Oswego, NY — The world’s plastic pollution problem may now have a solution.

According to an article released in the academic journal “Science”, Japan may have discovered a plastic eating bacteria strain.

This bacteria strain can break down the most common plastic, called Polyethylene Terephthalate. It is often found in packaged bottled drinks, household cleaners, and beauty cosmetics. These items can be completely broken down by the strain.

The bacteria strand could mean good news for the environment because about a third of all plastic packaging does not end up in recycling; it ends up out in the environment. According to a report by the World Economic Forum, by 2050 more plastic will be in the oceans than fish.

Written By: Kirby Socker

Oswego, N.Y. –  Local hotspot, River’s End bookstore, is located in downtown Oswego at 19 West Bridge Street. Housing a collection of approximately 12,000 books, the store has a variety of genres and can special order books for customers, or offer online purchasing options.

All of this is an effort to provide stellar service and “to make a life time customer” according to owner Bill Reilly.

River’s End Bookstore holds Story Time on Tuesdays, collaborations with other local businesses and the campus, and book release parties.  They also sell large quantity books to places like the hospital, as well as carry items like apparel, colored pencils, and greeting cards.

The store is open seven days a week, Monday-Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, you can visit their website www.riversendbookstore.com or you can call (315)342-0077.

Written By: Kristen Beyer

Oswego, NY — The Reagan’s journey from Hollywood to the White House has come to a close.

Former First Lady, Nancy Reagan passed away Sunday morning at 94-years-old. According to her spokeswoman, Joanne Drake, Reagan died of congestive heart failure in her Los Angeles home.

Former President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan met in Hollywood and were married March 4^, 1952. During her years in the White House Reagan was the anti-drug campaign’s “Just say no” spokeswoman. Reagan was a fierce protector of her husband both during his presidency and after. During the attempted assassination of President Reagan, Nancy Reagan never left her husband’s side and took care of him during his battle with Alzheimer’s.

Former first lady, Nancy Reagan was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987 and had a mastectomy. When asked in 2001 by CNN’s Larry King if she thought that fate had treated her badly, she said “No, no. When you balance it all out, I’ve had a pretty fabulous life.”

Reagan will be buried next to her husband at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. According to a statement, in lieu of flowers, the former first lady requested for contributions to be made to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Foundation.

Written By: Kirby Socker

Prince William, Virginia — Prince William County Police Department in Virginia is mourning the loss of an officer today.

Ashley Guindon was killed in the line of duty on her first day. Guidon was sworn in on Friday and was answering a domestic violence house call when she was shot.

Ronald Williams Hamilton shot and killed Guindon and injured two other officers. Hamilton’s wife, Crystal Hamilton, was already dead when police arrived. Hamilton surrendered to back up officers who arrived after he shot the original three officers.

Hamilton is charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of malicious wounding of a police officer, one count of capital murder of a police officer, and two counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony.

Hamilton’s arraignment is scheduled for Monday and he is currently being held without bond.

Written By: Kirby Socker

OSWEGO, N.Y. — Beloved “To Kill a Mockingbird” author Harper Lee was laid to rest Saturday afternoon.  Lee’s ceremony was small and private, with just her family and close friends present.

Lee’s longtime friend Wayne Flynt gave the eulogy at the ceremony. The eulogy Flynt gave was from the speech he wrote in 2006 when Lee won the Birmingham Pledge Foundation Award for her work with racial justice. Lee requested to Flynt that he read the speech as her eulogy.

Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, published in 1960, was an American classic dealing with race in a small southern town. A part of Lee’s book was pulled from her childhood. Her book won the Pulitzer Prize.

Many people have been moved by the loss of Lee, including author John Green and Apple’s CEO Tim Cook. Harper Lee was 89-years-old.

Written By: Kirby Socker

Hearing is about to get a little clearer in Oswego.

SUNY Oswego is upgrading some of its major venues on campus to be more hearing aid friendly. The college is installing hearing loops, which will minimize reverberations and ambient noise. The hearing loops will be compatible with newer models of cochlear implants as well as most digital hearing aids.

Although SUNY Oswego is only upgrading a few locations at the moment, the college hopes to install the system at other locations on campus in the future.

A few of the locations getting the upgrade are the Marano Campus Center, Sheldon Ball Room and the new Waterman Theatre.

Written By: Kirby Socker

OSWEGO, N.Y. – The SUNY Oswego student that was arrested for raping another student two weeks ago has been formally charged. Adarsha Budhathoki was charged with third-degree rape, second-degree unlawful imprisonment and third-degree sexual abuse.

The incident was reported to University Police by the victim on Oct. 25. Budhathoki was arrested four days later. The two individuals that were involved in this case were acquaintances. It has been reported that there were no drugs or alcohol involved in this incident.

Budhathoki was a resident of Cayuga Residence Hall. The rape took place in Funnelle Residence Hall. He allegedly restrained the victim, not allowing her to leave the room. He also committed other sexual acts and consent was not given.

In response to the incident, an email was sent from SUNY Oswego President, Deborah Stanley, to the students. The email informed students what happened on campus and directed students where they can find more information about Title IX.

Re: Krystal Cole

Senator Schumer announced yesterday that the U.S. department of Health and Human Services will be allocating over $326 million to the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP).

Many New York residents rely on this service to pay their heating bills during the winter.

Schumer and Gillibrand pushed to have the highest level of funding possible given to this program. Schumer says that this decision will force fewer people to decide between food and heat this winter. The senators say that October marks the beginning of the heating season.

HEAP helps hundreds of thousands of seniors and low income families, according to Schumer.

Originally Written By: Krystal Cole

Local Rite Aids may be changing their names soon after Walgreens announced today they are buying Rite Aid in a $17.2 billion deal.

If the deal gets approval from the antitrust review, the second and third largest pharmacy companies will combine and surpass the current number one, CVS.

Rite Aid stores will keep their names for right now, but they eventually will change. The consolidation of the two stores is just another change that the health care industry is changing due to Obama Care.

If approved that would mean Walgreens will have more than 13,000 stores in the U.S alone. In recent years, Walgreens has been buying up other chains, such as Duane Reade in 2010 and the European pharmacy chain Boots Alliance, last year. Walgreens currently is in 11 different countries.

Written By: Kirby Socker

The New York State Police are asking the public to keep an eye out for 15-year-old Allison Fletcher. She is believed to be around the Fort Drum area.

Fletcher was last seen walking away from Solvay High School before 7 a.m. on October 1. She is described as 5-foot-3-inches tall and 115 pounds with blue eyes and red hair. She was last seen wearing a red and white jacket, green sneakers, and dark pants while wearing a zebra-striped backpack.

If anyone has any information, contact Watertown Sate Police at (315) 782-2112.

Reported By: Jessica Kisluk

*UPDATE* Allison Fletcher was found today, October 21, and was returned to her family.

On Monday, SUNY Oswego students were subjected to some unusual surprise when a “preacher man” took over their quad and said what some students claimed were “offensive remarks and beliefs”.

Jim Deferrio, a middle aged man, was seen holding a sign preaching on the SUNY Oswego quad a variety of different ultra-religious phrases other remarks unpopular on a liberal public campus.

Students grouped around Deferrio and gave their input before he was asked to leave by University Police, but soon was allowed to come back on campus as it is considered a public university.

Many students expressed their displeasure to the man and on various sources of social media, calling the man “homophobic” and claiming that his messages were “hateful”.

According to several different sources, Deferrio has been known to go to different colleges and university preaching a similar message.

Whatever his message may have been, he certainly raised a stir on the quad and on the SUNY Campus.

Originally Reported By Chelsey Moore

A Chicago boy accidently shot and killed his 3-year-old brother while playing with his father’s illegal gun on Sunday. The boys were playing a common game known as “cops and robbers” and got ahold of their father’s gun who told officials was given to him illegally by a gang member in Chicago.

The boy was rushed to the hospital but later died.

Police arrested the boys’ father, 25-year-old Michael Santiago, on a felony charge of child endangerment. The gun was reportedly bought off the street, kept on top of the refrigerator wrapped in pajama pants, and was shown to the oldest son. Being a former gang member himself, the father kept the gun for protection after he knowingly snitched on another gang member in a murder trial.

Santiago is represented by the county’s public defender and has bail set at $75,000.

A man was found in criminal condition Sunday morning after he was pinned under a car after an 11-car crash in Syracuse.

Emergency responders rushed to Interstate 81 south around 5:43 a.m after several callers reported the crash just past the Interstate 690 eastbound split.

Sgt. David Sackett, of the Syracuse Police Department says that the first car involved in the crash was taxicab, followed by 10 more cars. One out of the 11 drivers was pinned under a vehicle, suffering a serious head injury.

Written By: Christina Galvin

Syracuse Police are investigating after one person is reported dead and another suffered a leg injury in a shooting near a home on Hope Avenue in Syracuse Wednesday evening.

According to reports, two suspects dumped their car and fled into Oakwood Search resulting in what is being considered an active search and homicide investigation.

Because of the closeness to the school, Syracuse University issued an Orange Alert which warned students of the off-campus investigation and recommended that they stay indoors and not let anybody in.

As of 10:56 PM, the Alert was lifted, but authorities still have not been able to find the suspects, who shot at two police officers in two separate encounters.

No officers have been reported injured at this time.

Last night marked the first of many Democratic Presidential Debates in which Hillary Clinton surprised many with her professional and poised approach.  Along with candidates Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee.

Clinton has been listed as the frontrunner for the Democratic side of the Presidential Race for some time now, but candidate Bernie Sanders’ recent uprising in the polls has given her campaign some fits.

Many were excited and curious to see how Sanders would be in the debate, and he stayed true to himself, being the ultra-progressive, almost revolutionary candidate that many Democratic voters have fallen in love with.

The major piece to take from this debate is the overall sense of unity of the candidates that was not seen in the Republican Debate.  For the most part, all five candidates agreed on the same set of principles including higher taxes on the wealthy and stricter gun regulations.  Where they did differ is on their plans on how to achieve their goals.

Overall, Clinton seemed to show off her confidence as being the frontrunner, whereas Bernie Sanders stuck with his radical approach that may have won him a couple voters.  While we do not know for sure who will emerge from the Democratic Party for President, what we can be sure of is that it will be an election for the ages.

Mighty Taco will be making an appearance again in Central New York.

Last Friday, Mighty Taco announced on Facebook that they will be opening a new location in Cicero, NY. The food chain will be taking the place of an old Tim Horton’s.

Mighty Taco is a Mexican style restaurant that started in the city of Buffalo in 1973 and it has been a fan favorite ever since it started and has spread out to, with the addition of this new location, 24 locations.

Mighty Taco is primarily based around the Buffalo area and western New York, and the new location will now be the farthest east of any of the other Mighty Taco locations. It is also the second time the franchise tried starting up in the Syracuse area.

The last time Mighty Taco was in the Syracuse area was when it had a location in Carousel Center, now known as Destiny USA.

Given the continuous growth, Mighty Taco believes they are now ready to take on the challenge of starting up in Syracuse.

College students that are also volunteer firefighters have the ability to receive tuition reimbursements in New York State. Assemblyman Will Barclay calls this a “relatively new program” offered through the Fireman’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY).

The National Fire Prevention Association has estimated that roughly one hundred thirty nine billion dollars annually are saved by volunteer firefighters stepping up.

Barclay hopes that this program will encourage more students to become volunteers. The deadline for this semester’s program was recently extended to Oct. 16.

Volunteer firefighters attending college can apply online at http://www.fasny.com/index.php/resources/fasny-help/ or by emailing HELP@fasny.com, Attn: John D’Alessandro, Deputy Volunteer Programs Coordinator. Students can also call FASNY toll free at (855) 367-6933.

One is dead and three are wounded after a confrontation outside of a residence hall causes a student to shoot four people in what has been the second reported “mass” shooting in a month.

18-year-old Steven Jones produced a handgun and shot four students after it is reported that two groups of males took part in a fight outside one of the residence halls.

The Arizona Board of Regents prohibits people from carrying guns around campus, but they are allowed to stow them in their cars.

This incident comes on the same day that President Barack Obama was scheduled to meet with families of the victims of the events at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, a shooting which took place just 8 days ago.

In a statement President Obama made regarding Oregon, he said “Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine.”

For many that hear about these two school shootings in 8 days, it is hard to think of it as anything but routine.

Chris Mintz.

That is the name of the student at Umpqua Community College who was shot five times in his attempt to save others from a gunman who went on a shooting rampage on the school’s campus.  During the aftermath of the horrific shooting at the College, participants on social media have called for the widespread recognition of Mintz while stressing the importance of not popularizing the shooter.

The shooter has been identified as 26-year-old Christopher Harper Mercer, and the father of one of the victims said that during the shooting, Mercer intentionally targeted Christians.  While it is unclear why he targeted the college specifically, it was reported that he went into at least two different classrooms.

A total of ten people were killed during the incident, with seven others reported as injured. The father of one of the victims stated that the gunman went into the classroom, and said (to the professor) “I’ve been waiting to do this for years” and then shot the professor point blank.  Other reports say that he ordered “Christians” to stand up and then would shoot them when they emerged.

The gunman was reported dead earlier Thursday.

Chris Mintz is a 30-year-old military veteran and student of Umpqua Community College.  According to claims, he attempted to block the door to prevent the gunman from coming into the classroom, and was shot three times.  He then looked up at the gunman and stated “It’s my son’s birthday today”, to which he was shot at least two more times.  While it is still unknown exactly how many times he was shot, it is reported that both of his legs are broken.  He remains in stable condition at Mercy Medical Center.

President Barack Obama released a statement after the incident in which he indirectly pushed for stricter gun control laws, stating, “Somehow this has become routine,” he said. “The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine, the conversation in the aftermath of it. We’ve become numb to this.”

This incident is just one of the many that continue to seem more and more common in the United States.

In situations like this, it is important to publicize not the gunman, but the heroes like Chris Mintz.

*Quotes recorded from CNN.com*