For Micron to come to Central New York, it would need a significant upgrade to the Oak Orchard Wastewater Treatment Plant. A supermajority of legislators would have to vote to issue up to $515 million in bonds.
Laura Robertson
Laura Robertson is a staff reporter covering Onondaga County. Prior to joining Central Current, she lived on the edge of the Bering Strait in Nome, Alaska, where she worked as a reporter for a year. She graduated from Princeton in 2024, and speaks English, Farsi, and some Thai. She grew up just west of Binghamton in Tioga County and is excited to return to upstate New York.
Laura won the 2025 Nellie Bly Cub Reporter Award from the New York Press Club for her story on an infirmary profit model that led to dozens of deaths in New York State jails. A 2024 recipient of an Overseas Press Club scholar award, she’s interviewed Alaskan gold miners, Russian draft dodgers, and former Syrian freedom fighters, and reported from Tajikistan. She’s particularly interested in money flows, the intersections of business and politics, and how those things affect people on the ground.
You can reach her at [email protected] with tips about things going on around the county, or with recommendations of ways to get to know Syracuse better!
Posted inNews
Former city school board member to run for Charles Garland’s Onondaga County Legislature seat
Garland is not running for re-election next year, a promise he made to colleagues if they made him chair of the legislature. “I don’t have to become chair to keep a promise,” he said.
Posted inOnondaga County
Onondaga County Legislature Democrats, Republicans have spat over ‘lame duck’ appointments
Democrats argued the appointments should have waited until the party in January takes control of the legislature.
Posted inPolicing
Former prosecutor says she was sexually assaulted, harassed by fellow Onondaga County prosecutors
Cayley Young, a former Onondaga County assistant district attorney, in a lawsuit accused Shaun Chase, also formerly of the office, of sexually assaulting her.
Posted inOnondaga County
NY congressman says feds reversed cancellation of naturalization ceremonies. County clerks haven’t been updated.
The saga has caused confusion for legal experts and advocates who wondered why USCIS made the initial call to cancel the ceremonies.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Feds stop Onondaga County naturalization ceremony — and say some county courts can’t conduct them
Earlier this month, USCIS canceled a naturalization ceremony in Syracuse. Now, they say county courts don’t meet the statutory requirements to conduct them.
Posted inOnondaga County
Onondaga County Dems put forward Nicole Watts for legislature chair after ‘a historic mandate for change’
If Democrats unanimously vote for Watts, an Onondaga County Legislature newcomer, she will be the first woman chair of the legislature in decades.
Posted inElections 2025
‘We swept it’: Democrats flip Onondaga County Legislature on historic night
The Democrats’ historic night locally followed election trends nationally. Onondaga County Democrats flipped the legislature for the first time in decades.
Posted inOnondaga County
2025 election Q&A: Onondaga County Legislature 3rd District candidate Tim Burtis
Tim Burtis, the chairperson of the Onondaga County Legislature, is running unopposed to retain his seat.
Posted inElections 2025
2025 election Q&A: Onondaga County Legislature 12th District candidate David Knapp
David Knapp is running unopposed to retain his seat as the Onondaga County Legislature’s 12th District representative.
