Free Filing

Onondaga County libraries and AARP have partnered to provide free tax help for those who have yet to file for tonight's midnight deadline.  The libraries have served as a host site where volunteers, trained by AARP, can assist people with their taxes and help them file online.  The library is in charge of organizing the appointments for those who wish to take advantage of the service.  

However, with the deadline quickly approaching, many of the sites have already filled their appointments.  While their is usually an increase in calls during the last few days of the tax season, this year has seen an even greater increase due to the income tax stimulus program.  The program requires that people file their taxes in order to be eligible to receive money provided by the program.

If you have not yet filed your taxes you can apply for an extension through the IRS, however, if you owe money, you will still have to pay.  Those that are filing only for the stimulus program still have some time to file, so the libraries will be continuing their program through the end of the month.  For more information you can visit their website by clicking here.

The Syracuse Police Department's New Recruitment Ads

Seven Syracuse University student teams presented their advertisement campaigns for the Syracuse Police Department today. The purpose of the ads are to promote the Syracuse Police Department and to help them with the recruitment of new police officers, not just in Syracuse, but in other states across the country.

The City of Syracuse Deputy Police Chief Frank Fowler says their biggest problem is that they have a small pool to choose from and all law enforcement agencies in town are using the same recruitment list from Onondaga County personnel to recruit new officers.

In addition, another challenge that the Syracuse Police Department has to deal with is not only competing with all the other law enforcement agencies in town, but outside agencies, such as Rochester, New York City and Buffalo.

With a new marketing plan, they are hoping to be competitive on the job market. Now all they are waiting for is the funding to be approved by City Hall.

If your interested in becoming a police officer go here: http://www.syracusepolice.org/recruitment/recruitment_section.htm

Making the Most Out of Spring Break

Most families go on vacation this week-- but for those who stick around there's plenty for kids to do here in Syracuse.

One way a child can have fun, stay active, and at the same time make the most of spring break is by going to soccer camp.

www.emmortonrec.com/.../images/Soccer_Indoor.jpg

About 20 kids-- ranging from ages four to fifteen-- are starting off a week of soccer camp at the Central New York Sports Centre. Instead of sitting around, watching television, and being lazy-- these kids are at camp.

Most kids are at this camp to stay busy and have fun. But one student, Skylar Hilton, is here looking to improve her skills. She wants to play on her high school team, so any extra practice helps.

While the kids enjoy kicking a soccer ball around all day-- the parents say soccer camp is a great idea too.

One parent says he is in full support of the extra activity and his daughter getting to physically play soccer all day.

The parents are happy. While the kids are at camp, they can still work, run errands, and have time to themselves.

And the best part, the kids aren't home with a baby sitter, spending spring break on the couch.
Instead the kids are out on the field.

A full week at this camp costs 90 dollars.

For more information go to http://www.cnyfamilysportscentre.com/.

Other spring break camps in CNY include:

- Rosamond Gifford Zoo Camp: http://www.rosamondgiffordzoo.org/

- Spring Adventure Week at Beaver Lake: http://onondagacountyparks.com/

Delta and Northwest to merge into mega airline

Delta and Northwest Airlines are close to a merger that would create the world's largest airline.

Anonymous sources close to the situation report the lone obstacle holding back the finalizing of the deal is ongoing negotiations with the pilots from both airlines. The Wall Street Journal reported online today that the dispute in negotiations stemmed from Delta working out a deal to give more flexibility to its pilots in a merger.

Northwest Airlines met with its pilots near its Minneapolis headquarters today. The Wall Street Journal reports the Airlines issued a statement today that it would only merge with Delta if it's sure that it's in the best interest of pilots, employees and its customers.

Northwest has lost nearly $1.6 billion in the last ten weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal. It was valued at $4.6 billion, but is now down to $3 million, due to high fuel costs.

Related Links:

Forbes.com reports airline stocks are rising as a result of the coming merger.

Here's the story on the Tampa Bay Business Journal

Airline Prices Could be Rising

Meeting Tonight Could Complete the Merger

Former SU Basketball Star Anthony Arrested for Suspected DUI

ESPN.com news services
Updated: April 14, 2008, 2:35 PM ET

Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony was arrested early Monday morning on suspicion of driving under the influence, Denver police said.

Anthony was driving south on Interstate 25 at around 4 a.m. when he was pulled over and taken into custody. Denver police said he was driving a silver Mercedes and was stopped for failing to drive in a single lane and failing to dim lights. Several Denver media outlets reported that he was given a Breathalyzer test.

"We are aware of the situation with Carmelo Anthony," the Nuggets said in a statement, adding that they are gathering information and have no further comment.

Anthony's lawyer confirmed that the forward was released on bond later Monday morning and a summons appearance was scheduled for May 14.

"He cooperated by consenting to a blood test, the results of which will not be available for approximately two weeks," attorney Dan Recht said. "There was no accident and no one was hurt."

Here's the story on the Denver Post's Website: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_8920507

Here's the story on Yahoo! Sports:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AoYKCtcLwHKc5W34dIh6BcM5nYcB?slug=txnuggetsanthony&prov=st&type=lgns

Here's the story on CNNSI.com (Sports Illustrated Website):

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/basketball/nba/04/14/nuggets.arrest.ap/index.html

$500,000 cows

Today marked the final day at the Carousel Dairy Spring. The "Spring" is a cattle competition in which the top dairy cows compete for awards. Their are various different categories ranging from babies to adults, and the owners of the winning cows can expect to see the value of their animals increase quite significantly. Patsy Gifford, Executive manager of HolsteinUSA, says some cattle increase their value almost 100 fold up to around $500,000!

Over 1200 animals from 21 different states, as well as Canada were at the New York State Fairgrounds for the competition, and people from all over the country came to see the show.

The animals from this competition are the cows that the entire dairy industry typically gets their

breeding stock from. Gifford said she wasn't very concerned about the effect that economy was having on the dairy company because she was only celebrating the success of the competition.

For live and archived coverage of the Spring Dairy Carousel go to http://www.holsteinworld.com/NYCarousel08/.

Gas Prices Rising...again

NEW YORK (AP) - Gas prices fluctuated over the weekend but appear poised to move toward a record high milestone of $3.50 a gallon. Forecasts call for gas to peak as high as $3.65 within a month.

Oil prices, meanwhile, rose to within a dollar of last week's record of $112.21 a barrel as the dollar fell and oil supplies were disrupted in the U.S. and overseas.

At the pump, the national average price of a gallon of gas edged lower overnight to $3.373 a gallon, 0.1 cent shy of a new record set yesterday. That's according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.

The Energy Department recently predicted gas prices could average as much as $3.60 a month this summer, and said the daily national average could rise as high as $4 at times. Prices are already over $4 in some parts of the country.

A growing number of analysts, however, don't believe the national average will rise that high unless something unanticipated occurs.

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Here in Central New York, these are some of the latest figures from local gas stations (unleaded prices):

KWIK FILL (3331 S. Salina St.) $3.409

HESS (400 Erie Blvd. E) $3.419

DELTA SONIC (3439 Erie Blvd. E) $3.429

SUNOCO (200 N State St.) $3.459

CITGO (1825 Teall Ave.) $3.459

VALERO (1131 N. Salina St.) $3.499

MOBIL (6325 Thompson Rd.) $3.519

To find the cheapest gas in your area, use either this application through mapquest.com, or here on the AAA website.