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Hundreds of Apple fans cheer as stores open for iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus in Syracuse

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The first person in line arrived 14 hours before the Destiny USA store opened. Watch video

The first customers had been waiting in line since close to 6 p.m. Thursday night and, 14 hours later, they got their hands on the new iPhone 6 Plus (and the iPhone 6).

The Apple Store inside Destiny USA opened at 8 a.m. Friday to cheers from the 250-plus people hoping to get the next-generation iPhone. The line snaked from outside the store all the way down to Macy's and then back around the other side.

Another 50 or so customers were in line outside the AT&T and Verizon Wireless stores inside the Syracuse mall.

The iPhone 6 boasts a 4.7-inch display, while the iPhone 6 Plus is 5.5. inches. Both iPhones feature a faster A8 processor, redesigned horizontal displays, an improved 8MP iSight camera with optical image stabilization, and an M8 motion coprocessor, which measures exercise activities and can be integrated with the heart monitor on the new Apple Watch.

Most early-birds said they were getting the iPhone 6 Plus, a full 1.5 inches bigger than last year's iPhone 5S. Customers praised the larger "phablet" size for its complete redesign from previous models, saying the display especially convinced them to try and get one as early as possible.

"We've been waiting all night, so I figure we've gotta go big or go home," Mary Fishlock, who was first in line outside the AT&T store t 10 p.m. Thursday, said of the iPhone 6 Plus.

The crowds were noticeably bigger than for the iPhone 5S and 5C in 2013, when close to 150 Central New Yorkers waited in line at the Apple Store. A Best Buy employee said they expected bigger crowds after "bombing" last year, but as of 7:30 a.m. there was no line outside the big box retailer.

Apple Store first in lineView full sizeJerry Coe and Bob Kriesel were first in line for the iPhone 6 Plus outside the Apple Store in Syracuse's Destiny USA. They had been waiting more than 14 hours when the store opened Friday, Sept. 19, 2014. 

The first people in line at Apple, Jerry Coe and Bob Kriesel, said they had pulled an all-nighter for at least two previous Apple product launches. It's tradition, Coe said.

Both said they planned to trade in their older smartphones for the next-generation iPhone.

Pre-orders for the iPhone 6 Plus sold out within the first four hours of availability last week, and the iPhone 6 quickly followed. Apple said it sold more than 4 million new iPhones on Monday, a new record, and shipping is now delayed as much as four weeks for customers who didn't wait in line.

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How should Syracuse treat a landlord with $100K in back taxes?

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The mayor's office and a city councilor square off over tax collections.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Threatened with tax foreclosure on two of his 15 rental properties, landlord Daniel McMahon scrambled to sell them before the city could seize them for back taxes.

He got some help from a sympathetic city councilor, real estate attorney Kathleen Joy, who delayed several council votes on whether to seize McMahon's parcels.

That gave McMahon time to find a buyer with a clean tax record who could qualify for a tax trust, or monthly repayment agreement, something McMahon could not get without paying off more than $30,000 in delinquent taxes.

Joy said she believes the city should work with landlords who make an effort to address their back taxes. But Joy's efforts to help McMahon, who owed taxes going back six years, so irked the mayor's office that administration officials abruptly issued a new rule in April excluding landlords from eligibility for tax trusts.

Five months later, Joy and the administration are still arguing about the issue.
Joy sponsored a new local law that passed the council 5-4 Monday, re-establishing the right of landlords to enter the payment plans. Voting with Joy were councilors Jean Kessner, Nader Maroun, Chad Ryan and Jake Barrett.

2013-05-08-dl-council13.JPGCouncilor Kathleen Joy 

Joy said Mayor Stephanie Miner's administration has pursued a confrontational approach that discriminates against landlords and passes up partial tax payments.
"They would rather rip a property away from someone than work with them,'' Joy said.

Tim Carroll, director of mayoral initiatives, said Joy's legislation would enable landlords to continue gaming the system rather than paying off all their back taxes. "What surprises us is that Councilor Joy seems intent on making it easier for them to do that,'' Carroll said.

Miner will hold a public hearing on the proposed local law Tuesday. She has 10 days to veto, which she is expected to do.

Unless Joy can find another supporter on the council, she will lose the argument. It takes six votes to override a veto.

What's at stake? Consider two properties McMahon sold.

The first McMahon property threatened with tax foreclosure was a single-family house at 310 Hier Ave., where a delinquent tax bill of roughly $22,000 had piled up since 2007.

NYSYR-20140314-194519-hier.JPGThe Syracuse Common Council held off voting to seize this tax-delinquent house at 310 Hier Ave. for back taxes, giving the owner time to sell it. 

Joy postponed several council votes authorizing the city to seize 310 Hier, beginning in October 2013, after McMahon told her he intended to sell the property.

In December, real estate investor Rene Vergara paid $5,000 to buy the house, which is assessed at $45,000, from Daniel and Diann McMahon. In February 2014, Vergara established a tax trust by paying 10 percent down plus the first monthly payment of $486 -- a total of $2,913. The city canceled plans to seize the house.

A tax trust on the same property would have cost McMahon more than $35,000 up front, city officials say. Here's why:

McMahon owned seven tax-delinquent properties at the time, with a past-due balance of roughly $100,000, Carroll said. At the time, city policy allowed a landlord to put no more than three properties at a time into tax trusts.

McMahon would have had to pay off $28,420 in back taxes on four properties, to bring them current, just to start a tax trust on the other three. His 10 percent down payment on the remaining three would have added at least $7,000.

To which Joy responded: So what?

Neither McMahon nor Vergara has been relieved of any tax debts, Joy said. City officials can still seize their properties if the owners fail to keep up with the payments. In the meantime, the cash-strapped city is once again collecting taxes at 310 Hier Ave.
When the city forecloses, it writes off the back taxes and gives the property to the Greater Syracuse Land Bank, which keeps any proceeds from resale.

City officials said they often delay tax foreclosures to help owner-occupants avoid losing their homes. But Miner's staff was appalled by the leniency shown to the investor owners at 310 Hier Ave. Finance Commissioner David DelVecchio responded by declaring that henceforth only owner-occupants would be eligible for tax trusts.

"This policy change has been made necessary by the fact that certain tax-delinquent owners of real property are using tax trusts as a vehicle to evade their responsibilities,'' DelVecchio wrote.

The new rule changed the outlook at 701 Catherine St., the second McMahon property targeted for seizure by the city.

AMD Management LLC, a company controlled by McMahon, sold the three-family house to Vergara for $5,000 in February 2014. The property is assessed at $50,000.
Unable to obtain a tax trust, Vergara sold the property in May for $5,000 to BDR Properties LLC. A few days after the sale closed, BDR Properties paid $29,565 in back taxes on the property.

McMahon said he fell behind on tax payments because of a failed business venture, and he is trying to catch up. He recently sold an out-of-town property to pay off roughly $20,000 in back taxes on a Syracuse house he owns at 970 Bellevue Ave.

McMahon currently owes $42,800 in delinquent taxes on four properties, city officials say.

"I'm going to make my best attempt to pay,'' McMahon said. "I'm not trying to play games with anybody.''

Contact Tim Knauss anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3023

Have questions about enterovirus-D68? Join our online Q&A with children's disease expert

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Dr. Jane Shaw of Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital will answer your questions.

Syracuse, N.Y. -- Join us for a live chat at noon today with Dr. Jana Shaw, an infectious disease specialist at Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital.

She will answer readers' questions about enterovirus-D68, EV-D68 for short, a respiratory virus that's sickening a growing number of children in Syracuse and nationwide.

Three Central New York children admitted to the children's hospital last week were among the first confirmed cases of EV-D68 in New York state. Since then the hospital has seen a spike in young patients with respiratory illness.

View live updates on mobile app or RSS reader »

Live Blog Live Q&A with Dr. Jana Shaw
 


Contact James T. Mulder anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-470-2245

Scotland votes to remain part of United Kingdom: Winners and losers of the vote

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Scotland's bid for independence fails.

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) -- Scottish voters have resoundingly rejected independence, deciding to remain part of the United Kingdom after a historic referendum that shook the country to its core.

The decision prevented a rupture of a 307-year union with England, bringing a huge sigh of relief to Britain's economic and political establishment, including Prime Minister David Cameron, who faced calls for his resignation if Scotland had broken away.

The vote on Thursday -- 55 percent against independence to 45 percent in favor -- saw an unprecedented turnout of just under 85 percent.

"We have chosen unity over division," Alistair Darling, head of the No campaign, said early Friday in Glasgow. "Today is a momentous day for Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole."

Independence leader Alex Salmond's impassioned plea to launch a new nation fell short, with Scots choosing instead the security of remaining in union with England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Still, the result establishes a whole new political dynamic in the United Kingdom, with Cameron appearing outside No. 10 Downing Street to pledge more powers for regional governments.

Even in conceding, Salmond struck an upbeat tone.

"This has been a triumph for the democratic process and for participation in politics," he said to cheering supporters.

The pound hit a two-year high against the euro and a two-week high against the U.S. dollar as markets shrugged off recent anxiety about a possible vote for independence. In early Asian trading, the pound jumped nearly 0.8 percent to $1.6525 against the U.S. dollar before falling back slightly. Britain's main stock index opened higher.

A much-relieved Cameron promised to live up to earlier promises to give Scotland new powers on taxes, spending and welfare. He said the new plans will be agreed upon by November, with draft legislation by January.

But he also said change was coming to other parts of the country amid the watershed vote.

"Just as the people of Scotland will have more power over their affairs, so it follows that the people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland must have a bigger say over theirs," Cameron said. "The rights of these voters need to be respected, preserved and enhanced as well."

The No campaign won the capital city, Edinburgh, by a margin of 61 percent to 38 percent and triumphed by 59 percent to 41 percent in Aberdeen, the country's oil center. The Yes campaign won Glasgow, Scotland's biggest city, but it was not enough.

The voted riveted the nation. Those glued to returns included "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, who tweeted that she had "Been up all night watching Scotland make history. A huge turnout, a peaceful democratic process: we should be proud."

Rowling gave 1 million pounds ($1.6 million) to the No campaign.

As dawn broke to lead-gray skies over Glasgow, the dream of independence that had seemed so tantalizingly close evaporated in the soft drizzle.

George Square, the rallying point for thousands of Yes supporters in the final days of the campaign, was littered with placards and debris of a campaign in which many had invested more than two years of their lives.

"I had never voted before or got involved with politics in any way but this time I thought my vote would count for something," said truck driver Calum Noble, 25, as his voice cracked with emotion. "I wanted a better country but it's all been for nothing. I don't believe we will get any of the things the London politicians promised."

But popular opinion on a leafy residential street in Edinburgh's west end told a different tale. Young and old sat by their televisions waiting for news in a half dozen homes. Nearly all said they had voted No.

WINNERS: The 55.3 percent of Scottish voters who wanted to stay in the United Kingdom.

LOSERS: The 44.7 percent who disagreed.

WINNER: Gordon Brown. The former prime minister broke out of what seemed to be a long sulk since losing the 2010 election, and delivered a barnstorming defense of the United Kingdom which gave the No campaign some badly needed energy in the final days.

LOSER and WINNER: Alex Salmond. The leader of the Scottish National Party, which exists mainly to pursue independence, went down fighting for what he called a once-in-a-lifetime chance to win back the nation's independence. He led a campaign that energized all of Scotland. And in losing, he gained promises from U.K. political leaders of important new power for the Scottish government.

WINNER: David Cameron. The prime minister stood to be in trouble if the vote had gone the other way. However, his promise of more powers for the regions may cause grumbling in his Conservative Party.

WINNER: J.K. Rowling, the "Harry Potter" author, who gave 1 million pounds ($1.6 million) to the No campaign.

LOSERS: Chris and Colin Weir, who gave 1 million pounds ($1.6 million) to the Yes campaign, leaving them with barely more than 160 million pounds from their Euromillions lottery win.

WINNER: The British pound. It sank toward the end of the campaign because markets loathe uncertainty. It bounced back smartly once the votes were counted.

WINNER? Queen Elizabeth II, whose Delphic comment urging Scots to "think very carefully about the future" was widely interpreted as a nudge for the No campaign. Perhaps it was just common sense.

WINNER: Democracy: Nearly 85 percent of eligible voters participated in the decision.

Watch: JetBlue cabin fills with smoke, plane forced into emergency landing

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None of the 142 passengers and five crew members was injured during the evacuation.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- A JetBlue airliner that experienced engine problems soon after takeoff returned to the Long Beach Airport on Thursday after smoke filled the cabin and passengers evacuated onto the runway using the plane's emergency slides.

None of the 142 passengers and five crew members was injured during the evacuation, though medical personnel tended to three passengers at the scene and one other was taken to a hospital for observation, airport spokeswoman Cassie Perez-Harmison said.

Flight 1416 was bound for Austin, Texas, when the crew declared an emergency after an "overheat warning" for one of its two engines, she said.

One of the passengers, Dean Delbaugh, said that about 10 minutes into the flight, he heard a pop, felt a weird vibration and then smelled an odd stench. Delbaugh was flying to Austin to visit in-laws with his new wife.

"Smoke came billowing out of the air vents and filled up the cabin in about 10 to 15 seconds," Delbaugh said by telephone from his home in Dana Point. "The fumes were ridiculous. I can still kind of taste them in my mouth."

Flight attendants manually deployed oxygen masks, which are designed to automatically drop only in the event of a loss of cabin pressure.

The pilot activated a fire-suppression system within the engine, but it was not immediately known whether there was a fire, JetBlue spokesman Anders Lindstrom said. Long Beach fire personnel told reporters they saw no sign of flames, though they did not look inside the engine.

As the plane landed, the pilot told passengers to brace themselves, Delbaugh said.

"As soon as I saw the runway, it was a sigh of relief," he said. "I didn't care if landing gear came down. We could slide down the runway as long we were on the ground."

According to the tracking website FlightAware, the Airbus A320 took off at 9:17 a.m. and landed at 9:30 a.m.

The airport's main runway was closed for about two hours due to the evacuation. Eventually the plane was towed away for further investigation, and air traffic resumed.

Long Beach is on the south Los Angeles County coast.

Trouble viewing the video above? Watch it on YouTube.

 

iPhone 6 Plus: Why do people wait in line all night for the latest Apple toy?

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Some customers are hardcore Apple fans, but there's also a psychological reason for lining up. Watch video

The crowd waiting for the new iPhone inside Destiny USA was twice as big as last year. More than 300 people spent the better part of the night queued up to get the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus at the Syracuse mall's Apple, AT&T and Verizon stores.

Of course, many non Apple-fans (many of whom are Android users) are wondering: Why? Why do people line up for the latest iToy?

For starters, demand is higher for the next-generation iPhone than for the iPhone 5S and 5C in 2013. Pre-orders sold out within hours last Friday and Apple said Monday that it sold a record four-plus million new iPhones in its first 24 hours of availability; orders are now delayed up to four weeks through Apple and various wireless carriers.

Part of the frenzy is for the smartphone's redesign. The iPhone 6 features a 4.7-inch display, and the iPhone 6 Plus is 5.5 inches, a full 1.5 inches bigger than last year's model. Both new iPhones feature a faster A8 processor, an improved 8MP iSight camera with optical image stabilization, and an M8 motion coprocessor, which measures exercise activities and can be integrated with the heart monitor on the upcoming Apple Watch.

But there's also a psychological reason for standing in line for an iPhone or new "Star Wars" movies, "Harry Potter" books, hot sneakers, Cabbage Patch Kids and other trendy items.

New Apple iPhone6View full sizePeople waiting in line for new Apple iPhone 6 at the Apple Store at Destiny USA, in Syracuse, New York on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014. 

Adam Hanft, who works at a New York consulting firm for consumer brands, told Market Watch that shoppers feel validated by a crowd making the same decision as them. "Social proof," as it's called, also explains why Black Friday sales get mobbed when certain high-tech products may even be cheaper on other days.

Others say they simply enjoy the experience of meeting like-minded individuals. "Queue chic" is not a waste of time if they're making friends who agree their purchases are the right choice, Market Watch adds.

In Syracuse, customers' reasons for waiting all night were much simpler:

  • It's tradition: Jerry Coe and Bob Kriesel, first line at the Apple Store around 6 p.m. Thursday, said they come every year and trade in their old iPhones.
  • It's Apple: "Nobody does what Apple does," Mary Fishlock, first in line at the AT&T store in Destiny USA around 10 p.m. Thursday, said. "It has an Apple logo on it," another person said. "What more do you need?"
  • It's new: Many customers said they simply didn't want to wait for technology that can get outdated very quick. "[If you] don't get it now, you could be waiting a line," one man said.
  • For love: A Cornell University student who only identified himself at James said he arrived at 9:30 p.m. Thursday to buy an iPhone 6 Plus for his girlfriend, as a surprise for her birthday.
  • Moral support: Some people in line weren't even waiting to buy an iDevice, they were merely hanging out with friends or loved ones that wanted the new iPhone.
  • They have to have it: "I have an addiction," Sarah Adams, a Syracuse University student who was 86th in line at 3 a.m., said.
  • And they have to have it now: George Parra, from Albany, said he drove from the Apple Store at Crossgates Mall because they were already sold out. He arrived in Syracuse at 4 a.m. and went home happy four hours later.

Of course, staying up all night still isn't entirely healthy. Sleep deprivation can lead to a lack of coordination, which may explain how the first person in line to get the new iPhone 6 in Perth, Australia, immediately dropped it on the concrete after opening it to show off on live TV:

Jack Cooksey's iPhone appeared to be fine, but Forbes reports another man, tech blogger David Rahimi, immediately filmed a "drop test" video after buying a new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Both devices shattered when dropped on their sides and screens, though they appeared to still work with the cracked display.

» iPhone 6 Plus comparison chart: How do other smartphones compare?

Leftover Syracuse China dishes find a home in school art classes (video)

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Students at the Lyncourt School will decorate and glaze some of the china left behind when the nearby Syracuse China factory closed in 2009. Watch video

Salina, N.Y. — Some of the china left behind when the Syracuse China factory closed five years ago is headed to art classes in local school districts.

Lyncourt School officials and students collected about 800 unglazed Syracuse China dishes Thursday to use in the school's art classes. And several other local school districts, including the Syracuse City School District, are looking to do the same.

"You hate to see something go to waste," said Dan Retz, an art teacher at the Lyncourt School, which has 360 students in grades K-8 and is located next to the former china factory. "It was difficult to see Syracuse China go away in the first place."

With help from a few students, Retz and Lyncourt Superintendent James Austin collected the dishes from a field behind the former factory, which has been renamed Lyndale Commercial Park and is being redeveloped as an industrial center.

Tens of thousands of dishes, bowls and cups stamped with the Syracuse China name were left behind by Libbey Inc. when it closed the factory in 2009, putting 275 people out of work. The dinnerware, some of the very last Syracuse China made locally, cannot be used for food service because glaze was not applied before production ended.

Syracuse.com reported Tuesday that the new owner of the plant, Amparit Industries, of Utica, plans to crush up the china and send it to a landfill. When Lyncourt officials read that, they quickly asked if they could grab some of the china so it could be decorated and glazed by students in the school's art classes.

Austin said many of the school's students have parents and grandparents who worked at Syracuse China, which operated for 138 years — the last 87 of them on Court Street in Salina's Lyncourt section. Having a chance for students to decorate some of the last china made at the factory is an opportunity the school could not pass up, he said.

 

"We may put some up around the building because Syracuse China was a big part of the community," he said.

Several other local school districts have also inquired about obtaining some of the leftover china for their art classes. Paul Mackey, senior director of commercial real estate services at Pyramid Brokerage Co., which is helping to manage redevelopment of the factory, said arrangements are being made for the other districts to collect some of the china.

The school districts are not being charged for the pottery, but they have to collect and haul it away with their own vehicles and staff.

It's unlikely that the school districts will be able to take more than a fraction of the china left behind by Libbey. So Mackey said much of it will still wind up in a landfill. No date has been set for the trip to the landfill.

Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148

911 called to rescue Long Island girl trapped in washing machine (video)

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The Nassau County police and the local fire department were forced to disassemble parts of the washing machine in order to get the girl out.

A Long Island mother called 911 after her 10-year old daughter got stuck in washing machine on Wednesday.

Dejannah Price, 10, of Elmont, told CBS New York that she was leaning over to help take rugs out of the washing machine when she lost her balance and somehow flipped into the machine.

"We was pissed because we was like, 'How the hell are we going to get her out of here?'" Dejannah's mother, Diana Brown told CBS New York. "We attempted, but we couldn't."

Brown ended up calling 911. The Nassau County police and the local fire department were forced to disassemble parts of the washing machine in order to get the girl out.

"It was embarrassing," Brown said. "They were like, 'Uh this is a first. How did she get in there?'"

The girl was trapped "like a pretzel" for almost an hour, CBS New York reported. She was not seriously injured.

"I'm never helping my mom with laundry ever again," Dejannah said.

While it may be hard to believe, Dejannah's is not the first story of a child being trapped in a washing machine this month. Earlier in September, in a much more serious incident, a five-year-old girl in Texas was hospitalized after a laundromat customer discovered her tumbling around at high speed inside a running machine.

Trouble watching the video above? Check it out on CBS New York's website.

 

France conducts successful airstrike against ISIS depot in Iraq

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A pair of Rafale fighter jets accompanied by support planes struck in northern Iraq on Friday morning.

PARIS (AP) -- Joining U.S. forces acting in Iraqi skies, French fighter jets struck Friday against the militant Islamic State group, destroying a logistics depot, Iraqi and French officials said.

A pair of Rafale fighter jets accompanied by support planes struck in northern Iraq on Friday morning, and the target was "entirely destroyed," President Francois Hollande said. Four laser-guided bombs struck the Iraqi military installation that had been overrun by the militants, and hit a munitions and fuel depot, a French military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational details.

Iraq's military spokesman said dozens of extremist fighters were killed in four strikes, though the French official said the French armed forces had not completed their damage assessment.

"Other operations will follow in the coming days with the same goal -- to weaken this terrorist organization and come to the aid of the Iraqi authorities," Hollande said. "There are always risks in taking up a responsibility. I reduced the risks to a minimum."

Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman for the Iraqi military, said the French planes hit near the town of Zumar, in an area that remains heavily contested by Islamic State fighters even though Iraqi and Kurdish security forces have managed to make headway nearby with the support of U.S. airstrikes.

With the strikes, France becomes the first foreign country to publicly add military muscle to United States airstrikes against the group, which has drawn criticism around the world and in a unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution for its barbarity. Hollande, who said the airstrikes were requested by Iraq's government, ruled out French troops on the ground.

The first French airstrikes in Iraq have added significance: France, one of America's oldest allies, was among the most vocal critics of the decision of U.S. President George W. Bush to conduct military action in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Last year, France was ready to join possible U.S. military action against President Bashar Assad's force in Syria, before U.S. President Barack Obama stopped short. French authorities in recent weeks have suggested that the inaction there has fostered the development of the militants.

The strikes come at a time when polls show Hollande is the most unpopular French president in decades -- mainly for his handling of France's economic difficulties. But he has drawn higher marks from the French public in the international arena, including by helping drive al-Qaida-linked militants from northern Mali last year and in central African Republic in recent months.

U.S. Central Command said Thursday the U.S. military has conducted 176 airstrikes in Iraq since Aug. 8. On Wednesday, it hit a militant training camp southeast of Mosul and an ammunition stockpile southeast of Baghdad. It has also conducted a number of strikes this week in Iraq's Anbar province, near the strategic Haditha Dam.

The French airstrike took place while U.S. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was in France for meetings with his counterpart, Gen. Pierre de Villiers. The two men were visiting an American military cemetery in Normandy, on the English Channel, when the French strike took place.

Dempsey, who was told of the attack by de Villiers, praised the French action.

"The French were our very first ally and they are there again for us," Dempsey told reporters traveling with him in Normandy. "It just reminds me why these relationships really matter."

Hollande stressed that France wouldn't go beyond airstrikes in support of the Iraqi military or Kurdish Peshmerga forces, and wouldn't attack targets in Syria, where the Islamic State group has also captured territory.

France is conducting operations in Iraq from French Air Base 104 inside the vast Al Dhafra base near Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. French jets began flying reconnaissance missions over Iraq on Monday.

The base, currently home to about 700 French service personnel and six Rafales, is some 1,700 kilometers from Mosul, meaning that the planes need mid-air refueling to strike in Iraq.

For future operations, France could also mobilize its only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, which is now docked in southeastern France and would need at least five days to reach the eastern Mediterranean. The ship can carry about 30 planes including Rafales, Super-Etendards and U.S-built E-2C Hawkeye surveillance aircraft.

CNY town changes policy; makes trash fee mandatory

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A mandatory trash/brush pickup fee is being enacted for town of Manlius residents.

Starting Jan. 1, all town of Manlius residents will have to pay a mandatory fee to the town for trash and brush pickup. In the past, residents could choose to opt out of the fee, paying their their own private hauler instead.

The fee has been $185 annually, but that price will change as of Jan. 1 when a new hauler is selected. Town officials said they don't know whether it will go up, down or remain the same.

The new rules require all residents to pay the fee, whether they choose their own hauler or not, said Town Supervisor Ed Theobald. He said he expects not everyone will be happy with the policy change when they hear about it.

Syracuse Haulers has been the town's trash and brush hauler, but the town is considering others and recently advertised for bids for a town hauler. The new hauler's three-year contract would start Jan. 1.

Residents in the town have been permitted to opt out of the mandatory fee since 2004, but town officials decided it's not longer fair to residents. The trash fee is $155 annually, and the brush fee is $30.

"The problem is a lot of people were getting their trash picked up for free because they had opted out of the district,'' Theobald said. "So the people paying the fees were carrying the cost for those who had opted out."

The hauler had trouble keeping track of who had opted out. For example, people would move into the town and not realize they had to pay a fee for trash pickup.

"So you had people getting the trash and brush pickup service who weren't being charged for it,'' Theobald said. "That's not fair to those who are paying the fee."

Of 7,200 parcels in the town of Manlius, almost 1,000 were opting out, Theobald said.

The policy change also means the town collects an additional $185,000 in fees for trash pickup, although town officials said the new hauler might charge less as the number of customers increases.

Residents can use any hauler that they choose but the district charge will still be applied.

Many towns don't allow people to opt out, although the town of Tully does allow people to opt out for a $35 fee.

Food stamp system to go down across New York this weekend

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New York's food stamp and cash assistance programs will go dark this weekend, leaving clients in the lurch for at least 12 hours while the state changes vendors.

Shop now if you depend on food stamps or cash assistance from New York.

Neither will work starting early Sunday morning. The system will go down at midnight and isn't expected to come back online until noon Sunday.

It's being shut down so the state can switch to a new company to run the program. It will take at least 12 hours to do the switch. Medicaid benefits are on the same card, but they will not be affected by the change.

Nearly a third of the city's residents rely on food stamps, according to U.S. Census data.

Toni Maxwell, a spokeswoman for Catholic Charities of Onondaga County, said her concern is that the switch won't go smoothly and will end up taking longer than expected.

"We will be prepared for a busy day at our emergency services office on Monday if the conversion process goes longer," Maxwell said.

The Samaritan Center and the Rescue Mission in Syracuse both serve meals on Sunday if people find themselves out of food or money.

Jim Reith, a spokesman for Onondaga County, said the county has been preparing for the switch for some time, but were only notified recently that it would happen this weekend. He said the exact day and time changed at least twice.

The state was forced to make the vendor switch, according to a release, because there were no more extensions on the current contract. This weekend was chosen because the third weekend of the month is usually the lightest in food stamp transactions, said Kristin Proud, OTDA commissioner.

There will be no change to the cards, Proud said. Once the system is back up and running, it should be business as usual.

Contact Marnie Eisenstadt anytime: email | twitter | 315-470-2246.

Anti-semitic Kentucky candidate for US Senate running on the slogan 'With Jews We Lose'

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Robert Ransdell of Florence, Kentucky, acknowledges he can't win the race for US Senate as a write-in candidate, but he's using the campaign to promote his slogan.

"With Jews We Lose" might just be the most controversial campaign slogan Kentucky citizens have ever seen. It's the platform of Robert Ransdell of Florence, Kentucky, who's displaying the words on campaign signs during his run as a write-in candidate for United States Senate.

Ransdell is quite proud of his anti-semitic slogan, telling WLWT-TV in Cincinnati, "I believe that there is no such thing as racial equality. You see that in our cities every day."

Ransdell has long been promoting his anti-semitic platform, but on a smaller scale. USA Today reports that Ransdell ran an ad in student newspaper at Northern Kentucky University in 2009 for a website selling white supremacist music.

He's previously identified as Cincinnati coordinator for the National Alliance, which promotes books like "Bolshevism from Moses to Lenin" on its website and runs the news site "News for White People ... By White People," USA Today reports.

Ransdell's signs have angered drivers passing by, with one Kentucky residents telling WLWT, "It's ignorance. Complete ignorance and hate."

Robert Ransdell acknowledged to WLWT that he can't beat Republican Mitch McConnell or Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes but is using the campaign to spread his slogan. Ransdell posted on a white supremacist website that he promises to increase his visibility, USA Today reports. "I am absolutely chomping at the bit going forward with my campaign, only about a month until I am on the air, mainstream radio, primed to start a legitimate 'conversation' about race, as in a racially conscious White man letting loose on the problems we face, that so many of our people are beginning to wake up to," Ransdell wrote.

With about 20 signs up around Northern Kentucky, Ransdell told WLWT that he hopes to post about 200 more in the coming weeks.

Ransdell's name won't appear on the ballot in Kentucky, but because he filed as a write-in candidate, county clerks will be required to count votes written in for him, USA Today reports.

Ransdell placed signs at US 25 and Mount Zion Road in Florence. By the middle of the week, they were gone, WLWT reported. Ransdell did not ask the property owner permission to post the signs.

How Rep. Dan Maffei plans to save the federal government $300 million in printing costs

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He introduces a bill aimed at cutting the federal government's $2 billion annual printing cost.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - What difference does it make if the federal government changes the type used in the documents it prints every day at taxpayer expense?

By U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei's calculations, a simple change in the font used in government reports will save more than $300 million per year.

Maffei, D-Syracuse, plans to introduce a bill today that will require the U.S. Government Printing Office and federal contractors to use a more efficient typeface that takes up less space on a page.

By doing so, Maffei said, it will cut the federal government's costs for ink and paper - expenses that make up a big part of the $2 billion annual printing cost paid for by federal taxpayers.

Maffei's PRINT Act also would prohibit the printing of the Congressional Record, a document containing the official record of the proceedings and debates in Congress.

About 2,350 copies of the Congressional Record are published daily when Congress is in session. The copies are delivered to most congressional offices, even though they are also available online.

The proposed legislation would make the Congressional Record available only in a digital format available online, saving more than $23 million a year, according to the legislation.

Maffei said his bill also would change the name of the Government Printing Office to the Government Publishing Office, reflecting its new focus on digital publications.

The legislation from the two-term congressman faces an uncertain fate in the Republican-controlled House. Maffei introduced the bill with four Democratic cosponsors -- Reps. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., and Mike Quigley, D-Ill.

The Maffei bill is separate from the Government Reports Elimination Act of 2014, bipartisan legislation that passed the Senate on Tuesday. That bill would eliminate or consolidate more than 300 reports from more than two dozen federal agencies.

Contact Mark Weiner anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751

State board withdraws $70,000 fine against Cicero Chamber of Commerce

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The state Workers' Compensation Board withdrew its $70,000 fine against the chamber after the business organization proved it no longer had an employee to insure.

Cicero, N.Y. — The Greater Cicero Chamber of Commerce is no longer facing a $70,000 fine levied by the state Workers' Compensation Board because of what the chamber said was a paperwork oversight.

The Compensation Board recently rescinded the fine after the chamber proved that it has had no employees since the beginning of 2013 and, thus, is not required to carry workers' compensation insurance.

The withdrawal of the fine comes as a relief to the chamber, which has 150 members and promotes economic growth in the suburban Syracuse communities of Cicero, Clay, Bridgeport, Brewerton and North Syracuse. Chamber President John Annable said the organization operates on a shoestring budget and did not have the money to pay it.

The board imposed the fine in July. It alleged that the chamber dropped its state-mandated workers' compensation insurance on Jan. 1, 2013, without showing that it no longer had any employees to insure.

Annable said the chamber stopped employing a secretary who had been hired through Onondaga Employee Leasing Services Inc. The secretary, whose work is now done by volunteers, was the chamber's only employee.

Annable said he did not realize that the secretary was considered a chamber employee, since she had been hired through the leasing agency, and was not aware that he needed to notify the Compensation Board that it no longer employed her. He said the mix-up was not the fault of Onondaga Employee Leasing.

The Compensation Board sent multiple notices to the chamber warning that the chamber faced fines. Annable said the chamber changed its mailing address around the same time it dropped the secretary's position and never received the notices. Annable learned about the fine from a syracuse.com reporter.

State law requires employers to carry insurance to compensate employees for lost wages and medical costs if they are hurt on the job.

Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148

Taco Bell fight club: High school brawls force California eatery to close during afternoon

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Fights outside the Taco Bell happen on an almost daily basis, with some high school students even bringing weapons.

The first rule of Taco Bell fight club: you do not use Taco Bell as a location for a fight club.

A Taco Bell in Antioch, California, will now be closing during peak afternoon hours because high school students have been using the eatery and its parking lot to stage brawls.

"One time a girl knocked over all of our stuff," an employee told CBS San Francisco. "All the stuff on the front counter, she just knocked everything off and she threatened one of my coworkers and told her she was going to kill her." That coworker quit after the incident.

Taco Bell closes student sfights.pngA Taco Bell in California posted this sign to inform customers that the eatery would close during the afternoon because of students fighting. 
One student explained to CBS why fights take place at the plaza where Taco Bell and other businesses operate: "At school you get suspended or something for that, and if you're not at school you go to the plaza and fight and get away with it." Another student told the news stations that students even bring weapons.

In a written statement, a Taco Bell representative said Thursday, "The health and safety of our customers and employees is our top priority. Temporarily, our franchisee is limiting service to the drive-thru only during the hours of 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. and he is proactively working with the local police to develop additional ways to assure the safety of the community."

Police often respond to the fights taking place, but acknowledged to CBS that students don't seem to be intimidated by their presence because they keep having fights. An employee at the Taco Bell told CBS that she thinks the school needs to action. The school district plans to discuss the issue at a future meeting.



'It's On Us': Obama launches campus sexual assault awareness campaign

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The "It's On Us" campaign encourages everyone to consider stopping sexual assault their personal responsibility.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Amid a new focus on violence against women, President Barack Obama kicked off a star-powered campaign Friday against campus sexual assault particularly targeted at encouraging men to take a stand.

Jon Hamm of "Mad Men," Kerry Washington of "Scandal" and NBA all-star Kevin Love are some of the familiar faces appearing in a public service announcement along with the president. The "It's On Us" campaign encourages everyone to consider stopping sexual assault their personal responsibility and to intervene when they suspect a woman can't or won't consent.

With an estimated 1 in 5 college women experiencing an attack, Obama decried "the quiet tolerance of sexual assault" and called it "an affront to our basic humanity." Research has shown most victims know their attackers, alcohol or drugs are often involved and only 12 percent of college women report the attack to police.

The Obama administration has been raising awareness of the problem this year, ahead of a midterm election in which Democrats are counting on a strong turnout by female voters. In January, Obama launched the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault that recommended action campuses could take to protect victims. The U.S. Department of Education for the first time publicly exposed the list of colleges under federal investigation for their handling of sexual assault complaints.

The latest effort has a particular focus on reaching men on campus.

"You don't want to be the guy who stops a friend from taking a woman home," Obama said, while arguing it is men's responsibility to do so.

Vice President Joe Biden was even more blunt in his message to men. "Step up!" he said. "Be responsible. Intervene. You have an obligation to make a pariah of those on campus who abuse another person."

Violence against women has taken on a new prominence recently amid controversy over the NFL's handling of domestic assault involving its players. Obama said society, including sports leagues, too often sends the message that women aren't valued. And with recent sexual assault scandals of their own, the nation's military academies are among the collegiate partners in the campaign, Obama said.

The campaign is supported by partners who plan to help spread the message, including the NCAA, several collegiate athletic conferences and media companies with reach among students.

Visitors to the Itsonus.org website are asked to turn their social media profile pictures into the campaign logo badge. They are asked to use their name, email address and zip code to pledge "not to be a bystander to the problem but to be a part of the solution." The information is collected by Generation Progress, the youth arm of the liberal Center for American Progress advocacy organization with close ties to the White House.

Other celebrities appearing in the PSA are actresses Connie Britton , Rose Byrne and Mayim Bialik, comedian Joel McHale and musicians Randy Jackson and Questlove.

Oneida County man charged with criminal sexual act

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A 44-year-old Oneida County man has been charged with third-degree criminal sexual act, a felony.

A 44-year-old New York Mills man has been charged with third-degree criminal sexual act, a felony, in connection with a week-long investigation by the Oneida County Child Advocacy Center.

Alfredo Garay, 44, of New York Mills was arrested Sept. 18 by an Oneida County sheriff's investigator assigned to the CAC. The arrest was made in connection with alleged sex acts occurring earlier this month in in New York Mills.

The charges are in connection with a female under the age of 17, said Oneida County Sheriff's Deputy Dean Obernesser.

Garay was arraigned and remanded to the Oneida County Correctional Facility in lieu of $10,000 bail or bond. The case has been referred to the Oneida County District Attorney's office for grand jury consideration.

Judge to decide if Ronald Meadow's statements to police in 1985 can be used in murder case

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Ronald Meadow is charged with murdering his estranged wife, Colleen Meadow, based on DNA evidence.

colleenmeadow.jpgColleen Meadow 

Syracuse, NY -- Onondaga County Court Judge Anthony Aloi will decide if a police report from 1985 containing statements made by Ronald Meadow, who is accused of killing his estranged wife, will be admissible in court.

Colleen Meadow was found dead in her North Side apartment on March 5, 1985. Ronald Meadow was indicted in December after DNA evidence -- taken from the victim's fingernail -- linked him to the 29-year-old crime, according to prosecutors.

The trial is set to begin soon. Ronald Meadow's lawyer Ed Menkin and prosecutor Robert Moran were in Aloi's court this morning for a Huntley Hearing to determine if Ronald Meadow's statements were legally obtained in 1985 by former Syracuse Police investigator Peter Tynan.

Tynan, who is now retired, questioned Meadow for about five hours on the evening of March 5, 1985. Tynan's five-page police report is being called into question. Menkin filed a motion to suppress the report and Tynan's testimony.

Tynan and Meadow both testified this morning during the hearing.

Both were asked to remember facts from the interview that took place nearly three decades ago.

ronaldmeadow.jpgRonald Meadow 

Tynan said he began questioning Meadow on the evening of March 5, 1985 to obtain general information about Colleen Meadow. During the interview, Tynan said he was given new information obtained from other investigators that indicated that Meadow was a suspect. Tynan said he informed Meadow of his Miranda rights during their conversation.

"He said he understood and that he wanted to help police find out who killed his wife," Tynan said.

Meadow said he was never read his Miranda rights and he was never told that he didn't have to talk to Tynan.

"I didn't know I had the right to leave," Meadow said.

While Meadow was being questioned his mother called Meadow's brother-in-law, Kenneth Whitelaw, an attorney. Whitelaw said that Meadow's mother informed him that Meadow was being questioned by police and needed a lawyer. Whitelaw called attorney Harold Goldberg to go to police station.

Whitelaw and Goldberg also testified at the hearing.

Goldberg testified that he went to the police station on the evening of March 5, 1985 to represent Meadow and stop further police questioning. Goldberg testified that it took 15 to 20 minutes for Meadow to be released.

Aloi will use the testimony from today's hearing to determine if Meadow's statements to police were legally obtained, and if Tynan's five-page police report and testimony will be admissible during the trial. Aloi reserved decision at the hearing and will make his decision at 11 a.m. Oct. 3.

Sarah Moses covers the northern suburbs of Onondaga County and Oswego
County. Contact Sarah at smoses@syracuse.com or 470-2298. Follow @SarahMoses315

1 in 4 Americans want their state to secede from the U.S. (poll)

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In the wake of the Scottish independence vote, secessionist sentiment has reached nearly 25 percent in the United States.

Nearly a quarter of Americans support the idea of their state seceding from the United States, according to the results of a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

TIME reported that 23.9 percent of the 8,952 respondents said they strongly supported or tended to support secession. The poll was delivered between August 23 and September 16 against the backdrop of the Scottish independence vote.

While Reuters. The sentiment was strongest in the southwest, where 34.1 percent of respondents supported their state striking out on its own.

The idea was least popular in the northeast part of the country, particularly in New England, where only 17.4 percent of respondents favored secession.

More than 20 percent of respondents in both the Republican and Democratic parties supported the idea. Republicans had slightly more enthusiasm for secession with 29.7 percent of their respondents supporting the idea, compared to just 21 percent of Democrats.

Reuters attributes these feelings of disunity to a variety of factors, chiefly anger over the Obama administration's handling of matters like healthcare, the rise of ISIS and political gridlock in Washington.

Even with what may seem like higher than expected support for the idea of splitting up the Union, any serious supporters of secession would face a huge challenge. 53.3 percent of respondents still said they strongly opposed or tended to oppose seceding.

No state has made a serious effort to break off from the U.S. in 150 years since the Civil War. Most recently, a petition to have Alaska secede back to Russia got 28,000 signatures, and elicited this response from the White House:

"Our founding fathers established the Constitution of the United States 'in order to form a more perfect union' through the hard and frustrating but necessary work of self-government. They enshrined in that document the right to change our national government through the power of the ballot -- a right that generations of Americans have fought to secure for all. But they did not provide a right to walk away from it."

In 2013, a county in northeast Colorado talked of splitting to form it's own state, and in 2012, after Obama was reelected, 400,000 citizens from 33 different states signed petitions for their states to secede from the Union.

Would you support your state seceding? Take our unofficial and unscientific poll above, and leave a comment below.

Syracuse man pleads guilty to shooting twin sister in the head

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Lamont Williams was arrested for the shooting of Larae Williams at her Eastwood home in October 2013.

leray_lamont_williams.JPGLarae Williams and her twin brother, Lamont Williams. Lamont Williams is accused of shooting Larae Williams in the face in October 2013. 

Syracuse, NY -- A 22-year-old Syracuse man accused of shooting his twin sister in the head pleaded guilty this morning to first-degree assault.

Lamont Williams, of Midler Avenue, was arrested for the shooting of Larae Williams at her Eastwood home in October 2013.

Lamont Williams pleaded guilty and his plea deal includes a sentence of 10 years in prison and 5 years post-release supervision.

State Supreme Court Justice John Brunetti said Lamont Williams could have faced up to 25 years in prison.

Lamont and Larea Williams' 10-year-old brother was home during the shooting. Zyel Allen told Syracuse.com that Lamont Williams was arguing with Larea Williams. Larae Williams underwent two surgeries and was in serious condition after the shooting.

Larae Williams suffered a very serious permanent brain injury as a result of the shooting, said Cindi Newtown, an assistant district attorney.

Lamont Williams will be sentenced on Oct. 10.

Sarah Moses covers the northern suburbs of Onondaga County and Oswego
County. Contact Sarah at smoses@syracuse.com or 470-2298. Follow @SarahMoses315

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