Anti-climactic: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, as our national legal drama drags on but this latest busy workweek reaches its definitive end – hopefully for you, an innovative and productive one.
Whatever happens with our unprecedented Constitutional crisis – and whenever it happens – we continue to hope it happens justly and peacefully. Until then, for the love of Pete, let’s focus on something else.
No time for neat: Mix it up on National Cocktail Day.
Eat, drink, merry: This will definitely help – today is both National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day and National Cocktail Day, both certain to turn frowns upside down.
It’s also National Cheesesteak Day, a March 24 menu favorite that’s kind of a bum steer this year for Lent observers, but double awesomesauce for everyone else.
Black ink: Quite possibly celebrating with steak and cocktails (and, we hope, chocolate-covered raisins) was publisher Mary Shadd Carey, who introduced the anti-slavery newspaper The Provincial Freeman on this date in 1853, becoming the first Black woman to publish a newspaper in North America.
Ready and tilling: Also carving new paths was the rotary-disk plow, a quantum agricultural leap patented on March 24, 1896, by Texas-based inventor Clement Hardy.
Under construction: Speaking of new paths (and carving), New York City Mayor Robert Van Wyck ceremoniously broke ground 123 years ago today on a new underground “Rapid Transit Railroad” connecting Manhattan and Long Island (Brooklyn, specifically).
Shake, rattle and roll: Presley was stationed in Germany and rose to the rank of sergeant.
All shook up: Crushing fans (but thrilling parents and priests), King of Rock ’N’ Roll Elvis Presley – then the world’s most recognized entertainer – officially joined the U.S. Army on this date in 1958.
Viva Bush! And the first seagoing oil rig began drilling in the Gulf of Mexico on March 24, 1955, placed in service by the Zapata Offshore Co.
Now-defunct Zapata Offshore was a successful startup founded in 1953 by one George H.W. Bush.
For my next trick: Houdini, unchained.
The Height of equality: African American civil rights activist Dorothy Irene Height (1912-2010) – who advised U.S. Presidents and served 40 years as president of the National Council of Negro Women – would be 111 years old today.
Also born on March 24 were German scholar, mineralogist and metallurgist Georgius Agricola (1494-1555), the “father of mineralogy”; Swiss educator Édouard Claparède (1873-1940), who trailblazed child psychology; Hungarian-American magic man Harry Houdini (born Erich Weisz, 1874-1926), who captured the zeitgeist like few ever have; American dancer, actress and ballet director Lucia Chase (1907-1986), who co-founded the American Ballet Theatre; and American paleontologist and author Robert Thomas Bakker (born 1945), a world-renowned dinosaur expert who’s consulted on everything from movies to video games.
Omaha! Omaha! And take a bow, Peyton Manning! The all-time National Football League great – who out-quarterbacked little brother Eli in virtually every category, except one important metric – turns 47 today.
Wish “the Sheriff” well at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips keep moving the chains and your calendar events always go long.
About our sponsor: Farrell Fritz, a full-service law firm with 15 practice groups, advises startups on entity formation, founder and shareholder agreements, funding, executive compensation and benefits, licensing and technology transfer, mergers and acquisitions and other strategic transactions. The firm’s blog, New York Venture Hub, discusses legal and business issues facing entrepreneurs and investors.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Love in the house: A leading national charity and a top regional hospital have rededicated a private space for families facing their toughest challenge.
Representatives of Stony Brook Medicine and the New York Metro Chapter of Ronald McDonald House Charities gathered March 16 to officially re-open the RMHC NYM Family Room at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, three full years since the COVID-19 pandemic forced its indefinite closure. The 900-square-foot space, which originally opened in 2013, is equipped with a kitchen area, laundry facility and shower, allowing families to remain close while children undergo cancer treatments.
Ironically, it becomes the second Ronald McDonald House facility in operation at Stony Brook Medicine – an RMHC Family Room opened in 2022 inside the Stony Brook Children’s Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. “This is a really special place that gives families an opportunity to step out of the clinical environment and … lean on each other for support,” RMHC-New York Metro CEO Matt Campo noted. “It’s really the magic of this program.”
Say cheese: Beckham (right), Lloyd (left) and a few hundred new friends from Long Island.
Playing in the Sands: Las Vegas Sands is pulling out all the stops to show that billion-dollar resort-casinos are swell and all, but it just wants to be a good neighbor.
The Nevada-based luxury-resort developer – currently proposing a multibillion-dollar resort for the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum site in Uniondale – welcomed international soccer sensations Carli Lloyd and David Beckham earlier this month for a Sands Youth Empowerment Initiative focused on fitness, teamwork and experience. Attended by about 400 children, the event saw English football star Beckham and two-time American Olympic gold medalist Lloyd, also a two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion, offer inspirational opening remarks before leading kids through drills at Uniondale’s Mitchell Field.
The event was designed to showcase Sands’ “long-term commitment to invest in the types of programs that benefit local residents and families” wherever it develops, according to Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs Ron Reese. “Sands has a long history of creating deep and meaningful partnerships with our host communities,” Reese added.
TOP OF THE SITE
Out in front: A sophisticated AI model might accurately predict opioid-related deaths by analyzing social media posts – a potentially powerful weapon in the war on drugs.
Twice as spice: A turmeric derivative usually found in the kitchen also has enormous cancer-fighting benefits, according to a recent New York Tech study.
Funny/business: At once educational and entertaining, Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast shares success stories – and a few chuckles – with the leaders of the regional innovation economy. Laugh and learn.
ICYMI
Our historian shares love for Ron Loveland; Northwell Health streamlines efficiency of digital records.
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 California: San Mateo-based mouth-care modernizer Cocofloss brings its eco-conscious brand to more than 2,000 nationwide CVS stores.
From South Carolina: Charleston-based bath-and-body business Old Whaling Co. smells like a winner with fragrance-free Knot Scented soaps, bombs and butters.
From New York City: Sleep-management mainstay Wesper earns critical FDA clearance for next-generation sleep-testing device.
ON THE MOVE
Haresh Gurnani
+ Haresh Gurnani has been named dean of the Stony Brook University College of Business, effective July 2023. He was most recently area chairman in the School of Business at Wake Forest University.
+ James Lentini has been elected to the Board of Trustees of the Albany-based Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities in New York. He is president of Rockville Centre-based Molloy University.
+ Mary Bishai has been elected co-spokesperson of the international collaboration DUNE: Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. She is a distinguished scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton.
+ Alyssa Zuckerman has been elected president of the Labor and Employment Relations Association of Long Island. She is a partner at Melville-based Lamb & Barnosky.
+ Irien Moawad has been hired as president of pharmacy services and compliance at Community Care Rx in Hempstead. She was executive vice president of client management at Precision LTC Pharmacy in Farmingdale.
+ Michael Del Piano has been promoted to partner at Islandia-based Lewis Johs Avallone Aviles. He previously served as senior counsel.
+ Dilara Islam has been hired as an associate in the Real Property Tax Certiorari Law and Condemnation Litigation Group at East Meadow-based Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman. She was a claims specialist with Nationwide Insurance in Manhattan.
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 (just ask Farrell Fritz). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Weight Watching Edition)
Feed the beast: Arnie shares his diet secrets.
Time factor: The secret to weighing yourself accurately.
Weighing in: There’s lots to consider when selecting a smart scale.
Hey Arnold: How Schwarzenegger broke the weight-loss plateau, when diet and exercise stalled.
Worth their weight: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Farrell Fritz – pound for pound, an undisputed champion of Long Island business law. Check them out.
