Good morning, Ithaca.

Freeville Harvest Festival is celebrating its 50th year on Saturday, Sept.

12 in Main Street. Hosted by Freeville United Methodist Church, the event will feature a recognition ceremony for first responders — food, live music, family activities, and a community drive for the Women’s Opportunity Center.

Smpl Burger, a new eatery in Press Bay Alley at 118 West Green Street, serves simple smashburgers and fries on a flat-top grill and is open daily until 8 p.m. + on Friday and Saturday nights until 2:30 a.m.

UA Local 81 proposed a new union training center on a vacant 9-acre site on Elmira Road near Enfield Falls Road.

The 23,700sqft building will have training classrooms, offices and outdoor practice areas — its design and zoning await further planning board review.

The Ithaca College Faculty Council met on Sept.

1 to hear speeches from President Cornish + Provost Stein about changes for the 2026-27 academic year and the Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant; the meeting took place in the Campus Center’s Taughannock Falls Room.

A Cornell-led research project is developing robots for orchard tasks such as pollinating, thinning, and harvesting, funded by a four-year $7.5M grant from the USDA’s Specialty Crop Research Initiative.

The project will create a Center of Excellence for Orchard Robotics at Cornell and include outreach to New York apple growers.

A new NSF grant for nearly $500K has been awarded to Cornell Duffield College of Engineering to develop a framework that helps instructors teach teamwork more effectively.

The three-year project will start with a literature review and follow with national instructor interviews.

Food influencer Jeremy Scheck ’22 is returning to Cornell to pursue a master’s degree in food science—drawing on his viral recipe success and cookbook background.

He plans to deepen his expertise and fuse his passion for food with scientific research.

The U.S. Department of Education sent an open letter on Aug.

3 asking local universities like Cornell to publicly share plans for rigorous teaching+ pathbreaking research+ national service by the end of the year to help rebuild trust in higher education.

The Student Assembly debated its 2026-2027 operating budget and approved resolutions on clarifying international students’ work options and member outreach during its Thursday meeting.

Representatives set aside funds (10,686.36 for an Initiatives account) amid funding debates and will vote on proposals at the next meeting.

Ithaca Police welcome community feedback and invite residents to share compliments and complaints.

Police Chief Tom Kelly said submissions can be made via a form and noted the Community Police Board meets the fourth Wednesday of each month (607-275-0799).

Patsy's Pizzeria opened inside the Marriott on South Aurora Street in the Ithaca Commons today.

The New York icon serves coal oven pizza and pastas that reviewers say are high quality, though service is slow & prices range from $28 to $36 per pie.