Hot Topics

Kevin Law

Voices August 16, 2019

As workforce development evolves, childcare shall lead

By ROSALIE DRAGO // At a recent Long Island Regional Development Council meeting, co-chairman and Long Island Association President Kevin Law earned rousing applause when he said, “Childcare is not a mother’s problem or a parent’s problem – it is an economic-development problem and our region’s problem.” As a workforce-development professional, a parent and a Long Islander, this was good to hear. It’s tempting to see childcare as a value-add, especially now. Current job market…

Economic Development June 11, 2019

Stakeholders unite to support pharma/nutra’s future

By GREGORY ZELLER // With more than 150 companies and 9,800-plus employees, the pharmaceutical/nutraceutical industry is already a Long Island cornerstone – and some major regional stakeholders want to see it grow. On Tuesday, the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency and the Workforce Development Institute officially introduced “Driving Suffolk County’s Innovation Economy: The Pharmaceutical/Nutraceutical Growth Factor,” a 48-page report detailing pharma/nutra’s impressive growth over the last decade and the unique obstacles the industry faces on…

Clean Energy March 21, 2019

Island’s first large-scale digester to feed energy needs

By GREGORY ZELLER // If you’ve had a bellyful of landfill waste, hang on – Long Island’s first stand-alone large-scale anaerobic digester is finally on its way. The Long Island Power Authority’s Board of Trustees has approved an energy contract with a new food waste-recycling facility in Yaphank, claiming to be capable of reducing Island-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 85,000 metric tons annually – the equivalent of removing 18,000 cars from regional roads, according to…

Economic Development December 18, 2018

Lower-tier LI consoled by $68M in 2018 REDC awards

By GREGORY ZELLER // If $68.3 million for workforce development and affordable housing programs is losing, Long Island will take it. That’s the Island’s haul in the 2018 Regional Economic Development Council competition, announced Tuesday by Empire State Economic Development Corp. President and CEO Howard Zemsky. Zemsky, also commissioner of the New York State Department of Economic Development, presented all 10 winners of the annual statewide development competition, each representing one of 10 economic-development zones….

Economic Development October 2, 2018

Past success, future hopes fuel LIREDC’s 2018 report

By GREGORY ZELLER // The Long Island Regional Economic Development Council has met its Oct. 1 deadline and submitted its annual progress report/wish list to the Empire State Development Corp., Albany’s main economic-development engine. The 2018 progress report, titled “Long Island: Completing the Puzzle,” both highlights the efforts of the Long Island REDC since Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched his competitive statewide economic-development program in 2011 and lists the projects the regional council hopes to support…

Biotech June 6, 2018

Albany backs NYIT’s next-gen bioengineering lab

By GREGORY ZELLER // A new bioengineering laboratory is coming to the New York Institute of Technology’s Old Westbury campus, thanks to a hefty state award. The Empire State Development Corp. on Wednesday announced a $150,000 grant that will help NYIT establish the Bio-Nanotechnology and Biomaterials Laboratory, a research- and innovation-focused bioengineering lab packed with next-level tech facilitating specialized research into complex bioengineering, artificial-intelligence and life-sciences issues. The grant was awarded through Round 7 of…

Transportation December 13, 2017

After decades of debate, $2B LIRR ‘third track’ is a go

By GREGORY ZELLER // All aboard – the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has approved a roughly $2 billion deal to design and build the Long Island Rail Road’s long-debated “third track.” The contract approved Wednesday by the MTA Board of Directors with Lawrence-based 3rd Track Constructors – a joint venture uniting New York City-based Dragados USA Inc., Lawrence-based John P. Picone Inc., Nanuet-based Halmar International LLC and Brooklyn-based CCA Civil Inc. – officially weighed in at…

Economic Development December 13, 2017

Long Island REDC rebounds with ‘Top’ $84.3M haul

By GREGORY ZELLER // The Long Island Regional Economic Development Council is back on top, once again ranked as a “Top Performer” in Albany’s annual REDC sweepstakes with a hefty $84.3 million haul. That’s terrific news for the “priority” and “regionally significant” projects on the LIREDC’s 2017 wish list, which included funding for a waterfront revitalization effort in Greenport, a new technology-focused Digital Ballpark business incubator in the Wyandanch Village development and 31 other projects…

Biotech October 12, 2017

In REDC love fest, CSHL kicks off $75M makeover

By GREGORY ZELLER // There was another major advance for biochemistry Thursday at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, but this one didn’t involve gas chromatographs or infrared spectrometers or a single test tube. Just a shovel. With Gov. Andrew Cuomo and a host of regional and state representatives on hand, the world-class scientific research facility officially broke ground on the renovation of its Demerec Laboratory, one of four CSHL laboratories being remade with a big assist…

Economic Development April 25, 2017

With $800 million at stake, let the games begin

It’s on: Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday officially opened the seventh round of the annual Regional Economic Development Council competition, a statewide funding contest in which each of the state’s 10 economic-development zones wins, but some win more. This year, the 10 REDCs will be combing through individual project pitches and preparing master proposals for their slice of the chunkiest state pie yet: more than $800 million in economic-development resources, including grants, tax breaks and…

Government April 13, 2017

Meanwhile, Albany tells science: We’ve got your back

By GREGORY ZELLER // Even as the Trump Administration levels its big guns at national funding for scientific research, New York State is doubling down on its commitment to life sciences. Leaders of business and medical-research organizations across the state are hailing Albany’s 10-year, $620 million plan to turn New York into one big life-sciences cluster. The economic-development strategy was championed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and adopted by the state Legislature this week as part…

Transportation January 11, 2017

Commuters sign on, big time, to third-track plan

By GREGORY ZELLER // Governor Andrew Cuomo has a lot of company on his ride along Long Island Rail Road’s “third track.” One day after the governor reiterated his commitment to the long-debated LIRR expansion project in a state-of-the-state address as Farmingdale State College, the Right Track for Long Island Coalition – a partnership of major organizations, institutions, businesses and individuals stumping for the railroad expansion plan – has released a pro-third track petition signed…

Economic Development January 9, 2017

LI rainmakers applaud Albany’s life-science focus

By GREGORY ZELLER // A day before sharing his 2017 social and economic vision for Long Island, Gov. Andrew Cuomo offered some music for the Island’s ears. Cuomo, who on Monday delivered the Buffalo and New York City versions of his 2017 State of the State proposals, is scheduled to bring his annual SOTS tour east on Tuesday. But first, his office reaffirmed the governor’s plans to pump $650 million into the state’s burgeoning life-sciences…

Energy December 15, 2016

LI businesses charged up by low-cost juice

The New York Power Authority has approved another round of low-cost power allocations through the ReCharge NY program, with Long Island companies reaping the lion’s share of this round’s benefits. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office announced Thursday that NYPA’s Board of Directors has awarded reduced electricity rates to 11 Long Island companies through ReCharge NY, which Cuomo signed into law in 2011 to provide low-cost power to businesses that commit to job creation and new capital…

Education December 13, 2016

LIREDC takes victory lap around Adelphi’s Nexus

The Long Island Regional Development Council brought home “only” $62 million in state economic-development funds in the 2016 REDC competition, but it can lick its wounds while watching its six-year, half-billion-dollar haul do its work. That includes an LIREDC-backed project that came to fruition this week on Adelphi University’s Garden City campus, where the school officially cut the ribbon on its state-of-the-art, 100,000-square-foot Nexus Building. The $76 million centerpiece of Adelphi’s grounds – which houses…