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Nursing homes in New York state can now allow more visitors in their facilities, after Gov. Andrew Cuomo, expanded the guidelines for visitations. Some state legislators say long-term reform of the nursing home industry is also needed.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his staff were in damage control mode Thursday as they faced two scandals: the governor’s handling of nursing home policies during the COVID-19 pandemic and the months-long suppression of the true number of residents’ deaths, and allegations that Cuomo sexually harassed a former staffer. 

Cuomo’s health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker, testified at a long-awaited legislative budget hearing. Zucker -- who had postponed his testimony, originally scheduled for three weeks ago -- appeared 2½ hours late. He immediately addressed the nursing home controversy.

The experience of Onondaga County during the pandemic is now part of the Congressional Record. County Executive Ryan McMahon provided lawmakers with a boots-on-the-ground insight during a congressional hearing Wednesday.

Two female former aides to Gov. Andrew Cuomo are accusing him of bad behavior, with one saying the governor sexually harassed her in incidents that included inappropriate touching and an invitation to play strip poker. Cuomo denies the allegations.

A group tasked with reimagining public safety in Ithaca and Tompkins County has submitted a draft set of recommendations including a proposal to abolish the Ithaca Police Department.

For a time in 2020, Gov. Andrew Cuomo was considered one of the heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic for his steady and focused daily briefings when national leadership was lacking.

But recently, the governor has suffered a reversal of fortune, as a scandal over the suppression of the number of nursing home deaths dominates news coverage of his administration. Additionally, a new poll finds the majority of New Yorkers now think the governor did something wrong.

It took three months after Election Day for Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-New Hartford) to be declared the winner, but the 22nd Congressional District now finally has representation in Congress. Tenney is serving her second term in office, after being unseated in 2018. She reflected on the frustrating legal process over the last few months, as well as the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump.

When it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine, doctors are often responsible for giving out information. But not everyone has a doctor they trust, especially in communities of color.

Jada Hamilton is a family physician and deputy medical director at Cornell Health. Hamilton, who is Black, spoke with Tompkins County residents during a Q&A session hosted by the county’s health department this month focused on concerns from people of color about the vaccine.

The Syracuse VA Medical Center is working on getting coronavirus vaccines to veterans in a 14-county area stretching from the North Country to the Southern Tier.

More than 6,000 eligible and enrolled veterans have already started the vaccination process; either at the Syracuse hospital, or clinics in Rome, Binghamton and Watertown. Syracuse VA Medical Center Director Frank Pearson said the VA has been expanding clinics since it started vaccinating vets against COVID-19.

Residents of nursing homes in New York state will be able to have visitors again, starting this Friday, Feb. 26, under new rules laid out by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state health officials.

State officials delayed reopening the nursing homes, closed to visitors since last March, until all the residents were offered a chance to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Currently, 73% of residents have now agreed to receive both doses. So far, 15,000 elderly residents in nursing homes or other long-term adult care facilities have died of COVID-19, the vast majority of them alone. 

A company out of Pulaski has been donating air purifiers to some Syracuse businesses hit hard by the pandemic. Restaurants in particular, hope this added safety measure lures more indoor diners downtown.

Two Democrats on the Syracuse Common Council will face off in a primary in June to determine who gets on the Democratic ballot line in the November race for mayor.

The Onondaga County Democratic Party threw its support behind councilor Michael Greene last week.  Councilor Khalid Bey gathered reporters days later to announce he wants that decision in the hands of voters.

On this week's episode of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher speaks with Ben Walsh. He's just begun his fourth year as Mayor of the city of Syracuse, and recently gave his State of the City address. Grant talks to Walsh about many of the topics that were in Walsh's wide-ranging address.   

Local health departments in New York state now have the discretion to determine how much space should separate children’s desks at school. That could mean a move towards more in-person learning.

The New York State Senate is poised to strip Gov. Andrew Cuomo of some of his emergency pandemic powers and add an oversight commission to review the decisions the governor makes. There’s growing support for the measure as Cuomo has said that he was wrong to withhold, for months, the true number of deaths from COVID-19 at the state’s nursing homes.

Onondaga County paid its two elections commissioners more than $15,000 each in unused vacation time. That’s because the county Legislature created new positions for the elections commissioners, in a class that won’t receive any cost of living or step increases. This came after the county executive vetoed an attempt by the Legislature to dock the pay of the commissioners by $7,000 in December. One legislator said it started as political retribution by the Republican-controlled Legislature against the Democratic elections commissioner.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has come under increasing fire for his administration’s decision to withhold for months the true number -- 15,000 -- of nursing home residents and other older adults in long-term care who died of coronavirus.

On Wednesday, in a phone briefing with reporters, the governor singled out Assemblyman Ron Kim, a Queens Democrat, who had an uncle die of COVID-19 in April in a nursing home in Flushing, one of the areas hardest hit by the virus when New York was at the epicenter of the pandemic.