Free Republic

CICERO, N.Y. -- The Onondaga County sheriff's deputy who ran a red light and crashed head-on into a car this weekend in Cicero likely will not be ticketed, Detective Jon Seeber said, speaking for the sheriff's office. Deputy Michael Ciciriello was on patrol, driving a 2010 Ford Crown Victoria east on Guy Young Road about 6:55 p.m. Saturday when he ran the red light and struck a 2012 Toyota Prius heading south on Brewerton Road, Seeber said. Ciciriello and the driver of the car, 59-year-old David Lekki, of Baldwinsville, were treated at local hospitals for minor injuries and released. Both...

The NAACP has filed a countersuit against a black pro-life leader who exposed its pro-abortion views in an article appearing at LifeNews.com. In February, the NAACP threatened to sue LifeNews.com and Ryan Bomberger, a LifeNews blogger (left), for a column that took the civil rights organization to task over its abortion position. The NAACP is upset about a column Bomberger wrote at LifeNews titled, “NAACP: National Association for the Abortion of Colored People,” which notes the organization’s 44th Annual Image Awards. Following the piece, the NAACP sent Bomberger, the director of the Radiance Foundation, and LifeNews a threatening letter claiming...

Syracuse -- Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney sailed unopposed into a second term on Tuesday, a popular politician with a growing state and national profile. That doesn’t give her much in common with President Barack Obama, who is languishing in the polls as he heads into what will be a tough re-election battle. But there is one area where Mahoney identifies with the president: They are both facing what she says is reflexive opposition from Republicans whose main goal is to hold them back. “It’s just been, since he’s been elected, all eyes on 2012 — how can we defeat...

Syracuse, NY -- An explosion in the basement of a private Islamic school has been ruled accidental, said Syracuse fire investigator Ken Heffernan. The Ihsan School of Excellence, on West Onondaga Street near the intersection with West Street, was evacuated Oct. 8 after the explosion sent a dust cloud and natural gas into the building, investigators said. The 75 children were safely removed from the school building, which has remained closed since. The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were contacted by investigators looking into the explosion because the West Onondaga Street school is considered a place...

The following news brief is a quote: Syracuse, NY -- Syracuse fire investigators have not yet determined the cause of an explosion Thursday at the Ihsan School of Excellence, a private Islamic school on West Onondaga Street. More meetings with investigators are planned before a determination is made, Lt. Joe Galloway, a Syracuse fire investigator, said today. A cause for the explosion in the school's basement will possibly be released on Monday, Galloway said.

AUBURN NY--A federal Department of Interior official said the U.S. Supreme Court's city of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation decision applies to the Cayuga Nation's purchase of land within their land claim area on the open market. Based on the Sherrill decision, when taxes are not paid, the Cayuga Nation's property would be subject to foreclosure, Associate Deputy Secretary James Carson wrote in a Sept. 22 letter to U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-New Hartford. Boehlert had contacted the department of behalf of Seneca County attorney Steven Getman. Carson wrote that questions about the legality of the tribe's bingo halls in...

WATERLOO, N.Y. The Cayuga Indian's 25-year-old land claim will not get a second look from a federal appeals court. Seneca County Attorney Steven Getman says today's decision by the Second U-S Circuit Court of Appeals is another victory for property owners. The Cayuga Indian Nation of New York and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma had asked for a rehearing after the court's split decision in June. The decision said the tribe was not entitled to a 248 (m) million land claim judgment awarded by a lower-court jury. Today's decision cited an earlier U-S Supreme Court ruling in a separate case...