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Central New York Democratic State Sen. Rachel May has declared victory over Republican challenger Sam Rodgers in the 53rd state Senate race. May leads by more than 10,000 votes, with about 5,000 absentee ballots left to be counted. In a statement, May said she's grateful central New Yorkers voted decisively to give her a second term.

Meanwhile, Onondaga County started counting absentee ballots in the 50th state Senate race between Republican Angi Renna and Democrat John Mannion. Renna’s campaign has objected to nearly 500 ballots, over issues like time stamps of when ballots were received and matching signatures. A campaign has the right to make objections, but it’s raising some concerns.

Onondaga County has started testing children for COVID-19 in schools in the state designated “yellow zone,” created after a surge in coronavirus cases in recent weeks.

County Executive Ryan McMahon announced another 178 cases Thursday. There have been more than 500 cases this week. Being designated a yellow zone means added restrictions, like limited gatherings and earlier closing of bars and restaurants. 

Overnight on Friday, the New York State Thruway will make the switch to all cashless tolling. By Saturday morning, cameras mounted on steel gantries above the roadway will extract the tolls from E-ZPass accounts or send bills to motorists without one.

Cameras on 70 gantries at 58 locations on the Thruway will be turned on simultaneously early Saturday morning, and all of the remaining toll booths will shut down.

The Watertown City Council recently named a new city manager, ending a months-long search and, potentially, what has been a years-long saga to find a steady presence for that office.

Kenneth Mix, who has served as the interim city manager since January, will stay on the job for at least another two years - the longest contract Watertown's city charter permits. The council unanimously selected him for the role, citing the 30 years Mix has worked for the city, which includes time as the head of Watertown's planning department.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is imposing new restrictions on bars and restaurants and limiting the number of people at a home gathering to 10 or fewer, effective on Friday.

The governor said that it’s due to climbing rates of COVID-19 in New York as the nation breaks another record for the number of cases.

In New York, 2.9% of coronavirus tests were positive Tuesday, a rate that is nearly three times what it was for most of the summer and much of the fall. There are 1,628 people in the hospital for COVID-19, and 21 died of the disease on Tuesday.

Onondaga County continues to see a record number of COVID-19 cases. County Executive Ryan McMahon announced 222 new cases on Wednesday. Most of the cases are from community spread. Sixty-one are known, but in 80 cases, the sources are unknown. There were 30 household contacts, four travel cases, two in senior facilities and two in group homes.

Upstate Medical University in Syracuse is ramping up its COVID-testing regimen to help SUNY’s plans for mandatory testing of students in the coming weeks and months.

The City of Syracuse and parts of Onondaga County will have new restrictions put in place on Wednesday because of the area’s rising COVID-19 infection rate. The restrictions include new limits on bars, restaurants and an increase in school testing.

Onondaga County officials reported another 107 cases of COVID-19 Sunday, bringing the number of cases in just the last four days to nearly 500. 120 cases were reported Saturday, and 149 on Friday.

County Executive Ryan McMahon said Sunday that two county residents have died from the illness in the last 24 hours, a 91-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man. That brings the total number of deaths in the county to 214 since the pandemic began.

McMahon said in a tweet Sunday that Monday’s number will likely be high again.

Onondaga and Cayuga counties are delaying the start of counting absentee ballots until Tuesday. This comes after a court challenge by Republican state Senate candidate Angi Renna’s campaign.

Republicans did better than expected in central New York on Election Day, holding on to their congressional and state senate seat, for now, and making gains elsewhere. There are still 57,000 absentee ballots that need to be counted in Onondaga County, and Democrats have a 2-to-1 advantage.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he’d wait until after the general election before deciding how to close the state’s multibillion-dollar budget gap, hoping that Democratic wins for president and the U.S. Senate might lead to a larger federal relief package for blue states.

Now that Election Day has come and gone, and with the most likely scenario a President Biden but a Republican-led U.S. Senate, the governor and the State Legislature will have to soon make some big decisions. 

Onondaga County’s COVID 19 infection rate is over 2% for the first time since early summer, and recent daily case numbers have officials concerned.

After a record 99 new infections were reported a week ago, numbers started dropping a bit. But now the number of positive tests has returned with a vengeance. There were 94 cases reported Wednesday and 98 Thursday.

County Executive Ryan McMahon said Friday’s numbers are likely to be the highest since the pandemic began.

Onondaga County lawmakers begin working on a coronavirus pandemic-related budget this week. County Executive Ryan McMahon presented a spending plan Wednesday that reflects dramatic cuts in revenue, and what will ultimately be a smaller government.

The budget weighs in at $1.25 billion. That’s $84 million less than last year’s spending plan.

“It’s a budget that reflects the reality of our new normal,” McMahon said.