Emergency services receive record calls, NYSEG compensation, wrongful patient death

Good morning ☀️

It’s Friday again, so congratulations on making it through another week.

I’m sure it went more smoothly for some of you than for those who were left without power for several days due to recent storms. Either way I’m bringing you some good news from around the Finger Lakes later on in this newsletter to help kickstart your weekend.

If you have any Finger Lakes moments you’d like to share, send me your best photos and a short passage to JMack@gannett.com so I can share the love with other readers this Friday. Click here to sign up for more daily briefings from the Ithaca Journal.

Without further delay, here’s a look at some of the hubbub that those storms I mentioned caused early this week.

Tompkins County Emergency Service Center received record number of calls

The Tompkins County Emergency Service Center received over 450 calls Monday according to John Halaychik, assistant director-911 at the County Department of Emergency Response.

The center said in a Thursday statement that the vast majority of calls received by the center from the afternoon through the late evening on July 15 were for trees and wires down, as a line of severe thunderstorms moved through the area, producing heavy rain and high winds.

The storm produced inch-sized hail, caused severe tree damage, and left thousands of NYSEG customers in the dark. Power outages and roadway obstacles have largely been cleared as of Thursday, with only small power outages still reported by NYSEG, compared to the thousands reported across the Finger Lakes region Monday and Tuesday.

Learn more about the record-breaking day for the center, and how it helps Tompkins County here.

Here’s some more of what you need to know today

• Ten tornadoes have now been confirmed statewide within the last week: Here’s how NY utilities plan to compensate those who’ve suffered from prolonged outages.
• Countless leaves keep the secrets of birds in a forest: Learn about NY wildlife with Rick Marsi’s latest article on songbird sleuthing.
• Why did 14K people die with ties to hospital restraints amid pandemic?: Get the latest insight on a USA TODAY Network investigation regarding wrongful patient deaths in NY here.

Friday Finger Lakes moments to help start your weekend

This week was hard for many of us in Tompkins County, so here's a few tender Finger Lakes events to help you to hopefully have a good weekend.

I received a message from Claire Forest recently, and wanted to share this photo and some recognition for Peter Moore, who’s helped her out at Forest Family Farm. She’s sending special thanks to Mike Colbert and Lance Ebel as well.

TST BOCES shared this post highlighting new murals at the TST BOCES Smith School, created by Sergio Arce. Awesome and inspiring work Sergio!

Did you catch the MLB Home Run Derby this week? Even if you didn’t, it’s interesting to note that several Ithaca College alumni lead the broadcast.

That’s about all I’ve got for you this week but check your inbox Monday for more updates and feel free to reach out to me at jmack@gannett.com regarding this newsletter.