As most Cornell students have left the Ithaca area until spring, coronavirus cases have dwindled on campus — but across Tompkins County and throughout the nation, case numbers are soaring to record highs.
10 to 15 Cornellians have signed up to work as Tompkins County poll workers this year, a number significantly higher than the typical one to two per election.
The race for New York’s 23rd Congressional District turned to mudslinging last week as incumbent Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) accused his opponent, Tracy Mitrano J.D. ’95, of running an “anti-police campaign,” despite Mitrano’s multiple assertions that she is a supporter of law enforcement and against defunding the police. This is the second election where Mitrano and Reed are facing off for the western New York congressional seat. The change in tone comes as protests against police violence and, this weekend, protests in support of police, sweep Ithaca. The accusation came after revelations that an organizer with the Mitrano campaign posted the following on Instagram: “Fuck Tom Reed, fuck cops, fuck capitalism, fuck Trump.” Reed campaign communications director Abbey Daugherty called the comments “hateful and offensive” and claimed them as proof that “what truly motivates Mitrano [is] … a hatred of our law enforcement community and our capitalist system.”
Mitrano said that she only met the organizer once and that “the statements made in the post do not in any way represent me or my values,” in an Oct.
“Unemployment insurance is only a partial replacement for lost wages; if the worker doesn’t make a living wage to begin with, unemployment isn’t nearly enough.”
There are now 76 active COVID-19 cases in Tompkins County. The health department stated that many new cases are occurring without a known source or cluster, meaning COVID-19 is likely spreading throughout the community.
Ithacans are calling for a decrease in funding for the Ithaca Police Department. A letter addressed to Mayor Svante Myrick ’09, members of the Ithaca Common Council and representatives of a broad racial justice coalition and Ithaca-area residents calls for an 80 percent decrease in IPD’s funding.
Critical to Cornell’s ability to reopen safely is its surveillance testing program, which subjects everyone on campus to regular COVID-19 tests. What does the data from this testing say about where Cornell stands?