Good morning, Ithaca.

Tompkins County's Code Blue opened Oct.

18 and is placing people in motels while a shelter at 227 Cherry St. prepares to open around the clock at 4 p.m. on Nov. 15. The site will offer food, showers + laundry, transportation, and staff to enroll guests in aid; call 607-272-2444.

Freeville firefighters, aided by Beck Farms tractors and plows, contained a field fire that burned about 5 to 7 acres after it was reported (4:48 p.m. Oct.

27).

Cornell researchers and Binghamton battery maker C4V (C4V) published Oct.

28 a real-time diagnostic method that cut lithium-ion formation time by up to 60%, freeing factory floor space and reducing plant electricity use 10% to 15%, a change that could save large operations up to $100 million a year.

Cornell's University Assembly heard a presentation on campus AI and sustainability, and officials said a new suite of AI tools (ChatGPT Edu Work/Codex, Claude Enterprise Cowork/Code, Gemini Chat) will be available to faculty, staff, and graduate students at the start of November and to undergraduates in the new year.

Cornell Bowers researchers and Crisis Text Line developed an NLP method to track how volunteer crisis counselors improve at steering texters to positive outcomes by analyzing more than 1.5 million deidentified conversations (Jan.

2015 to Oct. 2020), flagging early downturn moments to target coaching while more testing is completed.

Cornell and Weill Cornell researchers are studying why some breast tumors resist treatment and how to personalize care this October, focusing on immune evasion, metastasis, genetic ancestry, and long-term side effects (including triple-negative cases) to guide better screening and therapies.

Cornell's men's and women's cross country teams placed seventh at the Pre‑National Invitational on Oct.

16 and had multiple top-15 finishers at the John Reif Memorial 5K on Oct. 23; the Red will race in the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships at 12 p.m. on Oct. 31 in Attleboro (Mass.).

Senior forward Ryan Walsh will return as Cornell men's hockey captain for a second straight season, with seniors Tyler Catalano, Luke Devlin, Jake Kraft and George Fegaras named alternate captains; Cornell will open its regular season Oct.

30 and Oct. 31 at Lynah Rink against Sacred Heart, 7 p.m. games.

Host Johnny Lisi was joined by senior Nikita Lohman on the How IC Sports podcast to break down the Bombers' season and preview this year's Cortaca Jug; the episode was published Oct.

28 on The Ithacan's podcast feed.

Section 4 released girls volleyball playoff pairings: Ithaca (No. 2) will face Corning (No. 1) in the Class AAA championship at Tioga on Sunday, Nov.

8 at 11 a.m., while multiple local teams—including Trumansburg and Candor—appear in brackets with games at Tioga and area sites Nov. 3–7.