HANNAH FERRERA: Hello and welcome to today’s NCC News podcast. We’re your hosts .. Hannah Ferrera …
SAMMY RIVO: … and Sammy Rivo.
HANNAH: Happy first of March — and the start of Women’s History Month. But Sammy, even though it’s March, it doesn’t look like we’re going to be saying goodbye to winter any time soon.
SAMMY: Yeah, Hannah. We can’t put away the snow shovels just yet. We have another winter storm coming up this weekend.
HANNAH: This Syracuse weather has been interesting for sure. I truly never know what to expect each day. Just a quick recap on February’s weather — it was the tenth warmest February on record and even had a day with a high of 69 degrees. But, like we said, don’t let this past month fool you — another winter storm coming up this weekend. We’ll have snow starting on Friday night and continuing into Saturday, so make sure you make your weekend plans accordingly.
SAMMY: Is Tik Tok going to be gone forever? The foreign affairs committee voted to advance legislation to make it easier for President Biden to ban Tik Tok under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. This is following the United States, Canada and the EU banning government officials to have Tik Tok on government issued devices.
HANNAH: Whelp … if you’re looking to buy a house in Central New York any time soon you unfortunately might run into some trouble. The Syracuse housing inventory is decreasing … causing people looking to buy a home scramble over one another to purchase a home that is far and few between. There are 30-percent fewer listings for homes in the 82 to 145 thousand-dollar price range — mostly because homeowners are not moving as much as they used to and not as many people are looking to sell.
SAMMY: Over 30 million people saw their SNAP benefits reduced as Emergency Snap benefits ended February 28th. SNAP is a program that gives low income households funds to afford food and groceries. In an August 2022 study by the Urban Institute, SNAP benefits kept 4.2 million people out of poverty since the end of 2021, with most of the poverty reduction from the program affecting Black and Hispanic homes.
HANNAH: Syracuse Basketball losing to Georgia Tech at home in the JMA Wireless Dome last night 96-76, having simply been outplayed right from the opening jump. This recent run by the Syracuse Basketball program has most likely caused them to miss the NCAA tournament for a second consecutive year, which Syracuse hasn’t done in the Boeheim era. Will Hentschel, is there time for a change?
WILL HENTSCHEL: Yeah, it’s certainly a really tough spot for the Syracuse Basketball program to be in. And, kind of, the big question mark for the entire season was — “would Syracuse Basketball plan man defense?” You know, the bread and butter is to go to the 2-3 zone and play that kind of defense, but that really leaved the Orange open for three-point shooter teams, but they went to the man defense last night against Georgia Tech and it didn’t help at all. The Yellowjackets still connected on 18 three-pointers so it’s really tough to say, for Syracuse, if a change is needed because even when Syracuse goes to a change, they still can’t get a win. So Syracuse has one more opportunity this Saturday against Wake Forest to get a regular season win and then a very, very tough-looking ACC tournament down in North Carolina after that.
HANNAH: Okay, thank you Will. And that is all the time we have left on today’s NCC News podcast. Stay tuned for next week.
