Local news has many missions: to hold up a mirror to the good and the bad in our community, to dig up uncomfortable facts, to move people to action, to hold the powerful to account, to amplify the voices of the powerless.
Over the past year, syracuse.com/The Post-Standard journalists have done all of those things, and more. Here is some of the reporting that made a difference in our community this year:
Fateful decision: In January, 11-year-old Brexialee Torres-Ortiz was shot and killed while walking home from a Syracuse corner store with a gallon of milk. One of her assailants, 16-year-old Deckyse Bridges, had been arrested 10 times by the time he was 15 on charges that included burglary, grand larceny and illegal gun possession. Yet, Bridges was allowed to come home on furlough from a residential youth facility that weekend. Marnie Eisenstadt’s reporting revealed that key players were guilty of poor communication and questionable judgment that put Bridges back on Syracuse streets. The story prompted juvenile justice officials to convene a working group to discuss what went wrong.
Nursing home horrors: James T. Mulder mined the harrowing stories of residents and government inspection reports to depict life inside Bishop Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, one of the worst nursing homes in the country. Taxpayers pay millions for botched medicine, inedible food, dangerous falls and neglect. A federal program designed to put places like this on the hot seat isn’t working.
Backpack blessings: Syracuse City School District officials reached out to us when the district’s chapter of Blessings in a Backpack was running out of funding, jeopardizing the food supplies that get more than 800 low-income students and their families through the weekend. Education reporter Melissa Newcomb’s story prompted an overwhelming response from readers. By June, donors contributed more than $160,000 to keep the program going — enough for the entire 2023-24 school year.
Costly failure: In April, thanks to the persistence of reporter Tim Knauss, we were able to finally tell you how much SUNY Upstate Medical University paid to Cor Development to get back eight acres of state land near downtown that sat vacant for a decade after a development deal fell apart. Upstate paid Cor $2.3 million for land that was once publicly owned.
This vacant parcel is part of eight acres of publicly owned land reclaimed by SUNY Upstate Medical University, which paid $2.3 million to end a joint venture with Cor Development that never brought new development to the site. (Tim Knauss | tknauss@syracuse.com)
Unnecessary tax break: Builders requested a $3 million tax break to build an “upscale” apartment complex in Lysander. Onondaga County officials were poised to approve the deal, despite little justification for taxpayer help, business reporter Rick Moriarty reported. Knauss found the project didn’t include any affordable housing units despite a severe housing shortage. Amid public criticism, County Executive Ryan McMahon switched his position and came out against the tax break. Developers withdrew their request. They’ll still do the project — and pay their full taxes.
Suspension reversed: A routine scan of local court files unearthed a lawsuit against Syracuse University filed by an anonymous student. A member of the football team had been suspended from school for two semesters for being involved in a fight on campus. Breaking news reporter Anne Hayes teamed up with SU football writer Emily Leiker to figure out that the student was star running back LeQuint Allen. Leiker and Hayes pulled together a detailed chronology of the night that put Allen’s season in jeopardy. It appeared he was defending himself. Fans were outraged at the university’s rush to judgment. Two weeks later, the suspension was reversed. Allen went on to have a breakout season.
Micron’s impact: One reason Micron chose a site in Clay for its $100 billion complex of microchip plants was because it could deliver enormous amounts of water and power. In August, reporters Glenn Coin and Knauss revealed the estimated environmental impact has doubled from what Micron originally proposed. A new, $100 million water line from Lake Ontario would need to be built. But who will pay for it? Coin also fact-checked Micron’s estimates that it would create 50,000 jobs. Most of them will be in service industries and government.
Body camera missteps: In September, an Onondaga County Sheriff’s deputy shot and killed two teenagers in the back seat of a stolen vehicle. Even though the department is equipped with both body cameras and dashboard cams, neither was turned on at the time of the fatal shooting. Reporting by Hayes and Knauss revealed a series of mistakes, including vague department policies around turning on body and dash cams, and a missed chance by the previous sheriff to install holster sensors that would have automatically turned on the cameras when the deputy pulled his gun.
Lead and landlords: Michelle Breidenbach and Douglass Dowty showed that high-profile enforcement actions against landlords did little to reduce lead poisoning among Syracuse’s poorest tenants. They mined court and health records, then went door to door to find the impact on children trapped in dangerous housing.
Church and state: Newcomb reported on a new Baptist church with controversial views on gay rights holding worship services in Nottingham High School, in apparent violation of district rules. The uproar forced the Syracuse school board to clarify the building-use policy. Anybody who uses a school building will now need to adhere to the district’s code of conduct, which promotes inclusion.
Kueth Duany, left, and Tyrone Albright arrive for the premiere of “Will to Win,” a syracuse.com documentary about Syracuse basketball’s 2003 championship season at the Landmark Theatre Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Marilu Lopez FrettsMarilu Lopez Fretts
Syracuse.com also broke ground in 2023 by experimenting with other forms of storytelling. In March, we premiered “Will to Win,” a documentary film about the 2003 NCAA Championship season of the Syracuse University men’s basketball team. In November, the six-part, true-crime podcast series “Firecracker” delved into the mystery of Carol Ryan’s 1996 murder. We launched This is CNY, a website celebrating everything we love about this place, aimed at newcomers to our growing community.
We couldn’t do this work without the support of you, our readers and subscribers. Thank you for reading, watching and listening.
Our sincere wishes for a happy and healthy 2024.
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Editorials represent the collective opinion of the Advance Media New York editorial board. Our opinions are independent of news coverage. Read our mission statement. Members of the editorial board are Tim Kennedy, Trish LaMonte and Marie Morelli.
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