Each week, syracuse.com will look back at some of our most important and valuable journalism from the previous week. Here are six stories for the week of Oct. 19, 2025.
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Who in the state transportation department thought it would be a good idea to build a new roundabout in Cicero at the same time Interstate 81 construction narrowed highway lanes and shut down bridges? Joelle Greer, a lifelong Cicero resident, wanted to know. It turns out, Dave Smith oversaw all of that construction as boss of the Central New York region for the state DOT. And he lives in Cicero. We invited Smith to ride along with Greer and answer her questions about the wisdom of clogging up so much traffic in the northern suburbs.
When the New York State Young Republicans Club disbanded amid an uproar over its racist and antisemitic rhetoric in a group chat, the club left behind unpaid bills from extravagant social gatherings. At two of those events, the club ran up bills of more than $23,000 over a weekend at a Syracuse hotel – spending big on a three-course plated dinner with filet mignon and open bars – but then didn’t pay, according to records obtained by syracuse.com.
Micron Technology and Onondaga County are moving forward with a deal that will save the company $2 billion in local and state taxes on a giant semiconductor plant planned for the Syracuse suburb of Clay. Under the agreement, the county would give Micron a $2 billion tax break over 49 years on the first half of the $100 billion project at White Pine Commerce Park on Route 31. The state of New York negotiated the terms three years ago when it recruited Micron to build in Clay.
Soon after he interviewed in Syracuse last spring for the men’s basketball strength and conditioning job, Rob Harris buried his mother. Brenda Burney, all 4-foot-11 of her, became a Southern Baptist minister in the 1990s, when Black women in the pulpit were rare. She raised her son in a tough Louisville neighborhood, where she had an open-door policy for anyone needing a comforting word or a place to stay. A 20-year Army veteran who rose to the rank of captain, she died of pancreatic cancer last May. Her toughness, perseverance and kindness afforded her son with a blueprint for the way to live his life. “I always said that I’m going to honor her every day of my life,” Harris said, “and do everything I do with passion.”
The signs were there, if only we’d looked instead of listened. Syracuse head coach Fran Brown appeared to identify the Orange’s quarterback of the future last December, plucking former four-star recruit Rickie Collins from the transfer portal. Four months later, after his staff had gotten an extended look at Collins, Brown went out and found another quarterback of the future in Notre Dame transfer Steve Angeli. The actions of the Syracuse football program this offseason told us Collins probably wasn’t ready to be the team’s starting quarterback.
The need for new housing in Onondaga County has never been greater. Yet, shockingly, the pace of building has slowed in recent years. Fewer new houses and apartments were completed last year in Onondaga County than in any of the last 25 years, according to county property records, with one exception: the pandemic year of 2021. And data on building permits suggest that 2025 may not be any better.
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