Richard Rothenberger, vice president of engineering and new product development at Eaton Crouse-Hinds, received the award at the Manufacturers Association annual meeting.

Syracuse, N.Y. — The Manufacturers Association today gave its 2014 Innovator of the Year award to Richard Rothenberger, vice president of engineering and new product development at Eaton Crouse-Hinds.

Richard Rothenberger 

Rothenberger joined Crouse-Hinds in 2010 and initiated three key changes — the rebuilding of the engineering department, implementation of a new project management process and establishment of an advanced technology development team.

Crouse-Hinds makes electrical products for harsh and hazardous environments.

The innovator award is given annually to recognize individuals within a company who consistently demonstrate forward thinking ideas in technology, innovation and advancement of products and production. Rothenberger was selected by a panel of manufacturing executives from Central and Upstate New York.

The award was presented to Rothenberger at the association's annual dinner at the Onondaga County Convention Center.

Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-314

Oswego County 911 said the fire was reported at 5:52 p.m. Thursday at 81 Bridge St. in the village of Phoenix.

Oswego County 911 said the fire was reported at 5:52 p.m. Thursday at 81 Bridge St. in the village of Phoenix.

Firefighters from Phoenix, Caughdenoy, Cody and Mexico responded. Baldwinsville, Moyers Corners and Liverpool firefighters also responded. Firefighters had the fire completely out before 8:30 p.m.

It was initially reported that there were still people inside the burning residence, but a count revealed that everyone was accounted for.

Six people, two dogs and a cat were displaced by the fire, 911 said. No serious injuries were reported.

It will also be windy Friday. South winds will reach 15 mph. Gusts up to 25 mph are possible.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The temperature is going to soar Friday across Central New York, reaching 80 degrees and even higher in some places.

The weather won't be perfect though. Clouds will appear in the morning and there's a fair chance for some rain as well as a slight chance of a few thunderstorms.

(View live radar map of New York state here.)

It will also be windy Friday. South winds will reach 15 mph. Gusts up to 25 mph are possible.

By Friday night, the weather will be changing. A cold front moving into the region will bring with it the possibility of rain, wind and thunderstorms Saturday. Temperatures will still reach into the 70s.

The weather will continue to be wet and warm into the middle of next week. AccuWeather is even predicting a high temperature Monday of 82 degrees.

Your forecast

• Friday: Cloudy in the morning, then sunny. Rain possible with a slight chance of thunderstorms. South winds up to 15 mph. Highs in the low 80s. Lows near 60.
  
• Saturday: Rain and thunderstorms likely during the day and evening. Southwest winds up to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph. Highs in the low 70s. Lows in the low 50s.
  
• Sunday: Sunny during the day. Cloudy with a slight chance of rain in the evening. Highs in the low 70s. Lows in the mid 50s.
  
• Monday: Cloudy with a chance of rain and thunderstorms during the day and evening. Highs near 80. Lows near 60.
  
• Tuesday: Sunny with a fair chance for rain and thunderstorms. Cloudy and rainy in the evening with thunderstorms. Highs in the low 80s. Lows near 60.

You can also follow us on Facebook or visit http://www.syracuse.com/weather/ for more on the weather.

To send in weather info, or especially photos: Use the Twitter or Instagram hashtag: #cnyweather Also, please let us know where the images are located.

Sierra Clark was selected by her husband due to her low IQ, a defense lawyer said.

Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse woman who admitted holding down two girls, ages 2 and 4, as her husband raped them will be sentenced today.

Ronald Clark appears with his lawyer in court before County Court Judge Anthony Aloi (not pictured). Douglass Dowty | ddowty@syracuse.com 

Sierra Clark's cooperation was essential to getting a conviction against her husband, Ronald Clark, for the rapes, Assistant District Attorney Jeff Schiano said. The rapist was sentenced to more than 27 years in prison.

Today, Sierra Clark, 27, will be sentenced to 15 years in prison for her part in the rapes.

She was described as someone with a low IQ bordering on mental illness who was influenced by Ronald Clark to help him carry out the rapes.

"Her husband selected her due to low IQ. He intended to groom her," Sierra Clark's lawyer, Patti Campbell, said in April.

The judge cited Sierra Clark's cooperation and the trauma of forcing the young victims to testify at trial in agreeing to the 15-year prison sentence.

"But her for cooperation in this matter, there may not have been a plea by co-defendant," Aloi noted on April 3.

"No one's excusing this conduct at all," the judge said. "But what people need to understand are the tough decisions the prosecutor, the judge and the defense lawyer make every day."

Schiano called Sierra Clark's actions "incomprehensible and disgusting," but added that she was borderline mentally retarded.

"I am not making excuses for Ms. Clark, but these are mitigating circumstances that I have to consider when coming up with the appropriate sentence," Schiano told the judge.

Will Cuomo turn to another Upstate candidate, or someone in his own administration?

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- If you're up, then you know: Grab the umbrella and ditch the coat. It's going to be steamy today.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday called Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy a true friend and great partner, confirming the news that Duffy will not seek re-election alongside the governor this fall. Duffy said the hours and miles logged criss-crossing the state took its toll on his back and legs.

What's next for Duffy, and who will Cuomo pick as his replacement?

Will Cuomo look to Western New York, to balance his Downstate roots with another Upstate candidate? Or will he look inside his own administration to people like Matt Driscoll?

The lists include a wide range of possible and probable candidates, from Buffalo's mayor to former U.S. Rep. Kathy Hochul, to Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney, a long-shot as a Republican.

A key witness in trial of former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno takes stand and denies ever bribing the former senator.

A government watchdog group is calling on Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to investigate the Cuomo administration's use of private emails to skirt open government laws.

Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick on Thursday said about two dozen potential political corruption cases were turned over to a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, one of the end results of the Moreland Commission.

In the end, was the Moreland Commission independent or under the direction of the governor? Cuomo and his administration's own legal arguments differ in the answer.

What do the lieutenant governor position, Hooters and diapers have in common? Let Bill Fitzpatrick tell you.

BTW, Duffy appreciated the joke and tweeted this out Thursday afternoon:

@TeriKWeaver Teri: It is hard to respond to Bill Fitzpatrick's quote as I have never been inside of a Hooters Restaurant. (LOL)

— Robert Duffy (@LtGovDuffyNY) May 8, 2014

Interested in Interstate 81's future? Take a peek into South Nyack, where the new Tappan Zee Bridge is bringing improvements, with a little pain.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday introduced his $73.9 billion budget, a plan that spends more without raising taxes. How? Well, by borrowing $2.5 billion, for starters.

Cuomo on Thursday met with teachers who had protested his policies last week.

Two new presidential helicopters are headed to Lockheed Martin's plant in Owego.

It's been a jocular week in Albany, all things considered. And what's better than the Great New York Yogurt Debate? Jon Stewart on the cultured topic.

Bacon people, consider yourselves warned.

Tweet of the Day (and, once again, thanks, Mom!)

My mom just called to inform me bacon prices are rising, she gets me.

— Laura Nanno (@l_nanno) May 8, 2014

Contact Teri Weaver at tweaver@syracuse.com, 315-470-2274 or on Twitter at @TeriKWeaver.

There's a possibility of thunderstorms on Saturday.

Syracuse, N.Y. -- It looks like you'll be able to move that Mother's Day dinner outside on Sunday.

It looks like a showery day Saturday, with a possibility of thunderstorms in the morning. We've got a 60 percent chance of rain, with totals up to a quarter inch -- although there could be a little more in thunderstorms. Expect a high of 74. Winds will be up to 15 mph.

Sunday's high will also be about 74 by late afternoon. It will be mostly sunny, and chances of rain are less than 15 percent. Thunderstorms will be long gone by then.

National Weather Service forecasters are saying that Sunday will be "a nice spring day. The weather is expect to be quiet."

Weekend weather

Contact Glenn Coin at gcoin@syracuse.com or 315-470-3251. Follow him on Twitter @glenncoin

Councilors routinely discuss city business at political caucuses.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - How can the city council raise taxes without discussing in public why taxes should go up, by how much, or how the extra money will be used?

Part of the reason is that the all-Democratic council routinely discusses city business at its private party caucuses, which a state expert says is a violation of the Open Meetings Law.

Every other Tuesday night, the councilors meet for a Democratic caucus to discuss items on the agenda for the upcoming public meeting. At recent caucus meetings, they discussed the city budget, councilors said.

The council met in open session Wednesday and voted to raise taxes without any discussion or debate.

For legislative bodies that include more than one political party, discussing policy matters at a party caucus is legal. But because the Syracuse council has only Democrats, the caucus is little more than a private meeting of the full council and should not include any discussion of public business, said Robert Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government, which oversees implementation of the Open Meetings Law.

"In that situation, if the members gather to discuss public business, they cannot claim an exemption from the Open Meetings Law on the grounds that it's a political caucus,'' Freeman said.

Syracuse Common Councilor Khalid Bey said he has consistently opposed discussing city business during Democratic Party caucuses because it violates Open Meetings Law.Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com 

The legal restriction involving single-party legislatures is based on a 1992 state Supreme Court case involving the Buffalo city council, Freeman said. The court ruled that because the councilors were all from the same party, there was no need to keep their party's legislative strategy secret from an opposing party, he said.

According to the court decision, to allow a one-party council to discuss public issues in a private caucus would mean that "every public meeting dealing with sensitive or controversial issues could be preceded by a 'political caucus' which would have no public input, and the public meetings decisions on such issues would be a mere formality.''

The Syracuse Common Council has comprised all Democrats since 2012.

Freeman isn't the only one who thinks there's a problem. Fourth District Councilor Khalid Bey said he has argued almost since the day he joined the council in January 2012 that public policy should not be discussed at caucus meetings. Bey said his concerns have been ignored.

"I've made constant reference to the fact that I have a concern, but I don't think anyone is listening,'' Bey said. "I've made a point about this the entire time I've been in office.''

Bey said he boycotted caucus meetings for much of his first term, but started attending sporadically since then. He said he does not try to win support for legislation he sponsors during caucuses, and has argued in favor of restricting the caucus agenda to political matters.

"I have gone, but it's very sparingly,'' Bey said. "And nobody can deny, each time I've gone I've made the same statement.''

Bey said he became concerned about violating the law after he was approached by retired City Court Judge Langston McKinney, who asked him about the caucus meetings. McKinney told him that public business should not be discussed, "and he would know,'' Bey said.

Senior council leaders said they would review Freeman's opinion and the Buffalo court decision, and change their practice if necessary. Councilor-at-Large Helen Hudson, who became majority leader in January, said she has tried to limit discussion of council agenda items during caucus meetings and will eliminate it altogether if necessary.

"We are changing direction with our caucuses,'' she said.

Councilor-at-Large Kathleen Joy, the former majority leader, said she had thought the caucus discussions of council business complied with the Open Meetings Law. Joy, who is a lawyer, said she and other councilors will review Freeman's assertion that such discussions are prohibited.

"If it comes to a point where there is a violation of Open Meetings (Law), we would certainly have to address that,'' Joy said. "We'd follow the law.''

Bey, the 4th District councilor, said he would welcome a change to limit caucus discussions to party business.

"Caucuses are political, so the discussion should be political,'' Bey said. "I think the nature of what a caucus is has been confused over the years.''

Contact Tim Knauss at tknauss@syracuse.com or 315-470-3023 or follow on Twitter @TimKnauss.

NUAIR awaiting state money

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Central New York's drone test site project is still in its infancy.

Four months after being selected by the Federal Aviation Administration as one of six national test sites where researchers will figure out how to keep drones from crashing into piloted aircraft, NUAIR - the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance - is not flying anything. It's not testing anything. It's essentially operating without money.

One thing NUAIR partners can do is solicit ideas.

So last month at Syracuse's Center of Excellence, NUAIR partners were asking business leaders and professors for ideas about how they could use drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles.

Related story: How would you use a drone?

Edward Bogucz, the Center of Excellence's executive director, asked if a drone could replace the shotgun he once purchased for research.

At the time he was SU's Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. A professor had asked to purchase the shotgun to gather leaves from treetops in the Adirondacks.

"The only way to get the leaves was to shoot them down," said Bogucz. "Could UAV's be used to collect leaves?"

At NUAIR's fledgling stage, this was progress.

"Part of our task is collecting data to give to the FAA to develop rules and regulations for flying UAVs," said Robert DelZoppo, an assistant vice president at SRC, in Cicero. SRC is a NUAIR partner.

NUAIR suffered a loss last week with the death of Robert Knauff, NUAIR's CEO. Knauff died while flying a glider in Arizona.

Knauff, who had commanded the New York Air National Guard's Fighter Wing from 1996 to 2003, served as chief of staff of the New York Air National Guard and then its commander, was instrumental in starting NUAIR, though he had not been directly involved since his wife, Tara, died last fall, said Anthony Basile, NUAIR's director of operations.

Knauff was an aeronautical engineer, well-connected in Washington, D.C., and brought a unique perspective to NUAIR, said Basile.

"He would see things we hadn't seen yet. I fear we've lost that," Basile said.

NUAIR has no immediate plans to name a new CEO, said Andrea Bianchi, NUAIR program manager.

NUAIR has a $1 million commitment from New York state which will comprise most of NUAIR's $1.2 million budget for 2014.

But no money has come forth, said Bianchi, who is NUAIR's one full-time staff person. She is employed by Centerstate CEO, which is donating her services to NUAIR.

As one of six test sites in the United States, NUAIR's research emphasis will be working to develop sense and avoid technologies that enable drones to fly safely in commercial air space. The Department of Defense has spent more than $200 million over the last 13 years on the problem. It's not solved yet.

But developing sense and avoid technology requires flying drones.

There are dozens of off-the-shelf drone models that people are flying. According to the FAA's simple guideline for these, a hobby drone must weigh less than 55 pounds, be flown below 400 feet, and kept within the operator's line-of-sight. Additionally, they can't be flown for commercial purposes.

NUAIR, because of its contract with the FAA, must obtain FAA approval to test fly any drone of any size - including the drones hobbyists can fly.

For every drone or UAV type that NUAIR wants to fly and every place it wants to fly one, it must apply to the FAA for a certificate of authority (COA). NUAIR will have test locations at Griffiss, Fort Drum, Stockbridge and Cape Cod, Mass.

Each COA application is 18 pages of questions, plus attachments.

In the next month or two, NUAIR will apply for its first COA at Griffiss, Bianchi said. She would not say what UAV would be covered by the application.

Whenever NUAIR begins flying, it won't be the first test site in the U.S. to do so. On April 21 the FAA granted the North Dakota Department of Commerce team a COA to begin using a Draganflyer X4ES - a 36-inch, five-pound drone quadcopter - at its test site. The North Dakota team plans to begin flying this month, exploring ways drones can help farmers and ranchers.

The FAA recently announced a special COA application process for test sites like NUAIR that is expected to speed the COA approval process from 90 days to 2-3 days.

In the meantime, NUAIR is seeking clients who will pay it for research. For the second year NUAIR will have an exhibit at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International conference May 12-15 in Orlando, Fla.

Contact Dave Tobin at 470-3277, dtobin@syracuse.com or via Twitter: @dttobin

NUAIR Partner List

From commercial-size aircraft to devices that fit in the palm of your hand, unmanned drones are coming

SYRACUSE, N.Y. --Besides the use of drones by the military and the frequently touted idea of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to use drones to deliver packages, a slew of ideas are rapidly emerging for using unmanned aircraft.

Eighty percent of commercial drone use in the United States is expected to be for agriculture, said Bryan Luce, the founder of Green Highway, a Syracuse nonprofit that aims to bring the work of university agriculture and biology researchers into the marketplace.

"Precision agriculture" has emerged as a term for farming supported by drones that are small, can fly or hover very close to crops, or monitor growth with infrared imagers and other sensors.

Yet because the Federal Aviation Administration is not allowing drone operators in the U.S. to fly for commercial purposes, drone agricultural experiments have been limited to places like Canada, Australia, Japan and Brazil.

Central New York has a pressing interest in drone flight. In December the FAA designated the region as one of six national test sites where researchers can experiment with drones, and figure out how to keep them from crashing into piloted aircraft.

Related story: Central New York's drone test project not flying yet

NUAIR - the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance - is leading the test project. NUAIR partners are seeking ideas for drone use that will lead to experiments in various contexts and environments.

Here are some of the ways drones are being used around the world, many of them using cameras or sensors:

Agriculture, Forestry and Mining

Insect mapping on crops

seeding and crop dusting

monitoring crop health

identifying water needs for crops

detecting diseases or insect infestations

identifying storm damage

determining plant ripeness to schedule harvesting

identifying crop yields before harvest

monitoring deer, whale and fish populations

monitoring wildfires

surveying for oil, gas and minerals

Law Enforcement

border control

highway accident investigation

sea lane monitoring

traffic control

crime scene photography

search and rescue

Public Safety

inspecting bridges, buildings, power lines, pipelines

delivering vaccines and first aid supplies in difficult-to-reach areas

identifying flood damage

identifying size of oil spills

digital mapping

meteorology

Contact Dave Tobin at 470-3277, dtobin@syracuse.com or via Twitter: @dttobin

Friends will host a fundraiser Saturday for Mark Loveland, a 20-year veteran of the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office, who has been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer.

Camillus, NY - Friends say Mark Loveland, a 20-year veteran of the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office, has always been there to help in a crisis. Now he needs a little boost himself.

Onondaga County Sheriff's Deputy Mark Loveland has been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. Friends are hosting a benefit Saturday to create a trust fund for the deputy's six children.submitted photo 

The benefit is called "Signal 50: Officer Needs Assistance." A "signal 50" is the call used by police and emergency responders to tell others that an officer or crew needs help.

The benefit is from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Lakeside Fire Department, 1002 State Fair Blvd., Geddes. Tickets are $20 and can be at the door. The benefit will feature live bands, raffles, food and drinks.

There is also a Friends of Mark Loveland Facebook page, and a GiveForward page for those wishing to donate online.

Loveland said he was treated last year for stone in his pancreas. Although it was taken out, his body never felt right and problems continued to nag him, he said. In January, tests found lesions on his liver. Doctors diagnosed him with stage four pancreatic cancer.

He's currently performing light duties at work while he undergoes rigorous chemotherapy, Loveland said.

The deputy has served in the sheriff department's K-9 unit and SWAT team. People in the community might recognize him as a volunteer emergency medical technician at WAVES Ambulance. Prior to his diagnosis, Loveland had begun studying at Upstate Medical University to become a paramedic. Medicine has always interested him, he said.

Loveland and his wife Kate, who is also a deputy with the sheriff's office, are the parents of six children ranging in ages from five months to 16 years.

Loveland's the kind of guy that does his job and doesn't seek the limelight, said Scott Bollinger, a friend and colleague from the sheriff's department. "He's an introvert, very humble. He doesn't seek attention. That's what made this more difficult," Bollinger said. "He never asks for help."

Loveland admits that it has been difficult to be on the receiving end, but he's overwhelmed by the community's generosity. "It's incredibly humbling to see everybody's generosity. It's mind blowing," he said.

Contact Charley Hannagan by voice or text at 315-470-2161, by email at channagan@syracuse.com, on Facebook at Neighbors West or on Twitter @charleypost.

A rare megamouth shark was caught and dissected in front of a crowd of 1,500 people in Japan.

A megamouth shark was recently caught off the coast of Japan, marking the second rare shark capture in recent weeks.

The Japan Daily Press reported that an autopsy of the rare deepwater shark was conducted in public in front of about 1,500 people by scientists from the Marine Science Museum in Shizuoka, Japan

The sharks are called "megamouths" because of the size of their heads, which are disproportionately large given the size of their bodies. Megamouth sharks can reach up to 17 feet long. The shark caught in Japan was only 13 feet long, but weighed 1,500 pounds, according to the Daily Press.

The first megamouth sighting was in 1976 in Hawaii, according to Fox News. Since then, only 58 have been spotted around the world in California, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Brazil, Ecuador, Senegal, South Africa, Mexico and Australia.

These sharks are known as "filter feeders," according to Elasmo Research, which means they primarily feed on plankton, krill and certain types of jellyfish. Megamouths have "finger-like gill rakers," which strain these small creatures from the seawater.

Megamouths typically dwell in deepwater, but plankton is more commonly found closer to the ocean surface. A Discovery Channel Shark Week special on the megamouth shark suggested that sharks like this one may be following plankton closer to the surface during the minuscule creatures' nightly migration.

What's the most dangerous place to live in America?

Louisiana gets flooded by river and sea. North Carolina's Outer Banks get slammed by hurricanes. Seattle is prone to volcanoes and earthquakes.

And Californians are at risk from virtually every natural and manmade hazard you can think of: earthquakes, wildfires, volcanoes, tsunami, drought, smog.

But Central New York?

Our biggest geographic hazard isn't nature, says Syracuse University geography professor Mark Monmonier.

It's train tracks.

"If you ask me to pin down any single hazard which would be the most hazardous, it would have to be the CSX right of way," said Monmonier, who wrote a book titled "Cartographies of Danger" and teaches a class called Hazardous Geographic Environments.

"You have cargo that could explode, cargo that could burn. You have trains with 80, 90, 100 cars, and you have a sizeable number of people living near the tracks."

Monmonier points to the rail disaster last year in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, where a train carrying crude oil rolled down a hill, exploded and killed 47 people.

Nothing of that magnitude has happened here. But train cars filled with toulene, propane and ferric chloride did explode in March 2007 when a CSX train derailed in Oneida. Thirteen cars derailed in 2008 in Canastota. Two railroad cars overturned near Syracuse University in 2011.

"Rail derailments are a plausible hazard," Monmonier said.

Every day, about 300 rail tanker cars pass through Syracuse carrying oil, ethanol and other hazardous cargo.

With the movement of so-called Bakken oils extracted from North Dakota shale, the safety of cargo trains in Syracuse has come under increasing scrutiny. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer has called on railroads to reduce the speed of oil tankers thorugh Syracuse and to tell local officials what dangerous cargo trains might be carrying. The Syracuse New Times recently reported that local officials aren't ready for a rail disaster.

A CSX spokesman said by email that CSX was the safest major railroad last year.
"We have reduced train accidents involving hazardous materials by more than 60 percent since 2004," wrote Gary Sease. "Safety is a core value of CSX, and the company maintains a steadfast commitment to the safety of its operations."

A big reason train tracks are Syracuse's top geographic hazard, Monmonier said, is that Central New York is relatively free from natural disasters. For starters, there are no volcanoes or major fault lines nearby.

"We don't have storm surges. We're relatively free of tornadoes. We're too far inland for hurricanes," Monmonier said. "Syracuse is one of the safest places in the United States."

Hurricanes, tornadoes and rip tide currents killed more than 11,000 people in the United States from 1902 to 2012, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Heat killed 3,727 people, and 710 people died from cold.

What Central New York does get is a lot of snow, which can make travel hazardous. But snowstorms can be anticipated and adapted to, he said.

"We're pretty good at dealing with it," said Monmonier, who has also written a book about lake effect snow. "It's the kind of thing where you just wait it out."

Where are the most hazardous places to live in the United States? Here's a condensed version of the top ten geographic hazards Monmonier compiled for "Cartographies of Danger."

1. California: Earthquakes, wildfire, landslides, volcanoes, tsunamis, smog, severe water shortages.
2. Seattle: Volcanoes, severe earthquakes.
3. Coastal Alaska and Hawaii: Tsunamis
4. North Carolina's Outer Banks: Hurricanes, sea level rise from climate change.
5. Miami: High winds, flooding, hurricanes, low elevation and level terrain.
6. Louisiana coast: Winds and storm surge from hurricanes, flooding from the Mississippi River, chemical industry pollution.
7. Floodplains of the Mississippi and other main rivers: Flooding.
8. Any floodplain: Thunderstorms, flash floods.
9. Growing Southern cities such as San Diego, Los Angeles and Phoenix: High crime rates.
10. Neighborhoods of nuclear plants: Meltdowns, terrorist attacks.

Contact Glenn Coin at gcoin@syracuse.com or 315-470-3251. Follow him on Twitter @glenncoin

Maffei seeks a way to make biological warfare vaccine available to the public.

WASHINGTON -- Alarmed about a mosquito-borne illness that may be on the rise in Central New York, U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei wants to know more about a once-secret vaccine held by the Department of Defense.

Maffei this week attached an amendment to an annual defense policy bill that requires the Department of Defense to start supplying answers about their vaccine for Eastern Equine Encephalitis, a rare but deadly virus endemic to Central New York.

Maffei, D-Syracuse, wants to know the status of the experimental vaccine, and why no efforts appear to be underway to make it available to the public.

At least five Central New Yorkers have died from EEE since 1971, including a 4-year-old Oswego County girl in 2011. Eight Central New Yorkers were infected with the rare virus in the summer of 2012. It is spread to humans by one particular species of mosquito that also bites horses that are susceptible to the virus.

The Post-Standard reported in a 1990 investigation that a biological warfare unit of the U.S. Army had developed a secret vaccine in the 1960s.

The Army Medical Research and Materiel Command at Fort Detrick, Md., had no plans to share the vaccine with the public because it was experimental and had not been tested in clinical trials.

A year later, under pressure from former Rep. James Walsh, the Army agreed to share the vaccine formula with any commercial pharmaceutical manufacturer or state laboratory interested in producing a EEE vaccine.

Now more than 20 years later, Maffei wants the Department of Defense to outline how to make the vaccine available to the public.

"The Department of Defense has a vaccine for EEE, but it is deeply troubling to me that this vaccine is not available to the public even in the event of an emergency," Maffei said today. "EEE has had a devastating effect on our communities in Central New York, and we must do everything we can to prevent this deadly disease from taking more lives."

Army officials at Fort Detrick had no immediate response today to Maffei's amendment.

His amendment requires the Department of Defense to report to the House Armed Services Committee by Dec. 31 with an explanation. Maffei is a member of the committee.

The family of 4-year-old Maggie Wilcox, the Oswego County girl who died from EEE in 2011, has been advocating for the development of a public vaccine. New York state last week budgeted $700,000 for a EEE prevention program that includes expanding a vaccination program for horses.

Contact Mark Weiner at mweiner@syracuse.com or 571-970-3751. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWeinerDC

The session will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. May 16 at the Syracuse Media Group offices, 220 S. Warren St., downtown Syracuse.

Syracuse Media Group will host a presentation by Lauren Greutman, also known as "I Am that Lady," who will share her valuable couponing and money-saving tips on May 16.

The session will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Syracuse Media Group offices, 220 S. Warren St., downtown Syracuse.

In addition to talking about getting the most out of coupons, Greutman will discuss meal planning and shopping strategies that could result in savings of thousands of dollars each year.

Greutman, a mom with four children under the age of 8, started sharing money-saving tips in 2010 on her website, iamthatlady.com. She has appeared in local media as well as on Anderson Cooper, Oprah.com and the Dr. Oz Magazine. Look for Greutman's column on syracuse.com and in The Post-Standard.

Tickets cost $10 per person and are available at iamthatlady.com/seminars

Previously, the fair has offered wristband days for only six days of the 12-day exposition.

GEDDES, N.Y. -- The new midway vendor at the New York State Fair is planning to offer $20 all-day passes for every day of the fair, according to Acting Fair Director Troy Waffner.

The $20 wristbands would be available through advance sales, Waffner said. Previously, the fair has offered wristband days for only six days of the 12-day exposition, he said.

The new vendor, Wade Shows, is also looking at selling a "mega-pass" for around $70, which would allow unlimited rides for each person for the full 12-day exposition, Waffner said at this morning's Fair Advisory Board meeting.

And all rides would be free from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on the first day of the fair, Aug. 21, Waffner said. The idea is to give people a chance to try some of the 65 new rides for free, Waffner said.

State officials and Wade Shows are still finalizing the midway contract, a 10-year agreement that Wade won earlier this year. That means the ride ticket prices, wristbands and other details about the midway are not yet set in stone.

The award to Wade Shows ended a six-decade-long relationship with the James E. Strates Shows.

Strates Shows is protesting the decision by Agriculture & Markets officials to select Wade for the contract, the most lucrative at the fairgrounds in Geddes. Ag & Markets already denied Strates' formal bid protest; Strates has appealed that decision to Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office, according to documents obtained by The Post-Standard and syracuse.com.

Waffner said today he anticipates 60,000 extra fair visitors over last year, which would put the total attendance at more than 900,000. He said the new rides from Wade Shows and the current rate of ticket sales for five major Grandstand acts account for the projection.

"Having a different company brings a whole different aesthetic to the fair," Waffner said.

The fair will also have charging stations for cell phones and new exhibits, including ones featuring shipwrecks, dinosaurs and ice sculptures. The fair is also looking at adding wi-fi to the grounds, Waffner said.

The fair will also have two kiddielands and an expanded cow birthing center.

Contact Teri Weaver at tweaver@syracuse.com, 315-470-2274 or on Twitter at @TeriKWeaver.

Sierra Clark was offered less prison time because she cooperated with authorities.

Video: Sierra Clark sobs as prosecutor describes how she prevented raped girls from screaming

Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse woman should spend the rest of her life in prison for holding down two girls, ages 2 and 4, as her husband Ronald raped them, the judge and prosecutor agreed today.

Ronald Clark appears with his lawyer in court before County Court Judge Anthony Aloi (not pictured). Douglass Dowty | ddowty@syracuse.com 

Sierra Clark, 27, restrained the girls, her hand covering their mouths as they tried to scream, while Ronald raped them on multiple occasions between April 1 and Aug. 30, 2010.

"Mrs. Clark, at your husband's sentencing, I said he was less than a human being," Assistant District Attorney Jeff Schiano said in court. "You, Mrs. Clark, are no better. In fact, in some ways, I believe you to be worse that your husband."

County Court Judge Anthony Aloi said in his heart of hearts, both Ronald and Sierra should spend the rest of their lives in prison.

But that wasn't possible, both judge and prosecutor said. Even if the law allowed it, Sierra Clark's cooperation was essential in proving the case against her husband.

And Clark's lawyer, Patricia Campbell, portrayed her client as naive and abused, an easy target for her husband to groom in his plan to abuse young girls.

"Mr. Clark picked my client because she is child-like," Campbell said. "He is a predator, he dominated her, he threatened her, he manipulated her, he scared the hell out of her."

So Sierra Clark was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for her part in the rapes. Her husband was sentenced three months ago to at least 27 years in prison.

"If I didn't absolutely need your testimony to secure a conviction against your husband, I can guarantee you, as sure as I'm standing in this courtroom today, you would spend the rest of your life behind bars," Schiano told a sobbing Sierra Clark in court this morning.

The prosecutor added that he hoped Sierra Clark would hear the screams of the girls while going to bed and waking up for the rest of her life.

Campbell said that Sierra Clark was willing to testify against her husband as soon as the abuse was uncovered. Without Sierra Clark's cooperation, the prosecution would have been forced to rely on the young girls, who are probably too young to be sworn in at trial.

The defense lawyer added that Sierra Clark wasn't a sex offender by nature. She lived a sheltered life with her father, met Ronald at a Christmas party and were married only months later.

It was Ronald, already a registered sex offender, who groomed Sierra into committing the rapes, Campbell said.

The judge closed with emotional remarks, calling what the Clarks did "monstrous and horrific."

But ending on a bright note, the judge added that the young victims are doing well under the circumstances.

It takes on average 2.4 years worth of a family's income to purchase a home in the Syracuse area.

Syracuse, N.Y. — Syracuse is the eighth-most affordable medium-size metro for buying a home, according to the consumer advocacy site NerdWallet.

It takes on average just 2.4 years worth of a family's income to buy a home in the Syracuse area, according to NerdWallet.

Buying a home in the Syracuse is so affordable primarily because home prices are relatively low here.

The median price of a home in the Syracuse area is $125,500 — meaning half the homes here sell for less than $125,500 and half sell for more than $125,500. The median family income in the Syracuse metro area is $52,230.

View full sizeThe most affordable medium-size metro areas to buy a home. NerdWallet 

The Syracuse metro is the most affordable medium-size metro area other than Toledo, Ohio (1); Lansing-E. Lansing, Mich. (2); Fort Wayne, Ind. (3); Dayton, Ohio (4); Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, Iowa- Ill. (5); Akron, Ohio (6); and Rochester, N.Y. (7).

Rockford, Ill., is the most affordable small metro to buy a home (home price to income ratio 1.7). The Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor area of Ohio is the most affordable large metro for homeownership (ratio 2.4).

NerdWallet factored in only median family incomes and median home prices to come up with its ranking. If it had included property taxes, Syracuse might not have fared as well because Upstate New York has some of the highest taxes in the nation relative to home prices.

Cindy Yang, a mortgage analyst with NerdWallet, said the site did not include taxes in its calculations because price relative to income is the single most important factor in determining affordability.

In some of the least affordable areas of the country, it takes from five to 10 years worth of a family's income to buy a home, she said. At 2.4 years, Syracuse is far more affordable even if taxes are figured in, she said.

The least affordable small metro for homeownership is Boulder, Colo. (price to income ratio 6.1). The least affordable medium metro is Honolulu (ratio 9.2). The least affordable large metro is Anaheim, Calif. (ratio 10.8).

Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-314

Daniel Kantak disappeared for seven days after stealing a cop car.

Syracuse, NY -- A handcuffed burglar who disappeared for seven days after stealing a police car pleaded guilty to burglary today in court.

Daniel Kantak, 33, of Liverpool, was caught in the middle of a burglary Nov. 22 on Ashdale Avenue in Syracuse. When police arrived, two men were holding him down.

Daniel Kantak 

Officers handcuffed Kantak behind his back. He broke free and tried to flee, but was caught.

Officers put him in the back seat of the cop car. Both doors were locked and the shield between the front and back seats was closed.

But suddenly, officers heard squealing tires and saw the car speeding away.

"Even though Kantak was cuffed behind his back and placed in the rear of a patrol car with the shield closed, he was somehow able to slip his cuffs to the front and climb through a small window between the back seat and the front seat and drive away in the car," according to a news release at the time.

Officers jumped into their cars and chased Kantak down the street, but lost sight of the stolen police cruiser. Several minutes later, Kantak crashed the car into a utility pole near Assumption Cemetery, knocking out power to the area.

Kantak fled and remained loose until turning himself in to authorities Nov. 29. He was originally charged with second-degree escape, second-degree burglary, criminal mischief, unauthorized use of motor vehicle, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and grand larceny.

Kantak admitted his guilt in exchange for a plea to only the burglary charge. His case skipped the grand jury.

No one was injured in the incident.

Sierra Clark was sentenced today to 15 years in state prison.

Related: 'Monstrous and horrific' rapes of girls, age 2 and 4, send Syracuse wife to prison for 15 years

Syracuse, NY -- Sierra Clark put her hands over the young victims' mouths to keep them from screaming as her husband, Ronald, raped them, a prosecutor said this morning.

Clark, 27, was sentenced to 15 years in prison today for her part in the rapes of two girls, ages 2 and 4, in 2010. Ronald Clark is serving at least 27 years in prison for raping the girls.

In court today, Sierra Clark used her hands to bury her sobs.

Prosecutor Jeff Schiano said she was worse in some ways than her husband, who Schiano has called "less than a human being."

Her lawyer, Patricia Campbell, said that she had been manipulated and abused by her husband, who demanded she help him rape the girls. "He scared the hell out of her," Campbell said.

And Judge Anthony Aloi said that she -- like her husband -- deserve to be in prison for the rest of their lives. But that wasn't an option, given the law and the realities of the case.

Watch excerpts from sentencing in the above video.

It should be a pleasant walk up the hill for graduates and families.

Syracuse, N.Y. -- It should be mostly clear skies Sunday morning for Syracuse University's 160th Commencement exercises.

The commencement, in conjunction with that of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Carrier Dome.

The commencement is inside, but those parking at a distance should have a pleasant walk up the hill. Here's what the forecast looks like at 9:30 a.m. Sunday:

-- 60 degrees
-- Mostly sunny
-- Light breeze of 6 mph
-- 10 percent chance of rain.

This year's speaker is David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker magazine and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

Contact Glenn Coin at gcoin@syracuse.com or 315-470-3251. Follow him on Twitter @glenncoin