Syracuse won't get FiOS as Verizon stops expansion

Verizon says its stopping its five-year project to build a high-speed fiber-optic network that allows it to compete with Time Warner. The Post-Standard is reporting the company will not expand its FiOS service into new areas, including the greater Syracuse community.

Verizon says it will continue to provide phone, Internet and TV service to six of Onondaga County’s 15 villages and nine of 19 towns. Some Syracuse neighborhoods on the city’s east side have access to FiOS Internet service, but Verizon says the FiOS network will not be provided throughout the rest of the city.

As of Dec. 2009, Verizon says 150,000 households in the greater Syracuse area have access to the fiber optic network.

MSNBC suspends David Shuster

MSNBC has suspended one of its top anchors, David Shuster, after he participated in a test of a new show for CNN, a competing cable news channel. Shuster anchored two hours a day on MSNBC, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., and handled most of MSNBC’s marathon Sunday coverage of Congressional health care votes.

The New York Times is reporting Shuster did not appear on MSNBC Monday, and networks executives have called his actions "unacceptable." The anchor's contract is set to expire at the end of the year.

Baseball executives butt heads  

For once, the Steinbrenners are keeping their mouths shut. Instead, New York Yankees President Randy Levine butted heads with Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio.

"I'm sorry that my friend Mark continues to whine about his running the Brewers," Levine said. "We play by all the rules and there doesn't seem to be any complaints when teams such as the Brewers receive hundreds of millions of dollars that they get from us in revenue sharing the last few years. Take some of that money that you get from us and use that to sign your players."

ESPN is reporting the Yankees payroll is expected to be about $200 million this year, $120 million more than the Brewers. Since the league started the luxury tax, the Yankees have paid teams nearly $175 million in revenue sharing.