(The last?) first pitch: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, as we wrap up another busy workweek – and unwrap the 2026 Major League Baseball season, which has officially taken the field.
We better enjoy this one: MLB’s collective bargaining agreement is set to expire Dec. 1 and an owner-enforced lockout is all but certain, threatening a shortened or even canceled 2027 season. Fortunately, oddsmakers rank the Yankees and Mets as two of the three teams most likely to dethrone the evil Los Angeles Dodgers, the defending World Series champions – so even with a disheartening work stoppage looming, it should be an entertaining Summer for local fans.
Overture, curtains, lights: Movies are magnificent and TV is terrific, but there’s nothing like a live stage show.
Stage right: Today is March 27, and if the American pastime is not your thing, perhaps you’d prefer World Theatre Day, an annual International Theatre Institute production celebrating stagecraft and urging global governments to support its enormous economic potential.
Also applauding stronger live performances is National Viagra Day – and if you’re wondering why we celebrate the Little Blue Pill on this of all days, read on.
Meat cute: After the show (ahem), let’s grab a bite to eat! It’s National Spanish Paella Day (dishing out the internationally adored rice dish) and Bitterballen Day (celebrating the deep-fried Dutch meatballs) – neither of which earns points for those observing a no-meat Lenten Friday, but there they are.
Whatever you eat, wash it down with three fingers of the good stuff – March 27 is also International Whiskey Day, which is different than World Whisky Day, which is celebrated on the third Saturday of May and, as you can clearly see, removes the “e” from “whiskey.” (For those keeping score, the “e” denotes American or Irish origins, whereas “whisky” references a Scottish, Japanese or Canadian pedigree.)
If it ain’t broke…: The corkscrew hasn’t changed much since Blake’s 1860 breakthrough.
Screwed: If wine is more your thing, you’ll be happy to know that the modern corkscrew was patented on this date in 1860 by Connecticut-based inventor Philos Blake (Eli Whitney’s nephew, for the record) and/or New York City-based inventor M.L. Byrn (it’s a whole thing).
Dialed: Also making today’s call sheet is history’s first long-distance telephone connection, completed on March 27, 1884, by engineers at the American Bell Co. (in NYC) and the Southern New England Telephone Co. (in Boston).
Radioed: Also dialed in was Italian master innovator Guglielmo Marconi, who beamed history’s first international radio transmission from South Foreland, England, to Wimereaux, France, on this date in 1899.
Tunneled: Also digging deep was the Washington Metro, the rapid-transit system serving the nation’s capital (above ground in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs, underground in downtown D.C.), which first shuttled passengers 50 years ago today.
Stiffed: And it was March 27, 1998, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the commercial sale of Sildenafil citrate.
Pfizer Pharmaceuticals’ patented drug – known around the world as Viagra – was the first medical pill designed to treat impotence (but not the last).
Message received: American communications engineer, electrical engineer, author and professor John Robinson Pierce (1910-2002) – the “Father of the Communications Satellite,” who talked NASA into creating orbital communications platforms and later published science-fiction novels under the pseudonym “J.J. Coupling” – would be 116 years old today.
Quentin’s question: Director Tarantino is dragging his feet on his 10th (and final?) movie.
Also born on March 27 were French botanist Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel (1776-1854), credited with founding the sciences of plant cytology and plant physiology; German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen (1845-1923), the Nobel laureate who discovered X-rays; Canadian engineer and feminist Elizabeth Muriel Gregory MacGill (1905-1980), Canada’s first professional woman engineer; American jazz singer and pianist Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990), a two-time Grammy-winner known for her power, range and flexibility (and for her collaborations with many other Jazz legends); and American director, screenwriter and actor Quentin Tarantino (born 1963), a master moviemaker who’s struggling a bit with his self-imposed 10th and final film.
Fergalicious: And take a bow, Stacy Ann Ferguson! The American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and fashion designer – a former child star who gained international acclaim as the frontwoman of Hip Hop group The Black Eyed Peas, soared as a solo artist and is known best by the stage name Fergie – turns 51 today.
Give The Dutchess your best at editor@innovateli.com, where we wonder Where Is The Love when you don’t send news tips and we Just Can’t Get Enough of your Glamorous calendar events.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Climate (policy) change: From the Not Sure You Thought That Through Department comes New York State’s Climate and Community Protection Act, billed as the nation’s most robust climate policy package – maybe a little too robust.
This week, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced plans to amend the circa-2019 CLCPA, which aims to reduce statewide fossil-fuel emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050. Analysts say the law’s ever-tightening limitations on greenhouse-gas emissions will dramatically spike commercial fuel and utility prices, and looking to forestall “new and additional crushing costs” passed on to consumers, Hochul – who did not offer a specific plan – has proposed extending the rollout of CLCPA’s shrinking emissions tiers.
With climate activists rallying against the governor’s proposed changes, nonprofit trade organization New Yorkers for Affordable Energy is applauding Hochul’s pitch to slow CLCPA’s roll. “We support not only delays in the implementation … but also the much-needed change in the accounting mechanism from 20 years to 100 years,” the labor-union coalition said in a statement. “If we fail to change this methodology, the impact on our economy will be devastating. We applaud Gov. Hochul for taking positive steps to amend the CLCPA which will reduce consumer costs and protect union jobs.”
Make it quick: Daniel King is optimistic about the changes iNav will bring to pancreatic cancer detection and treatment.
Fast track: A Northwell Health artificial intelligence-powered clinical tool can significantly reduce the amount of time from biopsy to diagnosis of pancreatic cancer – a huge potential win for patients battling the deadly disease.
As detailed in a study published last month in The Oncologist, a peer-received scientific journal tracking diagnostic and therapeutic advances in oncology and hematology, iNav – a machine learning-based natural language processing model built to analyze magnetic resonance images and computed tomography scans – has proven capable of cutting the time from biopsy to diagnosis in half. By spotting pancreatic cancer markers faster, iNav enables care coordinators to quickly flag high-risk individuals and accelerate treatment timelines.
With 80 percent of pancreatic cancer patients diagnosed at an advanced stage, starting treatments as much as 20 days sooner is a big deal, according to the researchers behind the multi-institution study, including scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. “This preliminary research suggests iNav holds tremendous potential as a clinical tool,” said iNav developer and study leader Daniel King, an assistant professor at Northwell’s Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. “[It offers] patients a greater likelihood of successful outcomes and facilitate[es] more equitable, precision medicine.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Hole lot to learn: Stony Brook University’s first-ever NASA Hubble fellow will pull the university deep into black holes and other cosmic structures.
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ICYMI
A milestone moment for the Island Harvest Workforce Skills Development Institute marks another significant win in the war against regional food insecurity.
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 New York City: Dog-nutrition dynamo Get Joy expands its gut-health pawprint with ambitious nationwide rollout of its pre-, pro- and postbiotic products.
From New Jersey: Warren-based gaming-PC master MAINGEAR drops limited-edition, high-performance PCs to welcome 2026’s most-anticipated open-world adventure.
From Oregon: Portland-based, award-winning cannabis brand Smokiez Edibles joins Global Cannabis Exchange’s B2B platform to light up international expansion.
ON THE MOVE
Aseem Shukla
+ Aseem Shukla has been named Northwell Health’s vice president of pediatric urology, head of pediatric urology at Northwell’s Cohen Children’s Medical Center and director of the health system’s Pediatric Global Services. He was the co-director of the Bladder Exstrophy Program and the endowed chair and director of minimally invasive surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
+ Garden City-based Moritt Hock & Hamroff has announced two new hires:
- Eleni Lazarides has been hired as an associate. She was an associate at Hogan Lovells in Manhattan.
- Alexander Tomaro has been hired as an associate. He was an associate at Campolo, Middleton & McCormick in Ronkonkoma.
+ Woodbury-based D&B Engineers and Architects has announced several promotions:
- Steven Fangmann has been promoted to chairman of the board. He was president.
- Christopher Koegel has been promoted to senior vice president of construction management. He was vice president of construction management.
- Olga Mubarak has been promoted to senior vice president of wastewater. She was vice president of wastewater.
- Philip Sachs has been promoted to senior vice president of water supply. He was vice president of water supply.
+ Nicole Forchelli has been appointed a member of the IPT 2026 Property Tax Symposium Committee. She is a partner in the Tax Certiorari and Municipal practice groups at Uniondale-based Forchelli Deegan Terrana.
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Ranger danger: All joking aside, Norris was an accomplished — and lethal — martial artist.
BELOW THE FOLD (Chuck Norris Doesn’t Die – He Occasionally Lets Death Win To Keep Things Interesting Edition)
Kickstarter: How the action hero changed kids’ lives offscreen.
Chuck Norris makes onions cry: How those Norris memes became a thing.
This is The Way: They never fought for real, but Norris vs. Bruce Lee in “The Way of the Dragon” was martial arts gold.
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