Residents within the aerial spray boundaries will be notified of the spraying by reverse 911 calls.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Oswego County Health Department will conduct aerial spraying over parts of southern Oswego County Friday for mosquitoes carrying Eastern Equine Encephalitis.

The spraying will occur over the Big Bay/Toad Harbor Swamp on the north shore of Oneida Lake and near the village of Central Square. The spraying will take place from 6-9 p.m.

The area to be sprayed includes about 10,000 acres in the following boundary: U.S. Route 11 in Central Square to the west, state Route 49 to the north, up to but not including the village of Constantia to the east, and the shoreline of Oneida Lake to the south. Spraying will not take place over Oneida Lake.

Residents within the aerial spray boundaries will be notified of the spraying by reverse 911 calls.

Officials announced plans to spray after the health department found more mosquitoes infected with the potentially deadly EEE virus in three samples collected in Central Square and one sample from West Monroe.

There have been five reported EEE deaths in Central New York since 1971.

During spraying, the health department recommends that residents:

• Stay indoors and keep windows closed for one hour after your area has been sprayed;


• Keep pets indoors if possible;


• Cover outdoor gardens and rinse vegetables before eating;


• Set window air conditioners to circulate indoor air. It is safe to use central air conditioning;


• Remove children's toys that are outdoors, any outdoor furniture and clothes from outdoor clotheslines;


• Wash toys or clothes left outdoors thoroughly with soap and water before using and launder clothes before wearing;


• Close care windows and vents if driving during spraying.

The robbery occurred at about 4:07 p.m. Friday at the Key Bank at 201 S. Warren St.

Authorities released this surveillance photograph of a suspect who they said robbed the Key Bank on South Warren Street in Syracuse on Friday. Syracuse police 

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Police are investigating a bank robbery in downtown Syracuse.

The robbery occurred at about 4:07 p.m. Friday at the Key Bank at 201 S. Warren St.

Syracuse police said a suspect entered the bank, approached a teller and passed her a note demanding money. The suspect took an undisclosed amount of cash and left the bank from the Washington Street exit.

Several customers and employees were in the bank at the time of the robbery, but no one was injured and no weapons were shown, police said.

The bank robbery suspect is described as possibly male with dark, curly shoulder-length hair. The suspect was wearing a blue jacket.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Syracuse police 315-442-5222.

Indictments released Aug. 1.

Syracuse, NY -- The following people were indicted by Onondaga County grand juries. All charges are felonies, unless otherwise noted:

Steven Buckingham, 42, of 228 Grant Blvd., Apt. 1, Syracuse: Charged with falsely reporting an incident, stalking (four counts, two of them misdemeanor) and menacing (two counts). Arrested May 6 in DeWitt and Syracuse.

Terrell Porch, 34, of 114 Belle Ave., Syracuse: Charged with criminal possession of a weapon and failure to signal (violation). Arrested May 12 in Clay.

Jerry Whitehead, 32, of 211 Pattison St., Syracuse: Charged with robbery. Arrested July 7 in Syracuse.

Another person was cleared of charges by a grand jury:

Robert Locklear, 39, of 735 E. Willow St., was cleared of criminal contempt (two counts), menacing, harassment and criminal possession of a weapon.

More indictments were published on Syracuse.com earlier today. See previous Onondaga County indictments.

No one showed up at the Sylvan Beach Topless event promoted by a Facebook page. Sylvan Beach Mayor Greg Horan said it was a hoax as soon as it was announced.

A Facebook page promoting Topless Tuesdays as starting tonight and continuing through Sunday at Sylvan Beach is a hoax by all accounts.

No one showed up at the beach to participate, although the Facebook page said 306 people were attending. The Facebook page promoting it also said there was an "awesome turnout" at the event at 6:30 p.m. A Syracuse.com photographer reported no topless-related activity.

Sylvan Beach Mayor Greg Horan said today and last month that the event was bogus and was set up by a kid with an imagination.

"There is absolutely nothing to it,'' he said again earlier today.

The Facebook page said the event would start at 5 p.m. or 7 p.m by the beach area and would include free wet T-shirts, games, live bands, boat races and two-for-one Margaritas.

Going topless is legal in New York, as the highest court ruled in 1992 that baring your chest in public -- for noncommercial activity -- is perfectly legal for a woman, just like it is for a man.

The event is listed on the Sylvan Beach NY Facebook page, but that page is not an official Sylvan Beach page, village officials said.

The shooting occurred at about 6:12 p.m. in the 100 block of Kellogg St.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Two people are in critical condition following a shooting Friday night in the city of Syracuse.

The shooting occurred at about 6:12 p.m. in the 100 block of Kellogg St.

Syracuse police said two males were taken to Upstate University Hospital in critical condition. Detectives are in the early stages of investigating the shooting, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Syracuse police at 315-442-5222.

House Republicans passed legislation late Friday to address the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border by sending migrant youths back home without hearings, winning over conservatives with a companion bill that could lead to deporting more than half a million immigrants whom the Obama administration granted temporary work permits. President Barack Obama condemned the Republican action and said he'd act unilaterally, as best he could.

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans passed legislation late Friday to address the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border by sending migrant youths back home without hearings, winning over conservatives with a companion bill that could lead to deporting more than half a million immigrants whom the Obama administration granted temporary work permits. President Barack Obama condemned the Republican action and said he'd act unilaterally, as best he could.

A day after GOP leaders pulled the border bill from the floor in a chaotic retreat, tea party lawmakers were enthusiastically on board with the new $694 million version and a companion measure that would shut off a program created by Obama granting work permits to immigrants brought here illegally as kids. The second bill also seemed designed to prevent the more than 700,000 people who've already gotten work permits under the program from renewing them, ultimately making them subject to deportation.

The spending bill passed 223-189 late Friday, with only four Republicans voting "no" and one Democrat voting "yes." The measure ending Obama's deportation relief program passed 216-192, with 11 Republican "no" votes and four Democrats crossing party lines to vote in favor.

"It's dealing with the issue that the American people care about more than any other, and that is stopping the invasion of illegal foreign nationals into our country," said Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. "And we got to yes."

But Obama said no. "They're not even trying to solve the problem," the president said. "I'm going to have to act alone, because we do not have enough resources."

Obama said he would reallocate resources where he could, while making clear his options were limited without congressional action. The administration already has taken steps including re-ordering immigration court dockets and boosting enforcement measures.

The moves in the House came on what was to have been the first day of lawmakers' five-week summer recess, delayed by GOP leaders after their vote plans unexpectedly collapsed on Thursday. Senators had already left Washington after killing their own legislation on the border crisis, so there was no prospect of reaching a final deal. But three months before midterm elections,House Republicans were determined to show that they, at least, could take action to address the crisis involving tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors fleeing violence and poverty in Central America to cross illegally into South Texas.

"It would be irresponsible and unstatesmanlike to head home for the month without passing a bill to address this serious, present crisis on the border," said Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

To reach a deal, GOP leaders had to satisfy the demands of a group of a dozen or more conservative lawmakers who were meeting behind the scenes with Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and taking their cues from outside groups such as the Heritage Foundation that opposed earlier versions of the legislation.

These lawmakers objected to sending any more money to Obama without a strong stance against his two-year-old deportation relief program, which Republicans blame for causing the current border crisis by creating the perception that once here, young migrants would be allowed to stay -- a point the administration disputes.

House GOP leaders agreed earlier in the week to hold a separate vote to prevent Obama from expanding the deportation relief program, as he's signaled he plans to do, but that didn't satisfy conservatives who held out for stronger steps.

Thursday night, those lawmakers huddled in the basement of the Capitol with new House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., until coming up with a deal ending funding for the deportation relief program as well as making changes to the border bill aimed at ensuring the faster removal of the Central American migrant youths.

Friday morning, as the full Republican caucus met in the Capitol, conservative lawmakers were declaring victory.

"I'm very satisfied," said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, the leading immigration hardliner in the House.

With the vote to end the deportation deferral program, "We will put a handcuff on one of the president's hands," said Bachmann.

The GOP plans met with howls of protest from immigration advocates and Democrats, who warned Republicans that they'd be alienating Latino voters for years to come.

"This, in all honesty and candor, is one of the most mean-spirited and anti-immigrant pieces of legislation I've seen in all my years in the Congress," said longtime Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.

Democrats also accused Republicans of handing control of their policies to the most conservative lawmakers in the House, within months of abandoning pledges to act on broad-based legislation to overhaul U.S. immigration policy and bring millions of immigrants here illegally out of the shadows.

The new GOP border bill adds $35 million more for the National Guard, which would go to reimburse states for guard deployments. Like earlier versions, it would increase spending for overwhelmed border agencies, add more immigration judges and detention spaces, and alter a 2008 anti-trafficking law to permit Central American kids to be sent back home without deportation hearings. That process is currently permitted only for unaccompanied minors arriving from Mexico and Canada.

The bill would pay for strapped border agencies only for the final two months of this budget year, falling far short of the $3.7 billion Obama initially requested to deal with the crisis into next year. More than 57,000 unaccompanied youths have arrived since October, mostly from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, plus tens of thousands more migrants traveling as families.

The shooting occurred at about 6:12 p.m. in the 100 block of Kellogg Street.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Early Friday evening Kimberly Freeman arrived on Merriman Avenue to set up a memorial of candles, ribbons and balloons for her late son and prepare for a cookout with friends.

As Freeman was setting up the memorial, she heard three gunshots nearby.

She ran over to a boy in front of a house in the 100 block of Kellogg Street, about a hundred feet away from where her son was killed.

It had been three years to the day since her son, Pierre Hackett Sr., was gunned down in front of his father, cousin and two young nieces as he was walking in the 100 block of Merriman Avenue.

Now a boy was laying on the sidewalk in front of the house, begging for someone to help him, Freeman said.

"He had got shot in his lower abdomen," she said. "I said 'Just lie still.'"

Blood poured from a wound in the boy's lower right side. Freeman whisked a scarf off her head, wrapped it around the boy's middle and applied pressure. He began to lose consciousness, she said.

"He looked in my eyes and said 'Ma'am I'm going to die,'" Freeman said. "I said 'No you're not.'"

There were few people outside when two people were wounded in a shooting at about 6:12 p.m., several witnesses said.

A 16-year-old girl who was helping Freeman set up the memorial said she heard a couple of pops, but that most people in the neighborhood did not immediately come outside.

"Everybody else thought it was firecrackers," she said.

The 16-year-old and a handful of other people darted around the corner and saw the boy Freeman helped. Another boy was a bit farther down the block, the 16-year-old said.

Two men came and put the boy in a vehicle to take him to the hospital, but they stopped at Rural/Metro's headquarters a block away and flagged down an ambulance, the 16-year-old said. Another ambulance came for the other boy.

Both victims were rushed to Upstate University Hospital and are currently in critical condition, police said.

Rose Kingsbury lives next door to the house where the shooting occurred Friday and has lived on Kellogg Street since 2007. She said the area is generally very peaceful.

"My family has never had any problems here," Kingsbury said.

On Friday, Kingsbury had gotten home from work and gone inside when she heard two or three pops. Like others she thought the gunshots were firecrackers going off. The neighborhood has had a lot of fireworks complaints lately, she said.

Detectives are in the early stages of investigating the shooting, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Syracuse police at 315-442-5222.

Contact Ken Sturtz anytime: 315-766-7833 | Email | Twitter | Facebook | Google+

The same upper-level disturbance that has hung over the region will remain with us a bit longer, creating ongoing unsettled weather, the National Weather Service said.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Our weather will continue to be warm Saturday in Central New York, but we will continue to be dogged by rain and thunderstorms.

The same upper-level disturbance that has hung over the region will remain with us a bit longer, creating ongoing unsettled weather, the National Weather Service said.

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

Saturday will see scattered rain and thunderstorms across Central New York, with highs reaching near 80 degrees, Time Warner Cable News said. There will likely be periods of dry weather in the morning on Saturday and Sunday.

Though we'll have to deal with rain and storms through the weekend, they will begin to taper off by the early part of next week.

Your Forecast

• Saturday: Cloudy with scattered rain and thunderstorms. South winds up to 5mph. A slight chance of rain and thunderstorms in the evening. Highs near 80. Lows in the low 60s.
  
• Sunday: Very good chance for rain and thunderstorms during the day. West winds of 5 mph. Partly cloudy later in the day with a chance for rain and thunderstorms. Highs near 80. Lows in the low 60s.
  
• Monday: Partly sunny with a slight chance of rain and thunderstorms during the day. Highs in the low 80s. Lows near 60.
  
• Tuesday: Partly sunny with a chance for rain and thunderstorms. Highs near 80. Lows near 60.
  
• Wednesday: Partly sunny with a slight chance of rain and thunderstorms. Highs in the high 70s. Lows in the high 50s.

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.

So many people were moved by new mom's fight against cancer, her twin premature babies battle to live, her husband's struggles with it all that they donated at least $275,000 to help them. Now the father's been accused of stealing some of that money.

Syracuse, NY - As Brandon Hinman's wife battled a rare pregnancy-related cancer and his twin premature daughters fought for their own lives, Hinman said he hated to ask the public for donations.

"It's a hard thing for me to ask for help," Hinman told a Syracuse.com reporter in March. "But all three of my girls are in the ICU."

Hinman, 31, who was a U.S. Army sergeant stationed at Fort Drum at the time, shared information about an online fundraiser that he said was raising money for medical expenses. Later he said the military insurance TriCare would pay for all the family's medical expenses, and the money raised would help offset travel and food expenses, as well has help support the family's needs once they were home.

His wife, Jenna Hinman, would never make it home. Jenna Hinman, 26, died May 5. Her two-month battle with the rare cancer captured the attention of tens of thousands of people around the world who prayed for her recovery and mourned her death. The story also moved people who donated at least $275,000, possibly more.

The couple's story is a lesson about what happens when a private heartbreak becomes a global, viral cause. Sometimes, away from the Internet, things are not what they seem to be.

Nearly three months after his wife's death, Brandon Hinman now faces grand larceny and other charges because authorities say that he forged signatures and illegally cashed numerous checks. The money taken from the donations totaled more than $46,000 and was not used for the purposes that they were intended, according to Cayuga County sheriff's deputies. Authorities have not revealed what he spent the money on.

Brandon Hinman has left the Army and, according to his in-laws, he has not seen his daughters, who are nearly 5 months old, since early June. He did not return messages left for him this week.

Brandon Hinman and his wife Jenna Hinman married in 2010. Jenna Hinman, who was originally from Port Byron, was a recreational therapist at Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown. He was stationed at nearby Fort Drum. Her maiden name was Blaisdell. Brandon Hinman is from Weedsport.

The young couple tried to get pregnant, but Brandon Hinman's military career often took him away from home. When the couple became pregnant with twins, they were beyond happy and excited, Brandon Hinman said in March.

Jenna Hinman set up a nursery for the twins at their Fort Drum home and was in her 30th week of pregnancy when she went into premature labor on March 3 in Watertown. She delivered Kinleigh Ann Hinman and Azlynn Mary Hinman by emergency C-section.

The babies, who weighed 2 pounds 9 ounces and 3 pounds 6 ounces, were born in good health, but were taken to the Crouse Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit in Syracuse March 4. They were premature and there was a risk that they were exposed to the same cancer that their mother was battling.

Shortly after delivering the babies, Jenna Hinman began having difficulty breathing and that's when doctors discovered that she was fighting a rare pregnancy-related cancer called choriocarcinoma.

She was transferred to Crouse Hospital on March 6 where she was placed in a medically induced coma. Her doctors at Crouse Hospital say her cancer was so rare that their treatment plan for her was unprecedented and unorthodox.

Jenna Hinman's uncle, John Warter, set up a fundraiser March 11 on the GoFundMe website for "The Hinman Fund" to raise money for the family. It raised more than $25,000 in three days from family and friends, but once the family's story was shared by Syracuse.com and other local media, the donations skyrocketed. Today, the fund has reached nearly $200,000.

The GoFundMe website allows users to make donations with a credit card, but some donors preferred to send a check so Jenna Hinman's parents, Jeff and Kim Blaisdell, set up a bank account at the First Niagara Bank to deposit checks they received from donors. The Blaisdells were given starter checks to use to withdraw money from the account.

Brandon Hinman was never made an authorized user on the account and did not have access to the online fundraiser.

Local news outlets and national news stations all reported on Jenna Hinman's story. Most of the stories included information on how to donate, including the GoFundMe website and sending in donation checks to Jeff and Kim Blaisdell's home.

The checks were deposited in a bank account that was set up to give access to Jenna Hinman's parents, Jeff and Kim Blaisdell, and Brandon Hinman's sister, Lindsey Clark. Brandon Hinman was not an authorized user on the account. Jeff Blaisdell told sheriff's deputies the account was not put into Brandon's name because "we all know he is not good with money."

The stories also included a link to the family's Facebook page, which was called Prayers for Jenna and is now titled Twice Blessed: Jenna's Legacy.

The page was updated daily, sometimes more than once, with photos of the twins and information about Jenna Hinman's condition. All the updates were approved by Brandon Hinman before they were posted. The Facebook page also continually directed supporters to the fundraising efforts.

The page currently has more than 438,000 likes.

This week Brandon Hinman was accused of cashing numerous forged checks between March 28 and May 3. Brandon Hinman forged the signature of one of the account holders on 17 separate checks ranging in amounts from $300 to $8,000, sheriff's deputies said. All but four of the forged checks were made out to Brandon Hinman.

On March 28, the day the first check was cashed, Jenna Hinman was in critical condition and was on life support. She could not breathe on her own, but was using an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine, which worked as her lungs. She remained on the machine for 32 days.

On that day, Brandon Hinman also fed his daughters a bottle for the first time, according to a Facebook post.

By May 3, the day the final check in question was cashed, Jenna Hinman was out of the coma. She was off the ECMO, but remained on life support. She was awake, but could not speak. The next day she developed pneumonia and she died on May 5.

Since the twins left the hospital in mid-April, they have lived with Jenna Hinman's parents, Jeff and Kim Blaisdell in Port Byron. Brandon Hinman told Syracuse.com in April that he split his time between the hospital with his wife and his in-laws home with his daughters.

After Jenna Hinman's death, Brandon Hinman returned to active duty in the Army. He left the army in mid-July, according to Fort Drum officials. They would not say why he left the Army.

Jeff and Kim Blaisdell say they have been caring for their granddaughters since their daughter's death. Brandon Hinman has not seen the twins since June 5 and has not supported the children financially, they told deputies. Jeff Blaisdell said the twins lost medical insurance when Brandon Hinman left the Army.

"There is a lot of expense in caring for them," he told deputies.

The Blaisdells said they became aware of money missing from the bank account on May 9.

A photo of Azlynn and Kinleigh Hinman was posted on the Twice Blessed: Jenna Legacy Facebook page Thursday. Provided photo 

"With the help of First Niagara Bank we found that some of the checks had been written to Brandon Hinman and allegedly signed by Jeff, my husband, but he had not," Kim Blaisdell told sheriff's deputies. "I did contact Lindsey Clark and Brandon's mom and let them know what we had found. We set up a meeting on May 11."

Kim Blaisdell said she talked to Brandon and told him that they knew he had written the checks.

"Brandon told his mom that he had taken the money and put it away and would prove to us when the time was right where it was," Kim Blaisdell told deputies. "He never has. Brandon had taken all the money by this time."

Kim Blaisdell closed the account on May 12 after Jeff Blaisdell paid the funeral home for Jenna Hinman's funeral. Brandon Hinman, now serving back in the Army, continually asked the Blasidells if they were going to press charges for the checks, according to court papers.

Cayuga County District Attorney Jon E. Budelmann said Brandon Hinman admitted that he was not on the account and he signed Jeff Blaisdell's name to the checks made out to himself. Budelmann said there is also video proof from the bank that Hinman cashed the checks.

It has not been revealed what Brandon Hinman spent the money on. Jeff Blaisdell told police that Brandon Hinman, in addition to the more than $46,000 from the bank account, also received $137,000 from life insurance and $27,000 from T-shirts that were being sold to benefit Jenna Hinman and the twins.

After closing the First Niagara Bank account the Blaisdells opened a trust fund for the girls in the name "Hinman Twins Trust Fund." Information on how to donate to the new trust fund was included in Jenna Hinman's obituary. Only Jeff and Kim Blaisdell have access to the account.

Kim Blaisdell said Friday she has no comment on the investigation.

Brandon Hinman, 31, was arrested Tuesday, and charged with second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a felony. He was booked and released from jail on bail. He was charged Thursday with one count of grand larceny in the third degree. Hinman was arraigned in the Weedsport Village Court and released on his own recognizance.

If convicted, Brandon Hinman could face years in prison. His daughters remain in the care of their grandparents. A photo of the twins and message that said it was written from the twins was posted on the Twice Blessed: Jenna's Legacy page Thursday:

"Thank you for continuing to pray for us and our family," the post stated. "Living life without mommy is a learning process for us all but we are trying our very best to hold our heads high! Love, Azlynn & Kinleigh."

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

Syracuse.com reporter John O'Brien led authorities to collapsed cabin in woods.

UPDATE: Two cadaver dogs handled by the New York State Police were brought separately to this cabin site Friday night, according to Oswego County District Attorney Greg Oakes. He said neither dog "alerted," indicating that the dogs did not smell human remains at the location. Deputies are digging today at the site anyhow to see if Heidi Allen was buried there.

MEXICO, N.Y. -- Oswego County sheriff's deputies and a forensic investigator this morning started searching a second cabin in the woods off Rice Road for the remains of 1994 kidnapping victim Heidi Allen.

On Thursday, deputies finished digging around another collapsed cabin in an unsuccessful search for Allen.

Both sites are in the same wooded area where a man allegedly confessed that he and two others hid Allen's remains after kidnapping and beating her to death in a garage across the road.

A Syracuse.com reporter directed District Attorney Greg Oakes to the site of the second cabin Friday morning. The reporter and an investigator with the Federal Public Defender's Office found the cabin in June and pulled up floorboards last week.

The investigators will carefully sift through the soil to determine whether any humans remains are or ever were at the site, Oakes said.

A state police forensic investigator is assisting in the search, Oakes said. The searchers are not using a cadaver dog as they did at the first cabin, he said.

View full sizeOswego County sheriff's investigators' cars are parked in a driveway on Rice Road in the town of Mexico, Oswego County, where a collapsed cabin is being searched today, Aug. 2, 2014, for the remains of 1994 kidnapping victim Heidi Allen. This is the cabin that an investigator with the Federal Public Defenders Office searched July 23 and 24th. David Lassman | dlassman@syracuse.com

Allen, 18, was kidnapped Easter morning from a convenience store 15 miles from the cabin.

Contact John O'Brien at jobrien@syracuse.com or 315-470-2187.

What can President Barack Obama actually do without Congress to change U.S. immigration policies? A lot, it turns out.

WASHINGTON -- What can President Barack Obama actually do without Congress to change U.S. immigration policies? A lot, it turns out.

There are some limits under federal law, and anything the White House ultimately decides to do may be challenged in court as unconstitutional. But leading legal experts say the White House almost certainly could delay indefinitely efforts to deport millions of immigrants already in the U.S. illegally, and it could give them official work permits that would allow them to legally find jobs, obtain driver's licenses and pay income taxes.

Here is what Obama could not do without approval from Congress: He couldn't generally give large groups of immigrants permission to remain permanently in the United States, and he couldn't grant them American citizenship. And he couldn't generally make them eligible for federal or state social benefit programs, such as welfare payments, food stamps or the administration's health care plans.

"There is prosecutorial discretion which can be exercised in these sorts of situations," said Leon Rodriguez, a former Justice Department lawyer and the newly confirmed director for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. "In most enforcement realms, generally there is pretty broad discretion." Rodriguez spoke earlier this week on Capitol Hill during an oversight hearing for the House Judiciary Committee.

With Congress declining to approve significant changes to immigration laws, the White House is hinting that Obama is considering broadening a program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to temporarily shield from deportation many young immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and allow them to get a work permit. Immigration reform advocates have been pushing to include parents of U.S. citizens and the parents of young immigrants already protected under the earlier program, which covers more than 700,000 immigrants so far.

All told, expanding the program could affect as many as 5 million immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally.

Republicans in Congress, including House Speaker John Boehner, have complained that Obama is failing to enforce U.S. laws by effectively disregarding illegal immigration. The House Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said Obama's immigration policies are "undermining the fundamental constitutional principles that Congress creates the law and president is bound to enforce them."

In a direct challenge to Obama's policies, the Republican-led House on Friday night passed legislation that appeared designed to prevent those who've already gotten work permits under the deferred action program from renewing them, ultimately making them subject to deportation. With the Senate controlled by Democrats, the bill seemed unlikely to advance.

So, how powerfully can Obama act without approval by Congress?

Obama announced in March that he had directed Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to review the administration's immigration enforcement polices and recommend any possible changes. In May, Obama delayed the review to allow Congress time to act on immigration reform before it adjourned this week for the summer.

Before leaving for the August recess Congress did not pass legislation to provide the funding Obama requested to help deal with the more than 57,000 unaccompanied child immigrants, mostly from Central America, who have crossed the border since Oct. 1.

Obama said Friday that House Republicans were trying to pass the "most extreme and unworkable bills," knowing they wouldn't make it to his desk. On Friday night, the House approved a bill that would send migrant youths back home without hearings, a measure that also appeared destined to go nowhere in the Senate.

"That means while they're out on vacation, I'm going to have to make some tough choices to meet the challenge, with or without Congress," the president said.

Immigration law requires congressional action to create a benefit program for a specific class of people. The Obama administration said the young immigrants protected under the childhood arrivals program don't count as a class because each request not to be deported is reviewed individually, on a case-by-case basis.

David Leopold, a Cleveland immigration lawyer who has supported Obama's previous administrative changes to immigration law, said nothing in the law requires the government to deport every immigrant living in the country illegally.

The law "makes someone deportable, but that boils down to enforcement of immigration law. And that is open to enforcement priorities," Leopold said.

Rodriguez told lawmakers that the government doesn't have the resources to deport the more than 11 million immigrants estimated to be living illegally in the United States, "so, the question is, are we going to let them persist in the shadow economy or are we going to have them work and pay taxes?"

Obama has already pushed the bounds of his authority on immigration law further than his predecessors.

After a broad immigration bill failed in 2007, President George W. Bush ordered his staff to come up with every possible change he could make without the approval of Congress.

Gregory Jacob, who worked on immigration issues with the president's Domestic Policy Council, said the list included similarly broad protections from deportation as those implemented by Obama. But Bush's staff concluded that the president didn't have the legal authority to grant such "sweeping and categorical" protections, Jacob said.

Bush's director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Julie Myers Wood, said much of the discussion at the time focused on small changes to visa programs or other efforts that would impact relatively small groups of immigrants. One concern, she said, was the potential for "unintended consequences" of encouraging more illegal immigration.

Republicans have complained that Obama has done what the Bush administration feared. Many have blamed the president for the influx of more than 57,000 unaccompanied immigrant children, mostly from Central America, who have been arrested at the Mexican border since Oct. 1.

New investigation has flooded friends with memories of Heidi Allen's kidnapping.

OSWEGO, N.Y. -- Heidi Allen's high school friends say the search this week for Allen's remains has brought back painful memories of her kidnapping 20 years ago.

"It makes me feel like it's 1994 again," said Suzie Shoults, formerly Suzie Branshaw.

Shoults was close friends with Allen and said Allen was like her big sister.

Heidi AllenProvided photo 

Oswego County sheriff's deputies and a forensic investigator searched for Allen's remains near a collapsed cabin off Rice Road in Mexico for four days this week. The deputies finished digging Thursday and started searching near another cabin this morning. Both sites are in the same wooded area where a man allegedly confessed that he and two others hid Allen's remains after kidnapping and beating her to death in a garage across the road.

Shoults and Allen's friend Loralee McMahon, formerly Loralee Gehan, both said the search and renewed interest in the case has flooded them with memories of Allen's disappearance 20 years ago.

Allen, 18, was kidnapped Easter morning from D&W Convenience Store where she worked.

"I think about her a lot," McMahon said. "I think of the Bryan Adams concert she took me to for my birthday, I think about the times we spent at Fair Haven beach, and all the times we talked about the future."

McMahon said the two planned their future weddings together and talked about how many kids they wanted to have or where they wanted to live.

"It is so heartbreaking that she was not able to have any of that and that her family wasn't able to enjoy life with her," McMahon said.

Shoults said Allen's older sister Lisa Buske has been there for her during the milestones in life that Shoults would have shared with Allen.

"It's great having Lisa," Shoults said. "Lisa was able to come to my wedding. Lisa has met my children. She's been there to carry on that relationship."

Shoults said the new investigation has brought back the pain that she felt 20 years ago.

"My mind and heart have definitely been in a different place since this started back up," she said.

Shoults told Syracuse Herald Journal in July 1994, more than 3 months after Allen's disappearance, that she was waiting for Allen to come home.

"I'm still waiting," Shoults said Friday.

"I have one hope, and that is for Mr. and Mrs. Allen and Lisa to know where Heidi is," she said. "They've been trudging through, for over 20 years now, not knowing what happened. I pray that people come forward and are honest."

Shoults said she thinks about Allen often and just looking at Allen's photo makes her happy.

"Her smile was fantastic," she said. "Her smile could make any tears go away."

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

Samaritan's Purse missionary group tells The Associated Press that Dr. Kent Brantly is the patient. Though the ambulance was from Grady, Brantly and another aid worker will be treated at a special isolation unit at Emory University Hospital.

ATLANTA -- A doctor infected with Ebola in Africa has arrived in Atlanta for treatment.

Dobbins Air Reserve Base spokesman Lt. Col. James Wilson says a plane carrying the patient landed Saturday morning at the base. An ambulance from Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital left the base shortly afterward.

Samaritan's Purse missionary group tells The Associated Press that Dr. Kent Brantly is the patient. Though the ambulance was from Grady, Brantly and another aid worker will be treated at a special isolation unit at Emory University Hospital.

Later, one person in protective clothing climbed down from the back of the ambulance and a second person in protective clothing appeared to take his gloved hands and guide him toward a building at Emory.

The ambulance was flanked by a few SUVs and police car en route to the hospital.

Both cabins were in the vicinity of where a man allegedly said he and two others had hid Heidi Allen's remains 20 years ago.

MEXICO, N.Y. -- Oswego County sheriff's deputies ended their search of a second cabin in Mexico this afternoon without finding any trace of 1994 kidnapping victim Heidi Allen.

District Attorney Greg Oakes said the team of investigators, including a member of the state police's forensic investigations unit, found no evidence that Allen's remains were ever at the collapsed cabin off Rice Road.

The searchers found a bone late this afternoon and drove it to the Onondaga County Medical Examiner's Office to determine whether it was human, Oakes said. The ME's office said it was an animal bone, he said.

Two state police cadaver dogs went over the site Friday night and did not alert on anything, indicating they did not pick up the scent of human remains, Oakes said.

Investigators spent four days this week searching another collapsed cabin about a quarter mile away, also finding no evidence of any remains.

The cabin searched today was discovered by a Syracuse.com reporter and an investigator with the Federal Public Defender's Office. The investigator pulled up floorboards at the cabin last week and found nothing resembling remains.

The cabins were in the area where a man allegedly confessed to two friends that he and two other men hid Allen's remains after kidinapping her and beating her to death in a garage on Rice Road.

The three men did not include Gary Thibodeau, who's serving 25 years to life in prison for a 1995 conviction of kidnapping and presumably killing Allen. His lawyer, Lisa Peebles, filed court papers this week seeking to overturn the conviction of Thibodeau based on newly discovered evidence that pointed to other suspects.

Contact John O'Brien at jobrien@syracuse.com or 315-470-2187.

Police charged Jarrod Tutko, 38, on Saturday with child endangerment, concealing the death of a child and abuse of a corpse.

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The mother of an 8-year-old Pennsylvania boy whose decomposing body was found on the third floor of their home said Saturday she didn't know he had died until noticing the smell.

Kimberly Tutko said her husband was the primary caretaker of their mentally disabled son, and he waited several days to tell her the boy had died, PennLive.com reported. Police were called to the home Friday and found the boy's body.

Police charged Jarrod Tutko, 38, on Saturday with child endangerment, concealing the death of a child and abuse of a corpse. Court records do not list an attorney for him.

Harrisburg police said in a statement that Tutko informed his wife about the death of their son, Jarrod Tutko Jr., "when the odor of decomposition became too strong."

It's not clear how the boy died. An autopsy is scheduled for next week.

The couple's five other children were placed in protective custody.

Kimberly Tutko told Pennlive she understands people will find it difficult to believe she did not know her son was dead.

She said her son was severely mentally disabled and often difficult to control. He would rip up the flooring and carpeting of his bedroom, smear his feces on the floor and walls, and refuse to wear a diaper, she said.

He lived on the third floor and was primarily cared for by his father, while she looked after another disabled child who requires round-the-clock care and stays on the second floor, she said.

"My daughter relies on me," Kimberly Tutko said. "I take care of her and my husband takes care of Jarrod Jr."

Kimberly Tutko said her husband told her their son died Tuesday.

"I said to him 'Why didn't you say anything?'" she said. "He said he was too afraid to say anything because of other kids in the house."

Our weather will continue to remain mild in the coming week.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- More rain and thunderstorms are expected Sunday across Central New York, with a chance for dry weather coming later in the week.

The National Weather Service said an upper-level disturbance will remain over the region for a few more days. The system will mean rain and thunderstorms will be more likely, especially during the afternoon and early evening.

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

Rain and thunderstorms will blanket Central New York much of Sunday. There will be a light north wind and the temperature will push into the high 70s or low 80s.

Our weather will continue to remain mild in the coming week.

Your Forecast

• Sunday: Cloudy with a good chance for rain and thunderstorms during the day and evening. North winds up to 10 mph. Highs near 80. Lows in the low 60s.
  
• Monday: Fog in the morning, then partly sunny. Slight chance for rain and thunderstorms during the day. West winds up to 10 mph. Cloudy in the evening. Highs in the low 80s. Lows in the low 60s.
  
• Tuesday: Partly sunny with a chance for a bit of rain and a few thunderstorms during the day and evening. Highs near 80. Lows near 60.
  
• Wednesday: Partly sunny. Clear in the evening. Highs in the mid 70s. Lows in the high 50s.
  
• Thursday: Sunny and pleasant. Highs in the high 70s. Lows in the high 50s.

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.

Police said suspects in the homicide, which occurred early Sunday morning, are still at large.

Officers responded to a report of an altercation and then shots being fired at about 12:15 a.m. Sunday in the 800 block of South Wilbur Avenue.

Police said officers arriving at the scene found a 27-year-old man on the sidewalk with gunshot wounds. He died at the scene.

Witnesses said the 27-year-old man was in some sort of fight with several males. Then multiple shots were fired. Police said the suspects fled the scene in an unknown type of vehicle.

Police said their investigation is very active and that the 800 block of South Wilbur Avenue will be closed while officers process the scene and collect evidence.

Anyone with information on this homicide is asked to call the Syracuse Police Department at 315-442-5222.

It's the issue that vexed Republicans as much as any in their 2012 presidential loss.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Midterm elections that will decide control of the Senate are three months away, and the 2016 presidential campaign will start in earnest soon after. Yet the Republican Party still can't figure out what to do about illegal immigration.

It's the issue that vexed Republicans as much as any in their 2012 presidential loss. It's the one problem the party declared it must resolve to win future presidential races. And it still managed to bedevil the party again last week, when House Republicans splintered and stumbled for a day before passing a face-saving bill late Friday night.

The fiasco proved anew that a small number of uncompromising conservatives have the power to hamper the efforts of GOP leaders to craft coherent positions on key issues -- including one that nearly two-thirds of Americans say is an important to them personally, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll released last week.

"It would be very bad for Republicans in the House not to offer their vision of how they would fix the problem," South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said when the initial House bill on immigration collapsed. While Republicans in the House are able to reject the proposals of Democrats, Graham said, that's not enough: "At least they have a vision."

While often a flashpoint issue among Republicans in their primaries this year, the party could get a grace period of sorts in November. Immigration appears likely to have only a modest impact on the roughly 10 Senate races that will determine control of the chamber. The possible exception is the race between Democratic Sen. Mark Udall and GOP Rep. Cory Gardner in Colorado, where Hispanic voters made up 14 percent of the electorate in 2012.

Even if President Barack Obama moves ahead with a proposal to give work permits to millions of immigrants living in the country illegally, removing the threat of deportation, Democratic strategists say Republicans won't reap much of a benefit. Republicans, they argue, have already squeezed as much as they can from voters angry at the president by hammering at his record on health care, the IRS, foreign policy and other issues.

"There's a ceiling, and nothing the president can do can get them above the ceiling," said Rep. Steve Israel of New York, head of the Democrats' efforts to win House elections. "But swing voters and persuadable voters, they want solutions."

Hispanics made up less than 3 percent of all registered voters in 2012 in seven other states with competitive Senate races: Louisiana, Arkansas, North Carolina, Iowa, Michigan, Georgia and Kentucky. So any Democratic benefits from an Obama executive action on immigration could be just as limited.

Still, a few Democratic senators in those tight contests -- including Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mark Pryor of Arkansas -- are putting some distance between themselves and the president. The White House, Pryor said, is "sending mixed messages: telling folks not to cross the border illegally and then turning around to hand out work permits to people who are already here illegally."

Both parties agree that immigration is likely to play a bigger role in the 2016 presidential election. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the GOP nominee in 2008, has said his party can't win without supporting an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, while former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is among the potential candidates to urge the party to liberalize its approach to immigration.

A GOP-sanctioned "autopsy" of Mitt Romney's 2012 loss made only one policy recommendation: The party "must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform," a term understood to include creating pathways to legal status for millions of immigrants living in the nation illegally.

For that reason, some Republicans found the House hubbub discouraging. Party leaders had to yank an immigration bill from the floor Thursday after realizing they lacked the votes to pass it. Democrats mocked House Speaker John Boehner for declaring that Obama should take numerous steps, "right now, without the need for congressional action, to secure our borders," while his website also stated, "More unilateral action from the White House will make (the) border crisis worse."

"I'm just about as conservative, and full-spectrum conservative as it gets, and I was going to go yes" on Thursday, said Arizona GOP Rep. Trent Franks. "So I'm not certain what happened."

Ultimately, the party's rank-and-file refused to start Congress' five-week break without proving the GOP could pass some type of immigration bill. It would clear the way for eventual deportation of more than 700,000 immigrants brought here illegally as children. It also would allocate $694 million for border security efforts, including $35 million for the National Guard.

The action kept Republicans from ending the summer empty-handed on immigration. But that doesn't mean the party is any closer to untying the nation's immigration knot.

While solid majorities of Americans say the country's current immigration policies are unacceptable, many House Republicans owe their jobs to conservative activists who fiercely oppose "amnesty" for immigrants and dominate GOP primaries in districts where Democrats have almost no chance of winning.

Some of those Republicans were among the House conservatives who met last week in the office of Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who urged them to force concessions from Boehner's leadership team. And on Friday, Cruz was talking about immigration in the Senate race in New Hampshire, which will hold the first presidential primary of 2016.

In a fundraising message, Cruz attacked Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen for supporting Obama's "amnesty" immigration policies.

The warning remains in effect until 8:30 p.m. Sunday.

The warning remains in effect until 8:30 p.m. Sunday.

The weather service's Doppler radar showed "excessive rainfall" in areas including, but not limited to: Camillus, Marcellus, Onondaga, Otisco, Skaneateles, Taunton, Westvale, Kelloggsville and Niles. The New York State Fairgrounds in Geddes also falls under the warning area.

The National Weather Service has warned that rapid flooding of streams and creeks is possible, especially in poor drainage areas.

In the city of Syracuse, several streets on the west side flooded Sunday afternoon after a torrential downpour. Both the Syracuse Police Department and the National Weather Service are asking motorists to avoid flooded streets.

"Do not drive your vehicle into areas where the water covers the roadway," a National Weather Service alert read. "The water depth may be too great to allow your car to cross safely. Move to higher ground."

Syracuse police Sgt. Gary Bulinski said several city streets, mainly on the west side, are flooded due to the heavy rains. He asked drivers not to attempt to drive through standing water.

"Motorists should use caution when approaching pooling water and are asked to take alternate routes when possible," Bulinski said in a news release.

To report flooding to the National Weather Service, call (888) 603-1402 or email bgm.stormreport@noaa.gov.

If you're out on the roads Sunday, have you seen flooded streets today? If so, please leave a comment below with the name of the street and what you saw.

Follow the weather minute-by-minute with our CNY Weather Feed.

Look up, compare times for competitors who completed the Iron Girl Syracuse race.

Nearly 1,100 women completed the Iron Girl Syracuse held Sunday at Oneida Shores Park in Brewerton.

The race included a 600-meter swim, a 30K bike ride and a 5K run.

The top five competitors were:
1. Lindsay Sullivan, 41, Cicero, NY: 1:28:23
2. Kathleen Rainbow, 43, Oneida, NY: 1:29:07
3. Monica Bays, 34, Rochester, NY: 1:29:11
4. Kerzia's Marchant, 25, Liverpool, NY: 1:30:21
5. Heather Nelson, 24, Syracuse, NY: 1:30:21

Complete results
(Times are courtesy Iron Girl.)