The Aquarium Has A New Opening Projection & Upstate Put 80 Goats On The Payroll

Hello, Syracuse

The Harborview Aquarium finally let cameras inside this week, and the latest estimate given was December. Scratch that September opening day off of your calendar. Upstate Medical hired 80 goats to clear the slopes nobody can safely mow. A comedian who got her start making sketch videos in Liverpool’s American High (formerly AV Zogg), is joining the cast of Saturday Night Live. Let's get into it.

Trying to figure out where to go apple picking? We just published a full guide to every apple orchard around Syracuse.

Looking for trivia nights this week? We published a full guide to every trivia spot in Syracuse.

American High's Grace Reiter is joining SNL

Grace Reiter, 25, is joining Saturday Night Live for Season 52. Reiter got her start in 2022 at American High, the Syracuse-based studio running out of the old AV Zogg building, making sketch comedy aimed at Gen Z. Inside a year she had more than two million TikTok followers. She also stars in Tim Robinson's HBO series The Chair Company and American High's upcoming Netflix film Minimum Wage.

Harborview Aquarium finally looks like an aquarium

After years of budget fights and delays, the Inner Harbor aquarium opened its doors to reporters this week for a look inside. It is still very much a construction site, with empty tanks wrapped in padding and painter's tape and rebar showing in places. The new opening window runs from September 21 to December 21, with the latest delay traced to a 60,000-pound acrylic panel from Italy that showed up late.

Armory Square is losing 800 parking spots

The owners of the Atrium Parking Garage told the city and their customers this week that they are closing in October rather than paying for repairs, wiping out 800 spaces in Armory Square. Their reasoning was blunt: the garage has reached the end of its useful life and repairs are no longer an option. This will be the fourth major downtown garage to go dark in four years.

Hochul wants data centers to pay $1M per megawatt

New York released a voluntary framework recommending that towns negotiating with data center developers ask for at least $1 million in community investment for every megawatt the facility draws. A 50-megawatt project would owe $50 million to a local fund earmarked for roads, water systems, affordable housing, childcare and workforce training. The guidance lands months after New York became the first state to put a moratorium on large new data centers.

Crunch owner wants a new arena, county wants a business plan

Howard Dolgon is pushing for a new arena to replace the War Memorial, and County Executive Ryan McMahon is not saying no. He is saying show me the math. A build would run $200 to $300 million and McMahon's position is that taxpayers cannot carry a bond that size against the lease the county already gives the Crunch.

2.5 million more New York households qualify for utility discounts

The state kicked off an enrollment push for its Energy Affordability Program, which already covers about a million households and could cover 2.5 million more. Eligibility widened in January to include households under the state median income, which means roughly half of New York now qualifies for a monthly discount. The program caps a typical utility bill at under six percent of household income. Separately, $1 billion in energy rebate checks starts going out to 8.2 million households on September 21.

New York is ending the Regents graduation requirement

Starting with the class of 2028, New York will issue one state high school diploma and drop the requirement that students pass a specific slate of Regents exams to graduate. Regents exams are not going away, but they shift to measuring achievement and counting toward seals and endorsements rather than gatekeeping graduation. A final Board of Regents vote scheduled for June 2027.

Upstate hired 80 goats

Upstate Medical University brought in roughly 80 goats from to handle the slopes that mowers cannot safely reach. Fifty-five are working Community Hospital and 25 are downtown, chewing through brush, goldenrod and whatever else has taken over the hillsides. The herd belongs to Slippery Slope Goats, run by Aimee Braxmeier, who started renting goats out for land clearing in 2021.

7316 Dartmoor Crossing, Fayetteville

$1,250,000 | 5 bd | 6 ba | 6,246 sqft

Nearly five acres in Fayetteville. A paver walkway leads to a covered portico and a two-story foyer with a sweeping staircase. The great room has cathedral ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows and a second-floor overlook, and it opens into a fully remodeled kitchen with a center island, new stainless appliances and a sun-filled dining area. There are four gas fireplaces and a separate wing with its own living area, bedroom and full bath if you need an in-law or guest setup. Primary suite with double walk-in closets and a redone spa bath. The other three bedrooms each got their own updated private bath, and the laundry is on the same floor. The lower level adds another 675 square feet for a family room or gym, and a paver patio wraps the back of the house facing the woods.

Fine Work Customs is out of Fayetteville, making chainstitch embroidered textiles one piece at a time on a hand-cranked industrial machine. Chainstitch is an embroidery technique where looped stitches connect into a chain. Elise works on a Consew 104-1T chain and moss stitch machine. It is entirely hand-operated, guided by a handle underneath that spins in either direction, and the free motion of it is why people treat the craft as an art form. The learning curve is steep. Every piece comes out one of a kind and built to last.

Once I stumbled across Elise's work I was blown away. This is the kind of hand craftsmanship that is hard to find now, and when you do find it you hold onto it. I will be placing an order at some point. I have an old jean jacket that could use some new life.