Backstory: an Ithaca Voice podcast

The Ithaca Voice
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Backstory is the local news podcast powered by the newsroom of The Ithaca Voice. Every week, our reporters take you behind the scenes of the stories shaping Ithaca, Tompkins County and the reality that surrounds these ten square miles. The Ithaca Voice is an independent not-for-profit online news outlet based in Ithaca, N.Y. New episodes of Backstory drop Tuesday.

  1. 3d ago

    Sept. 15, 2026 — A course correction for the county budget ... and what it could mean for housing costs

    Listen and subscribe to Backstory on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Amazon Music, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts. Every fall, Tompkins County leaders begin the arduous process of hammering out a spending plan for the upcoming year. What will it take to keep government services — like Medicaid payments, the county sheriff's office or the health department — going? And how much in taxes are needed to pay for all of it? For the last few years, Tompkins County Legislators have opted to draw from the county’s rainy day fund to make ends meet and close a deficit. But now, legislators are facing an uncomfortable situation. Pulling money from the fund balance isn’t going to be sustainable forever. And this year, the county’s administrators say it might be time to stop. Access a time-stamped transcript by clicking the button with three lines on the embedded player. For a full page transcript, click here. The transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors. Original air date: September 15, 2026 Produced, hosted and edited by Megan Zerez. Reported by Hailea Potter and Jimmy Jordan. Cover art image by Casey Martin.

    Sept. 15, 2026 — A course correction for the county budget ... and what it could mean for housing costs

  2. Sep 8

    Sept. 8, 2026 — Could Tompkins County set its own higher minimum wage?

    Listen and subscribe to Backstory on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Amazon Music, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts. Tompkins County's cost of living is higher than anywhere else in the region. And for several years, county leaders have been mulling the idea of setting their own, higher minimum wage, which some argue could better reflects the economic reality of life here. Last summer, after the most recent round of debate over the proposal, county legislators opted to commission a study of the potential implications of a local minimum wage. Now, that study is complete. Researchers say raising the minimum wage would help reduce longstanding inequities. But there are some lingering questions, and not everyone is on board. Research professor Ian Greer was one of a team of Cornell University researchers who conducted the study. Greer is also the director of the university's Ithaca Co-Lab, which aims to support and study labor issues and workers rights in Tompkins County. Access a time-stamped transcript by clicking the button with three lines on the embedded player. For a full page transcript, click here. The transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors. Original air date: September 8, 2026 Produced, hosted and edited by Megan Zerez. Cover art image by Jacob Mroczek.

    Sept. 8, 2026 — Could Tompkins County set its own higher minimum wage?

  3. Sep 1

    Sept. 1, 2026 — Four years after unionization, Ithaca's union paramedics get their first contract

    Listen and subscribe to Backstory on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Amazon Music, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts. In 2022, paramedics at Bangs Ambulance voted to unionize. Progressive activists and elected officials at the time cheered the effort. But the vote was close. And as far as union negotiations go, the four years since haven’t always been smooth sailing. It was only this summer that the union finally reached an agreement with the family that owns the longtime ambulance company. Workers voted to ratify it in July, with virtually no public fanfare. What does it mean for Ithaca’s main EMS provider … and the people who depend on them? Access a time-stamped transcript by clicking the button with three lines on the embedded player. For a full page transcript, click here. The transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors. Original air date: September 1, 2026 Produced, hosted and edited by Megan Zerez. Reported by Hailea Potter, Megan Zerez, Jimmy Jordan and Matt Butler. Cover art image by Casey Martin.

    Sept. 1, 2026 — Four years after unionization, Ithaca's union paramedics get their first contract

  4. Aug 25

    Aug. 25, 2026 — Zoning out: a test case for Ithaca's new plan to build more housing

    Listen and subscribe to Backstory on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Amazon Music, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts. Earlier this year, Ithaca's Common Council passed a law that could start to reshape the city's built environment in the interest of addressing the housing crisis. Now, it's being tested for the first time. Zoning law isn't a new concept: governments have long set guidelines that dictate what can be built in a particular area. And while it may take a while for the average person to notice a change, zoning laws are the quiet force that shape the way the city grows and feels for decades to come. Some leaders say Ithaca's current zoning laws are holding the city back. Local politicians have touted the idea of zoning reform as a potential solution for all sorts of problems in the city: limited housing availability, struggling local businesses, walkability. Earlier this year, the Ithaca Common Council took made it easier to apply for exceptions to zoning restrictions all over the city. These exceptions are called Planned Unit Developments, or PUDs for short. The idea was to make it easier for projects that might use land a little more creatively, projects that might have otherwise been blocked by the red tape that sometimes comes with typical zoning law. It’s meant as an initial step to spur development while the city works on a bigger zoning reform. But now, the first major test case — a new apartment complex on West Hill — is unfolding ... and so far, not everyone is convinced. Access a time-stamped transcript by clicking the button with three lines on the embedded player. For a full page transcript, click here. The transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors. Original air date: August 25, 2026 Produced, hosted and edited by Megan Zerez. Reported by Jimmy Jordan and Brian Crandall. Cover art image courtesy of the City of Ithaca.

    Aug. 25, 2026 — Zoning out: a test case for Ithaca's new plan to build more housing

  5. Aug 18

    Aug. 18, 2026 — SouthWorks' affordable housing gets a tax break. Will schools pay the price?

    Listen and subscribe to Backstory on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Amazon Music, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts. If an affordable housing development gets a tax break, does it come at a cost to the rest of the community? It’s a debate that’s been playing out with the massive new mixed-use development known as SouthWorks. Some have described the project as on the scale of a whole new neighborhood. Last week, the first major phase of that project just got approved for a major tax break. The developers say they need the help to be able to keep rent affordable for working class Ithacans. But some advocates say the tax break could hurt Ithaca’s public schools … which rely heavily on those taxes to keep classroom lights on and teachers paid. Additional notes: Report issues to the City of Ithaca's sidewalk repair program here before Aug. 20 for priority repair. Access a time-stamped transcript by clicking the button with three lines on the embedded player. For a full page transcript, click here. The transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors. Original air date: August 18, 2026 Produced and edited by Megan Zerez. Reported and hosted by Megan Zerez and Jimmy Jordan. Cover photo by Megan Zerez.

    Aug. 18, 2026 — SouthWorks' affordable housing gets a tax break. Will schools pay the price?

  6. Aug 11

    Aug. 11, 2026 — Data center debate ripple effects

    Correction 8/17/26: This article characterizes Town of Lansing Deputy Supervisor Joe Wetmore as an “outspoken critic” of the proposed TeraWulf data center in Lansing. After a careful review of past reporting and previous statements, The Ithaca Voice found that Wetmore has not taken an explicit public position against the data center proposed in Lansing by TeraWulf. Wetmore had previously supported a now-failed development moratorium that could have affected the data center. He stated that the policy was not specifically aimed at blocking the TeraWulf project, but rather about facilitating responsible development in the Town of Lansing. This nuance is absent from this reporting. That error was included in this report as a result of the editing process, and is not the fault of the reporter on this story. We regret this mistake. Listen and subscribe to Backstory on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Amazon Music, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts. Right now, the data center proposal in Lansing is more discourse than development. But even the debate is causing ripple effects. There’s pending legal action seeking to oust one of the members of Lansing’s town board. It alleges, among other things, that deputy town supervisor and board member Joe Wetmore had misused his power as an elected official to try to block the controversial Terawulf artificial intelligence (AI) data project. The plaintiff is also a long time Lansing resident and community leader in her own right. She says she supports the data center ... but says the lawsuit goes beyond that. The New York City law firm representing her has ties to Terawulf, the company behind the data center. How far are local politicians allowed to go when they oppose a project? And what — or who — is really at the heart of this case? Access a time-stamped transcript by clicking the button with three lines on the embedded player. For a full page transcript, click here. The transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors. Original air date: August 11, 2026 Produced and edited by Megan Zerez Reporting by Hailea Potter and Fernando Figueroa Cover photo by Casey Martin.

    Aug. 11, 2026 — Data center debate ripple effects

  7. Aug 4

    August 3, 2026 — Dredging delays, Black farmer civil rights settlement, a new dam in Dryden

    Listen and subscribe to Backstory on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Amazon Music, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts. This week, a round up of some of the biggest stories we’ve been covering lately. A bank robbery started this week out with a jolt at a local credit union. And New York state officials seem poised to finally move on several major projects that have been delayed for years: the dredging of Cayuga Inlet and replacing the leaky, aging Dryden Lake Dam. Meanwhile, city officials are making slow progress on a worker protections bill that was first proposed in 2024. They should have a first draft of the bill within 90 days. A Black farmer and educator won a $100,000 settlement after years of racist and sexist harassment from her former neighbor. And Cornell bans processing wild game meat in its dorms. Access a time-stamped transcript by clicking the button with three lines on the embedded player. For a full page transcript, click here. The transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors. Original air date: Aug 4, 2026. Produced and edited by Megan Zerez Hosted by Fernando Figueroa and Hailea Potter. Reporting by Megan Zerez, Fernando Figueroa, Hailea Potter and Eddie Velazquez. Cover photo by Casey Martin.

    August 3, 2026 — Dredging delays, Black farmer civil rights settlement, a new dam in Dryden

  8. Jul 28

    July 28, 2026 — A seismic shift for Ithaca's school board after years in the making

    Listen and subscribe to Backstory on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Amazon Music, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts. If you don’t have kids, you may not think about the school board — or its internal politics — very often. But the school board’s impact goes way beyond the classroom. In Ithaca, the school board has more influence on a property tax bill — and by extension, housing costs — than any other elected body. Take a look at a property tax bill of a homeowner in the Ithaca City School District, and it’s clear the district’s taxes rate are significantly higher than those of either Tompkins County or the City of Ithaca. The Ithaca City School District’s Board of Education just started their new term. And already, it’s looking like there’s a major shift in the balance of power. Editor's note: The cover art uses a photo depicting the 2025-2026 Ithaca City School District's Board of Education, not the current board. Access a time-stamped transcript by clicking the button with three lines on the embedded player. For a full page transcript, click here. The transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors. Original air date: July 28, 2026 Produced and reported by Megan Zerez Hosted by Jimmy Jordan Cover photo by Fernando Figueroa

    July 28, 2026 — A seismic shift for Ithaca's school board after years in the making
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Backstory is the local news podcast powered by the newsroom of The Ithaca Voice. Every week, our reporters take you behind the scenes of the stories shaping Ithaca, Tompkins County and the reality that surrounds these ten square miles. The Ithaca Voice is an independent not-for-profit online news outlet based in Ithaca, N.Y. New episodes of Backstory drop Tuesday.

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