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Opinion

Opinion April 18, 2019

In Houston’s JLABS, a blueprint for Long Island

By GREG MONTALBANO // I’ve been developing clients’ med-tech devices, in all possible applications, for 28 years, and my company has been doing it for 47. No, I didn’t invent a time machine (yet). As the second-generation owner of MIDI Medical Product Development, I’m helping to carry on Long Island’s long tradition of medical-product development. Our clients and their corresponding R&D mindsets have certainly shifted over the years, with more focus on supporting independent, entrepreneurial,…

Opinion March 12, 2019

Co-creator: U.S. must get back on the Maglev track

By JAMES POWELL // Our 20th century highways are failing us in the 21st century. The American Society of Civil Engineers grades U.S. highways as D-minus, with a cost of $2 trillion just to repair our crumbling bridges and roads, not including money to meet the ever-increasing truck and car traffic, which causes more congestion and delays. Our obsolete highway system doesn’t meet modern transport needs, and is killing us. Forty-thousand persons die annually in…

Opinion February 26, 2019

In innovative ‘opera,’ a new weapon in the opioid war

By GINA CZARK // How bad is our opioid epidemic? Consider these stats: In 1993, America’s peak year of gun violence, we lost approximately 40,000 people to firearms. The AIDS crisis claimed about 45,000 lives in 1995, the grimmest year on record, while 1972 was the worst year ever for car crash fatalities, claiming the lives of about 50,000 Americans. Some 70,237 people died in 2017 from drug overdoses in America, making this current crisis…

Opinion January 28, 2019

A prescription for success, in small (and all) business

By MITCH MAIMAN // What could working in an old-school neighborhood pharmacy teach you about running a cutting-edge tech firm? On the surface, these two wildly different businesses have nothing in common. But over the years, I’ve come to realize that I learned many of the rules for growing a successful business working in that drugstore as a kid. My family owned a neighborhood pharmacy in Brooklyn. Maiman’s Pharmacy was off Eastern Parkway in Crown…

Opinion January 14, 2019

Digital glory there for the taking on talent-rich LI

By DEAN DeCARLO // As a 25-year-old millennial, I can distinctly remember a world without omnipresent electronic devices. Then my father brought home a white Compaq PC, preloaded with Windows 95. I was awed by its capabilities – and little did I know a dramatic digital revolution had begun. By intermediate school, most of my Commack classrooms had smartboards. My fourth-grade website “The Weekly Video” used a “drag and drop” builder. It’s safe to say…

Opinion January 7, 2019

Politics 2019: Are millennials ready to govern?

By JEFF GUILLOT // Congratulations are due to my millennial-aged comrades. In 2018, you outshined every previous dismal midterm voter turnout and showed up in record numbers. It was clear that people wanted change, and young voters – who ideologically lean to the left – helped elect a Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives that is the most diverse in history, and a record-shattering Democratic majority in the New York State Senate that…

Opinion December 11, 2018

50 years after Apollo, Cradle of Aviation still inspired

By ANDREW PARTON // It’s a challenging question: Can we be truly inspired by an event that occurred 50 years ago? The answer lies in the event’s impact – not just on us as individuals, but on a variety of aspects of society. In July 2019, we’ll celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the landing of the first men on the surface of the moon. That event impacted not just the United States,…

Opinion December 5, 2018

Maiman: LI is on the right road, with big things ahead

By MITCH MAIMAN // My view into the near-term future of the technology industry on Long Island reflects my lens on the world. Understanding the business model of IPS, a product-development and professional services company with a client base crossing a wide variety of vertical markets, provides context for my perspective on the technology industry here. From giants like Google and our local favorite Zebra Technologies to small-size startup businesses, we have clients in every…

Opinion November 30, 2018

EVs OK, but ICE still have plenty of energy to burn

By BENJAMIN LAWLER // The internal combustion engine is old, inefficient and dirty. Its days are numbered. The future is electric vehicles, which are new, efficient and clean. At least, that what you’ve been told, by people who have a financial interest in propagating EVs. The truth is somewhat different. EVs and ICE-powered vehicles first competed in the late 1800s. But in the early 1900s, the ICE was found to be more desirable due to…

Opinion November 21, 2018

Alessi: LI must work together on a 5G future

By MARC ALESSI // It’s no secret that Long Island has problems with cellphone service. More than 200 cellphone “dead zones” were identified in late 2016, as well as poor-quality network speed, reliability and performance. U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has even urged carriers to improve coverage on the Island. As a longtime resident of the North Shore, I have witnessed firsthand what it means to not have reliable wireless connectivity with our mobile-enabled electronics….

Opinion November 19, 2018

Amazon warrior Cuomo defends deal, crushes critics

By GOV. ANDREW CUOMO // Editor’s note: This article has been edited for length. The full text of the governor’s op-ed is available here.   The Amazon transaction is an historic transformative moment for the entire New York City region. I have done enough development work during my career to know there is no large development project that is accomplished without controversy, especially in a city like New York and especially in this polarized, hyper-political time. While…

Opinion September 21, 2018

Anid: Time for a cyberskills ‘GI Bill’ at the college level

By NADA MARIE ANID // Colleges and universities are in crisis mode. The digital age continues to transform disciplines – dissolving some, merging and reconfiguring others. A highly trained and college-educated workforce, one grounded in the ethics of how to best harness new technologies to benefit humanity, is needed more than ever to tackle issues such as cyberwarfare and artificial intelligence. However, higher education is an expense close to, or greater than, the cost of…

Opinion September 12, 2018

On LI, the electric-vehicle revolution is fully charged

By JOHN BILLARD // It’s National Drive Electric Week, and drivers across the country are showing off their electric vehicles. Americans are looking towards the future when it comes to their vehicles. According to a 2018 AAA survey, 20 percent of Americans want their next vehicle to be electric. Fortunately, the future of electric vehicles is only looking better and brighter than ever – particularly right here on Long Island. Last fall, Ford partnered with…

Opinion September 5, 2018

… and environmental justice for all

By ANNE LOTITO-SCHUH // New Yorkers are ready to lead the nation in the battle against climate change. Whether it is our homes being destroyed by intensifying storms, our flood insurance premiums rising, increased public spending on infrastructure intended to secure us from future storms or the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink, it is little wonder that New Yorkers, and specifically Long Islanders, understand the calamitous effects of climate…

Opinion August 27, 2018

In blockchain, best chance to secure scientific data

By HENRY FOLEY // At a recent speech in Virginia, Attorney General Jeff Sessions proclaimed that undocumented immigrants in Arizona were more likely to go to jail than U.S. citizens. His source was a study by the Crime Prevention Research Center. But there was a problem. That study had a fatal flaw that undermined its conclusion. In fact, the majority of literature on the subject actually shows the reverse. This isn’t the only example of…