UPDATE: Cornell graduate student and anti-war activist Momodou Taal has left the U.S. by choice, according to his social media posts Monday night.

vacationing in nyc is diabolical and you cannot convince me otherwise

BREAKING: Momodou Taal's student visa was REVOKED by the State Department March 14, the day before his lawyers filed a federal lawsuit challenging two EO's. Taal was notified his visa was revoked in an email sent March 21, according to new court documents. ithacavoice.org/2025/03/corn...

The move comes just days after federal agents were reportedly seen on campus and near Taal’s home in Ithaca. @ithacavoice.bsky.social ithacavoice.org/2025/03/a-co...

Via Taal’s IG: He believes, along with other eyewitnesses, that unidentified federal officers came to his home in Ithaca, NY yesterday morning to detain him. The first hearing for the lawsuit Taal filed to block EO’s that stifle free speech has been postponed from yesterday to March 25.

Momodou Taal and his lawyers filed a suit today seeking a national injunction against Trump’s executive orders allowing mass deportations across the US. It’s a court order that binds the feds from enforcing a law nationwide.Taal faced deportation after organizing pro-Palestinian protests at Cornell.

This story is WOW: A New Missouri Bill Would Let Residents Donate to Anti-Abortion Centers Instead of Paying Any State Taxes @jeremykohler.bsky.social

Eugene Daniels, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, has emerged as a key figure in an escalating fight between the Trump White House and the news media over press access and freedom. “It’s unfortunate that this is where we are,” he said in an interview.

Cornell freezes hiring, asks department heads to cut costs amid "financial uncertainty"

When @propublica.org first published data and reporting on the tens of thousands of Native American human remains and artifacts held by museums and universities, compliance with the nation’s 30-year old repatriation law shot up. Today, we update the data to show where thise institutions stand now.

You’d think the damned attorney general would know the difference between criminal charges and a civil suit.

State regulations now restrict the sale of kava, a beverage derived from the root of a tropical shrub, due to potential health risks.

The Trump administration is suing the city of Chicago, Cook County and the state of Illinois over sanctuary laws that prohibit local law enforcement from aiding ICE in arresting undocumented immigrants.

This doesn't change Ithaca's non-compliance policy Trump's DOJ publicly condemned Tompkins County Sheriff Derek Osborne for following last week. But it does send a message. Despite administration's threats to cut funds from sanctuary cities, Ithaca won't assist ICE. ithacavoice.org/2025/02/comm...

ABC News reported Marco Rubio has been acting as head of the National Archives for weeks. This is news to everyone at the National Archives, including, apparently, the current head of NARA: www.404media.co/national-arc...

BREAKING: Joseph Howell, alleged ringleader and organizer in the kidnapping, torture and murder of Thomas Rath in May 2023, was sentenced to min. 31 years in state prison minutes ago. Story/details coming. Trial coverage: ithacavoice.org/2024/11/ring...

Jesus Romero-Hernandez (27) was arrested outside of the Tompkins County Department of Social Services building in Ithaca. U.S. Attorney's Office said he's a "Mexican citizen" released from local custody Tuesday night after he was arrested Sept. 2023 for assault. ithacavoice.org/2025/01/ice-...

A spokesperson from NYS Police Troop C confirmed state police "assisted ICE today" in an email to @ithacavoice.bsky.social. More to come.

Pictures shared on a community Facebook group of what eye witnesses assume are ICE agents outside the Tompkins County Department of Social Services. Taken ~ 1 hr. ago.

A reliable source tells me they've been reported at "several locations" throughout the city, including at Ithaca's homeless encampment "The Jungle." Agents have since left the encampment, the source said. It's unclear if any arrests were made at the locations agents were spotted.

We're getting reports of ICE agents spotted in Tompkins County and the Ithaca area, specifically in Dryden and at the Asteri housing complex on Green Street in downtown Ithaca. @ithacavoice.bsky.social

like clockwork, NYT doesn’t credit my scoop

this is very cool media reporting

A petition launched yesterday calling on Cornell University to help keep Ithaca's Museum of the Earth from foreclosing has over 1,300 sigs. Its financial woes intensified after a group of once reliable donors couldn't fulfil a $30M pledge-via:@ithacavoice.bsky.social. www.change.org/p/save-the-m...

I'm uneasy. I hope that comes cross. We are on a brink. newrepublic.com/article/1902...

I guess democracy died

Left: One day before Inauguration Day, 1981 Right: Five days before Inauguration Day, 2025

Warren Allmon (the museum director) said they're a year and a half behind on mortgages payments after a $30M donation wasn't fulfilled. “We’ve never been flush with funds. We’re proud of the fact that we can do a lot with a little. We can’t do it with this little, exactly."

Apparently folks think that writing that contains an em dash is a dead giveaway that it's from ChatGPT, which I guess is a sign that most people have never read anything in their lives.

Thanks to @judylucas.bsky.social and @ithacavoice.bsky.social for this in-depth article. PRI and the Museum of the Earth do so much great work and I hope this will bring forth some donors to help with the mortgage.

This is terrible news. 🧪 "The Museum of the Earth, one of the last natural history museums in Upstate New York, faces an imminent threat of foreclosure after a group of donors failed to fulfill a $30 million pledge..." @judylucas.bsky.social ithacavoice.org/2025/01/muse...

I've been thinking about this, like how many book deals will need to be renegotiated in the coming months.

If you’re good at internet sleuthing and want to put your skills to work to help wildfire victims you can check for LA county rentals that have suddenly doubled in price, publicly name and shame the agents doing this, and report them to the government because it’s illegal: oag.ca.gov/contact/cons...

The five living presidents made a rare simultaneous appearance on Thursday at Jimmy Carter’s funeral. Before 1991, there was only one other period in U.S. history, around 1861, when more than five presidents were even alive at the same time. nyti.ms/3WesQzL

BIG health care news out of Tompkins County yesterday. Cayuga and Arnot Health, 2/3 medical systems serving 9 counties in the Southern Tier, Finger Lakes and Central New York Regions, will operate under a sprawling new parent company: Centralus Health.

Cayuga Health and Arnot Health to affiliate under sprawling new Centralus Health system

Expecting big news tmrw via Cayuga Health ab acquiring nearby Arnot Health amid suspected financial hardship. The two have been awaiting approval from gov regulators since 2023. If OK’d, the new health care giant would oversee $1B of medical services over 9 counties. ithacavoice.org/2025/01/arle...

and for my first trick

Grand jury indicts man in domestic violence homicide in Ithaca

Comparing my addresses in St. Louis, MO to where I live now in Ithaca, NY.... is quite disturbing. In neighborhoods near Forest Park in St. Louis, the cancer risk is 117% higher than the midpoint range. In Downtown Ithaca, it's only 11% higher.

WHAT a beautiful day to donate to your favorite team of local reporters! I've worked at the Voice for just over a year, and the work we've managed to do with the limited resources we have is shocking and frankly badass. Help us keep it up (please) (and thank you).

Support local journalism, and particularly The Ithaca Voice, today! If we get enough support here this old dog might learn a new trick (adding a profile picture).