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A $2 million study on replacing part of Interstate 81 in Syracuse with a tunnel supports what national transportation experts say they have known for years: Tunnels usually are a bad idea.While an I-81 tunnel would be technically feasible, it would be difficult to justify the cost of up to $4.5 billion at a time when few publicly-financed tunnel projects are moving forward, according to four transportation policy experts interviewed by syracuse.com.The few highway tunnel projects approved in recent years have been expensive mega projects, often plagued by delays and cost overruns that have drawn public criticism, the experts said.New York...

A rally in support of a replacement option for a stretch of Interstate 81 served as a platform for city mayoral candidates and local politicians to rail against New York state officials Tuesday. The rally, held in Hanover Square, was organized by ReThink81, a local group that supports a $1.3 billion replacement option for the “viaduct,” a raised section of I-81 that bisects Syracuse. At one point during the event, Common Council President Van Robinson hefted a sledgehammer into the air, saying he wanted to tear down the highway: “I hated it from the first time I came to this...

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner will not run for Congress in 2018. Miner has long been mentioned as a potential challenger to U.S. Rep. John Katko for Central New York's 24th Congressional District. Thursday morning, she ruled out a run. "After much thoughtful consideration and conversations with my family, I have decided I will not be a candidate for Congress in 2018," Miner said in a statement Thursday. "This was not an easy decision given magnitude of issues faced by our community, but I believe we are best served supporting other progressive leaders in this election both at...

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- While asking a roomful of voters to elect him, Raymond Blackwell said he has assaulted people, carried a gun to parties and tried selling drugs... The comment was part of a head-turning closing statement during a mayoral candidate forum Monday night at the Southwest Community Center. Blackwell offered details from his youth as a reason people should vote for him. He said growing up on the streets means he knows what a lot of people in the city have gone through.... Blackwell is one of six Democrats hoping to make it to the primary ballot in September.

Rochester judge Leticia Astacio appeared in court this morning after being summoned to a meeting with her supervisor who had previously said her job was in jeopardy. A warrant was issued for Astacio's arrest last week after she failed to appear at a hearing for alleged violations of her probation. Astacio is accused of having her daughter breathe into her interlock device which she must use due to her DWI conviction last year. Astacio was vacationing in Thailand, but returned to the United States and appeared before Judge Craig Doran on Monday morning. Doran had told her failure to do...

Syracuse, N.Y. --There's not a lot tunnel building going on in the United States. Four highway tunnels have been completed over the last 10 years in the U.S. Four more tunnel projects are under construction or in design. And one long discussed project that would have tunneled underneath a national forest in California was dropped. Could be a tunnel in Syracuse's future for Interstate 81? After a tunnel was initially rejected, a tunnel or depressed highway is back on the table as an option to replace Interstate 81's 1.4 mile section of raised highway in Syracuse. The DOT at first...

President Donald Trump won’t be filling out an NCAA Tournament bracket on ESPN this March, unlike his predecessor, Barack Obama. ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz says the network expressed its “interest to the White House in continuing the presidential bracket. They have respectfully declined.”

Syracuse, N.Y. -- It's been snowing for 38 straight hours in Syracuse, and there's more to come. The National Weather Service station at Hancock International Airport has been recording snow since 3 a.m. Sunday, when rain switched over to light snow. From then until 4 p.m. today, at least 18.9 inches of snow has fallen, and Syracuse could get another 4 inches.

Syracuse Police have arrested two teens who are accused of assaulting a 62-year-old man. The victim told officers a group of teens were sitting on his front yard trespassing in the 200 block of Glenwood Avenue on Wednesday afternoon. When the victim asked them not to sit on his property, police say he was punched twice in the face and head by two teenage girls. The 14 and 15-year-old girls were arrested and charged with third-degree assault. Their names are not being released because of their age. Both teens were released to the parents on juvenile appearance tickets.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A Syracuse University professor who rejected a film about Israeli settlers on the West Bank for a conference here has issued a public apology. Controversy over screening the film "The Settlers" unraveled Thursday after The Atlantic published emails written by SU religion professor Gail Hamner. Hamner was writing to a fellow conference organizer to tell him she didn't think SU should screen the documentary because it would elicit protests from pro-Palestinian groups. Atlantic writer Conor Friedersdorf argued this was an example of "how political correctness chills speech on campus."

CORTLAND, N.Y. A new candidate for Cortland County district attorney plans to take issue with the incumbent admittedly lying before the last election about his career in porn movies.

On Thursday evening, a 40-year-old man — with dark, curly hair, olive skin and an exotic foreign accent — boarded a plane. It was a regional jet making a short, uneventful hop from Philadelphia to nearby Syracuse. Or so dozens of unsuspecting passengers thought. The curly-haired man tried to keep to himself, intently if inscrutably scribbling on a notepad he’d brought aboard. His seatmate, a blond-haired, 30-something woman sporting flip-flops and a red tote bag, looked him over. He was wearing navy Diesel jeans and a red Lacoste sweater – a look he would later describe as “simple elegance” –...

Dwayne 'Pearl' Washington, who went from New York City playground wonder to Big East star for Jim Boeheim at Syracuse University, has died age 52. Washington died on Wednesday of cancer, the university said.

He was wrong on the theology. But he’s not running for pastor in chief. He’s running for commander in chief. And if you’re eight months away from possibly swearing in as president, maybe you weigh and calculate your answers in a way not obvious to the rest of us. I’m talking about Donald Trump and the answer to a question I asked him last week. In the run up to the New York presidential primary, he called in to WSYR radio in Syracuse and I got to speak to him for a few minutes. I asked him several things over...

Trump Rally SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2016 -SYRACUSE, NY Nicholas J. Pirro Convention Center 12:00 PM Syracuse, NY The city has functioned as a major crossroads over the last two centuries, first between the Erie Canal and its branch canals, then of the railway network. Today, Syracuse is located at the intersection of Interstates 81 and 90, and its airport is the largest in the region. Syracuse is home to Syracuse University, a major research university, as well as several smaller colleges and professional schools. In 2010 Forbes rated Syracuse 4th in the top 10 places to raise a family. Nicholas...

Hillary Clinton will release a $10 billion plan aimed at revitalizing manufacturing in Syracuse on Friday, part of an effort to highlight her work as a senator from New York ahead of that state’s primary later this month. In the weeks before the April 19 contest, Clinton plans to set off on a nostalgia-infused campaign tour designed to remind primary voters of her deep connection to their state. Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders are preparing for a drag-out fight in New York, a state where they both have roots. Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, will hold a...

Brian Jones and Gregg Giannotti of the CBS national radio show "The Gio and Jones Show" had an interesting back and forth on the city of Syracuse on Monday morning. "You know the thing I don't like about them?" Giannotti said. "They say, 'We're New York's team. We're New York's team.' No you're not. You're not New York's team. You're Upstate New York's team. You're Central New York's team." "New York City and like Central New York. It's a long way away," he continued. "It's not really this area. People talk differently there. They look differently there. It's sort of...

An energy company says it's trying to determine why a 113-foot-long blade fell off a windmill in central New York. [...] Town official say they believe a bolt may have failed on the 187-ton windmill, one of 20 located at the Fenner Wind Farm, which was built in 2001 on a hill 15 miles east of Syracuse. ...

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The number of state-taxed cigarette packs sold in New York has plummeted by 54 percent in the past decade. That's far outpacing the 19 percent decline in New Yorkers who have quit smoking over the same time. Instead, more smokers are buying cigarettes in ways that avoid New York's $4.35 per pack tax, the highest in the nation. They cross state lines, shop from black market vendors and travel to Native American outlets to save $6 per pack or more, experts say. New York is losing big. In the past five years, the state's cigarette tax collections...

Dolph Schayes, who polished his game on the Bronx playgrounds, played 15 seasons as a professional and was once voted one of the 50 best players to play in the National Basketball Association, died on Thursday in Syracuse. He was 87. His son Danny Schayes, who played 18 seasons in the N.B.A. as a 6-foot-11 center, said the cause was cancer. At 6 feet 8 inches and 220 pounds, Schayes played the position now known as power forward, becoming a stalwart for the Syracuse Nationals from 1949 to 1963 after earning all-American status at New York University. When the Nationals...