Latest local news, weather and sports for Syracuse and Central New York

Friday, July 27, 2012  A tractor-trailer plunged over the edge of I-81 in downtown Syracuse landing near McBride Street early Friday morning.

Monday, July 02, 2012  On Tuesday, construction crews are scheduled to finish turning University Avenue from one-way to two-way traffic.

Thursday, June 28, 2012  The Cleveland Cavaliers have selected Syracuse guard Dion Waiters with the No. 4 overall pick in the NBA draft.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012  Crouse Hospital is lighting its clock tower Blue for Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month this March.

Thursday, January 19, 2012  Pamela Thompson, 17, was last seen Monday.

Monday, December 26, 2011  Heather Fritzen, 25, is charged with DWI in the Christmas morning incident.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011  The deadline for Congress to extend the debt ceiling is just one week away, now many people are wondering what it would mean to them if the nation does go into default.

Wednesday, July 06, 2011  The Syracuse city clerk will open his office on the first day the new same-sex marriage law goes into effect later this month.

Thursday, April 01, 2010  Fifty years ago today, the world’s first weather satellite lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and opened a new and exciting dimension in weather forecasting. Top leaders from NOAA and NASA hailed the milestone as an example of their agencies’ strong partnership and commitment to flying the best satellites today and beyond. Photos of the TIROS satellite and its first image from can be found on here. The first image from the satellite, known as TIROS-1 (Television Infrared Observation Satellite), was a fuzzy picture of thick bands and clusters of clouds over the United States. An image captured a few days later revealed a typhoon about a 1,000 miles east of Australia. TIROS-1, a polar-orbiting satellite, weighed 270 pounds and carried two cameras and two video recorders. Though the satellite only lasted 78 days, its impact is still visible today. “This satellite forever changed weather forecasting,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “Since TIROS-1, meteorologists have far greater information about severe weather and can issue more accurate forecasts and warnings that save lives and protect property.”  “TIROS-1 started the satellite observations and interagency collaborations that produced vast improvements in weather forecasts,” said NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr. “It also laid the foundation for our current global view of Earth that underlies all of climate research and the field of Earth system science.”  Throughout the 1960s, each TIROS spacecraft carried increasingly advanced instruments and technology. By 1965, meteorologists combined 450 TIROS images into the first global view of the world’s weather.