Onondaga County

  Refugee resettlement programs have to cover a lot, from teaching English to job training to housing assistance. But one aspect of well being is often overlooked: mental health.

Landlords that have lead contamination in their houses or apartments could find themselves the target of fines and criminal charges as Onondaga County is stepping up enforcement. Community and law enforcement officials today announced a series of forums to help landlords and builders know how to get rid of lead problems. 

Careers in Code set out six months ago with the goal of helping alleviate poverty in the Central New York area and help provide area tech employers with more local talent. The program was run by Hack Upstate, funded by the Alliance for Economic Inclusion, and targeted women and minorities.

The coding boot camp graduated 11 students last week, all now with the skills needed to get a job in Syracuse’s growing tech sector. The graduation highlighted the work of the participants and the program as a whole.

It was called the trial of the century ... and in 1915 brought Teddy Roosevelt to a Syracuse courtroom.  Now it’s the subject of the book Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense.  Authors Dan Abrams, Legal Affairs Correspondent for A-B-C News and Best Selling Author David Fisher will be here to talk about it Tuesday. 

“And here locally, it was a mob scene at the courthouse, particularly when Teddy Roosevelt was on the stand.”

Onondaga Historical Association Executive Director Gregg Tripoli recalls the historic event.

Onondaga County's aggressive plan to go after back taxes is starting to pay off.  The county is going after the biggest tax cheats with lawsuits and property, and that's convinced some of the smaller properties that were well behind on tax bills to pay up. 

Syracuse and Onondaga County officials are trying to find the best way to get as thorough a census count as possible.  They announced the area’s Complete Count Committee on Wednesday.  It will utilize community groups to try and encourage participation in neighborhoods or among demographic groups that are usually hard to count. 

Recent high profile suicides in Onondaga County and a higher than average suicide rate has Senator Chuck Schumer calling for increased federal resources for prevention programs. 

Tax delinquent homes draw a lot of attention … but corporate properties currently owe Onondaga County more than $45 million dollars in back taxes, according to officials.  The county has a new strategy to go after the money – or the property. 

Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon’s State of the County address Tuesday night echoed much of the optimism and ambition expressed by his friend, Mayor Ben Walsh, a few weeks ago.  They both talked about aging infrastructure.