Josue Alvarado fled Ecuador with his family. A new asylum trend is making it harder for him to stay in the U.S.
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 lrobertson@centralcurrent.org with tips about things going on around the county, or with recommendations of ways to get to know Syracuse better!
Posted inOnondaga County
Dem legislators approve term limits, ability appoint legislators but need approval from the county executive and voters
Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon panned process of the legislature’s move to limit how many terms he can serve.
Posted inNews
Democrats flipped control of the Onondaga County Legislature in 2025. Will they keep it?
Voter registration trends and even-year elections may benefit Democrats. But they have just 10 months to convince voters they deserve four more years.
Posted inOnondaga County
Onondaga County Legislature Democrats propose term limit for county executive
Last year, the Onondaga County Legislature voted to approve its own term limits. This year, legislature Democrats are trying to impose similar restrictions on the county executive.
Posted inCNY Decides 2026
Residents of Clay will elect their new town supervisor this year. The result could have an outsized effect on Micron
Two Clay town board members are vying to become supervisor. Democrats are bullish they can flip the seat and eventually gain control of the town board.
Posted inEconomic Development
Backed into a corner, Onondaga County Legislature Republicans offer a trade on affordable housing. No deal, Dems say
Legislature Democrats replaced half of OCIDA’s board. Republicans offered $5M toward affordable housing to stop them.
Posted inAquarium Project
Onondaga County Legislature unanimously passes law requiring more disclosure for aquarium donations
The law would require county leadership to disclose names of donors who gift more than $10,000 to fund the aquarium to the legislature’s chair.
Posted inEconomic Development
Onondaga County Legislature Democrats set plans to overhaul economic development agency
Democrats plan to put four new people on the board of the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency.
Posted inImmigration
In the U.S. Western District of New York, your judge may matter more than your immigration case
For detained immigrants filing habeas corpus petitions, the luck of the judicial draw could mean the difference between freedom and remaining in detention.
Posted inImmigration
A Syracuse man’s family got him out of ICE detention. He still lives in fear of deportation.
When ICE detained Rafael, his family relied on TikTok, Instagram reels and themselves.