Nagee Green trial deadlocked on murder charge

Nagee Green, the man accused of killing Ithaca College student Anthony Nazaire, is scheduled to be retried this fall after a jury deadlocked this June on the murder charge Green faced after having been convicted of second-degree assault.

Nazaire died Aug. 28, 2016, after being stabbed at the intersection of College Avenue and Campus Road at Cornell University following an Omega Psi Phi event. Ithaca College rising junior Rahiem Williams was also stabbed and injured during the incident but survived.

While video was shown in court of Green wielding a knife, no video was obtained of him stabbing either student, and none of the eyewitnesses who testified said they saw Green commit the crimes, according to court documents.

Jury selection for the retrial to settle the murder charge will occur Sept. 15, and then a trial date will be set, Deputy District Attorney Andrew Bonavia said.

Incoming Cornell student drowns in Fall Creek

Winston Perez-Ventura died Aug. 5 while swimming in Fall Creek Gorge, said Jamie Williamson, public information officer for the Ithaca Police, in an email. Perez-Ventura, a 17-year-old from New York City, was going to be a freshman at Cornell University this fall. He was in Ithaca over the summer for a prefreshman summer program, and was going to study architecture in the fall, according to a statement released by Cornell University.

Emergency personnel were called at approximately at 2:33 p.m. Aug. 5 to recover Perez-Ventura after he did not resurface while swimming, said Williamson. After a five–hour search, Perez-Ventura’s body was recovered.

A memorial service was held for Perez-Ventura on Aug. 8 in Sage Chapel at Cornell University.

Ithaca woman murdered in Collegetown

Ithaca resident Josie Berrios’ body was found at a construction site in Collegetown on June 13. Berrios was a performer at the House of Merlot, where she performed under the name Kimbella Rosé.

Michael Davis, a 45-year-old from Dryden, was arrested June 13. A grand jury indicted Davis on July 27, where he was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree arson. A court date for Davis’ trial has not yet been set, according to an official from the Tompkins County Court.

Hate crime charges were not included in Davis’ charge, even though Berrios was a transgender woman. In 2017, 18 transgender people — 16 people were women of color — have been killed in the United States by fatal violence, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

Downtown Ithaca welcomes new restaurants

Three new restaurants have found their homes in downtown Ithaca. Le Commons Bistro, which serves Asian-French fusion, opened June 22 on East State Street. Pokeland, which serves Hawaii-fusion poke bowls, opened on East Seneca Street in May. Luna Inspired Street Food opened a new location on North Aurora Street, joining its Collegetown location and microrestaurant that operates at Lot 10.

Ithaca College junior wins scholarship on the Today Show

Junior Samantha Watts won a $100,000 scholarship from NBC’s TODAY Show. The scholarship was presented to her by Will Ferrell on the June 20 show.

Watts is a speech-language pathology major at the college. In Watt’s submission, which was one of 2,000, she wrote about her family’s concern about paying tuition after her father began undergoing treatment for cancer. Watts said her father had recovered from esophageal cancer when she received the scholarship.

Alumnus Bob Iger departs from Trump’s Business Forum

Following President Donald Trump’s decision to remove the United States from the Paris climate accord, Disney CEO Bob Iger ’73 stepped down from Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum.

The Strategic and Policy Forum was a presidential advisory committee made up of prominent business CEOs. The New York Times referred to being a member of the committee as “largely ceremonial but highly prestigious posts for business leaders.”

Iger announced his decision to leave the panel on Twitter, where he referred to his decision to depart “as a matter of principle.” Other business leaders had already stepped down from the panel, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.

Iger told CNNMoney that the council met twice while he was a member, but he missed both meetings because of a vacation and a Disney board meeting.

Following Trump’s statement that “many sides” were responsible for the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, the CEOs from Intel, Under Armour and Campbell Soup Company stepped down, according to Fox Business. Trump announced Aug. 16 the forum would be disbanded.