News From Front Street

The shooting in Binghamton, NY brings some sociological observations:

The NY Times reports Binghamton is a city of 48,000. It was about 80,000 when I grew up 12 miles outside. The shoe factories of EJ were the biggest employers, being responsible for the presence of lots of eastern European immigrants. EJ shod the Army during WWI and II, but is now not a factor.

The Daily News reports: More than 7,100 immigrants have settled in Binghamton since 2005, 71% from Asian countries, according to city statistics. If true, it's likely because the housing is cheap. Utica, another rust belt city in NY, has also seen lots of immigrants for similar reasons. [Revised--this seems too high to me.]

Binghamton University achieved a little infamy because its basketball team made NCAA (and Tony Kornhauser is an alumnus, though I think it was called "Harpur College" then) and its graduation rate of its players was abysmal.