Newsline
VOL.XLII / NO. 13 / November 17, 2021 Serving 47,125 readers week ly
F E AT URE S
COR NELL
In their words ��������������������������������8
FBI, Cornell won’t confirm bomb threat suspect
Tenants, landlords, residents speak out on the Right to Renew legislation
Sports �������������������������������������������������������� 10
A Master’s Work �������������������������� 13 Victoria Romanoff’s exhibit in T’burg shows off decades of artwork.
Newsline ��������������������������������������������������3-5 Opinion �������������������������������������������������������� 6 Letters �������������������������������������������������������� 7
T
he investigation into the bomb threat called into Cornell University on Nov. 7 is still under investigation, according to authorities. NBC News reported that a teenage gamer in Virginia is allegedly involved in the spate of bomb threats that included Yale University, Brown University, Columbia University, New York University and Cornell. On Nov. 7 Cornell sent out its first alert at 2:13 p.m. urging people to evacuate and avoid the law school, Goldwin Smith, Upson Hall and Kennedy Hall. They eventually confirmed there had been a bomb threat to those buildings. Several hours later the campus was deemed safe and the following day the university called the incident a “cruel hoax.” The suspect is said to be a 14-year-old. NBC also reported that several people communicating online through Discord were responsible for similar swatting incidents in Los Angeles in August and September, as well as 30 other bomb threats and swatting incidents. It’s unclear if the current spate of threats at universities is related. Swatting is the act of prank calling law enforcement with the sole purpose of inciting a large police response. In a statement to the Ithaca Times on Nov. 15, Cornell’s vice president for university relations Joel Malina said Cornell is working in close collaboration with federal, state and other campus law enforcement agencies to investigate the threat made to Cornell and other similar threats to universities around the country. He declined to comment further as the investigation is ongoing. The FBI was also tightlipped and would not confirm or deny any reporting or suspects. -Ta n n e r H a r d i n g
ART S &E N T E RTAINME N T Stage ���������������������������������������������������������� 14 Film ������������������������������������������������������������� 16 Music ���������������������������������������������������������� 17 Film ������������������������������������������������������������� 19 Times Table ���������������������������������������������� 20 Classifieds ����������������������������������������������� 22 Mike Lane and Tom Corey
Election
2 votes separate District 14 candidates; recount likely
T
he District 14 County Legislature race remains undecided after absentee and affidavit votes were counted on Monday, Nov. 15. The race, between incumbent Democrat Mike Lane and challenging Republican Tom Corey, was separated by just 20 votes after election night. After counting the remaining ballots, they’re separated by just two. Corey was ahead 838 votes to Lane’s 818 votes. However, as of Nov. 16, Lane has taken the lead with 866-864 after receiving the majority of absentee votes. According to Stephen Dewitt, the Democratic commissioner for the Tompkins County Board of Elections, while they were opening affidavit and absentee ballots
there were attorneys watching from both Lane’s and Corey’s campaigns. There were four ballots that were unopened because one or both attorneys disagreed with the decision to open them or not. Five others were opened but the candidates’ attorneys didn’t want Board of Elections counters to count certain ballots. The attorneys have until the end of the business day Thursday to initiate court action to uphold their arguments. If they don’t, Dewitt said, they will reconvene Friday to deal with the nine ballots. Dewitt added that for three of them the attorneys took issue with the dating of the signature, one of the affidavit ballots the Board of Elections
T a k e
▶ What’s in a name? - The city of Ithaca is asking residents to share their ideas for what to name the department that will manage public safety functions. Ideas shared by the community will be considered by the city’s working group, which is charged with designing a new agency customtailored to provide solutions to the communtiy’s health and safety
was not planning to count but the attorneys disagreed, and the others had perceived flaws in the way the ballots were marked. “So we’ll just have to wait and see if they follow up on their objections,” Dewitt said. Regardless of what happens with those nine ballots, there will be a manual recount of the ballots. There’s a law that states if a race is separated by 20 or fewer votes, a manual recount is required. Dewitt said the law is pretty new so this is the first time they’ve had to do it. The Board of Elections did a manual audit of 1,200 votes just to check for machine accuracy for this election and said that took about three days. However, they had to tally the results for all races, and Dewitt said this recount will likely be quicker because they only have to count one race. -Ta n n e r H a r d i n g
N o t e
needs following the passage of the Reimagining Public Safety Plan. This will not re-name the Ithaca Police Department. The Ithaca Police Department will be included within this larger, currently unnamed, public safety department. Ideas for the naming of the department can be submitted through the Collaborative’s www. publicsafetyreimagined.org
website. City of Ithaca Working group co-lead Eric Rosario stated, “We’re looking for the community’s creativity in naming this department. This is an opportunity to help establish the vision for what services and responses will be delivered by the department and how the community will view the work and services offered.”
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