Headlines for Thursday, October 27, 2022

Republican Lee Zeldin’s campaign for New York Governor is drawing more criticism for potentially violating state election laws. The campaign continues to rake in large sums of “outside” political spending  totalling $11.8 million including nearly $9 million from conservative billionaire Ronald Lauder. According to a recording obtained by the Times Union, during a conference call, Zeldin seemed to encourage donors to give to outside groups, despite state laws that prohibit coordination between them and  political campaigns. The recording follows a complaint filed last week by the state Democratic Party and another filed Tuesday alleging coordination and improper sharing of personnel between the Zeldin camp and the PACs Save our State NY and Safe Together NY. FiveThirtyEight’s most recent weighted average polls show Zeldin making moderate gains on Hochul who most recently shows a 7.3 point lead on the Republican. 

Cornell’s exploration into heating its Ithaca campus using earth sourced, or geothermal heat has reached a new milestone. According to the Ithaca Times, drilling for the Cornell University Borehole Observatory or CUBO has finished drilling a nearly two-mile deep well to study the potential for large-scale use of geothermal heat. Early data obtained from study of the well has largely confirmed scientists assumptions about rock formations and other subterranean conditions where they found temperatures between 75 and 100 degrees celsius. The project is a centerpiece of Cornell’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2023. The university is hosting an in-person and online community forum about the project next Wednesday, November 3 at 5:30pm. 

Despite local enthusiasm for train service from Ithaca to New York City, a map purporting to show a route connecting Ithaca, Binghamton and Penn Station turns out to be a hoax. 14850 is reporting the map originated from the Buffalo Chronicle a satire site. Despite continued cargo rail service, Ithaca’s passenger rail service ended about 60 years ago.