Morning Edition

Watertown officials recently broke ground on a new pool in Thompson Park, but the project's future is already uncertain.

Mayoral candidate Jeff Smith says as he knocks on doors in the final weeks of the campaign season, one of the top issues for voters is the new $3.1 million pool, which the Watertown City Council approved in August in a narrow 3-2 vote. Smith has long been an opponent to the idea and says if elected, he would consider stopping the project when he takes office in January.

The developer of a proposed 3.8 million square foot distribution facility in the Town of Clay, is now seeking $70 million in tax breaks from the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency, after the cost of the project increased. At a public hearing Tuesday, local residents voiced concerns with the project, many pertaining to the environment. 

The state’s new early voting system doesn’t begin until Saturday, but some lawmakers and voting rights advocates already want changes to the law.

New York Attorney General Tish James led off a rally in New York City to bring attention to the new law, which permits nine additional days for voters to cast a ballot.

“Starting this Saturday, New Yorkers can now vote early for the first time,” James said to cheers.

The initiative to end the AIDS epidemic in New York state by the end of 2020 is making progress. New data shows new HIV diagnoses last year dropped 11%. But while the instance of the disease is trending down, there are still some challenges to reaching that goal in central and northern New York.

The two biggest reasons for a decrease in HIV diagnoses, according to ACR Health Executive Director Wil Murtaugh, is the use of an HIV prevention medication called PrEP, as well as successful medications that reduce the viral load of individuals who are HIV positive.

The amount of water that officials on the International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board are releasing from Lake Ontario into the St. Lawrence River continues to be above the usual outflows for this time of year. That's due to the fact that lake levels are still over the so-called trigger levels in the government's water management, called Plan 2014. When those levels are exceeded, the Board can deviate from the Plan, allowing for more water to be pushed into the river.

Updated at 3:00 p.m. Monday

The Syracuse Common Council has voted to expand its sidewalk snow removal program from 20 to 38 miles. The measure passed 7-1. This will be the first full season of the pilot program, which started in January. The city has budgeted out $250,000 for a private company to run the program. 

On Election Day, voters in the city of Syracuse will decide who will draw the political lines that define Common Council districts in the future. Proposition One, if approved, will take the task out of the hands of politicians.

District lines haven’t changed in Syracuse in two decades, and Common Council President Helen Hudson said things have changed over that 20 years.

"We have districts that have influx of populations. I didn’t know the southside of Syracuse has a big Haitian population," Hudson said. "So we have populations that haven’t been taken into consideration."