Utica & CNY News Briefs

The hackathon started at MVCC in 2013 and still runs on local cybersecurity professionals, with a job fair built into the day, so it's a direct line between Utica-area students and the people hiring them.

As towns across the country argue over private plate-reader networks, Rome drivers now know who holds their data: the city police, for 90 days unless a case needs it.

The Legion hall doubles as Clark Mills' emergency shelter, and neighbors are still raising money for a standby generator there after last year's tornado.

Route 29 is Dolgeville's main road across East Canada Creek, so drivers can skip the detour well before Thanksgiving traffic instead of waiting until late November.

With winter setting in, a dog left outside without shelter can become an emergency fast, and knowing whether to call 911, the sheriff or a dog control officer gets help there sooner.

Sangertown is the Utica area's main indoor mall, so its holiday schedule and Santa dates set the plan for a lot of local shopping trips and family photos this season.

It links a busy stretch of Herkimer's main north-south road to the Sgt. Adam Cann and Bruno monument near Thruway Exit 30, one of the few memorials to military working dogs in the region.

All three spent their careers teaching at Mohawk Valley Community College, the school that trains much of the Utica-Rome workforce, and two are honored posthumously.

On Point helps Utica-area students, many from refugee families, get into and through college or job training, and this year's honorees include the partners behind the Cornhill revitalization work.

The county levy shows up on every property tax bill from Utica to Boonville, and it stays flat for 2027 while the rate per $1,000 drops about 6%.

Buttenschon has been the Albany voice for Utica, Rome and nearby towns for eight years, and veterans groups that worked with her will be looking to her successor to keep their issues on the table.

Anyone with an outstanding City of Utica warrant now has a scheduled, monthly way to see a judge without being picked up unexpectedly at work or a traffic stop.

It's one of the biggest housing projects planned for West Utica, and once the site is fenced and cleared, neighbors on Whitesboro Street will see the first real work after months of planning.

The answers feed the plan the region uses when it applies for state and federal money, so a few minutes now can shape which Utica-area projects get pitched for funding.

The museum stays open the whole time, so concerts, films and free Art Alive family days go on at 310 Genesee St. — just expect some construction on the ground floor through summer 2027.

Rabid animals have turned up this fall in Rome, South Utica, Vernon, Deansboro, Chadwicks and Westmoreland, so the risk isn't limited to rural back roads. A current rabies shot for your dog or cat is the simplest protection.

The Sheriff's Office patrols the towns around Utica that have no police of their own and runs the county jail, so the people steering the handoff shape how it runs from day one.

Veterans and families in Oneida, Herkimer, Madison and Otsego counties get a local team for outreach, peer support and help reaching mental health care, about 10 new staff positions based in Utica.

If you know a woman or girl in Oneida or Herkimer County who deserves a public thank-you, you have about a month to put her name in, and the event funds the YWCA's local domestic violence services.

The undersheriff is second in command at the Oneida County Sheriff's Office, which patrols the towns without their own police and runs the county jail, so this is the first look at who will lead it alongside Pearl.

Bald eagles nest along Oneida Lake, and this one went back to its home stretch of shoreline because the people who found it got it to wildlife care quickly.

The callers use the Whitesboro Police name, so people in the village have extra reason to believe them. Real officers never ask for gift cards.

If you live off East Dominick Street, seeing smoke near a manhole or your yard this week is expected — and smoke inside your house is a sign sewer gas can get in too.

Route 28 carries traffic between the Thruway and the village of Herkimer, so drivers using that stretch of Mohawk Street will be on a detour for three days, starting on Veterans Day.

The two-cow billboard has stood over Oriskany Boulevard since the 1950s and is one of the most recognizable roadside landmarks in the Utica area.

The county says the fox may have exposed numerous people, so anyone who handled it near Stevens Field last weekend should call before symptoms ever show up — rabies treatment works when it starts early.

St. Elizabeth is Utica's hospital-affiliated nursing school under Mohawk Valley Health System, and national accreditation is something students, employers and transfer schools look for.

The arterial (Routes 5/8/12) is the main north–south route through Utica, so late-shift workers and anyone driving through after dinner should plan on slowdowns for three nights.

Veterans Day in Utica runs from a 9:30 a.m. breakfast to a 6 p.m. puck drop, with a free family day and a 1,000-flag display in between. This puts the whole day in one place.

On Point for College runs a Utica office for local students working toward college, and this national honor for its founder will be presented here at home, at an event open to the public.

The bell once set the daily rhythm of mill life in the village, ringing workers in at 6 a.m. and kids home at 9 p.m. Now it sits where anyone walking Main Street can see it.

City of Oneida property owners are looking at a double-digit tax increase either way, and retirees could lose a benefit they planned around, so the Nov. 17 hearing is the time to weigh in.

Wynn is the downtown Utica hospital most of Oneida County now uses, and it climbed three spots from last year's eighth-place finish in the same public vote.

Nothing has been announced for the old IHOP building, but work is already happening inside it. Until a tenant is named, the most honest record of what this area wants, expects, and jokes about is the argument its neighbors are already having.

Five local owners, including a Clinton gift shop and a Utica-area farm that serves refugee families, get money for equipment that's often the hardest thing for a small business to finance.

Rome's Griffiss Business and Technology Park already draws defense research money through AFRL; a studio that works hands-on with founders is a bid to turn that research into companies that grow and hire here.

The old dump along the Mohawk River is one of Utica's state-listed hazardous waste sites, and finishing the cleanup is what opens the land to new commercial use, including the solar project the city has talked about.

If you attend Mass at any of these churches, expect fewer weekend Masses and new times in the new year, so check your parish bulletin before January.

All four projects protect the Mohawk River and its creeks, and the biggest one, $10 million for the Herkimer County Sewer District, pays for work Frankfort and Herkimer County ratepayers would otherwise face on their own.

It's the first Tully's in Oneida County, filling the long-empty Uno's building in the Orchard Shopping Plaza, and it's hiring now.

The sheriff runs the county jail, road patrols in towns without their own police and courthouse security, so a change at the top after 15 years affects every town in Oneida County.

The two-screen cinema has been dark since the July 2024 tornado; reopening brings regular movies back to West Dominick Street, a block still waiting on many businesses to return.

Heavy computing work that used to mean renting time elsewhere or waiting days on a laptop can now run on the SUNY Poly campus, which helps the college pitch itself to researchers and AI-minded students in the Mohawk Valley.

The 119th covers Utica, Rome and nearby Oneida County towns, so Gentile will be the Albany voice for much of the Mohawk Valley after Marianne Buttenschon's retirement.

For Utica renters and landlords, whether the city opts into the state's Good Cause law decides how much protection tenants have at lease renewal and how much flexibility local landlords keep on rent.

Wynn is the region's main birthing hospital, so families expecting a baby this winter, and grandparents planning to visit, should know who can come in before heading downtown.

It's the second rabid raccoon reported in southern Oneida County in a month, after one in Deansboro in October, so it's a good time to check that your dog's or cat's rabies shot is current.

Route 29 is Dolgeville's main east–west road and the crossing over East Canada Creek, so drivers through the village will be on a detour until late November.

The New Hartford Shopping Center loses a tenant it has had since 1987. Customers with repairs, layaways or warranties there will be served from the West Dominick Street store in Rome.

Mohawk Valley residents can now train for dental hygiene close to home, in a field MVCC says faces a shortage as hygienists retire.

Turning Stone is one of the region's biggest employers and draws visitors from across Central New York, so anyone heading to the casinos, the Lake House or a SavOn store this week should bring cash.

Veterans in Oneida and Herkimer counties who are homeless or about to lose housing have a Utica-based place to turn for help through September 2027.

Utica residents may see drones over emergency calls and house fires for the next three months. Flight records are open to the public, and the city wants to take the program countywide with a state grant.

A bigger commission means more seats for residents who want a say in Ilion's parks and rec programs, and the board could settle it the same night.

It's a test of how Marcy handles battery storage after the town weighed a moratorium on large solar and battery projects this spring. Neighbors near River Road and the firefighters who would answer a call there have the most at stake.

These stretches cover the Utica (31) and Verona (33) interchanges, so commuters heading to Rome, Herkimer or Turning Stone this week should allow extra time in daytime hours.

A win at Auburn on Friday sends Whitesboro to the Section III Class A final, the next step toward a state playoff run the Warriors made in both 2023 and 2024.

If you hold a DiCastro's gift certificate or want one more wood-fired pie, November is the last month to use it.

The former Hummel's Office Supplies building has a new use, and the market gives local antique dealers, collectors and artists a year-round place to sell.

Four employers, from a state prison in Marcy to Oneida County's family services department, are hiring in person this month, and the free civil-service workshops explain the state's fast-track NY HELPS hiring.

The vote decides whether the flood-damaged Staley school comes down, Clough gets a gym and auditorium, and the shuttered RFA grandstand is rebuilt; the last public information night is Nov. 17.

Indium is one of the region's best-known manufacturers, and the Chamber's top honor weighs community service alongside business results.

Flushing runs overnight in nearly every Ilion neighborhood, so morning tap water may come out brown; check before you start laundry.

Students can't sit for a New York science Regents exam without 1,200 minutes of documented lab work, so teachers who make up missed lab time keep RFA students on track to graduate.

These pump stations keep Rome's sewers moving, and one of them will serve the Chobani plant on Perimeter Road.

Many fire companies and ambulance squads in the towns and villages around Utica run on volunteers, and this puts more money back in their pockets at tax time.

This is the program that sent $10 million to Rome's waterfront and $4.5 million to Utica's Uptown District, so another village or city in Oneida or Herkimer County could be next.

The list is a who's who of people running the region's nonprofits, newsrooms, banks and cultural groups, and a handy map of who to call when you need help in the community.

Herkimer County nonprofits, schools, towns and churches doing non-religious work have one month to ask for up to $15,000, and local food pantries are already getting holiday money.

Utica's Arts District gains a late-night spot built around local artists, and the business helps fund a mural nonprofit that has been putting large murals on area buildings all year.

The case tests whether the City of Utica can discipline workers who are certified to use medical cannabis without showing they were impaired on duty, a question that reaches beyond the fire department.

The 200 block of Genesee Street is the heart of downtown Utica, and a smell of gas anywhere nearby should be reported right away to 911 or National Grid.

With no school night to cut it short, more kids will be out longer on Utica and Rome streets, especially in neighborhoods that already draw big groups.

The cards end up at Legion and VFW posts, nursing homes and senior centers across Oneida County, so the vets in your own town are likely to get one before Nov. 11.

Anyone who's hunted for a spot in the village gets a say: the answers feed a village parking study that could change where parking goes and how it's regulated.

The money stays local with the Mohawk Valley Health System, and it came from the people who run New Hartford's town offices, not a big campaign.

If you have a kid in Rome schools, expect more group problem-solving, discussion and goal-setting in class this year, not a new subject or extra homework.

Cold weather is weeks away, and this is a free, once-a-month source of coats and bedding for Rome families, open to anyone with a referral or an EBT card.

This locks in Rome's city spending and tax picture for 2027: no increase for property owners, but about $3.5 million drawn from savings to get there.

The gift funds Kelberman's Utica Self Advocates group, a local program run with and for adults with autism and other developmental disabilities.

A generation of kids learned to draw from Pappy Drew-It on public TV, and the man behind him grew up here: born in Utica and a Whitesboro High School graduate.

Utica's long-running neighborhood businesses rarely get grant money aimed at them; this round is only for shops that have been in the city at least 25 years, and the window is about four weeks.

The county Sheriff's Office covers towns across the Utica area, and the honor points to two local moments residents remember: the 2024 Clark Mills tornado and this spring's threats at Clinton Middle School.

Washington Mills has been without a neighborhood pharmacy since its Rite Aid closed about a year ago, so this brings a pharmacy back to the hamlet.

Pay lines like the clerk's and the town attorney's are among the few places the board can still adjust before the Nov. 10 vote sets what Lee spends in 2027.

Any registered Oneida County voter can use any of the four sites, so you can vote near work in Utica or New Hartford instead of waiting for your home poll site on Nov. 3.

Route 26 is a main north–south road between Vernon and Oriskany Falls, so drivers heading that way should plan another route until mid-November.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, and these are the races on most Utica-area ballots, from Congress down to the county sheriff and clerk.

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, with trunk-or-treats across the Mohawk Valley all week, so more kids are out on the roads while police watch for impaired drivers.

It was the only Mohawk Valley award in this round, and it goes to a Utica pantry at a time when families are watching SNAP cuts closely.

A BJ's with a gas station would reshape the old Macy's end of Sangertown and add traffic on Seneca Turnpike, and this is a meeting residents can attend.

The ruling settles, for now, who runs fire protection in Poland: the volunteer company stays sidelined and the Poland Joint Fire District stays in charge.

Families with a child turning 5 by Dec. 1, 2027 get ten chances, at ten Utica elementary schools, to learn how kindergarten registration works before fall 2027.

It's a step toward putting new housing on part of the old Utica State Hospital grounds, and it targets two of the city's tightest needs: affordable apartments and supportive housing.

The country's most famous Christmas tree is coming from about 25 miles south of Utica, and it will light up on national TV Dec. 2.

A study is the step that turns merger talk into real numbers on cost, coverage and officer pay, and local officials have said voters would make the final call on any consolidation.

Clinton-area families get a free summer option for kids in grades 3 to 6, and town property owners are looking at a small tax cut if the preliminary budget holds.

Walk-in patients in the Oneida area can now get an X-ray at the same visit instead of being sent elsewhere, and the new site has more parking.

The Utica-area bowling hall has inducted members since 1968, and this class brings its roll to 281 local bowlers.

East Utica blocks gain shade and curb appeal, and the running count of 184 trees shows how far one volunteer project has gone toward greening city streets.

It gives downtown Utica another option for weddings, showers and company parties, run by a family that has catered locally for more than 30 years.

It's a rare tally of who's actually earning patents here, and most of the honorees live in Utica, Rome, New Hartford and nearby towns and work at local employers like Indium, ANDRO and the Air Force Research Lab.

For older homeowners, a raked yard before snow is a real safety and money issue, and the county keeps phone lines open for both seniors who need help and groups that want to volunteer next time.

The mayor's plan keeps Rome's property tax rate flat, and the council can trim it but can't add to it, so these line items are where any changes for 2027 will come from.

Rome Health is one of about 80 Oneida and Lewis county businesses that hire people with disabilities through The Arc, and the program offers employers free on-the-job training support.

Fire, police and EMS crews from around the Mohawk Valley get singled out by name for their work, and it's worth knowing whether someone from your own department is on the list.

Proctor parents should watch for the district's new dismissal plan, which follows a week that already had threat scares at other area schools.

Two of the schools are in Utica and two are in the Town of Whitestown. Investigators are still working to find out whether the caller is local.

Momo is one of the cubs born at the Utica Zoo in 2025, so this weekend is the last chance for local families who watched him grow up to see him in Utica.

All three systems are big local employers, and the money can pay tuition and wage subsidies, which means more paid paths into hospital jobs in Utica, Rome and Cooperstown.

Nearly 450 properties just north of Rome would each pay about $950 a year whether or not they hook up, so the vote decides a long-term bill as well as clean water.

The Marcy site has room for two more chip plants next to Wolfspeed, and county leaders say a new tenant could mean up to 5,000 jobs. Nothing is signed yet.

It's a chance to take ceramics, drawing or knitting downtown this fall, and kids' classes and need-based scholarships are part of it.

New Hartford town taxpayers will owe about $224,000 less in total town property tax next year, even as spending rises about $1.8 million.

Early voting opens Saturday, Oct. 24, so anyone still waiting on a mailed ballot has nine days of in-person options plus Election Day.

Three elementary schools in two districts were hit on the same morning; police found nothing, but parents in Utica and Whitesboro may hear more as the investigation continues.

It's a free, no-jury-fee chance for Mohawk Valley artists and craftspeople to show — and sell — work in a college gallery through the holiday shopping season.

It's a specific, priced way to help Utica kids and families this season, with partial sponsorships for anyone who can't cover a whole share.

Indium is one of the region's longtime manufacturers, and this is a direct link between Micron's chip plans and a plant in Oneida County, not just the Clay megafab.

Utica's Wynn Hospital and Rome's hospital can use the money to pay tuition and wages for local workers training toward licensed jobs, a path into health care that doesn't start with a big tuition bill.

The tree that stood in Veterans Park is gone, so this year's city tree has to come from someone's yard — maybe yours.

No appointment means one less phone call standing between you and a yearly screening — and the clinic is on a route a lot of people already drive.

Families in the city of Rome who need help with Christmas gifts for their kids have until Nov. 8 to get on the list, and it's free.

This committee picks which Uptown projects compete for Utica's $4.5 million state NY Forward award, and anyone can still pitch one until Nov. 6.

The beds go to local children who don't have one of their own, and families in the area can apply for free.

Marcy gets few new places to eat; this one is planned for an existing family spot just off River Road.

The money supports pediatric equipment, programs and therapy at Mohawk Valley Health System, Utica's hospital system.

It was the Utica area's IHOP; the nearest remaining ones listed are in Clay, Albany and Clifton Park.

If you hand in only one sheet, only the races on that sheet are counted, and town and judicial contests sit on the second one.

If you live in the city of Oneida and park on the street, you need an off-street spot for overnight before the first real snow.

Holy Cross parishioners will worship at St. Mark on Keyes Road, and a large church building on Coventry Avenue is headed for sale.