May on the way: Welcome to Friday, intrepid innovators, and not just any Friday but the last Friday of April 2025 – yes, by this time next week, it’ll be May out there and more than one-third of the year will be behind us.
Speaking of significant scheduling, a quick reminder that Innovate Long Island is planning a short Spring break at the end of next week. Please watch for your regularly scheduled Monday (April 28) and Wednesday (April 30) newsletters, then soak up some sun and we’ll be back at you on Friday, May 9. More reminders next week.
Nobody wore it better: Eyes up here, mister.
What’s black and white and bred all over (the Southern Hemisphere)? Here on April 25, we’re closing out the workweek with a nod (and a waddle?) to World Penguin Day, celebrating the flightless aquatic birds that live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere – including the indigenous penguin population of Australia’s Heard and McDonald Islands, which emerged unscathed from President Trump’s tariff war.
Or, if you prefer, you can just root for this guy.
You’ve got the look: We’re also prettying things up with National Lingerie Day, ogling sexy garments, and National Mani-Pedi Day, reinforcing proper nail care (with a bit of bling … and yes, that goes for men, too).
If you’re hungry, well, the menu is limited today – though National Zucchini Bread Day is always fresh from the oven on April 25, and much tastier than it sounds.
Adventure time: Also making a little bread was English author Daniel Defoe, whose adventure novel “Robinson Crusoe” (officially, “The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe”) was published on this date in 1719 – among the earliest English-language novels, if not the very first.
Forest for the trees: Other firsts associated with this date include America’s First Annual Forestry Congress, held in Cincinnati on April 25, 1882, and focused on forest conservation, the mitigation of climactic influences and the advancement of pro-forest educational and legislative agendas.
Bell cell: In other ecologically friendly news, solar power became a thing, sorta, 71 years ago today, when Bell Labs demonstrated the first silicon solar cell – boasting feeble (but promising) 6 percent efficiency.
Circuitous route: Further technological advances were realized on April 25, 1961, when American physicist Robert Noyce patented the integrated circuit – significantly shrinking the size of modern computers and sparking a long IP war with rival inventor Jack Kilby.
Full scope: The Hubble Space Telescope has dramatically improved our understanding of the universe.
Hubble, Hubble: And integrated circuits were certainly in play on this date in 1990, when the Hubble Space Telescope was deployed by the Space Shuttle Discovery.
More distant (and more powerful) space telescopes have since been deployed – but the Hubble, named for trailblazing astronomer Edwin Hubble and credited with some of humanity’s most transformative discoveries, is still plugging away in low Earth orbit.
Lordy: English statesman, politician and soldier Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) – a colossus of British history who led the establishment of the Commonwealth of England, ruled for years as its Lord Protector and was ultimately executed by the English monarchy (almost three years after his death, true story) – would be 426 years old today.
Lady Ella: Remembered for impeccable diction, immaculate timing, absolute pitch and a unique talent for improvisation, Fitzgerald was the unrivaled voice of Jazz for decades.
Also born on April 25 were American inventor Charles Sumner Tainter (1854-1940), who significantly improved recording technologies; Italian electrical engineer and inventor Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi (1874-1937), the Nobel Prize-winning “Father of Modern Radio”; American broadcast journalist and war correspondent Edward Murrow (1908-1965), who set a high bar for broadcast-news standards; American jazz, swing, pop and blues great Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), the undisputed “First Lady of Song”; and French astronomer Gérard Henri de Vaucouleurs (1918-1995), who studied galaxies far, far away.
Scent of a winner: And take a bow, Alfredo James “Al” Pacino! The American actor – ranked among the greatest stage and screen performers of all time, with one Oscar, two Tonys, two Primetime Emmys and four Golden Globes to prove it – turns 85 today.
Give Serpico/Scarface/Don Corleone (the younger) your best at editor@innovateli.com, where we bring the Heat – but you bring the news tips and calendar events (making you The Insider!).
About our sponsor: Farmingdale State College is the largest college of applied science and technology in the State University of New York system, with nearly 10,000 students and 46 degree programs focused on relevant high-demand careers. More than half of our students graduate debt-free and 82 percent are employed six months after graduation or enrolled in graduate school. Nearly 80 percent of FSC graduates stay and are working on Long Island six months after graduation. Learn more here.
BUT FIRST, THIS
To their credit: The Farmingdale State College School of Business has received major-league recognition from the longest-standing global accrediting body for collegiate business schools.
The school has earned international accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the world’s oldest and largest business-education network. Granted to less than 6 percent of global schools offering business-degree programs, accreditation by the circa-1916 AACSB recognizes innovation and general excellence in instruction, research, curriculum development and student learning.
Earning the endorsement is a “a true reflection of [Farmingdale State’s] dedication … to the higher-education industry as a whole,” according to AACSB Chief Accreditation Officer and Executive Vice President Stephanie Bryant, and a major feather in the cap of School of Business Dean Richard Vogel, who credited the hard work of Assistant Dean Nanda Viswanathan and the entire business school faculty. “We are grateful for this recognition … having worked diligently to strengthen our curriculum, increase the impact and visibility of our faculty research in the academic and regional community, and provide our students and graduates with a strong and resilient set of skills and values to be successful in their careers,” Vogel said in a statement.
Suits her just fine: New York State Attorney General Letitia James is leading the 12-state lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
See you in court: Twelve U.S. States – including New York – are suing the Trump Administration over the President’s on-again, off-again international tariff strategy.
Issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (a circa-1977 federal law authorizing a president to regulate international commerce after declaring a national emergency in response to any extraordinary outside threat to the United States), Trump’s tariffs have caused “severe economic damage,” according to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office, which notes that no extraordinary extra-national threat exists and that Congress “has not granted the President the authority to impose these tariffs” – meaning Trump has “violated the law by imposing them through executive orders, social media posts and agency orders.”
Filed Wednesday in the U.S. Court of International Trade by a coalition of state attorneys general, the lawsuit – separate from an anti-tariff lawsuit filed last week by the State of California – aims to reverse tariffs that will “slow economic growth, increase unemployment, raise inflation and risk recession,” according to Hochul’s office. “The president does not have the power to raise taxes on a whim, but that’s exactly what President Trump has been doing with these tariffs,” New York State Attorney General Letitia James said Wednesday. “His tariffs are unlawful and, if not stopped, they will lead to more inflation, unemployment and economic damage.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Tabled, for now: Las Vegas Sands won’t be developing a resort casino on Long Island – but the dream of bringing a world-class gaming center to the Nassau Coliseum site is not dead yet.
The little things: Our Monday Calendar Newsletter (all the innovation, all the laughs, plus a detailed rundown of top-flight networkers, business-building workshops and A-list awards presentations across Long Island and beyond) is for subscribers only. But that’s no biggie – our newsletter subscriptions are always easy, always free.
ICYMI
A Riverhead-based nonprofit supporting Long Islanders with emotional and intellectual disabilities has received a major endorsement – and a fat check – from the mother of all health-focused grant-makers.
Something to say? Welcome to The Entrepreneur’s Edge, Innovate Long Island’s new promoted-content news feature platform – a direct link from you to our innovation-focused audience. Progressive product to promote? Singular service to sell? Sociopolitical position to push? Shine a bright light on the big picture, the little details and everything in between with The Entrepreneur’s Edge. Living on the edge.
BEST OF THE WEST (AND SOMETIMES NORTH/SOUTH)
Innovate LI’s inbox overrunneth with inspirational innovations from all North American corners. This week’s brightest out-of-towners:
From California: Desert Hot Springs-based botanical biotech Haivya creates rare cannabis-plant genetic expressions with its proprietary sonic-stimulation cultivation.
From California: San Francisco-based software startup Adaptive introduces user-friendly artificial intelligence platform to help non-coders create personalized apps.
From Rochester: Monroe County-based augmented reality ace Vuzix Corp. teams with North Carolina-based assistive-tech titan Xander on private-label smart glasses for the hearing impaired.
ON THE MOVE
Garrett Gray
+ Garrett Gray has been appointed chairman of the Nassau County Rent Guidelines Board. He is a partner at the Weber Law Group in Melville.
+ Andre Garvin has been appointed vice president of programs for the Board of Directors of the Manhattan-based 100 Black Men of Eastern New York. He is a special assistant at the Nassau County Department of Minority Affairs in Mineola.
+ Ashley Valla has been promoted to partner at Islandia-based Haley Weinblatt & Calcagni in Islandia. She was an associate.
+ Lauren DeVito has been hired as an associate at Islandia-based Haley Weinblatt & Calcagni. She is a recnt graduate of the Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center in Central Islip.
+ Carisa McKillop has been hired as an associate at East Meadow-based Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman. She is a recent graduate of the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University in Hempstead.
+ John Valdini has been appointed president of the Melville-based Suffolk County Village Officials Association. He serves as mayor of the Village of Brightwaters.
Like this newsletter? Innovate Long Island newsletter, website and podcast sponsorships are a prime opportunity to reach the inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and executives you need to know (just ask Farmingdale State). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Crack The Case Edition)
Check the box: Artist Sydney Stern created this box and lots of other easily recognized packaging.
Crackdown: The number of American citizens detained by ICE is rising fast.
Cracking up? Nope – no jokes allowed at this year’s White House Correspondents Dinner.
Crackerjack: You’ve never heard of history’s most prolific commercial artist, but you definitely know his work.
Crack staff: Please continue supporting the innovative institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including Farmingdale State College, where a topnotch faculty leads students on a quest along their best professional paths. Check them out.
