Today in your Trail Mix:
Buffalo offers students free college tuition through Say Yes to Education.
The State of the State will be on January 4 at 1:30 p.m.
Cornell scientists are facing off over the danger of methane.
Plus, Bedford Falls will not get a casino, George Bailey declares it is a wonderful life.
Education
Buffalo is the second city to offer its students free tuition through the Say Yes to Education program - the first was Syracuse (Daniel Robison, Innovation Trail).
Syracuse points out that its Say Yes tuition program is more generous than Buffalo's (Paul Riede, Post-Standard).
FEMA says an elementary school that was flooded this year should be replaced, rather than repaired (George Basler, Press & Sun-Bulletin).
Three Buffalo schools are being included in a "Promise Neighborhood" that's receiving federal funds to support children from cradle to high school (Mike Desmond, WNED).
The Town of Dryden's school district has been recognized by the DEC for its recycling and compost programs (Rachel Stern, Ithaca Journal).
Activists are expressing concern that students at schools that rely on well water could be harmed by fracking nearby (Dave Lucas, WAMC).
State politics
The governor's State of the State address will kick off a new year of legislation and budget haggling at 1:30 on January 4 (Colby Hamilton, The Empire).
A Rockefeller Institute report says that upstate is still reaping more the state than it sows, relying on downstate to help pay its way (Casey Seiler, Times Union).
Domestic partnership benefits like health insurance have been a victim of this year's marriage equality law (Tim Louis Macaluso, City Newspaper).
Fracking
Two different groups of Cornell scientists, two articles with very different takes on methane and fracking, in one journal: a recipe for a fight (Matt Richmond, Innovation Trail).
A Buffalo firm that has already done an assessment of how much the state could reap from fracking, is now being asked to do a study of how much it would cost, in terms of additional state services (Jon Campbell, Gannett).
A drilling company is defending itself against charges by the EPA that it polluted groundwater in Wyoming, saying it’s possible that the EPA's own testing process caused the contamination (Susan Phillips, State Impact PA).
Business
The town that allegedly inspired "Bedford Falls" in It's a Wonderful Life will not get a casino, after the Bureau of Indian Affairs denied the request by the Cayuga Nation for land in Seneca Falls (Joseph Spector, Vote Up!).
A coalition called "Getting Our Money's Worth" is calling out a Rochester firm for getting subsidies - despite what the group says is downsizing at the company, not expanding (Buffalo News).
A group advocating for Verizon to bring its FiOS internet service to downtown Buffalo has given the phone company a "Scrooge of the Year" award, to goad it into providing the service (Stephen T. Watson, Buffalo News).
GE has picked up more than a million dollars from the U.S. Department of Energy to help build infrastructure for charging electric cars (Eric Anderson, The Buzz).
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