The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has filed a formal request with the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court to investigate high-level Catholic Church officials for crimes against humanity.

Syracuse, NY – Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests will hold a news conference Wednesday in front of the offices of the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse to highlight this week’s filing of a formal request with theInternational Criminal Court that seeks to prosecute the church’s highest leaders for crimes against humanity .

The local affiliate of SNAP will hold the news conference at 1 p.m. outside the church’s local headquarters at 240 E. Onondaga St.

Sponsor of one bill says the change is needed to ensure monument designations aren't forced on people who don't want them.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Bush have designated public land as national monuments, using a federal law to protect from development sites judged to have natural, historical or scientific significance.

Now some House Republicans, saying the 105-year-old law has been misused, have introduced bills to limit or block the president’s ability to make such designations without approval from Congress.

GOP Rep. Denny Rehberg of Montana compared the 1906 Antiquities Act to the mythical sword of Damocles, calling it a weapon that can be used against rural communities at any time without warning. Residents of Montana and other Western states “must cope with the constant knowledge that, one day, we could wake up to find that with the stroke of a pen, the president declared their back yard a national monument,” Rehberg said Tuesday.

For many living in the West, “it’s no myth,” Rehberg said, citing a 2001 designation by then-President Bill Clinton creating the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in Montana and Clinton’s 1996 designation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah.

Rehberg, who is running for U.S. Senate against Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., sponsored one of six GOP bills to overturn or limit the Antiquities Act.

The bills respond to outrage expressed throughout the West last year after an internal Interior Department memo was made public. The memo listed 14 sites in nine states that could be designated as national monuments. The plan was never formally proposed, but opponents said its existence showed the need to reform the law.

“This isn’t about preventing future monument designations. It’s about making sure those designations aren’t forced on people who frankly don’t want or need them,” Rehberg said.

Jerry Taylor, mayor of Escalante City, Utah, testified in favor of the bills. He said the 15-year-old Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has been “devastating” to his small town and cost many people their jobs. The 1.9-million acre monument “has hurt the local economy, driven our residents to find work elsewhere and burdened local government to provide uncompensated services,” Taylor told the House Natural Resources Committee Tuesday.

Ray Rasker, executive director of Headwaters Economics, a Montana-based research group, said economic data does not support Taylor’s claim. Rasker’s group studied the economic performance of communities adjacent to 17 national monuments in the West. “In all cases there was growth of employment, real personal income and real per capita income. In no case did we find that the creation of a national monument studied led to an economic downturn,” he said.

No one from the Obama administration appeared at the hearing, but the Interior Department submitted testimony opposing all six bills. The Antiquities Act helped establish some of the nation’s most familiar monuments, from the Grand Canyon to the Statue of Liberty and Muir Woods, the statement said.

“Without the president’s authority under the Antiquities Act, it is unlikely that many of these special places would have been protected and preserved as quickly and as fully as they were,” the statement said. “Who among us today would dam the Grand Canyon or turn Muir Woods over to development? These sites ... speak eloquently to the wisdom of retaining the Antiquities Act is its current form.”

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, whose office first made public the internal Interior Department memo, said he has received assurances from the Obama administration that none of the sites listed will be designated as monuments in the president’s current term. But he said a law is needed just to make sure. “I take them at their word, but I don’t want another Clinton to ever do it again,” Bishop said.

Environmental groups blasted the GOP bills, saying monument designation has boosted tourism and preserved cultural wonders.

The president tells the governor that he did the right thing by ordering police officers to storm the prison.

View full sizeFile photo / AP, 1971Inmates at Attica State Prison in Attica, N.Y., raise their hands in clenched fists in a show of unity during the Attica uprising in this photo from Sept. 1, 1971.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Former President Richard Nixon offered his unqualified support to former New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller hours after the end of the deadly Attica prison uprising in 1971, telling the governor he backed him “to the hilt” and would get others to do the same, newly published audiotapes show.

“You did the right thing. It’s a tragedy that these poor fellows were shot but I just want you to know that’s my view and I’ve told the troops around here that I back that right to the hilt,” Nixon told Rockefeller by telephone after Rockefeller ordered that 1,000 law enforcement officers to storm the prison and retake it from inmates who were holding dozens of guards hostage.

“Well aren’t you great, Mr. President,” Rockefeller replied in the recording made 40 years ago Tuesday.

The four-day revolt over living conditions and educational opportunities at the maximum-security prison in western New York left 29 inmates and 10 of their hostages dead. Most, including the hostages, were killed by police during the retaking.

Historian Theresa Lynch, an adjunct professor at the University of New Hampshire, discovered the recordings in the National Archives in Washington in 2004 and wrote about them in a dissertation before sharing them last week with Scott Christianson, a writer who made them available to The New York Times. The newspaper published excerpts Tuesday.

“I saw them as a window into Nixon and politics and the media and prisons, the intersection between those things,” Lynch said Tuesday between panel discussions at a conference examining the legacy of Attica at the University at Buffalo.

Rockefeller had called Nixon before the assault to alert him to the plan and the possibility that hostages and hundreds of prisoners could be killed, the recordings show, but the president was in a cabinet meeting and missed the call. The two first spoke four hours after it was over, Lynch said.

While Rockefeller that first day praised the work of state police sharp shooters and called the retaking “a beautiful operation” a day later, he acknowledged “a little problem” — that some of the hostages were killed by troopers.

“Well, you know this is one of those things,” Rockefeller said. “You can’t have sharp shooters picking off the prisoners when the hostages are there with them at a distance with tear gas without maybe having a few accidents.”

Replied Nixon: “Oh sure. Well you saved a lot of the guards.”

“Thirty-two of them got out,” Rockefeller said.

“That’s what I mean. It was worth it,” the president said.

Nixon asked Rockefeller whether blacks were primarily involved in the uprising.

“Oh yes, the whole thing was led by the blacks,” Rockefeller said in part of an exchange experts said hinted at the two political leaders’ immediate concerns over public perception.

“Notwithstanding the carnage at Attica and the importance of the protests that the inmates were trying to wage, at the end of the day the reaction on the part of Nixon is ‘is this a black thing?’” said Temple University Professor Heather Ann Thompson, another panelist at the University at Buffalo conference.

“And Rockefeller assures him that it was,” said Thompson, who is writing a book on the uprising.

“I think that Nixon and Rockefeller were banking on American belief that if blacks were centrally involved then the incident would be far less tragic,” Lynch said.

Rockefeller, who had run against Nixon for the Republican nomination for president in 1968 and became vice president after his resignation, later expressed regret about the way the situation at Attica unfolded.

The three-day conference organized by UB Law Professor Teresa Miller brought together hostage and inmate advocates.

The two sides are finally in a position to reach common ground with the passage of time and the ending of legal disputes, Miller said. A 2000 court ruling that gave $8 million to 502 inmates and their families was followed in 2005 by a $12 million state settlement with a group of former hostages and families of those killed.

“They’re all talking across their differences and coming to an understanding with 40 years of reflection,” Miller said.

Veronica L. Taft gave her address as Baldwinsville when she was taken into custody.

Binghamton, NY – A Baldwinsville woman has been accused of murdering her 2-year-old son in December when she lived in Binghamton.

Veronica L. Taft gave her address as Baldwinsville when she was taken into custody Sept. 1 for the murder of her son, Lyric, according to Pressconnects.com.

She was indicted Sept. 7 by a Broome County grand jury on one count of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree manslaughter and six counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Taft lived on Fayette Street in Binghamton when she was accused of causing the death of her son on Dec. 29.

She is currently in the Broome County Jail.

Experts say the situation is getting worse for the poor.

NEW YORK (AP) — An additional 68,000 New Yorkers have fallen below the poverty line, and the leader of one lifeline for the poor says there isn’t much hope on the horizon.

Census Bureau figures released Tuesday show 3.08 million people in the state were living in poverty in 2010, or 16 percent, up from 15.8 percent in 2009. The national figure for 2010 was slightly better than New York’s, at 15.1 percent. But it too was up, from 14.3 percent in 2009.

Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, executive director of New York’s Catholic Charities, said the figures — and the reality on the street — are discouraging. “Hope for most people is getting a decent job, and boy, is it hard to find jobs,” he said.

The state’s unemployment rate for July was 8 percent and the number of unemployed was more than three-quarters of a million.

“Most poor people are working, but their two jobs are now one job, or their wife or husband has lost a job,” Sullivan said. “And they never know if they’ll make the rent, or of there will be enough money for food at the end of the month. And they live in fear that their hours will be cut back and then they won’t have the rent, the food, the medicine.”

David R. Jones, president and CEO of the Community Service Society, said his agency’s own surveys also find things getting worse, especially among groups such as working mothers and young black men.

“You can double the numbers for blacks and Latinos,” he said. “So many have no high school diploma, no employment skills. ... Four in 10 working mothers are behind in the rent. Sixty percent aren’t sure they can pay their other bills.”

Any improvement in New York has affected “young, upwardly mobile young people of any color,” Jones said. “It’s two New Yorks. The Manhattan restaurants are full every night.”

“There seems to be no abatement whatsoever for the others,” he said.

Sullivan said, “There hasn’t been any recovery, not in jobs, not in food prices.” He said government funds for food pantries were cut by nearly half this year.

“The funds have gone down but the demand hasn’t,” he said. “I’ll go into a food pantry in the suburbs, and people who three years ago were bringing in bags of food, they’re now asking for food.”

Voters went to the polls across Central New York Tuesday to pick who will run in the November election for their political party.

Gary Walts / The Post-StandardCamillus resident Dave Vaughn signs in to vote in the primary today at the Camillus Municipal Building, 4600 West Genesee St. Election inpectors are Bertha Kempisty (left) and Sheila Scanlon.

Thousands of Central New Yorkers went to the polls Tuesday to decide who will get a chance to run for local offices in the November election.

Most of the primary elections were for Republican Party slots on the ballot, with a few votes for Conservative Party and Independence Party spots.

There is one primary in the region for the Democratic Party: Parish supervisor.

The primary polls close at 9 p.m. We will report the results as soon as they are available. (We expect results to start coming in at about 9:30. We will keep updating the results as they become available, so check back later if your race isn't in yet.)

Cayuga County races

Madison County races

Onodaga County races

Oswego County races

The coin-sized batteries can get stuck in the esophagus and cause severe burning.

View full sizeCourtesy of Energizer/Safe Kids USAThis frame grab shows a youngster holding a bag of small batteries commonly found in remote control devices, calculators, even musical greeting cards. St. Louis-based Energizer and Safe Kids USA say that in 2010 alone, 3,400 cases of children swallowing coin cell lithium batteries were reported in the U.S. Seventeen deaths have been blamed on swallowed button batteries.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Serious and fatal incidents of children swallowing so-called button batteries are on the rise, and a leading battery-maker is hoping to raise awareness about the problem.

The flat, coin-sized battery doesn’t typically cause choking, but it can get stuck in the esophagus and cause severe burning, leading to lifelong problems. In rare cases, children can bleed to death, said Dr. Toby Litovitz, director of the National Capital Poison Center.

St. Louis-based Energizer is joining with a child safety advocacy group to alert parents and caregivers about the dangers of coin cell lithium batteries. The battery-maker and Safe Kids USA plan to announce their partnership Wednesday.

The batteries are common in adult products that tend to get into the hands of young children — remotes, electronic key fobs, even singing greeting cards. Eleven children have died after swallowing button batteries over the past six years, and the National Capital Poison Center said about 3,500 swallowing cases are reported annually in the U.S. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning about button batteries in March.

“You could really say it’s an invisible threat,” said Stacey Harbour, director of marketing for Energizer. “Most of these devices are just so readily available and because the battery door isn’t secure, it just makes it very accessible to the child.”

Karla Rauch was preparing a first birthday party for her son, Emmett, last October when he came down with a fever and began acting lethargic. She took him to an urgent care center and was told he had a cold or flu.

But days later, Emmett began throwing up blood. An X-ray found the button battery lodged in his esophagus. Rauch said the battery came out of a remote control she had left on the floor. When Emmett got ahold of it, the battery snapped right out.

Nearly a year later, Emmett has undergone 14 surgeries to repair holes in his esophagus and other damage caused by the battery. He’s relearning how to swallow and suffers from chronic lung problems. “He’s a fighter,” Karla Rauch said. “We just keep fighting with him.”

Litovitz said severe and fatal swallowing injuries have increased sevenfold since 1985. Part of the reason is the increased use of lithium, which provides more power in the batteries, but also is more dangerous if swallowed, Litovitz said. “I think the parent is unknowingly thinking normal household products are safe for their children, and they’re not,” Litovitz said.

Makers of toys and other products designed for children must meet certain standards to ensure batteries cannot be easily removed — such as requiring a screw to secure the compartment door. Those requirements don’t exist for products meant for adults, although children can often get their hands on them.

For example, Meri-K Appy, president of Safe Kids USA, noted the batteries are used in bathroom scales, which are easily accessible to children crawling on the floor. Parents sometimes give car keys to children to play with — and the key chain often contains a fob for opening car doors that is powered by the tiny battery.

The Energizer/Safe Kids USA effort encourages parents and caregivers to keep batteries and devices containing the batteries out of the reach of children, and to make sure the battery compartment is secure. Treatment tips will be distributed through Safe Kids USA’s 600 chapters.

Energizer also is developing new packaging for its button batteries that is harder for kids to open.

Kurt Iverson, a spokesman for Duracell, Energizer’s chief competitor, said his company promotes battery safety through a variety of means, including social media. “We certainly encourage people to keep our batteries in the packaging until they are ready for use,” he said. “It’s just part of the baby-proofing process, and batteries have a place in that as well.”

Rauch and her husband are working with Energizer and Safe Kids USA to get the word out about button batteries, and she and her husband are planning a not-for-profit to help educate parents. “We can’t control what happened to Emmett, but we can help prevent it for other families,” she said.

Police believe the steel grates weighing 250 pounds each are being sold for scrap.

Syracuse, NY – Police have one person in custody, and other arrests are possible, as the investigation continues into the theft of sewer grates from Syracuse’s streets.

Police tonight said that they accused Aaron Sanford, 22, of 113 Park Ave., on Sept. 8 of two counts of misdemeanor second-degree reckless endangerment, two counts of petit larceny, felony fourth-degree grand larceny and felony second-degree forgery.

He has already been arraigned on the charges and is currently in the Onondaga County Justice Center.

The investigation into the thefts is ongoing and more arrests are possible, said Sgt. Gary Bulinski.

Police have also declined to release photos of the suspect.

From July to August, 68 grates weighing 250 pounds each have been reported missing. Police presume that the galvanized steel grates are being sold for scrap.

Lawyer Eric Jeschke is expected to argue missing warning signs and using personal GPS device do not amount to criminal negligence by John Tomaszewski.

Jim Commentucci / The Post-StandardThe lawyer of the driver of the Megabus that crashed into a low bridge Sept. 11, 2010 is expected to argue in court today that criminal charges should be dropped. Four people died in the crash.

Syracuse, NY - The lawyer for the driver of the Megabus that crashed into a low bridge – killing four passengers- on the Onondaga Lake Parkway will argue in court today to have criminal charges against his client dismissed.

Eric Jeschke is expected to argue that there is insufficient evidence to support homicide charges against Megabus driver John Tomaszewski.

Tomaszewski, 60, is facing four counts of criminally negligent homicide, accused of causing the deaths of the four bus passengers with criminal negligence by passing 12 signs warning of the low CSX railroad bridge over the parkway on Sept. 11, 2010.

Killed when the Megabus slammed into the bridge were former Camillus resident Deanna Armstrong, 18, of New Jersey; Kevin Coffey, 19, of Kansas; Ashwani Mehta, 34, of India, and Benjamin Okorie, 35, of Malaysia.

Read our previous coverage of the Megabus case in words, photos and videos.

John Tomaszewski

Tomaszewski is due in Onondaga County Court today for argument of motions before Judge Anthony Aloi.

In his motion papers, Jeschke is contending Tomaszewski’s conduct -- either in passing the warning signs or using a personal global positioning system to try and find out where he was -- do not amount to criminal negligence under New York law.

Jeschke is expected to argue that there was no evidence of alcohol involvement or speeding, factors that are commonly involved in criminal prosecutions of fatal crash cases.

He’s also expected to argue Tomaszewski’s use of a GPS device was legal, not illegal, and should not form the basis of a criminal prosecution.

Additionally, the defense is likely to argue that Tomaszewski had very limited experience as a bus driver, let alone a driver of a bus as big as a Megabus. According to Jeschke, Tomaszewski had only been a bus driver for three months after a career as a contractor.

Criminally negligent homicide involves a finding that a defendant failed to perceive the risk of his or her conduct, resulting in the death of another person. It is punishable by up to four years in state prison upon conviction.

According to authorities, the bus -- en route from Philadelphia to Toronto -- was supposed to have stopped at the Regional Transportation Center on Park Street but Tomaszewski apparently missed the exit from Interstate 81 and ended up on the parkway.

Officials have said he was reportedly distracted by the personal GPS device – trying to find out where he was -- when the bus crashed into the low bridge over the road.

Eric Jeschke

In addition to seeking dismissal of the charges, Jeschke is seeking to suppress any statements Tomaszewski made to police in the event the case against him survives the motion review to go to trial.

Jeschke is contending anything Tomaszewski said, including any admission about using a GPS device, should be suppressed because of the head injuries the driver himself suffered in the crash.

Read more:

Check back here for a complete report of Tomaszewski's court appearance.

Four survivors of the Megabus crash talk of their year-long recovery from the fatal crash.

The downtown library wants to move onto the first floor of The Galleries to give patrons a more convenient ground floor entrance.

Stephen D. Cannerelli/The Post-StandardWith her 1-year-old son Kingzakariy Montgomery next to her, Titicia Tatum, 21, of Syracuse, uses the computers on the third floor of the Onondaga County Central Library in The Galleries of Syracuse on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011.

Syracuse, N.Y. -- The Onondaga County Public Library in downtown Syracuse hopes to see more visitors because of a planned $7.7 million project that will give the library a ground floor entrance.

County Executive Joanie Mahoney will announce the project today as part of her proposed 2012 county budget.

Mahoney said the Central Library will shift from the second through fifth floors of the Galleries to the first, second and fifth floors. The change will reduce the library staff needed in future years. The county also hopes to eventually lease or sell the third and fourth floors.

Mahoney will propose borrowing $5.2 million and using a $2.5 million state grant.

The Central Library at 447 S. Salina St. had 284,071 visitors in 2010, up 2.6 percent from 2009.

Contact Mike McAndrew at mmcandrew@syracuse.com or 470-3016.

However, property taxes would drop in Syracuse and most villages, which represents 53 percent of the county's population. Watch video

Ellen M. Blaylock/The Post-StandardOnondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney discusses her proposed 2012 county budget, which she will present at 10 a.m. today to the Onondaga County Legislature.

Syracuse, N.Y. -- Onondaga County government will end this year with $79 million in the bank, but it would collect the same amount of property taxes in 2012 under the budget that County Executive Joanie Mahoney will present to the Legislature today.

Mahoney said Tuesday her $1.2 billion budget proposal would keep county property taxes at $153.8 million — a plan sure to disappoint some lawmakers who, in this election year, have demanded the county use the surplus to cut taxes.

While the tax levy would remain level, tax rates would not.

County property tax rates would rise in 14 of 19 towns and slightly decrease in 14 of 15 villages and in the city of Syracuse thanks to changes approved last year in the county’s sharing of sales tax revenues and the way some towns use their sales tax money.

Fifty-three percent of the county’s population lives in municipalities that would see tax rate cuts.

But the county’s most populated town, Clay, would take the biggest hit. County property taxes on a $100,000 house in Clay would rise from $498 to $595 next year. Clay is one of seven towns that have opted to use all of their shrinking share of county sales tax revenue to lower their town taxes instead of as a credit to lower their county taxes.

Towns and villages are getting $23.3 million in sales tax revenues from the county this year but are slated to receive just $7.7 million in 2012 and none after that.

The county will end this year with $4 million more than it anticipated, thanks mostly to a 3 percent increase in sales tax revenues, Mahoney said. The surplus will raise the county’s general fund balance — a rainy day account built up over the years to pay for unexpected expenses and to keep borrowing costs down — to $79 million.

Mahoney said her budget proposal calls for using $4.7 million of the fund balance for the operating budget and $19.8 million for one-time expenses. Those one-time expenses consist of a $5.8 million payment to the state to cover the cost of an early retirement program and $14.3 million for vehicle and equipment purchases, replacement of the Civic Center’s single-pane windows and other improvements to county facilities.

Most of the county’s buildings were built more than 20 years ago and require maintenance and capital improvements, she said.

She said her budget proposal does not call for using the fund balance to lower the tax levy because she believes the fund should be used to pay for one-time expenses rather than costs that occur every year, especially in light of the property tax cap imposed recently by the state.

The tax cap limits the ability of local governments to raise their tax levies by more than 2 percent a year. So if the county used its surplus funds to lower the tax levy in 2012 and it needed to raise the levy in future years for any reason, it might have trouble doing so because of the tax cap and be forced to make devastating cuts to needed services and program, she said.

Mahoney said she will present her capital improvement plan in a bill that is separate from the operating budget. That way, if the Legislature rejects the capital improvement plan, the money will remain in the fund balance rather than be used to lower the tax levy, she said.

Mahoney said just keeping the tax levy even is quite an accomplishment in light of an increase of $9.7 million in state-mandated program costs, a $7 million increase in contributions to the state pension fund and the loss of $7 million in federal economic stimulus aid.

The budget also includes $5.8 million in salary increases and $2.9 million in fringe benefits for county employees, she said.

She said she has worked hard to cut the costs the county controls, eliminating 502 county jobs through layoffs, attrition and the early retirement program since she took office in 2008. But it is getting to the point where there is not much left in the budget that the county can control, she said.

Her spending plan calls for one layoff, the job of an attendant at the Beaver Lake Nature Center in Lysander. Six other positions will be eliminated — three in the Probation Department and three at the Hillbrook Juvenile Detention Center — but those will not result in layoffs, administration officials said.

The budget proposal contains no county funding for the sheriff department’s Air-1 helicopter because the sheriff plans to pay for it with money raised from other sources, such as charging fees for transporting accident victims, she said.

The proposed budget includes no pay raise for Mahoney — she has not had one as county executive — but it would give county Comptroller Robert Antonacci a $12,640 raise and county Clerk Ann Ciarpelli a $6,000 raise. Antonacci’s pay would rise from $87,160 to $99,800. Ciarpelli’s pay would go from $72,654 to $78,654. Mahoney said she is passing on requests from Antonacci and Ciarpelli, who are elected officials.

The proposed budget also includes $1.2 million for local arts organizations. But Mahoney said that, for the first time, the largest of the arts groups receiving money from the county will be required to match the government subsidy with donations from the private sector.

The biggest single share of proposed arts funding is a $404,465 grant for the Syracuse Philharmonic Society, the successor to the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, which went bankrupt in April.

Legislature Chairman James Rhinehart, R-Skaneateles, said he likes the fact that the plan keeps the tax levy level but has already heard from lawmakers who want to lower it.

“I’m open to ideas on how to do that,” he said.

Legislator Kevin Holmquist, R-Manlius, who like many other lawmakers is running for re-election, said he will push to use some of the fund balance to cut taxes.

“To say the taxpayers are going to get zero back is very unacceptable,” he said.

Casey Jordan, R-Clay, chairman of the Legislature’s Ways & Means Committee, said he, too, will press to use surplus funds to lower taxes.

“I don’t know why the county executive is so adverse to returning some of the money to the taxpayers,” he said. “I’m not a big supporter of taking people’s money and saying, ‘Oh, we’re going to hold on to this for you.’”

Contact Rick Moriarty at rmoriarty@syracuse.com or (315) 470-3148.

» Related story: Proposed Onondaga County budget includes $7.7 million for Central Library project

Martinous Hudson faces murder, attempted murder, robbery and gun charges.

Syracuse, NY - A Salina man is scheduled to be arraigned today in connection with the fatal shooting of two friends last month and a carjacking that occurred moments later in his bid to escape from the Syracuse neighborhood.

Martinous Hudson, 28, of 368 Electronics Parkway, is facing two counts of second-degree murder, one count of attempted second-degree murder, three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and single counts of first- and second-degree robbery and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, according to Senior Assistant District Attorney Melinda McGunnigle.

Hudson is accused of killing LaVonna Hamilton, 17, and Maurice Miller, 24. He's accused of trying to kill Eric Bellamy, 24.

Authorities said the group of four friends was riding around smoking marijuana when Hudson reportedly began ranting incoherently about the devil, pulled out a gun and opened fire. The shooting occurred on West Glen Avenue the morning of Aug. 6.

The robbery charges relate to a second incident that occurred moments later in which Hudson is accused of stealing a car at gunpoint from a 73-year-old man in the parking lot of the apartment building in the 100 block of West Seneca Turnpike.

Hudson, who told police he was high on PCP at the time of the incidents, was recently ordered to provide a hair sample for the prosecution to test for evidence of any drug use.

He is scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment before state Supreme Court Justice John Brunetti.

No foul play is suspected in death of Larry J. Fults, 32, of Madison, Ohio, troopers said.

Larry Fults

LaFayette, NY -- An Ohio man missing since August was found dead last weekend on a farm in LaFayette, state police said.

Larry J. Fults, 32, of 1415 Parkview Drive, Madison, Ohio, was found after the farm's owner reported the dead man in a collapsed silo, said state police Sgt. Susan Lockyer.

Onondaga County Sheriff's deputies responded to the call Sunday. No foul play is suspected.

State police had been looking for Lockyer since finding his vehicle Aug. 7 along the eastbound Thruway in Salina, Lockyer said.

A day later, Fults's estranged wife reported him missing after finding out he hadn't gone to work.

That night, troopers found Fults's wallet along Route 11 in LaFayette, Lockyer said. Someone also reported a suspicious person walking barefoot along Route 11.

In the coming days, a half-dozen sightings were reported in LaFayette and Nedrow. State police searched the area with the help of rescue dogs and a state police helicopter, Lockyer said, but could not find Fults.

» Read more coverage about Lary Fults's disappearance.

Police responded to a woman's report of an unwanted person in her home were confronted by a man with a rifle.

NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities say an eight-hour armed standoff at a home outside Buffalo has ended with the gunman in custody.

Buffalo media outlets report that the standoff began around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday when North Tonawanda police responding to a woman's report of an unwanted person in her home were confronted by a man with a rifle. Officials say he refused to put the weapon down.

Police say the man's girlfriend and her three children were safely removed from the residence.

The man, whose name hasn't been released, held police at bay for eight hours until officers set off explosive devices and stormed the home. The man eventually surrendered.

The man is scheduled to be arraigned this morning.

Related links:

» SWAT team outside North Tonawanda home [Buffalo News]

» Standoff in North Tonawanda ends peacefully [WGRZ]

North Tonawanda standoff ends: wivb.com

Abbass Sharif, a Utah State University doctoral candidate, and more than half dozen others lined up on one side of the 4,000-pound car to save the man trapped beneath a motorcycle.

Chris Garff / AP PhotoIn this Monday, image taken from video, a group of people tilt a burning BMW up to free Brandon Wright, on his back on the ground, who was pinned underneath after he collided with the car while riding his motorcycle on U.S. 89 in Logan, Utah.

From the Associated Press:

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- The students knew they had to act quickly when they disregarded the dangers of approaching a smoking car and rushed to help lift it so a man - trapped beneath with a motorcycle just feet away in flames - could be freed.

Abbass Sharif remembers only that something needed to be done as he, a fellow Utah State University doctoral candidate and more than half dozen others lined up on one side of the 4,000-pound car. They were able to lift it within moments, allowing one of the rescuers to pull Brandon Wright to safety.

"The chance of him dying if we don't do it is like 100 percent," the 28-year-old Sharif said, recalling the sequence of events that played out Monday in Logan, a college town roughly 90 miles north of Salt Lake City. "If you weigh the chance of you being in danger, that's going to be low, like 20 percent, compared to 100 percent."

After the heroic act, Assistant Logan Police Chief Jeff Curtis said one could "only speculate what the outcome would have been" had none of the rescuers sprung to action.

For their bravery, the rescuers are being called "heroes" and "angels," though none want the labels.

"That's a big title," said Sharif, a doctoral candidate from Lebanon. "I don't consider myself a hero. It's just our humanity ... Everyone is going to help."

Read the full story

Related links:

» Viral video rescue victim tells his story to family [ABC4]
» Bystanders save motorcyclist from car fire [Fox 31]

In other news:

» U.S. Blames Kabul Assault on Pakistan-Based Group [New York Times]

» Iranian judiciary casts doubt on US hikers' imminent release [Guardian]

» Cold case of murdered 5-year-old Alie Berrelez solved [ABC News]

» Will GOP win in N.Y. have impact on Obama, Democrats? [USA Today]

» Islamists emerge in force in new Libya [Washington Post]

» Rescue workers find autistic boy Joshua Robb in thick forest [International Business Times]

» A Brown-Warren US Senate matchup could rival Weld-Kerry battle royale [Boston.com]

» Here comes Apple's real TV [Business Week]

» 233 dead in Pakistan flood [CNN]

Republican political novice, Bob Turner, scored an upset victory in a special election Tuesday over David Weprin, a Democratic assemblyman from a prominent local political family.

Mary Altaffer / AP PhotoBob Turner, center, joined by his wife Peggy, right, and family smiles as he delivers his victory speech during an election night party, Wednesday in New York.

NEW YORK (AP) -- It sounded improbable on the surface that a New York City congressional district where Democrats have a 3-1 registration edge and have held office for nearly a century could even come close to electing a Republican to the U.S. House.

But voter frustration over the sour economy and President Barack Obama's policies made the improbable a reality, as a Republican political novice, Bob Turner, scored an upset victory in a special election Tuesday over David Weprin, a Democratic assemblyman from a prominent local political family. The surprising results in the Brooklyn and Queens-area district portend a perilous national environment for Obama as he prepares to seek re-election next year.

Turner said as much when he stepped before cameras to claim victory Tuesday night.

"This message will resound for a full year. It will resound into 2012," said Turner, a retired broadcasting executive. "I only hope our voices are heard, and we can start putting things right again."

Also Tuesday, Republican Mark Amodei won a landslide victory in a U.S. House special election in Nevada, an important presidential swing state.

The national mood has darkened since May, when Democrats scored their own unexpected win in another New York special election. Then, Democrat Kathy Hochul won an upset victory in a heavily Republican district by stressing her commitment to protecting Medicare, the government health plan for seniors.

Weprin tried to adopt that strategy, warning that Turner would try to cut programs like Medicare and Social Security. But with unemployment still stubbornly high and voters upset with Washington over the debt ceiling negotiations, the pledge to protect entitlements was less resonant this time.

Democratic leaders trying to explain their bad night blamed it on the quirkiness of low-turnout special elections.

"The results in NY-09 are not reflective of what will happen in November 2012 when Democratic challengers run against Republican incumbents who voted to end Medicare and cut Social Security while protecting tax loopholes for big corporations and the ultra wealthy," said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel of New York.

Republicans, for their part, seized on Turner's win as reason to push back on Obama's proposed $447 billion jobs program, which he has been promoting at stops across the country.

"Tonight New Yorkers have delivered a strong warning to the Democrats who control the levers of power in our federal government," House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement. "It's time to scrap the failed `stimulus' agenda."

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus added: "Tonight's election proves yet again that President Obama is failing our country. Not only are the President's policies not working, but his non-stop campaigning is no longer winning over voters."

Weprin, a 56-year-old Orthodox Jew and member of a prominent Queens political family, initially seemed a good fit for the largely white, working-class district, which is nearly 40 percent Jewish.

But voter frustration with Obama put Weprin in the unlikely spot of playing defense.

While Obama won the district by 11 points in 2008 against Republican John McCain, a Siena Poll released Friday found just 43 percent of likely voters approved of the president's job performance, while 54 percent said they disapproved. Among independents, just 29 percent said they approved of Obama's job performance.

Turner, a 70-year-old Catholic, vowed to push back on Obama's policies if elected. He received help from prominent Republicans including former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose much-praised stewardship of the city after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks was recalled during the 10th anniversary of the attacks last weekend.

Weprin also became embroiled in New York-centric disputes over Israel and gay marriage, which cost him some support among Jewish voters.

Orthodox Jews, who tend to be conservative on social issues, expressed anger over Weprin's vote in the Assembly to legalize gay marriage. In July, New York became one of six states to recognize same-sex nuptials.

Former Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat, endorsed Turner in July as a way to "send a message" to Obama on his policies toward Israel. And Weprin was challenged on his support of a proposed Islamic center and mosque near the World Trade Center site, in lower Manhattan.

The House seat opened up when Weiner was pushed by party leaders to resign after sending sexually provocative tweets and text messages to women he met online.

The trouble for Weiner, who served seven terms, began when a photo of a man's crotch surfaced on his Twitter feed. He initially denied the photo was of him but later admitted it was.

Weiner, who's married, resigned June 16 after two weeks of fighting off pressure to step aside. He apologized for "the embarrassment that I have caused" and said he hoped to continue to fight for the causes dear to his constituents.

Related links:

» G.O.P. gains House seat vacated by Weiner [New York Times]

» Bob Turner dispatches David Weprin, dealing embarrassing blow to President Obama, Democrats [New York Daily News]

» GOP Turner wins Weiner seat in upset [New York Post]

Judge Anthony Aloi says a grand jury was presented sufficient evidence to support charges against John Tomaszewski.

Peter Chen / The Post-Standard.An Onondaga County judge ruled this morning there is sufficient evidence to allow the criminal prosecution of Megabus driver John Tomaszewski. He is accused of causing four deaths when his bus crashed Sept. 11, 2010 into a low CSX bridge on the Onondaga Lake Parkway.

Syracuse, NY - Onondaga County Court Judge Anthony Aloi this morning rejected a defense plea to dismiss homicide charges against Megabus driver John Tomaszewski.

After listening to brief arguments from both sides, Aloi decided sufficient evidence had been presented to the grand jury to support criminally negligent homicide charges.

"This matter should proceed to trial," Aloi said. "Let a jury hear this entire case."

After making that decision, Aloi announced he was releasing to the public a portion of a grand jury report that had been filed in connection with an investigation into the fatal crash.

Aloi previously had ordered that report sealed while the criminal case against is pending.

John Tomaszewski

Aloi said he was only releasing the portion of the report that included the grand jury's recommendation for dealing with the low railroad bridge over the Onondaga Lake Parkway.

The judge said it appeared to him that something should have been done about the bridge long before the Sept. 11, 2010 fatal bus crash.

Tomaszewski, 60, is facing four counts of criminally negligent homicide. He is accused of causing the deaths of four bus passengers by passing 12 signs warning of the low CSX bridge over the parkway.

See our ongoing coverage of the Megabus crash in words, photos and videos.

Check back here for more coverage of the grand jury recommendations for the CSX bridge.

See all of today's obituaries published in The Post-Standard

Lee E. "Tony" Ernestine Jr.

"Tony" Lee Elmer Ernestine Jr., 53, of the Syracuse area, died Tuesday at VanDuyn after a long and courageous battle with ALS. He was employed over 30 years by Oberdorfer Foundries. He graduated from East Syracuse Minoa High School, attended Hudson Valley Community College and Le Moyne College. He was on the 1975 All County Baseball team and named "Best in the County" pitcher.

Donations may be made to the ALS Foundation, CNY Chapter, 890 7th North St., Ste 108, Liverpool, NY 13088. Fergerson Funeral Home, Inc.

» Read Lee E. "Tony" Ernestine Jr.'s full obituary on syracuse.com

» View and sign Lee E. "Tony" Ernestine Jr.'s online guest book

» See all of today's obituaries from The Post-Standard

» Read local and national obituaries on syracuse.com

Today's obituaries

• Bovenzi, Anthony P.
• Ernestine Jr., Lee E. "Tony"
• France, Brian J.
• Gooley, Ellen E. (O'Brien)
• Hagerman, Virginia "Ginny"
• Hare, Patricia M.
• Hunt, William B.
• LaBadie, Robert C.
• Macari, May
• Marion, Cindy A.
• Mathey, William P.
• O'Connor, Elizabeth M.
• Purcell Sr., Raymond F.
• Reed Sr., William F.
• Rider, Leah M.
• Romano, Eleanor (Romano)
• Silverton, Doris M.
• Simmons, Eugene M.
• Singleton, Mamie (Broadwater)
• Smith, Eileen M.
• Tasso, Alexander T.
• Tetro-Panebianco, Barbara
• Westfall, Dorothy M.
• White, Louis A.
• Willard, Harold "Apple"
• Wilson, Russell L.
• Wingate, Carolyn M.

Mayor Matthew Ryan said that a total of 1,712 properties in the city have been inspected so far, with 312 classified as having sustained major damage.

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) — Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan says building inspections conducted in the aftermath of last week's record flooding have found damage to more than 1,700 properties.

Ryan told local media Tuesday that a total of 1,712 properties in the city have been inspected so far, with 312 classified as having sustained major damage. He says another 815 properties had moderate damage and 585 others sustained minor damage.

Ryan says several large housing complexes in the downtown area sustained major damage and can't be re-entered or re-occupied.

Heavy rains caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee pushed the Susquehanna and Chenango rivers over their banks last Thursday, forcing the evacuations of an estimated 20,000 people in Broome County and another 10,000 in neighboring Tioga County.

Related links:

» FEMA extends flood relief [Press Connects]

» First Ward return to the dark [WBNG]

SU was ranked No. 62 and SUNY-ESF at No. 82 for national universities.

Elstad Ranch / Creative CommonsHendricks Chapel on the Syracuse University campus.

U.S.News & World Report released its 2012 Best College Rankings and Lists on Tuesday, giving Syracuse University and SUNY-ESF high marks.

Syracuse University was named No. 62 on the list of national universities, tied with Northeastern University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, University of Georgia, Southern Methodist University and Purdue University.

SU received praise for its media education, sports programs and opportunities to study abroad in London and Florence, Italy. The school also scored high in its student-faculty ratio (16 to 1) with 61.4 percent of its classes with fewer than 20 students.

Syracuse was also ranked 48th overall on the list of best value schools, as 53.7 percent of students receive need-based grants for an average discount from total cost of 43 percent. According to U.S. News' school profile, 2011-2012 tuition at SU is $37,667 including fees.

State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry, better known as SUNY-ESF, came in at No. 82 in the national universities list. SUNY-ESF was also named the 36th best public school in the country and No. 50 for best value, with 60 percent of students receiving need-based grants.

Cornell University in Ithaca was Central New York's highest-ranked national university, tying Brown University for No. 15 on the U.S. News & World Report list. Cornell received high marks for starting the country's first colleges for hotel administration, industrial and labor relations, and veterinary medicine, plus a wide variety of undergraduate programs and runs interdisciplinary research centers for nanotechnology and supercomputing.

Many more nearby colleges and universities ranked high.

University of Rochester was named the 29th best value school, with 54.9 percent of students receiving need-based grants for an average discount from total cost of 52 percent.

Clarkson University gives 83.7 percent of their students need-based grants, earning the school 35th place on the best value schools list.

On the list of best liberal arts colleges, Hamilton college was ranked No. 17, Colgate University No. 21, and St. Lawrence University No. 53.

Binghamton University, also known as SUNY Binghamton, came in at No. 90 for national universities and No. 39 for public colleges.

Four schools in New York City also scored high on the top 100 national universities overall list. Columbia University was ranked No. 4, New York University No. 33, Yeshiva University No. 45 and Fordham University No. 53.

According to The Washington Post, the annual list by U.S. News is based on data that includes retention of freshmen and students overall (20 percent), faculty resources (20 percent), student selectivity (15 percent), financial resources (10 percent), graduation rate (7.5 percent) and alumni giving rate (5 percent). The rest of the scores come from peer assessment surveys by school presidents, provosts and deans of admissions "to account for intangibles at peer institutions such as faculty dedication to teaching."

» U.S. News & World Report: Princeton, Harvard top U.S. News best colleges rankings