Off-Track Betting could be coming to Onondaga County

Off-Track Betting is closer to becoming legal in Onondaga County. The Ways and Means Committee voted five to two in favor of putting it into place.

Legislator Mark A. Stanczyk is strongly against OTB, and he says it sets a bad example for people in the county. Stanczyk was one of two legislators who did not approve OTB.

Proponents of OTB think it will bring in extra revenue to Onondaga County. Stanczyk declined to comment on any positive effects OTB could bring to the county.

Team C Newscast 4:10 (April 28th)

I have to say things went pretty smoothly during our last newscast of the semester.

Click here to listen to newscast.


Starting off, Aylssa was my reporter and got her story approved early on Tuesday.


She spoke with someone from SEUNA and a woman who lives on Euclid Ave. about MayFest. Alyssa finished her wrap pretty early in the afternoon and helped me finish writing today's stories.

David was my anchor today, and he got off to a shaky start - he didn't have a phoner to start the afternoon, but eventually he ended up with two and another newscast ended up using his sound.

Originally, David called the DA's office about the Bass case, and waited for a call back from one of the assistant district attorneys. But, he also contacted a county legislator about the OTB proposal and got some great sound which he used for his anc/act. One of the DA's ended up calling him back and we used his sound in another story.

David and Alyssa did a great job finishing their stories on time, and we packed a lot into the newscast. As for my rundown, I think it flowed pretty smoothly and the stories grouped well together.

The trickiest part of the day was finding a second reporter, but Jake volunteered to go live in studio with five playbacks, which certainly did not make Ryan happy.

Overall, the newscast turned out great. I think we are really getting it. Too bad it is the last week!

April 28 Newscast B 4:00 pm

Today's newscast went okay, but could have been much better.

Click here to listen to newscast.

The two reporters, Jesse and Allie, had well written stories. Allie did a live foner from LeMoyne's baseball field, told us about the weather and the team's practice schedule. Jesse's Mayfest story described the Walnut scene well, and the SOT from Henry Lewis worked well with the story.

Timing during the newscast itself was a little off. We managed to get through all the stories, but had to say "now this" instead of teasing because we were not sure we'd be able to read the kicker. Eric was able to shorten the kicker but keep enough so listeners know what was going on. We also had time to do a medium weather and a short goodbye.

Working during the day was pretty calm. We were able to get stories from classmates and from the wires. It took Eric a little while to get a contact and a foner, but he manged to get in touch with someone.

I got very stressed at 3:30, 30 minutes before our newscast. Eric started writing his anc act and realized he had very poor audio quality that could not be used. He only had 20 minutes before he had to be in the hallway, and was not able to call anyone else for a SOT and have time to write a story. We had to make his story into a copy story and try to redistribute time to the other reporter's wrap and foner and add more to other copy stories to make up for the possible dead air.

This stressed me out during those thirty minutes and carried over into the newscast. I was frazzled and when I tried to call Allie from the studio it didn't go through, and had to hurry to get her the phone number to call us before we started, therefore we couldn't get her a mic check. Some of my redistribution of time was off, which caused us to have to use the "now this."

Unfortunately this newscast did not run as smoothly as I had hoped it would as my second, and last time producing. But it did give me an opportunity to try and work in a stressful situation for the first time.

Karl Bass Sentenced

A Syracuse man heard his fate in Onondaga County Court this morning after admitting he robbed an elderly woman back in January. Judge William Walsh sentenced Karl Bass to seven years in prison, despite Assistant District Attorney Mike Kasmarek asking for the maximum of ten years.

"Mr. Bass expressed some remorse about what he had done," said Kasmarek. "He asked the judge not to give him the top end of what he had committed to".

Bass admitted to robbing a 77-year-old woman outside of a pharmacy earlier this year, and then forcing her into her car to drive to an ATM to withdraw more money. Bass pleaded guilty in March to first-degree robbery, which gave him a minimum sentence of five years.

Bass offered an apology in court in front of some of the victim's family. Kasmarek said that while Bass did acknowledge his wrongdoing, his sentence is just.

"Punishing him and holding him accountable for his actions also ensures for at least the next seven years he's not in a position to do this to anyone else".

Le Moyne College Baseball in Syracuse Weather

The Le Moyne College baseball team won against the University at Buffalo Bulls at Dick Rockwell Field in typical spring Syracuse weather.

Though it was sunny, the wind was cold and strong. A few times during the game the ball looked like a definite home run, but only got caught in the wind for an out instead.

During batting practice, Coach Steve Owens said Tuesday’s weather forced the team to practice elsewhere.

“It’s the first time since January we’ve been inside,” he said.

But Owens said he wasn’t worried about the weather for the double header Wednesday.

“I mean, this is not ideal, but it’s certainly playable.”

Playable, yes, but the slick grass caused a lot of players to slip on the field when going for the ball.

Though many were bundled up in their winter coats and scarves, there were around 200 fans at the first game, which is a lot considering the seating in the small bleachers on either side of the field. Fans sat on the hill just off the field to watch the game as well.

Bill Mahoney is the father of Le Moyne’s third baseman Ryan Mahoney and says he thinks he and his wife have attended every home game this season. When asked if they would have come to the game if it were snowing, he laughed.

“Yes. Reluctantly, but yeah, we’d be here.”

Owens says Le Moyne doesn’t even start to play home games until April and the cold weather is nothing new, especially in Upstate New York.

“Everybody in the Northeast travels for the first five or six weeks of the season anyway,” he said. “I mean, we know we’re going to be on the road during that time, so it’s just part of what you do playing college baseball in the Northeast when the season starts February 18^th.”

The second game started around 3:45 p.m. The Dolphins scored two runs in the third inning and the bulls scored one in the sixth. The final score was Le Moyne 2, UB 1.

With a 24-23 record, Le Moyne will travel to number 10 Florida State Thursday for a stretch of three games throughout the weekend. Coach Owens says it won’t be easy.

“That’ll be the best opponent that we’ve probably played in seven or eight years.”

'Cuse Awards

The fourth annual 'Cuse Awards will be held tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at the Landmark Theater in Downtown Syracuse. The awards recognize achievements of Syracuse University student athletes and coaches. This past year for SU Athletics was the most successful in the history of Syracuse University.

This year, the 'Cuse Awards will be televised live on Time Warner Cable Sports. This is the first time that the Awards will be televised live. In previous years, they were aired on a delay. Director of multi-media services and the producer of the ‘Cuse Awards, Roger Springfield, said he thinks that airing the show live adds something to the show.

"The good thing about it is that this is the most successful year in Syracuse University Athletics history collectively with all the teams, so I think it's important to let the public look in on that," said Springfield. "It's great for the teams that don't get a lot of exposure during the year like field hockey or cross country to get a little love at this show."

No one outside of SU Athletics will be permitted to attend the event. With about 600 student athletes, coaches and staff members expected to attend the event, Springfield says that not tickets will be sold to the public.

"We've talked about it before with a lot of the students and they really don't want the public there," said Springfield. "They don't want to see people asking for autographs. I think they just want to keep it internal, and the TV part of it is what lets the public in."

Drumlins busy despite the weather

The Sun was out and the birds were chirping at Drumlins golf course this afternoon, but it didn't feel like the end of April. With the wind whipping around the course, it actually felt more like a crisp autumn afternoon.

When I went in the pro shop, Drumlins assistant golf pro Cody Endress was there. He said there were about 20 people out on the course. He told me he was surprised by the large turnout on such a chilly day, but said that compared to yesterdays awful weather, it was pretty nice outside.

"Once they get into the swing of things start playing if they have to take one day off, they kind of panic and think that their swing," Endress said, "they're gonna lose their swing or something so they come right out the next day."

SU Senior Albert Tirado was on the driving range getting ready to head out on the course. He says since classes are winding down and he's about to graduate, he's taking every opportunity to go out and play golf with his friends.

"It's a little chilly, but that doesn't bother us. Just out here swinging, swinging the clubs." Tirado said.

Walking around, it didn't seem like the rain or snow affected the course at all. In fact, the course looked beautiful.

"Its as dry as a bone" Endress said.