No. 1059: In which families hold tight, casinos cash in, Hank Foley returns and downtowns enjoy upturns

 

Almost there: Way to go, intrepid innovators! Another busy workweek conquered (almost), another well-earned weekend queued (almost) and a glorious three-day break within shouting distance (almost).

Yes, by this time next week, we’ll be all jazzed up for the long Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start of Summer 2026. Accordingly, your favorite innovation newsletter will be taking a little break – please watch for your regularly scheduled newsletters on Monday (May 18) and Wednesday (May 20), then find yourself a pool (brrrrr) and a barbecue (mmmmm) and we’ll be back with fresh content on Tuesday the 26th. More reminders next week.

Family ties: Back here on May 15, we’re kicking off your Friday with a big hug for the International Day of Families, the UN’s annual spotlight on the familiar, mental and social importance of ever-evolving family units – which come in all shapes and sizes, whatever the homophobes and bigots and other “traditionalists” might think. (One in five American marriages now involves people of different races, for those keeping score.)

Also rolling the dice today is International Casinos Day, saluting gaming houses that date back thousands of years (though there’s a very specific 20th Century reason why casinos should be celebrated on this day of all days – read on).

Snack attack: Today’s holiday menu is a little light, but we’re not complaining – not on National Pizza Party Day, a third-Friday-of-May commemoration of the circa-18th Century Neapolitan classic (with sausage and mushrooms, please, and no, whatever they were eating in Ancient Greece doesn’t count), and National Chocolate Chip Day, saluting the best friend of bakers and cookie monsters every May 15 (and every day, honestly).

Motion detector: Before there was proper pizza, there was the mathematical rule of Solar System planetary orbits – Kepler’s Third Law of Planetary Motion, formulated way back in the 17th Century (on this date in 1618, specifically) by German astronomer Johannes Kepler.

Rapid fire (kinda): Returning to the 18th Century, English lawyer James Puckle patented his prototype machine gun – a flintlock (!) capable of firing nine shots per minute (!!), with different ammo for use against Christians and Muslims (!!!) – on May 15, 1718.

Suffragette city: It was well into the 19th Century by the time co-founders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony launched the Woman Suffrage Association on this date in 1869.

Sin City (eventually): The 20th Century had just started when Las Vegas was founded 121 years ago today as a simple railroad stop in the middle of a dusty desert. (Casinos came later.)

“Rabbit” season: And it was the 21st Century – May 15, 2019, to be precise – when Jeff Koons’ “Rabbit” sculpture was auctioned off for a whopping $91.1 million, setting a record for an artwork by a living artist.

The senses-shattering price paid by uber-successful hedge-fund manager (and future New York Mets owner) Steve Cohen bested the $90.3 million paid for painter David Hockney’s “Portrait of an Artist (Pool With Two Figures)” during a 2018 Christie’s auction.

Equality in spaaaaace: Scottish American astronomer Williamina Fleming (1857-1911) – a way-ahead-of-her-time feminist who pioneered spectrographic science, catalogued 10,000-plus stars and discovered the Horsehead Nebula – a would be 169 years old today.

Also born on May 15 were American author Frank L. Baum (1856-1919), who penned 42 novels, 83 short stories, 200-plus poems and dozens of screenplays, but never topped “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”; French physicist Pierre Curie (1859-1906), who won a Nobel Prize but takes a forever back seat to his more famous wife; German Peruvian mathematician and archeologist Maria Reiche (1903-1998), who took it upon herself to protect Peru’s famous Nazca Lines; English playwright, screenwriter and novelist Sir Peter Schaffer (1926-2016), the Tony Award-winner who penned “Equus” and “Amadeus”; and American diplomat and political scientist Madeline Albright (1937-2022), the first woman U.S. Secretary of State.

Wavy as you go by: And take a bow, Hugh Nanton Romney Jr.! The American entertainer, poet and peace activist – known best as hippie icon Wavy Gravy – turns 90 today.

Send birthday wishes to the clown king of counterculture at editor@innovateli.com, where our culture counts heavily on your news tips and calendar events.

 

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. Learn more here.

 

BUT FIRST, THIS

Hank you very much: One of the New York Institute of Technology’s most innovative facilities has been renamed in honor of one of the institute’s greatest leaders.

The Midge Karr Fine Arts and Design Center – a centerpiece of New York Tech’s Old Westbury campus and the home of Startup Tech Central, a new hub of maker spaces, mentorship programs, startup training and other entrepreneurship-focused efforts – was rechristened Henry C. Foley Hall during a dedication ceremony held Wednesday. Foley, who oversaw the creation of New York Tech’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Academy during his tenure (including the academy’s $5 million venture fund), retired last June after leading the school for eight progressive years.

His successor, New York Tech President Jerry Balentine, praised the now-president emeritus and said the rise of Henry C. Foley Hall marked more than a simple renaming. “Over the years that Hank Foley was at New York Tech, he dramatically changed the campus,” Balentine said Wednesday. “It’s a more student-centric school, it’s a stronger academic school and it’s a stronger research school … naming this building after him combines all of those energies that he brought to our campus.”

Going to (down)town: Two more Long Island downtowns have earned healthy stipends through Albany’s ongoing downtown-revitalization programs.

The Village of Valley Stream will receive $10 million as the Long Island winner of the ninth round of the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative – originally created in 2016 by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to fund “strategic redevelopment projects” in urban centers – while the Village of Patchogue will receive $4.5 million as regional winner in the fourth round of NY Forward, created by Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022 to invigorate downtowns in smaller and rural communities. While announcing the latest winners, Hochul trumpeted a fresh $200 million statewide investment pushing Albany’s total outlay through the long-running downtown redevelopment programs to $1.4 billion.

Prior DRI winners include the Village of Westbury and the Hamlet of Hicksville, while the City of Long Beach and the Village of Lindenhurst are among Long Island’s previous NY Forward champions. “So, to Patchogue and Valley Stream, I say: Welcome to the class of graduates,” Hochul said Wednesday. “We’ve been able to do the same for other communities – Westbury, Central Islip, Baldwin, Amityville, Riverhead, Huntington Station and more – and now it’s your turn to shine.”

 

TOP OF THE SITE

Shopping list: The modern shopping mall is not dead – but modernization is a must, according to Voices Real Estate Anchor Scott Burman, who highlights new thinking inside malls across Long Island and beyond.

How’s this for starters: Start your workweek right – the subscriber-only Innovate Long Island Monday Calendar Newsletter has all the wit, wisdom and innovation, plus the lowdown on the top business-building networkers and workshops on Long Island and beyond. Best part: Subscriptions are always easy, always free.

 

ICYMI

An innovative polymer goop that might save the world – one efficiently cooled server farm at a time – is making its way across Long Island.

 

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 North Carolina: Wilmington-based sleep-wellness brand Yogasleep introduces a comprehensive camera/app combo for better baby monitoring and sleep coaching.

From Missouri: Kansas City-based communication-technology titan Midland tunes up on-the-job chatter with its first wearable mini walkie-talkie system.

From Virginia: Chantilly-based artist acolyte Bob Ross Inc. leverages popular Fortnite editor to create a “more authentic Bob Ross experience” through a dedicated game studio.

 

ON THE MOVE

+ Jacqueline Rehak has been hired as assistant superintendent for business and finance in the Garden City School District. She was assistant superintendent for finance and operations in the Rockville Centre School District.

+ Michael Balboni has been named president of Garden City-based Adelphi University. The former New York State senator is the founder of Redland Strategies in New York City.

+ The Melville-based Long Island Association has elected 12 new members to its Board of Directors:

• James Aspromonti is office managing director of CBIZ Inc. in Woodbury.
• AJ Caro is CEO of Arrow Security in Smithtown.
• Katherine Fritz is president and CEO of Long Island Cares-The Harry Chapin Food Bank in Hauppauge.
• Sean Hunt is office managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Melville.
• Joseph Lamantia is executive vice president and chief strategy and growth officer at Catholic Health in Melville.
• Jason Lipiec is executive vice president and Long Island regional president of M&T Bank in Setauket.
• Mitch Pally is interim president and CEO of Discover Long Island in Hauppauge.
• Christopher Palmer is managing partner of Cullen and Dykman in Uniondale.
• Kevin Santacroce is executive vice president and chief banking officer at ConnectOne Bank in Bohemia.
• Mike Santeramo is vice president of external affairs at UBS Arena in Elmont.
• Reggie Thomas is head of government affairs-New York for Google.
• Robin White is director of external affairs for AT&T.

+ R. Patrick Quinn has been hired as a partner and chairman of the Digital Assets Practice Group at Uniondale-based Cullen and Dykman. He was a senior adviser at Deloitte in Manhattan.

+ Melville-based H2M architects + engineers has announced several new hires:

• Francisco Castillo has been hired as an environmental technician. He was a field scientist at J.C. Broderick & Associates in Hauppauge.
• Symone Edwards has been hired as a human resources coordinator. She was an HR intern at the firm.
• Daniel Graham has been hired as senior corporate counsel. He previously ran a private practice in Garden City.
• Shannon Haller has been hired as a staff engineer. She was a staff engineer at the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.

 

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 (Two If By Sea Edition)

Strait talk: You know it’s vital, but the Strait of Hormuz is even more important than you think.

Major blow: MAGA wants to kill it, but ocean-based wind energy is exploding around Europe.

You sea see? The difference between “sea” and “see,” as explained by POTUS.

Hope floats: Please continue supporting the outstanding organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including Accelerate Long Island, which is sailing straight toward tomorrow with the first-ever Long Island Tech & Innovation Summit, coming next month to Uniondale. Check it out right here!