No. 1076: On Cockapoos, Idlewild and senior housing, with jelly beans in hand and news integrity on the ropes

 

Fit to a T: Top of the morning, troops, as we towel off the torrential rains and tie up another trying workweek, with a tantalizing Summer weekend on tap.

It’s not just any Friday, of course, but the last Friday (in fact, the very last day) of July 2026. This testy, tough and all-around tumultuous year is certainly flying by – let’s tap the breaks long enough to take in this timely, topical and all-around tranquil innovation review.

Ifs, ands or mutts: The last day of July equals July 31, naturally, so we’re wagging our tails first for National Mutt Day, mixing things up a bit with your favorite canine combos. For those keeping score, American Pit Bull Terriers, German Shepherds and Labrador Retrievers are the most common domestic contributors, but Cockapoos (combining Cocker Spaniels and Poodles) and Puggles (crossing Pugs and Beagles) are the top fan favorites.

Love abounds for man’s best friend today, but it might be difficult for you to make new friends on National Talk in an Elevator Day, a slightly creepy last-Friday-in-July observation that urges us to strike up conversations in the lift – with strangers, if necessary.

Let them eat cake (and jellybeans): OK, that’s weird. But there’s nothing strange about healthy eating, which is a little easier on Shredded Wheat Day (encouraging a fiber-rich breakfast) and National Avocado Day (celebrating the nutrient-dense superfood).

And there’s nothing wrong with indulging your sweet tooth, either, especially after a rough workweek – thank goodness National Raspberry Cake Day (combining sponge cake with sweet berries and sweeter cream) and National Jump for Jelly Beans Day (which is not National Jelly Bean Day, which falls in April, but is close enough) are both served on July 31.

First-ilizer: It sure wasn’t used to grow jelly beans (raspberries, maybe), but a process for making potash, a key ingredient in fertilizer, was patented on this date in 1790 by Pennsylvania-based inventor Samuel Hopkins – officially, the first-ever U.S. patent.

International arrival: More than 150 years later – and 30 days after it began servicing commercial flights – New York International Airport (commonly known as Idlewild Airport, and later John F. Kennedy International Airport) was dedicated by President Harry Truman on July 31, 1948.

The tassels came later: But it was this date in 1969 when King of Rock ‘n’ Roll Elvis Presley returned to the stage after an eight-year live-performance hiatus, kicking off a short residency at the brand-new International Hotel in Las Vegas.

Rover and out: Also going places was the battery-powered Lunar Rover, which rumbled across the Moon’s mountainous Hadley-Apennine region 55 years ago today during the Apollo 15 mission – making astronaut Dave Scott the first person to drive a vehicle on the Moon.

You fly like a girl: And it was July 31, 1991, when the U.S. Senate finally voted to allow women to fly combat aircraft, after eight decades of civilian flying privileges and 20 years of non-combat military flying.

Retired Maj. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt, the U.S. Air Force’s first female fighter pilot, proved the Senate right by logging more than 300 combat hours over Iraq and Afghanistan behind the stick of an F-15 Strike Eagle.

Statistical anomaly: American economist, statistician and educator Milton Friedman (1912-2006) – a 1976 Nobel laureate whose groundbreaking work on consumption analysis and stabilization policies greatly influenced the circa-1980s policies of U.S. President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, among others – would be 114 years old today.

Also born on July 31 were American epidemiologist, bacteriologist and pathologist Theobald Smith (1859-1934), a Columbia University and Harvard University professor widely considered America’s first internationally renowned research scientist; Austrian surgeon, researcher and educator Baron Anton Freiherr von Eiselsberg (1860-1939), who significantly advanced neurosurgery techniques; Italian inventor, painter and circus-owner Ildebrando Zacchini (1868-1948), who concocted the first “human cannonball” act (and tested it on his son); Polish American chemist Stephanie Kwolek (1923-2014), a DuPont researcher remembered best for inventing Kevlar; and English writer and activist J.K. Rowling (born 1965), who keeps making it harder to separate her free-spirited magical creations from her narrow-minded transphobic worldview.

The Maverick: And take a bow, Mark Cuban! The American businessman, entrepreneur and television personality – a company-exit maestro and former principal owner (now minority owner) of the Dallas Mavericks, currently locked in a bitter legal battle with the new owners – turns 68 today.

Send birthday wishes for the “Shark Tank” alum to editor@innovateli.com, where our entrepreneurial personality depends greatly on your news tips and calendar events.

 

About our sponsor: Located just a stone’s throw from New York City, Drake Media Studios is Long Island’s premier destination for professional brand messaging, bright-light corporate events and world-class television and streaming productions. Featuring state-of-the-art equipment, talented staffers and 8,200 square feet of sound stages, editing suites and support spaces, DMS is one of the most welcoming video/film production facilities in the nation – and we can’t wait to share your story! Learn more here.

 

BUT FIRST, THIS

Senior step: The Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency has preliminarily approved tax breaks for a proposed age-restricted residential development in the Village of Valley Stream.

The IDA voted July 21 to greenlight an economic-development package benefitting BDC BOSFA Valley Stream, an LLC jointly owned by Garden City-based developer The Benjamin Companies and Lawrence-based developer BOSFA Properties. The partners plan to purchase roughly 1.5 acres at the intersection of Valley Stream Boulevard and Hicks Street – currently a village-owned parking lot – and construct a four-story building with 16 studio apartments, 105 one-bedroom apartments and 11 two-bedroom apartments, all destined for senior residents.

The tax-abatement package must still undergo a full IDA review and final vote, but with 10 percent of the units designated as affordable workforce housing – and four full-time jobs in the mix, following 100 construction-phase jobs – the $60 million project is a must-have for Hempstead and Valley Stream, according to Hempstead IDA CEO Fred Parola. “This project will provide affordable housing options for the village’s desperate senior residents at a time when the village’s aging population is growing and demand for housing is high,” Parola noted.

Healthy start: The first renovated research space under the SUNY Flagship Lab Modernization program has opened on Long Island.

Stony Brook University’s Renaissance School of Medicine hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony earlier this month celebrating the completion of the SUNY Flagship 1 Research Lab, the new home base of multiple research groups from the Renaissance School’s Department of Physiology and Biophysics. Featuring collaboration-supporting open floor plans, efficiency-focused energy and water-use systems and other modern infrastructure, the state-of-the-art 6,000-square-foot laboratory is the first in a series of planned renovations across SBU’s Health Sciences Center.

Work on additional Renaissance School “lab quadrants” – funded by a $100 million State University investment, half of a $200 million capital commitment split by Stony Brook and fellow SUNY flagship the University at Buffalo – is already underway. “The opening of our first Flagship Research Lab marks a major step forward in strengthening Stony Brook’s role as a leading public-research institution,” noted Stony Brook Medicine Executive Vice President William Wertheim. “This initiative reflects a shared commitment to ensuring that our researchers have the cutting‑edge environments they need to drive innovation and improve health outcomes across Long Island and beyond.”

 

TOP OF THE SITE

Integrity in trouble: Fair Media Council Executive Director and CEO Jaci Clement laments about the rise of “pay-to-play” news coverage – and its swift erosion of integrity across all levels of professional journalism.

Thank you! Please help Innovate Long Island keep these educational and entertaining newsletters – and our brilliant website content – free from paywalls and subscription fees. Our easy and secure donation page is always open and no gift is too small!

 

ICYMI

Governor Kathy Hochul’s one-year statewide moratorium on data-center construction projects has plenty of support – and plenty of detractors, including some on 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 New Jersey: Trenton-based recycling leader TerraCycle tackles a fast-growing waste stream with its new vaper-device collection and recycling service.

From California: Los Angeles-based cookware kingpin HexClad and Canadian kiddie-cooking contender Little Kitchen Academy team up to create hands-on culinary classes.

From New York City: In-store retail media master Grocery TV partners with geographic-information guru Esri to enhance “behavioral and psychographic targeting.”

 

ON THE MOVE

+ Daniel Grassian has been appointed provost and executive vice president of the New York Institute of Technology. He was senior vice provost for academic affairs at California Polytechnic State University.

+ Dawn Mihalek has been elected chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Deer Park-based United Way of Long Island. She is director of service planning and dispatch operations at Star Group in Woodbury.

+ Cristina Gulotta has been promoted to chief operating officer and head of marketing at Melville-based Cona Elder Law. She was vice president of marketing.

+ Nicola DeVine has been hired as marketing manager at Melville-based Cona Elder Law. She was a marketing and business development specialist at Kaufman Dolowich in Woodbury.

+ Thomas Garry has been named chairman of the Management Committee at Uniondale-based Harris Beach Murtha. He is managing partner of the firm’s Long Island office.

 

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 Drake Media Studios). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.

 

BELOW THE FOLD (We’re Not Putting Weather Forecasts At The Top Of The Newsletter Ever Again Edition)

Close call: The deluge predicted in Wednesday’s newsletter mostly missed Long Island, but still hammered the Northeast.  

Weather (or not): The courts stopped Trump from dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research – but it’s been gutted anyway.

Best guess: Increased computing power, better data, smarter models … but predicting the weather is still an inexact science.

It’s always sunny in Melville: Because that’s the home base of Drake Media Studios, one of the clever companies that support Innovate Long Island and a bright, warm light for everyone looking to refine their brand message (or host a classy corporate event). Check them out.