In the middle of it now: And what better place to be, dear readers, as we muscle through this latest workweek in our relentless pursuit of socioeconomic innovation.
It’s Wednesday, March 3, and Long Island is alive with creativity and opportunity. Let’s roll.
Listen up: Humanity stands against hearing loss on World Hearing Day.
World tour: First, to our many readers in the Land of the Rising Sun, a blessed Hinamatsuri, held every March 3 to promote the health and happiness of young girls across Japan.
It’s also Sportsmen’s Day in Egypt, Liberation Day in Bulgaria and Mother’s Day in Georgia (the country), not to mention the World Health Organization’s World Hearing Day.
Stateside (kinda): Here at home, March 3 is National Canadian Bacon Day, which seems better suited to breakfast north of the border, but there you have it.
For those who prefer American cheese, Virginia ham and baloney with a first name, it’s also National Cold Cuts Day in the USA.
Academic: Other slices of life associated with this date include the National Academy of Sciences, founded on March 3, 1863 – at the height of the Civil War – by President Abraham Lincoln.
Lots in store: Probably not what Alexander Graham Bell envisioned.
All-time: Telecommunications pioneer Alexander Graham Bell (more on him below) spun off the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. on this date in 1885, aiming to establish the world’s first long-distance network.
Today, AT&T is the world’s largest telecommunications company.
Standard time: The National Bureau of Standards – the federal government’s first physical sciences research laboratory, which fixed weights and measures throughout the then-largely agricultural nation – was founded by the U.S. Congress on this date in 1901.
Today, the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Weights and Measures Division balances the scales.
Also about Time: Still chronicling humanity’s highs and lows, Time magazine first hit newsstands on March 3, 1923.
Play it again, Bert: And it was this date in 1931 when President Herbert Hoover inked “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the United States national anthem.
True story: President Woodrow Wilson actually signed a 1916 executive order designating Francis Scott Key’s lyrics as the national anthem, but Hoover’s Hancock made it law.
Ring my Bell: Scottish-American telecommunications pioneer Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) – who invented the telephone and the microphone, and cofounded Bell Telephone Co. and the journal Science – would be 174 years old today.
Dr. Who: Brian Cox, rock star scientist.
Also born on March 3 were industrious American engineer George Pullman (1831-1897), who invented the train sleeper car and built a whole town to manufacture them; Scottish biologist Sir John Murray (1841-1914), who cofounded the science of oceanography, and named it; American biochemist Elmer McCollum (1879-1967), who originated the vitamin letter-naming system; German educator and resistance fighter Luise Wilhelmine Elisabeth Abegg (1882-1974), a denounced teacher who rescued dozens of underground Jews during the Holocaust; and American pianist, music arranger and teacher Margaret Bonds (1913-1972), one of the first African American composers to gain recognition.
Life of Brian: And take a bow, English physicist Brian Edward Cox – the musician-turned-particle physics professor, known globally for his universe-expanding Large Hadron Collider experiments and gripping television presentations, turns 52 today.
Wish these and all the other March 3 innovators well at editor@innovateli.com, where story tips and calendar events always expand our universe.
About our sponsor: St. Joseph’s College has been dedicated to providing a diverse population of students in the New York metropolitan area with an affordable education rooted in the liberal arts tradition since 1916. Independent and coeducational, the college provides a strong academic and value-oriented education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, aiming to prepare each student for a life characterized by integrity, intellectual and spiritual values, social responsibility and service. Through SJC Brooklyn, SJC Long Island and SJC Online, the college offers degrees in 50 majors, special course offerings and certificates, and affiliated and pre-professional programs. Learn more here.
BUT FIRST, THIS
United front: The head of a leading Long Island fundraiser will lend her expertise to a Town of Hempstead workforce-development effort.
United Way of Long Island President and CEO Theresa Regnante has joined the Town of Hempstead/City of Long Beach Workforce Development Board, which works with state officials and local business owners to facilitate job-training programs and other workforce-related efforts. Regnante, who’s led the Deer Park-based 501(C)3 since 2009, already fills several advisory board seats – on the United Way’s state board, the SUNY Old Westbury College Council, Hofstra University’s Master of Public Health Program Advisory Committee and elsewhere – and marks “a major step in the right direction for America’s largest township and its mission to “prepare local jobseekers for the economy of tomorrow,” according to Town Supervisor Donald Clavin Jr.
Regnante cited the COVID-19 pandemic as another hurdle in the Workforce Development Board’s marathon efforts to improve the local community’s financial stability. “So many families are struggling financially due to sudden unemployment,” Regnante said in a statement. “It’s important that residents have a variety of training and career opportunities that will help lead them back into the workforce.”
In deed: TD Bank holds the mortgages to buildings and grounds on Adelphi University’s Garden City campus.
Best interest: An outstanding $16 million debt to the Town of Hempstead will be refinanced at a lower interest rate – a bottom-line win for Adelphi University and its Garden City campus.
The Town of Hempstead Local Development Corp. has preliminarily approved the sale of $16.37 million in tax-exempt bonds on behalf of Adelphi, underwritten by TD Securities and secured by fresh mortgage liens on Adelphi’s land and buildings. Once the deal is approved by Hempstead Town Supervisor Donald Clavin Jr., Adelphi will use the proceeds to refinance LDC bonds sold in 2011; that original sale netted the university $25 million, and $16.37 million of that principle remains unpaid.
The refinanced bonds will carry lower interest rates, ultimately saving Adelphi millions of dollars over the life of the new mortgage. “There is no doubt that the sale of these new bonds will benefit Adelphi University, its students, as well as on the economics of the surrounding communities,” Hempstead LDC Executive Director Fred Parola said in a statement.
TOP OF THE SITE
In the flow: Sand, woodchips and some serious Stony Brook University science might rewrite Suffolk’s sad septic history by next summer.
In the know: Help your innovation team keep up, and race ahead, with their very own Innovate Long Island newsletter subscriptions – always easy, always free.
Innovation in the Age of Coronavirus: COVID ate SUNY’s applications fees and other tales from the front lines, in Long Island’s one-and-only pandemic primer.
VOICES
Fault lines: Governor Cuomo only shares the blame for New York’s COVID-19 nursing home fiasco, according to healthcare anchor Terry Lynam, who remembers a chaotic crisis that overwhelmed government, healthcare and everything else.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Ham on (frozen) rye: Expect the pandemic’s bread trends to stick around. Bake Magazine, fresh from the oven.
A Cuban: How Mark Cuban stays successful – and a step ahead – in a fast-moving world. CNBC catches up.
Chicken classic: Why the Chicken Sandwich Wars are good for everyone involved. The Food institute orders out.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Bitwise Industries, a California-based tech apprenticeship provider, raised $50 million in series B financing led by Kapor Capital, JPMorgan Chase, Motley Fool Ventures, ProMedica, Candide Group, GingerBread Capital, Hunt Capital Investments, Impact Assets, Libra Foundation, Plum Alley and Western Technology Investment.
+ BlocPower, a New York City-based climate-tech startup, raised $63 million in Series A funding led by the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, AccelR8, the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, Kapor Capital, Elemental Excelerator, CityRock Venture Partners, the Schmidt Family Foundation and Salesforce Ventures.
+ Malta Inc., a Massachusetts-based long-duration energy-storage company, raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Proman, with participation from new investor Dustin Moskovitz and existing investors Alfa Laval and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
+ Patch, a California-based platform that facilitates corporate carbon-removal projects, raised $4.5 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from VersionOne, Pale Blue Dot and Maple VC.
+ Codecademy, a NYC-based online learning platform focused on coding, raised $40 million in Series D funding led by Owl Ventures, with participation from Prosus and Union Square Ventures.
+ Teon Therapeutics, a California-based biopharma developing small-molecule immunosuppressive inhibitors, completed a $30 million Series A financing led by Oceanpine Capital, with participation from Oriza Ventures and Lifespan Investments, among others.
BELOW THE FOLD
Fresh idea: The USPS fits farm-to-table to the letter.
Intellectual property: Twelve successful habits stolen from other people.
Agricultural delivery: What if the Post Office delivered local produce?
Pharmaceutical oddity: Why rival drug-makers are uniting over COVID.
Educational philosophy: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including St. Joseph’s College, where building character is as important as accumulating knowledge. Check them out.
