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GREAT PLANS START
WITH WEEKEND!
INSIDE
SYMPHORIA
KICKS OFF
2013 WITH
A CASUAL
CONCERT
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FORMER C-NS STAR
BREANNA STEWART WILL
FACE SU ON SATURDAY
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SYRACUSE
AP
Cabinet departure:
Interior Secretary
Ken Salazar (above)
announced Wednesday
he plans to resign his
Cabinet post and return
to Colorado. A-13
NATION
MINER SEEKS
4 MORE YEARS
OBAMA CALLS
ON CONGRESS
TO TOUGHEN
GUN LAWS
WITH NO OPPONENT AS YET AND AN ENROLLMENT EDGE, MAYOR’S
TOUGHEST CHALLENGE COULD BE CITY’S FISCAL CRISIS
Perfect score:
Chittenango High
School graduate Dan
Hanggi, now at Cornell
University, is one of
six students worldwide
who turned in a perfect
test on the calculus
Advanced Placement
exam he took in May.
A-3
Station may close:
Syracuse officials
consider closing the
fire station at 1039 E.
Fayette St. A-3
BUSINESS
INDEX
Business........................... A-12
Classified ........................... C-4
Comics/Puzzles .............. C-8,9
Legal notices...................... C-6
Letters ............................. A-15
Local news ...... A-2-4,6,7,9,16
Obituaries...................A-10,11
Sports................................ B-1
Television............................C-2
World & Nation................ A-13
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Plan includes ban on assault
weapons, limits on high-capacity
magazines, expanded
background checks
McClatchy-Tribune News Serviice
LOCAL
Check this deadline:
People who receive
Social Security and
other federal benefit
payments by paper
check face a March 1
deadline to convert to
direct deposit. A-12
3
Dennis Nett/The Post-Standard
SYRACUSE MAYOR Stephanie Miner, announces her candidacy for re-election at the Inner Harbor.
By Michelle Breidenbach
Staff writer
Syracuse Mayor Stephanie
Miner said Wednesday she would
run for a second term, giving herself a head start in the 2013 election and at the same time acknowledging tough times ahead for a city
in fiscal crisis.
Miner, a Democrat, chose the
cold winter shore of the Syracuse
Inner Harbor to announce that she
is a candidate for re-election. Her
theme was “leadership matters,”
but she called on the collective
strength and toughness of the people of Syracuse to keep reaching
for a brighter future.
“The greatness of Syracuse is
in its people,” she said. “It’s in us.
We struggle together. We dream
together. We work together. We
succeed together, and we know that
together we can realize an even
greater potential, and that’s what
inspires me every day.”
Miner said she has been tested
every day in her three years as
mayor. She noted multimillion dollar budget gaps and dwindling state
and federal resources.
The next mayor will inherit a
city in fiscal crisis. The city faces
an estimated deficit of $25 million this year, she has said.
She also highlighted progress
Go to syracuse.com/videos
to see more of Mayor
Miner’s announcement.
made during her term. She noted
downtown development, new apartments, hotels, shops and Broadway
shows. She said the city has
renovated four schools. She talked
about the new partnership between
the city and county governments
that resulted in sales tax sharing
that is favorable to the city.
Miner staged her announcement
at the Inner Harbor to showcase its
redevelopment.
COR Development Co. is
GOP, PAGE A-8
Washington — Pledging to “put
everything I’ve got into this,” a somber
President Barack Obama challenged
Congress on Wednesday to approve an
extensive package of gun control proposals that he said would help prevent
mass shootings and reduce the epidemic
of gun violence.
The president’s response to the
December massacre at a Connecticut
school included renewing the expired
ban on sales of assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition
magazines, plus expanding background
checks of gun buyers. Those measures
will face strong opposition in Congress
from most Republicans and some
Democrats, making
prospects for passage highly uncer- ■ Q&A about New
York’s new gun
tain.
Obama acknowl- control law. A-3
■ National Rifle
edged that difficulty and signaled Association pushes
his intention to go back. A-8
■ Kids ask presiover the heads of
lawmakers to rally dent to change
gun laws. A-8
public support.
Vice President Joe
Biden, who helped formulate the proposals, said that, after the tragedy at
Sandy Hook Elementary School that
left 20 children and six school staffers
dead, “the world has changed, and it’s
demanding action.”
The plan, which includes 23 executive actions the president can take on
his own, was described as a major initiative by advocates on both sides of the
debate. But in many respects, it is limited in scope, reflecting the political constraints of an issue that deeply divides
the country, as well as the power of the
gun lobby.
Left out, for example, was a proposal for background checks on buyers
of ammunition, which Sen. Richard
Blumenthal, D-Conn., a proponent,
OBAMA, PAGE A-8
POLITICS
CRIME
SCIENCE
CUOMO’S BIG DONORS BOOST
HIS CAMPAIGN FUND TO $22M
THE ‘OLDFATHER’: COURT
UPHOLDS GERIATRIC
GANGSTER’S CONVICTION
SPACE STATION TO GET $18 MILLION
BALLOON-LIKE ROOM
Gov. Andrew Cuomo
has collected mostly
five-figure donations to
build an almost unassailable campaign fund
over the last six months
even as he seeks to
limit future donations
in a campaign finance
reform law.
An analysis by the
New York Public Interest Group shows about
80 percent of Cuomo’s donations were for
$10,000 or more, to give him a mid-term
campaign fund of $22 million.
Cuomo’s total donations for the sixmonth reporting period of $4 million was
down slightly from past periods because
many of his big donors hit the current donation limit that Cuomo has said is too high.
“It’s almost as much as he would need
to spend on an entire campaign,” said Bill
Mahoney, research coordinator for the New
York Public Interest Research Group.
— The Associated Press
A federal appeals court in New York
City has upheld the conviction and
eight-year prison sentence of 95-yearold mob boss John “Sonny” Franzese.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled Wednesday that his
racketeering conspiracy conviction was
a result of a fair trial and his sentence
was proper.
Franzese was sentenced last
January in Brooklyn. The underboss of
the Colombo crime family was convicted of extorting Manhattan strip clubs
and a pizzeria on Long Island.
An FBI agent testified that Franzese
bragged about killing 60 people over
the years.
The agent said Franzese once contemplated arranging his own son’s
death after he became a government
cooperator.
Franzese is scheduled to be
released in June 2017.
— The Associated Press
AP
NASA is partnering with a commercial space company
to test an inflatable room that can be compressed into a
7-foot tube for delivery to the International Space Station.
NASA engineer Glen Miller says that if the habitat,
(shown in the drawing above) proves durable during two
years at the International Space Station, it could help lead
to stations on the moon and missions to Mars.
Officials detailed the $17.8 million project Wednesday
during a news conference at Bigelow Aerospace.
NASA is expected to install the 10-foot-diameter, blimplike module by 2015.
Miller says the new technology provides more room
than existing options and is far cheaper.
— The Associated Press