make the materials more secure.

"We have been very successful with peoiple who have been spray painting pipes with unique colors so that we can trace it back if it does end up at [CNY Resource Recovery]," said Syracuse Police Sgt. Tom Connellan.

Connellan said Operation Copperhead has been effective so far, but it hasn't reduced the amount of thefts.

"We are seeing, on average, ten to 15 burglaries a week that involve some type of metal, copper pipes, things along those lines."

14 universities in Pennsylvania completely ban smoking.- September 17th, 2008

With no more than a day’s warning, the Pennsylvania State University system banned smoking from 14 of its campuses on September 16th. The ban means that students, faculty, and staff may no longer light up anywhere on campus. This comes just three months after Pennsylvania joined New York State in banning smoking from most public places. The State University of New York does not allow smoking in residence halls. Campuses like SUNY-Cortland permit their students to smoke outside some buildings as long as they are 20 feet from the entrance. Students we talked to at Cortland said that a full smoking ban would be unfair.

“It’s kinda putting you down in a certain sense,” says Emily Boek, a junior at SUNY-Cortland and a smoker herself.

A full smoking ban is not currently in discussion for SUNY Schools. However, with state laws increasingly limiting where people can smoke, Boek can only wonder how long she can rest easy.

Pumped Up Prices

Seasons may change, but the gas problem never seems to go away.  But according to AAA, the Syracuse area wasn't hit nearly as hard this fall.  The national average increased by 18 cents after Hurricane Ike; in the region from Buffalo to Syracuse, prices increased by only five cents.

"Normally crude oil is the key factor," Diana Dibble, of AAA Western and Central New York said. "But here in the U.S. [the storm] has played a greater role in the prices at the pump."

Those prices reached as high as $4.23 over the summer, which caused some to reconsider how much they drive.  The national driving average dropped two percent over that period.  In addition to not driving, Caroline Haynes uses another method.

"I don't fill up anymore," she said. "I put in $10 when it runs out, at the most 20 and that's all I can do."

Transformation in the War Memorial Arena

During every September, the War Memorial Arena transforms itself into an ice rink.  It will take 10,000 gallons of water and about a week of work for a 7000 seat arena to get ready for the Syracuse Crunch’s new season.

Mark FitzGibbons, the War Memorial superintendent said, the process might look complicated but it’s actually a simple step-by-step process.

“When you get into the science of the project you know, it goes like clock work” and when you get into it, it will flow naturally, said FitzGibbons.

In order to make this project happen, the room and the slab temperature has to be lowered to 14 degrees, pump hot water through a wand over the slab and wait for the water to freeze.

FitzGibbons said one thing his workers like from the process are to paint the logos on the ice.

“I think the guys like it and the matter of fact we allow them to put their initials in some of the logos that they do,” makes the work more enjoyable, he said.

The installation requires hard work, but the workers always face it with enthusiasm.           

FitzGibbons said, “It’s always a fresh start…it’s always exciting.”

Windmills- Hot or Not?

(courtesy of National Geographic)

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed installing windmills on top of the city's skyscrapers and bridges, a plan that will "drastically remake New York City's skyline," according to the New York Times.  David Haarman, Operation Supervisor at the Fenner Renewable Energy Center in Madison County, New York, said wind turbines are generally not troublesome at all.

“Personally I don’t think they are that obtrusive. You get five or six miles out and you have to look for them in the horizon. They don’t really pop out at you”, said Haarman.

Leo Viscusi, a visitor at the site, said he didn’t find the wind turbines annoying.

“No I don’t think the cows mind so I don’t either. I think it’s an efficient way to address energy concerns,” said Viscusi, who was visiting the wind farm with his parents.

Contrary to popular belief that wind power is not an efficient energy source, it provides electricity for more than 1.6 million average U.S households, and by 2020 twenty-five million families are expected to be benefiting from this renewable energy, according to the American Wind Energy Association. 

Onondaga County Gears Up For November Election

Voter independence -- that’s the goal of the Sequoia ImageCast; a new, electronic voting machine in Onondaga County. 

The machine will be introduced this fall, primarily serving the elderly and disabled in accordance with federal legislation.

One problem exists, however.  It will take up to thirty minutes for someone to cast his or her vote in November and require two election inspectors to assist a voter in need of assistance.  

Election inspectors are still learning the finer details, but are quick to point out pros and cons of the new machine.  Greg Clark says the length of time to cast a vote is a definite downside, but does see some positives.

“This will allow them to do it themselves without interfacing.  They won’t need anyone to stand there and read instructions to them and help them; so for them that’s going to be a boost I think.”

Election Inspector Mildred Turner says the new machines are an upgrade and part of our future.

 If all goes to plan, all voters will use the new machines next year.

No Smoking Ban...Yet

In mid-September, 14 state schools in Pennslyvania banned smoking from their campuses, meaning that students, faculty, and staff are not allowed to smoke anywhere on the campus grounds. This decision came after legislation was passed in June that banned smoking from public places. As far as New York State Universities are concerned, a campus-wide smoking ban is not on the horizon yet. In some of the Universities, like SUNY Cortland, students are allowed to smoke in designated areas at least 20 feet outside of some of the buildings. However, the students we spoke to seemed worried that a full campus ban isn't in the too distant future. New York's Clean Indoor Act was passed in 2003, and that prohibited smoking in bars, restaurants, and other public places. Then in 2007, SUNY Board of Trustees voted to ban smoking in dormitories. So, although the trend in New York State has been slowly pushing smokers out of public places, a SUNY campus-wide smoking ban is not in the works. At least, not yet.

Stopping Scrap Metal Theft

Over the last five years the prices of scrap metals have gone up as much as three or four times their old levels making the business of stealing and selling scrap even more attractive to anyone looking to make some quick cash. Russ Gower, President of CNY Resource Recovery in Syracuse, says this has created a lot of problems for his recovery shop as far as trying to make sure they're not buying stolen material. That is why the Syracuse police department created a special unit called Operation Copperhead to deal with the problem. Sergeant Tom Connellan says they have refocused detectives that investigated pawn shops for stolen property to the metal recovery shops in the area. Connellan says they have made many arrests but the problem is so prevalent its hard to see progress. Another problem is that the metal has no real distinguishing features, making it difficult to tell what material was stolen. Connellan says there has been a recent decrease in metal prices since the end of the Olympics, which caused China's demand for material to go up, and he hopes that with the drop in price will come a drop in thefts. For now, he says, their numbers are holding pretty steady as they have for the past year and a half.

Welcome to Our Web Page

This is work done by students in Television News Reporting (RTN 564.3) at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in the fall of 2008. Our job is to cover real stories of importance and interest in the Syracuse area on deadlines and report them on multiple platforms. You will see text versions of the stories as well as videos that will posted to this site as the semester progresses. Eventually we'll also offer insights into how stories were covered and add information that did not make the cut for our 1:30 TV packages.

As professor of the class I act as News Director. All the work posted here is the work of students, often working in collaboration with each other as professional reporters.