Jim Teske, the longtime meteorologist at Channel 9, says the area’s dynamic weather keeps him going By Ken Sturtz Chief meteorologist Jim Teske photographed at NewsChannel 9 on Nov. 15. Photo by Chuck Wainwright. When he was growing up in the 1970s, Jim Teske and his family ate dinner with the evening news on in the background. “And for whatever reason, I don’t know exactly what it was, I gravitated toward the weather,” Teske said. His fascination with weather was such that when he was 7 or 8 years old he started writing down information from the forecasts on pieces of paper and saving them in ..read more

By Jim Miller You can collect Social Security retirement benefits and work at the same time but depending on how old you are and how much you earn, some or all of your benefits could be temporarily withheld. Here’s how it works. SSA Earning Rules Social Security says that if you’re under your full retirement age and are collecting benefits, then you can earn up to $21,240 in 2023 without jeopardizing any of your Social Security if you don’t reach your full retirement age this year. But if you earn more than the $21,240 limit, you’ll lose $1 in benefits for every $2 over that amount. Full retir ..read more

Jim Teske, the longtime meteorologist at Channel 9, says the area’s dynamic weather keeps him going By Ken Sturtz Chief meteorologist Jim Teske photographed at NewsChannel 9 on Nov. 15. Photo by Chuck Wainwright. When he was growing up in the 1970s, Jim Teske and his family ate dinner with the evening news on in the background. “And for whatever reason, I don’t know exactly what it was, I gravitated toward the weather,” Teske said. His fascination with weather was such that when he was 7 or 8 years old he started writing down information from the forecasts on pieces of paper and saving them in ..read more

By Jim Miller You can collect Social Security retirement benefits and work at the same time but depending on how old you are and how much you earn, some or all of your benefits could be temporarily withheld. Here’s how it works. SSA Earning Rules Social Security says that if you’re under your full retirement age and are collecting benefits, then you can earn up to $21,240 in 2023 without jeopardizing any of your Social Security if you don’t reach your full retirement age this year. But if you earn more than the $21,240 limit, you’ll lose $1 in benefits for every $2 over that amount. Full retir ..read more

By Eva Briggs, M.D Eva Briggs and her dogs, Reilly and Sage (on the grass), during their summer hiking trip. Here’s a recap of my 2022 hiking adventures. There were no long trips last year, because in April I suffered a spinal compression fracture (ouch). So backpacking was on hold in 2022. I have osteoporosis and recall no specific injury. My friend and I planned to hike the Foothills Trail, 70 miles along the border of North and South Carolina, over eight days. Seven days of walking with a rest day in the middle. On the drive down, my back started to hurt. I thought it was just stiff and sor ..read more

By Sandra Scott Did you ever dream of staying in a castle? If so, there is no need to go to Europe to fulfill your dream. New York has several castles. Wealthy Americans, looking for status, built mansions many of which were inspired by castles in Europe. Today some offer accommodations, others operate as a restaurant, while others are open for visitors. Here are 10 castles worth visiting: 1 — Bannerman Castle The crumbling castle is located on Pollepel Island in the Hudson River, near Beacon. The history of the island dates back to pre-Revolutionary times but gets its name from the family, th ..read more

New superintendent of Syracuse City School District talks about coming back from retirement to head school By Mary Beth Roach Q: You started with the Syracuse City School District in 1986 as a teaching assistant. You held some other positions within the district, moved over to the Liverpool Central School District in 1997. You came back to the City School District in 2016, and then you retired in 2019. You returned in the spring of 2022 as interim superintendent, then were named as permanent superintendent at the end of 2022. What was it about this position that brought you out of retirement ..read more

By Michele Bazan Reed   Email: bazanreed@hotmail.com Last issue, I sang the praises of cursive handwriting and the importance of writing letters to our loved ones. The truth of that advice came home to me recently. This would be the 100th birthday of my mother, Freida Bazan, born in February 1923. If you asked me if I knew my mom, I’d say, “Of course,” andprobably think, “What a silly question.” Sure, I knew my mom. I knew the taste of her specialty, scalloped potatoes; the smell of yeast as she baked her Polish braided bread; and the touch of her intricate embroidery stitches. I kn ..read more

By Harold Miller   Email: hmiller@mcsmms.com Soon I’ll celebrate my 90th birthday. It won’t be a real kick-up your heels celebration, but rather a loving gathering of family and friends whom I have gathered through all these years. The director of the George Washington University School of Medicine claims that the brain of an adult is much more practical than it is commonly believed. At this age the interaction between the right and left hemispheres of the brain becomes more harmonious, which expands our creative possibilities. Therefore, among people older than 60 you can find many ..read more

Rev. H. Bernard Alex leads in local worship, philanthropy and culture By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant Rev. H. Bernard Alex has led Victory Temple Fellowship Church in Syracuse since 2001. By his own account, you would never believe that the “little boy from the projects” of Syracuse as he calls himself, whose mother completed only high school and whose father did not finish elementary school, would ever turn out to be anyone respectable. But the Rev. H. Bernard Alex has become not only well-educated but also a communitywide leader, charitable organizer and pillar of the community’s faith. He has do ..read more