Mornings on the Hill for October 14, 2020

two key Syracuse football players are out for the season the planned removal of the
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Christopher Columbus statue causes an uproar in the community all that plus your weather
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and orange sports coming up on this edition of mornings on the hill
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good morning I m Cyera Williams it’s Wednesday October 14th
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and I m josh miller we’re broadcasting live from our ncc news studio in new house 2.
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thanks for joining us for mornings on the hill
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tragic news in this morning on the Syracuse campus a student is dead following a collision
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with the trolley last night our fort hatchet is standing just outside where the tragedy
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occurred and ford what can you tell us about the student involved
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yeah josh the entire Syracuse community heartbroken this morning at the loss of Trevor Daley pierce
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you can see the makeshift memorial behind me on
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the corner of Comstock and Waverly it was just after 9 p.m. last night we received word
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that the Syracuse university freshman had lost his life after a collision with
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a trolley at this intersection overnight support flowing in for Trevor Daly pierce classmates
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and strangers alike leaving comments on social media to remember the first year student one
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comment reading rest easy Trevor thank you for the difference you made in our community
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another saying you’ll always be part of the orange family it was just before dusk Tuesday
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evening when pierce was struck by a Syracuse university trolley at the intersection of
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Comstock and Waverly avenues Kyle left was one of the first students on the scene just
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after the collision the student was laying in the ground their skateboard was there um
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one student was giving chest compressions and then um two ambulances came within about
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30 seconds or so pierce was rushed to upstate
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medical center just blocks away around 5 30 pm leaving behind a skateboard and a worried
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campus Syracuse police saying he was in critical condition just after 8
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o’clock but tragically pierce was pronounced dead just a short time later a native of southern
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new Hampshire pierce was enrolled in the Renee crown university honors program majoring in
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political philosophy he was even part of the honors living learning community in Sadler
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hall and his loss is as unexpected as it is devastating but it was a scary scene there
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was a lot of crying happening afterwards and people were clearly freaked out everyone in
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the area was just freaked out and concerned for the kid
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and I should note that interview with Kyle left was conducted before we received the
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news that pierce had tragically passed away the Syracuse police
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department says their investigation into the incident is ongoing and we’ll be sure to provide
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you updates and details as we get them throughout the rest of the day but here on the SU campus
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it’s a somber morning as everyone mourns the loss of a bright light
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taken far too soon Cyera?
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this is a very unthinkable loss for our community, and we are extending our condolences for anyone
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affected by the loss of Trevor there are mental there are mental health resources available
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both on campus and off campus accessible to students please visit the barn center website
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to view a full list
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in-person learning for s-u’s fall semester is hanging on by a thread our reporter Ryan
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Clark joins us live to tell us what we can expect Ryan well thanks
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guys Syracuse university is one of the very few colleges and
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universities that has stayed open during the covet 19 pandemic but after an off-campus
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party that occurred in a massive covert outbreak in walnut park SU administration says students
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may be at fault if classes become virtual but at the end of the day we just cannot tolerate
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this one single incident still very well could be one that evolves uh to the point where
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um it impacts our ability to stay open according to the Syracuse coronavirus dashboard that
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party caused a massive spike in cases around 20 a day over a four day span the largest
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increase in active cases since the semester began Haynie says that unlike the past this
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COVID outbreak came from student ignorance not a carrier from another city the dashboard
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now shows a total of 97 active cases on campus at Syracuse university’s new policies from
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the beginning of this semester vice president Michael Haynie said that a required 100 cases
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in a two-week span would cause the university to go on an academic freeze that freeze entailed
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online classes for all and a suspension of all on and off-campus
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activities now Michael Haynie says he does not want to comment on that station and does
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not know if its possible reporting live for mornings on the hill, I m Ryan Clark
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ever wonder what it’s like to be an SU student in quarantine our Samantha crossing takes
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an inside look at the procedures Syracuse university has in place when a student tests
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positive for COVID 19 or comes in contact with someone who has some colleges have already
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made the transition to virtual learning because of a spike in COVID 19 cases
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despite its large size Syracuse university has proved doubters wrong by successfully
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continuing in-person learning for over half of the semester in large part this success
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can be attributed to the precautionary measures SU takes with students who may have covet
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19. how do I know this because I m living through it right now after notifying the Barnes
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health center that I have been in direct contact with someone who had COVID they sprang into
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action the first step was being tested at Flanagan a center on campus that has been
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transformed into a coven 19 testing site I was surprised to find out the testing negative
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meant I would need to quarantine for four more days than if I had tested positive the
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reason why is because according to the CDC it can take up to 14 days after exposure to
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the virus to develop symptoms because of this I was sent straight to the
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Sheraton hotel to start my quarantine as stressful as this experience can be SU students who
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have survived a quarantine say that Syracuse s efforts are big
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reason why the campus hasn’t closed I really do think that that’s one of the things that
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has kept us at least so far from shutting down or being sent home is that they’re able
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to quickly identify the students and then they have a place for them to go SU pays for
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every night a student stays at the Sheridan they also provide three meals per day for
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some students there were also additional resources in the hotel room
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a flu kit with cough drops and tissues and a couple of other things a mental health little
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kit that had play-doh and coloring sheet a woman from the dean of students office reached
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out to me personally and asked me how I was doing like emotionally
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or mentally with the situation so that was like a really nice resource to have my only
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complaint the Sheraton had a great view of the one place I wanted to be but couldn’t
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new house outside of that great job SU keep up the good work
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now we want to welcome Samantha back she has completed her quarantine first Sam we’re glad
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you’re okay and you’re healthy we want to know what some emotions where you were feeling
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having to quarantine
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yeah thanks so much josh well I have to say you know at first I was feeling a little bit
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anxious I knew that I was going to be missing out on some of my in-person learning which
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is the way I like to learn I knew I was missing out on some relationship building with classmates
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and professors but now you know after being on the other side of it I feel hopeful and
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I feel really proud of all the things that Syracuse university has done to protect students
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I think a lot of people thought that we would fail maybe week one or two into it
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and here we are more than halfway through the semester and we’ve been doing a really
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good job for the most part so I m happy about that definitely some adversity and SU has
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done a good job with students and adapting to their requirements and needs
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what would you tell students that are in quarantine or might have to in the future?
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bottom line nothing lasts forever and I think that’s something that’s really important to
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keep in mind when you’re going through it you know I was I was really anxious at first
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in thinking about what am I going to be missing out on and for us grad students
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you know we only have a year to make the most of our experiences here, so I was feeling
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a little bit worried about missing out on some of those opportunities
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but at the end of the day if it means that we all get to stay on campus then that’s a
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decision that any of us would want to make
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thank you, Sam, again we’re glad you’re okay
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this past week Syracuse university held its annual remembrance week however events surrounding
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the week did look a little different this year our maya locket is live with more okay
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i won’t say thank you anymore thank you josh yes SU students still remember the 35 students
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in 1988 who lost their lives due to a plane explosion caused by a terrorist attack and
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even during a pandemic the remembrance committee put on a beautiful remembrance to honor the
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lives and legacies of those lives lost I have more on the story
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I was a student here in 1988 when this happened so I bring that historical perspective to
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it for 15 years Kelly rodowsky has been a part
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of the remembrance committee I think the first reaction was just utter shock and then just
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this deep deep sadness that felt like a cloud was hanging over this university for so long
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after that happened each year an sg student receives a scholarship in honor of one of
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the sg students that passed away on that tragic day they are also in charge of coming up with
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a new idea for remembrance week so they find new and inventive ways of keeping this tragedy
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in everybody’s minds in 2012 one of the ways they began honoring the students was by putting
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chairs in front of the school each chair has a seat number on the
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back that designates where each of the students were sitting when the plane fell from the
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sky, so I feel very connected to ken and the experience sitting here
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in the chairs really puts you in their shoes and is a very meaningful display for the community
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families of the victims attend remembrance week every year but due to COVID they were
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not able to the families are very grateful that we that
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we continue to remember their children and their brothers and sisters but no matter the
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circumstances the committee plans to continue keeping their memory alive
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because we’re at the point and we passed this point several years ago of where today’s students
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weren’t born when this happened, so we must continue to keep it at the forefront not only
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to keep the memories alive but to continue to learn from this tragedy
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coming up on mornings on the hill mayor was recent decision on the Columbus statue and
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Columbus circle spreads anger amongst some residents this story and more stay tuned
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our mornings on the hill weather enthusiast sierra rider is live out on the deck to tell
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us what to expect today sierra how’s it looking out there
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good Wednesday morning to you Josh and Cyera and everyone tuning in at home it is a crisp
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beautiful fall Wednesday morning a great day to break out that fall pea coat I know you
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guys have all been dying to wear well let’s just dive right into the numbers for today
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so looking at your hourly forecast this Wednesday as you can see the temperatures will just
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barely hit the 60s in the midafternoon so your lunch break may be a good opportunity
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to go for that walk and run just to stretch your legs and soak up the sun the skies will
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remain clear the whole day which will leave the skies open and the temperatures are going
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to dip back down into the 40s this evening here’s the good news the chance for rain tomorrow
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is low only 10 percent in Syracuse but don’t get too comfortable with the dry weather because
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it is coming in hot in the next few days Friday and Saturday all with around a 50 chance of
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rain and the temperatures are going to stay in the 50s both of those days with a low of
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the 40s the end of the weekend there is going to be another nice 60 degree day on Sunday
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heading your way just in time for those last minute weekend fall festivities hey guys so
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listen the weather right now is about 55 degrees it’s pretty a little bit chilly as you
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can see I ve got my fall coat on but it’s going to heat up to around 60 degrees so it’s
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a great Wednesday morning and should be a good day back to you
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in the studio
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did you know near campus there is a center for peace and social justice it’s really cool
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I went and? checked it out the Syracuse center for peace
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and social justice may look like just an old building from the outside but its purpose
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and the organizations it holds within are much more important we try to bring peace
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and social justice groups for instance a peace council public action citizen public citizen
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immigration group the workers center unchained currently there are seven different social
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justice groups housed in the center including black lives matter and the Syracuse peace
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council all with one common goal to solve many of the issues citizens are concerned
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about and they could collaborate instead of having all these little groups out there they
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could share their knowledge their concerns and hopefully work together it’s unique in
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that there is this collaboration all under one roof for each of these
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the potential for each of these seven not-for-profit groups the center is special because not only
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does it help with knowledge and collaboration but it provides these organizations with a
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much lower cost the fact that we’ve been able to start out and continue offering rents that
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are below market value I think is really huge for each of the groups although the building
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hasn’t been as populated as it usually is due to covet 19
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the center will continue to be a point for peace and social justice here in the Syracuse
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community josh miller ncc news
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announced that the Christopher Columbus statue will be removed, and the Columbus circle will
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be renamed James Corrigan joins us live from the statue to tell us more James?
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Cyera, mayor Walsh s decision which came on Columbus day weekend no less added fuel to
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the fire of what’s been a contentious saga in Syracuse the indigenous communities have
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hailed the decision as progress while Italian Americans who gathered here last this past
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Monday for a wreath-laying ceremony says that Columbus is part of their heritage it’s an
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insult the mayor of Syracuse what he’s doing to the Italian communities in Syracuse and
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the surrounding areas we are very proud of our heritage proud may be an understatement
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as hundreds of Italian Americans gathered downtown on Monday to honor the legacy of
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a man they consider a symbol of their success today is a celebration of all the immigrants
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that have come to make our country what it is today and to honor those that came behind
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us and that will come after us so we don’t forget what our country was made of today’s
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ceremony was held under a dark cloud for the monument supporters after mayor Walsh made
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the decision Friday to remove the statue and rename Columbus circle to mayor Walsh it’s
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sad because he hadn’t picked the committee himself they already knew what they were going
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to vote for the ceremony was organized by the Columbus monument corporation who says
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Columbus is not the man opponents say he is he treated the native Americans with
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dignity and respect and unfortunately that education is not being taught in the schools
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today they’re wrong it’s documented what he did Regina jones is the head of the native
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student program at SU and was on the original focus group to decide the future of the monument
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the statue of being there was a representation of the atrocities that were done against our
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people when the Europeans invaded our lands the native student program includes 87 students
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from a wide range of native cultures and was one of the many native groups that opposed
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the statue its president is senior Nathan Abrams I would encourage
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anyone who uh would like to venerate Christopher Columbus to read into the history read to
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what he’s done the impacts that he and his legacy had on indigenous people now the
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Columbus monument corporation has said that they will fight mayor Walsh s decision in
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court but the likelihood still remains that the replaying ceremony will be the last of
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its kind here at Columbus circle reporting live downtown James Carrigan mornings on the
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hill
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October marks a celebration of the LGBTQIA plus community and SU’s LGBT resource center
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is hosting events throughout the entire month tonight from 7 to 8 p.m. the LGBT resource
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center is inviting students to join a queer Latinx guest speaker for a discussion about
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storytelling during social justice movements the even the event is called our bones glow
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in the dark the power of storytelling in the digital space
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Amy Coney Barret is facing the third day of her senate confirmation hearing in Washington
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today our rob flax join us live rob what issues were raised in the last two days and what
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can we expect
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that’s right guys well coney Barrett is testifying this morning but if her performance today
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is anything like the last couple of days those senators are not going to get the answers
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to the questions, they want answered Barrett repeatedly dodging questions
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about roe v wade gun rights and voter suppression she says that she has no political bias and
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the only thing motivating her when she’s looking at a case is the case before her and the constitution
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can’t pre-commit or say yes I m going in with some agenda because I m not I don’t have any
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agenda I have no agenda to try to overrule casey I have an agenda to stick to the rule
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of law and decide cases as they come Barrett is a constitutional originalist which means
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she looks at the constitution as written but even she admits there is some leeway there
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we’ll see if democrats actually push her to clarify where that leeway is today
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but we don’t think that’s going to happen if her performance is anything like the last
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couple of days she’s not going to give him any of those questions rob flax morning’s
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on the hill stay with us
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good morning I m Samantha crosstown with your orange sports update here on mornings on the
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hill this weekend SU had a trio of losses women’s
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volleyball faced off against Kentucky and fell short in both matches this was their
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first loss of the season the good news star hitter Paulina sheminova surpassed
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1 000 kills su football had a showdown this Saturday against duke the orange led briefly
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at the top of the second quarter but let the game run away there
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were 10 unanswered points into the third and the final was 38-24 DeVito injured his left
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leg early in the fourth quarter and could potentially be out for the long term rex Culpeper
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will replace DeVito as the starting quarterback all-American safety Andre cisco is also
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out for the season and he plans to enter the 2021 NFL draft bottom line there are two very
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big shoes to fill men’s soccer faced off against Notre
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dame Sunday afternoon the fighting Irish took the lead in the
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sixth minute and su was never able to match that the men in the orange fought hard but
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Notre dame goalie Kegan McLaughlin had four saves to shut Syracuse out 1-0 the one win
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of the weekend came from the women’s field hockey team who also matched up against duke
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Syracuse took a 3-2 lead in the 43rd minute of play just a minute later duke scored
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a goal bringing the game to a tie the winning goal was scored in the 53rd minute by junior
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Laurie graziosi securing the orange victory Syracuse freshman florene van botzlier was
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named acc offensive player of the week after tallying two goals in the win against
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duke we spoke with Syracuse field hockey beat reporter on the orange success
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biggest highlight for the field hockey team was just their offense because they kind of
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had a slow start on that regard and so like they scored four
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goals this past week and it was also it wasn’t just four
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unanswered you know back and forth goals so they’ve got a tough weekend, but I mean it
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sucks that they can’t play like any of their home matches, but these will be three good
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games north Carolina s going to be really tough but I think they
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can use the wake forest game to bounce back from it q’s hockey hits the road for a trio
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of games next weekend the orange opens up the weekend against north Carolina on Friday
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then they will head to wake forest for two matches one on Saturday and one on Sunday
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but one former orange player led a community event over the weekend our mat Mlodzinski
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was at kirk park where the event took place
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20 20 has been a challenging year but the Syracuse community continues to work together
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to become a team bringing the community back together we can’t do it by ourselves it takes
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the whole community to come together to make changes so former s.u hoops legend eric devendorf
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teamed up with the Syracuse police department for a free basketball camp for kids in the
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area kids need someone to look up to and after the kids see someone on tv and they
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see them in real life then they know it’s real sledge’s two sons were pleasantly surprised
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kind of didn’t tell them I didn’t want to spoil it so when it came down here
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they were they were excited the event ran for four hours and campers received free haircuts
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backpacks shoes shirts and food and this event wouldn’t have been made complete without a
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special appearance by devendorf himself the former Syracuse star was three for three in
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bringing the community together cheering on the kids at the camp showing off
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individual instructions and of course giving buckets to the community too I got here in
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2005 um and ever since the day I stepped foot in the city they’ve supported me wholeheartedly
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so it’s my job to be able to you know reciprocate that and give it back just trying to bring
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these kids into a positive environment man and you know hopefully they can build their
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confidence and lead to bigger things events like these are what keeps the Syracuse community
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stronger than ever and devendorf wrapped up the camp with a message to the youth and everybody’s
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situation is different but that doesn’t mean that what it means is it might be a little
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bit tougher than somebody else together on three loud one two three together well
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this eric devendorf played four years inside the carrier dome
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and he still stands at 14th on su’s all-time scoring list and this weekend he brought change
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to the community more important than any statistic ever could be devo told me that he continues
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to want to bring events like this to Syracuse mat Mlodzinski mornings on the hill
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there’s a lot to be excited about this weekend on Friday field hockey will match up against
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north Carolina and volleyball plays Boston college then Saturday football is back in
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action against liberty kickoff is 12 p.m. be sure to watch and tweet us your reactions
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for mornings on the hill I m Samantha Croston back to you Cyera
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after last week’s spike in COVID cases many students went into the weekend unsure what
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may lie ahead Xavier brown spoke with students on their worries that the weekend would result
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in more positive cases
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I spoke with students here on campus and they are worried that we might end up going remote
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the university resets its covet 19 test numbers each every two weeks and those results then
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let us know if we will be here in person or we will then go remote the recent spike in
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covet numbers this weekend has made students nervous for the final outcome will be able
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to stay in person I was definitely nervous when I first heard about it and like seeing
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all the numbers rise and like I had some friends myself who you know tested positive and had
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to go into quarantine and so that definitely made me nervous some students said they were
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afraid of what was going to happen because people they knew tested positive for the virus
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some even started taking extra precaution even more than before well I think I ve definitely
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been more socially distanced because I mean they ended like the activities so um the barn
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center couldn’t go there anymore there will be no gatherings outside of school related
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gatherings all other activities have been postponed until further notice the university
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is working hard to keep the students in person still students worry I m a little worried
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but our numbers have gone down before so like I m sure it’s not going to be bad I think
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at least I m hoping it’s not going to be bad I think I ve been more socially distant I
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think I ve just been more aware also of what’s going on and yeah that’s pretty much it we
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will keep you updated as the numbers come in from the university I m Xavier brown with
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mornings on the hill
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that is going to do it for us this Wednesday here on mornings on the hill I m Cyera Williams
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follow us on social media
25:45
and I m Josh Miller thanks for watching orange nation we’ll see you next Wednesday live at
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10 a.m. right here on OTN.