No. 1064: In which SUNY scores, AI goes to the library and climates change (really), with veggie burgers (yuck)

 

Not a moment too June: Well done, intrepid innovators! With pre-vacation projects coming to a head and end-of-school-year functions running you ragged, you’ve successfully completed the first workweek of June 2026.

Your reward: a dry, sunny and very Summerlike weekend. But first, one more demanding workday to work through – before you get too busy, let’s take a short respite from professional deadlines and graduation planning and review the week in socioeconomic innovation.

Pardon the interruption: First, this late-breaking missive from Innovation Command: Your favorite innovation newsletter is taking a previously unannounced (and very quick) break at the end of next week.

Please enjoy your regularly scheduled newsletters on Monday and Wednesday; no newsletter next Friday (June 12). More reminders during the week. Now back to our show.

Hostile environment: Back here on June 5, we’re kicking things off with a hearty huzzah for World Environment Day, the UN’s annual ecological rescue mission, focused this year on everyday actions institutions and individuals can take to combat climate change (which is demonstrably, categorically and in all other ways not a hoax).

Fortunately, while bootlicking toadies in the United States whistle their way past the graveyard to appease their scientifically ignorant master, qualified global leaders are paying close attention. (But why have they chosen this date, of all dates, for World Environment Day? Glad you asked, read on.)

Meat and greet: Just to show we’re as red-blooded American as the next guy – you know, not too woke – we worked hard to identify the perfect word to describe National Veggie Burger Day, and we think we found it: bllleeeccchhh!

We much prefer National Sausage Roll Day, stuffing flaky pastry every June 5 with … you know, something that had parents.

French flies: From red-white-blue Americans to bleu-blanc-rouge Gauls – specifically, the high-flying Montgolfier brothers, who demonstrated their innovative hot-air balloon with a flight over Annonay, France, on this date in 1783.

“Cabin” fever: Refocusing on Americana, a round of applause, please, for American author and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose anti-slavery masterpiece “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was first published – at least, the first part, in serialized form – on June 5, 1851. (Once collected under a single cover, it would become the world’s best-selling 19th Century novel – including a massive run in China.)

Ticket, please: Also making its way around the world was the modern baggage-claim ticket, patented on this date in 1882 by Canadian innovator John Michael Lyons.

Time for change: Speaking of innovations with global implications, the first-ever United Nations Conference on the Human Environment opened 54 years ago today in Stockholm. (Hence, the aforementioned World Environment Day celebration.)

You say you want a revolution: And it was June 5, 1977, when the Apple II – a microcomputer boasting a paltry 8-bit CPU, no floppy disc drive and a then-staggering price of about $1,300 (roughly $7,100 in 2026 dollars) – first went on sale.

Along with Tandy Corp.’s TRS-80 Model I and the Commodore PET 2001, the Apple II formed the famed 1977 Trinity, which – despite its relative lack of memory and performative power – heralded the unstoppable personal-computing revolution.

It’s complicated: American sheriff, customs agent and bartender Patrick Floyd Jarvis “Pat” Garrett (1850-1908) – the gunman who killed infamous outlaw Billy the Kid, remembered by some as a dedicated lawman and others as an ambitious mercenary – would be 176 years old today.

Also born on June 5 were Italian philosopher Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia (1646-1684), the first woman to receive an academic degree from an Italian university and the first woman anywhere to earn a PhD; English economist, journalist and financier John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), among modern history’s most persuasive and effective economic theorists; American anthropologist Ruth Benedict (1887-1948), a pioneering social scientist who influenced and upgraded cultural anthropology; American financial advisor and motivational speaker Suze Orman (born 1951), an Emmy-winning television personality, revered podcast host and bestselling author; and American composer, record producer and saxophonist Kenneth Gorelick (born 1959), known eternally as Grammy Award-winner “Kenny G.”

Krafty veteran: And take a bow, Robert Hearth Kenneth Kraft! The American billionaire, chairman/CEO of the Kraft Group and owner of the New England Patriots – who has meticulously maintained his political neutrality, donating to President Trump’s inauguration committee while financially supporting many Democratic causes – turns 85 today.

Give the patriotic Patriot your best at editor@innovateli.com, where we prefer the New York Football Giants, thank you very much, and our favorite thing about New England is the clam chowder (and we’re also partial to your news tips and calendar events). Go Blue!

 

About our sponsor: Accelerate Long Island is celebrating 15 years of advancing entrepreneurship and strengthening the region’s innovation economy. As manager of the Long Island Innovation Hot Spot, ALI connects startups, research institutions and investors to drive economic growth across the region. Join Accelerate Long Island June 11 for the first-ever Long Island Tech & Innovation Summit – tickets going fast!

 

BUT FIRST, THIS

SUNY payday: Good news for the State University of New York at Old Westbury, SUNY Farmingdale and Stony Brook University: You’re getting paid.

The freshly minted FY 2026-27 New York State Budget includes $54 million in state-tax support for the State University system – including a healthy $9.9 million for SUNY campuses across Long Island. Piling onto three years of state investments in the SUNY system, this year’s budget includes $800,000 for SUNY Old Westbury (pushing the school’s three-year allotment past $7 million), $1.9 million for Farmingdale State ($13.11 million since 2023) and $7.2 million for Stony Brook (giving the flagship university a whopping $81.23 million in financial support over the last three state budgets).

Albany’s disbursements have allowed SUNY campuses to freeze undergraduate tuition rates, while funding cutting-edge research, paid internship opportunities, services for students with disabilities and other programs across the State University network. “Public higher education remains central to a strong and affordable New York,” noted SUNY Chancellor John King Jr. “This state investment will help campuses support student success, increase access to high-quality academic programs, grow research and workforce partnerships and ensure students graduate prepared to thrive in New York’s economy.”

Sprint to the start: The New York Institute of Technology is returning to the competitive sports arena.

The Old Westbury-based university has been accepted into the Collegiate Sprint Football League, making it the 10th school currently competing in a varsity-athletics league that traces its roots back to 1934. The CSFL – which is not an official NCAA league, but operates under the auspices of the independent Sprint Football Association – follows traditional NCAA football rules with one key caveat: Players cannot exceed a strict weight limit of 183 pounds (and must meet other minimum-body-fat and health standards), prioritizing speed and agility over size and strength.

New York Tech – which last fielded NCAA Division II athletics teams during the 2019-20 academic year, before cancelling all intercollegiate athletics due to the COVID pandemic – joins Rockville Centre-based Molloy University and eight other schools in the CSFL, including the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy and Cornell University. “Sprint football provides students with the opportunity to compete at a high level, be part of a team and develop the discipline, leadership, resilience and camaraderie that come from collegiate sports,” noted Joseph Posillico, New York Tech’s vice president for enrollment management and strategic communications.

 

TOP OF THE SITE

Library card: How AI fits into libraries and other cultural institutions is the big question being answered by Artificial Intelligence for Libraries, Archives & Museums, an international collaboration that now includes Stony Brook University.

Gift rap: Innovate Long Island’s first-ever Reader Pledge Drive is underway! We’re determined to keep our newsletters and our website content free (no paywalls!), but we need your help to do it. Our sincerest gratitude to everyone who’s stepped up so far – and our humblest appeals to those still thinking about it. Please and thank you!

 

ICYMI

With the blessings of the American Bar Association, Touro University is preparing to open a new satellite of its Central Islip-based Touro Law Center – alongside Touro’s thriving Montana medical school.

 

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 Pennsylvania: Dubois-based pet-health pioneer Prodogi takes a bite out of doggie dental care with its new slow-dissolve oral-health treats.

From New York City: Gaming-peripheral guru Attack Shark brings precision, speed and power to competitive e-sports with its new flagship wireless mouse.

From Massachusetts: Boston-based “unjunk” upstart Unreal Snacks partners with Whole Foods to introduce the “peanut butter sweet snack the world’s been waiting for.”

 

ON THE MOVE

+ Lindsay Mesh Lotito has been appointed to the Executive Leadership Team for the American Heart Association Go Red for Women Campaign. She’s a partner in the Banking & Finance, Cannabis and Real Estate practice groups at Uniondale-based Forchelli Deegan Terrana.

+ Hauppauge-based King Kullen Grocery Co. has announced several promotions:

• Tracey Cullen has been promoted to president and chief operating officer. She was senior vice president of company operations.
• Chris La Bella has been promoted to senior director of merchandising and project management. He was director of center store merchandising and procurement.
• Frank Vassallo has been promoted to senior vice president of store operations. He was vice president of store operations.
• Andrew Wasserman has been promoted to director of center store merchandising and procurement. He was a buyer.

+ Gary Havican has been named interim president and chief executive officer of Melville-based Catholic Health. He was executive vice president and chief operating officer.

+ Andrew Casale has been promoted to president of Islandia-based NCD Communications. He was director of regional partnerships.

+ Hauppauge-based King Kullen Grocery Co. has announced several promotions:

• Chris La Bella has been promoted to senior director of merchandising and project management. He was director of center store merchandising and procurement.
• Frank Vassallo has been promoted to senior vice president of store operations. He was vice president of store operations.
• Andrew Wasserman has been promoted to director of center store merchandising and procurement. He was a buyer.

+ Kimberly Barresi has been appointed to the Board of Trustees at the Garden City-based Family & Children’s Association. She is a partner at Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman in East Meadow.

 

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 – on Long Island, and soon, across New York State (just ask Accelerate Long Island). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.

 

BELOW THE FOLD (“60 Minutes” Edition)

Scorched earth: On his way out the door, fired Pelley left nothing in the tank.

Watchdog to lapdog: Why the new MAGA-coded editor-in-chief is tearing apart CBS News.

Well, they must have been doing something right: “60 Minutes” just wrapped up its 52nd consecutive year as America’s No. 1 news program.

Give them an hour (or two): Please continue supporting the outstanding organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including Accelerate Long Island, which is dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s on next week’s super-duper Long Island Tech & Innovation Summit – the most socioeconomically constructive 60 minutes (or more) you’ll spend all week. Check them out.