Rosamond Gifford Zoo Names New Penguin Marisol

15-year-old Bridgeport girl submits winning name
by Mike Tressa

The newest member of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo family finally has a name. After two weeks of voting, the 3-month-old penguin chick can now be called Marisol. The name was submitted by Ashley Redhead of Bridgeport as one of 379 possible selections.

Marisol took home the top honor with 27 percent of the vote. Loosely translated in Spanish, Marisol means "sunny sea." Redhead thought the name would help to bring some much needed sun to Syracuse.

Check back later in the day for some exclusive NCC News video of Marisol and the Rosamond Gifford Zoo.

No Cost-of-Living Adjustments for Social Security Recipients Next Year

50 Million People Will Not Get Increases

Washington DC- The government announced today that there will be no cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients next year. It's the first year without a raise since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975.

Social Security payments will not go down. But cost-of-living adjustments, or COLA, are pegged to inflation. Inflation is negative this year because of lower energy costs.

Social Security payments increased by 5.8 percent in January, the largest increse since 1982. The big increase was largely because of a spike in energy coasts in 2008.

Blame Falling Consumer Prices

The Labor Department reported today that consumer prices had declined 2.1 percent since the third quarter of 2008. The COLA is based on the change in consumer prices from the third quarter of one year to the next.

Social Security recipients shouldn't get an increase next year because their purchaasing power has already increased with falling consumer prices, said the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

"Sice the purpose of COLA's is to preserve beneficiaries' purchasing power, the decline in overall prices means that beneficiaries do not need a COLA in 2010," Kathy Ruffing, a senior policy analyst at the center, wrote in a report this week.

Ruffing noted that government forecasters don't expect consumer prices to return to 2008 levels until 2011.

Advocates for Seniors Concerned

Advocates argue that older Americans spend a disproportionate amount of their incomes on health care costs, which rise faster than consumer prices.

President Obama called on Congress on Wednesday to approve the second round of stimulus payments.

"This additional assistance will be essentially important in the coming month, as countless seniors and others have seen their retirement accounts and home values decline as a result of the economic crisis," Obama said on Wednesday.

The $250 payments would go to Social Security recipients as well as those receiving veterans and disability benefits, railroad retirees, and retired public employees who don't receive Social Security.

Bill Owens Moves Ahead of Dede Scozzafava in Latest Congressional Poll

Siena Poll Has Owens Holding Slim Lead

by Mike Tressa

Syracuse -- Democrat Bill Owens has jumped ahead of Republican Dede Scozzafava in the race for the 23rd Congressional District seat. This information is based on the latest informal poll released by the Siena Research Institute.

If this advantage remains until the election, Owens would be the first Democrat to represent the rural Northern and Central New York district since the 1800s. Dede Scozzafava held a seven percent lead two weeks earlier, but now the polls list Owens with the four point lead.

The race is expected to come down to the wire at this point and all the way up to the election on November 3rd. With the emergence of third-party candidate Doug Hoffman, the winning candidate may take the election with less than 40 percent of the votes cast.

According to the polls, the race will be decided by the 16 percent of voters who remain undecided.

Proposed Budget Calls for Cuts

Apublic hearing was held on Thursday night at the OnCenter over the proposed County Budget for the year. As it as been laid out by county executive Joanie Mahoney, the budget would call for cuts in civil service employment: over 2,000 employees will be temporarily laid off, while 51 will lose their jobs all together.

Student assistance councilors would be cut from the Baldwinsville, Skaneateles, and Fayetteville-Manlius school districts, and the county police department would have to ground its helicop

The county executive says that these cuts will save Onondaga County $7 million dollars. The office says that because union workers would not forego a three-percent raise this year, the county was left with no decision but to present this budget.


CSEA Reaction

Worried over the future of their jobs, members of the Civil Service Employees of America all wore their black union shirts to work Thursday, to show solidarity with each other, and opposition to the County Executive. So many planned to go to the public hearing after work that the county had to move the venue to the OnCenter from the Legislative Chambers.

Mark Kotzin, spokesperson for the CSEA in Central New York, says that the last thing the county should do in a time of economic crisis is lay off workers.

Kitty Massara, a CSEA employee, says that she and her colleagues are taking the news very personally from the person she elected, she says, to look out for her and everyone else in the county.

Ultimate Frisbee Growing in Popularity

by Chris McGrath

SYRACUSE, NY- It's a sport you're probably not too familiar with, but one that's taking the nation by storm.

Ultimate Frisbee is alive and well on the Syracuse University campus.

Grace Conklin is Co-captain for Fox Force Seven, the Women's team at SU, and says she was attracted to the sport back in high school because of its laid back atmosphere.

She said, however, the sport is sometimes misunderstood.

"Some people just don't understand how athletic you actually have to be to play this sport. It's a lot of running, non-stop running, you have to be able to throw and catch--you have to have the coordination to do that," she said.

Conklin says the team practices 3 to 4 times a week despite only being a club team.

Growth Across the Country

Ultimate is now played in 42 different countries and more than 650 college teams are registered to play in the United States.

Down in Charlottesville, Va, the University of Virginia sports an Ultimate team of its own.

"UVA Ultimate and this team has really defined my college experience," Alfano said.

Alfano also added that many of the girls on her team live together and often plan their schedules around Ultimate practices and games.

Growth Amongst Women

Even more impressive than the growth of the sport itself might be growth in the number of women who play it.

According to the Ultimate Players Association, the number of women playing Ultimate has nearly doubled since 2002.

Women now make up 1/3 of all frisbee players in the country.

WATCH STORY HERE!

House Passes Hate Crimes Bill

Extends the Hate Crimes Bill to Cover Gays

By: P.J. Wascher

Washington D.C. - The House of Representatives has passed legislation today that now makes it a federal crime to assault people because of their sexual orientation. This is expected to pass the Senate soon, attached to a must-pass defense policy bill. Once passed federal prosecutors will be able to intervene in cases of violence against gays for the first time.

Trying For More Than A Decade

Civil rights groups have been trying for more than a decade to broaden the hate crimes bill. The late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts was longtime advocate of the legislation.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was excited to see Congress pass the hate hrimes legislation she says it has been on her agenda since entering Congress 22 years ago.

"It's a very exciting day for us here in the Capitol," Pelosi said.

Not All In Favor

While Republicans are often in favor of defense bills, many voted against the bill because of the addition of what they are calling "thought crimes bills." Some GOP opponents worried that the new bill would infringe upon religious speech freedoms. Specifically if a violent act against gays was later attributed to the sermons of a pastor expressing their beliefs about homosexuality.

Supporters of the legislation have countered that argument saying that no pastor could be targeted for expressing opposition to homosexuality.

There are over 8,000 hate crimes reported in the country each year. 45 states already have hate crime statutes.

East Syracuse Gets Grant

Money will help revitalize downtown
by Eric Rothman

The village of East Syracuse will be getting a bit of a face lift. The village will receive over 120-thousand dollars in grant funding from the Brownfield Opportunity Areas Program. The money will help revitalize a 980-acre area that includes the villages downtown. The grant is one of 24 projects approved by Governor David Patterson to receive some of the 10-million dollars in funding. Village officials say the money will go towards identifying new businesses, improving housing, and making the city more pedestrian friendly.