Economics 101: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we hurdle the hump of another busy workweek – and with foreign governments, the U.S. Congress and common sense apparently powerless to stop the madness, hurtle toward a national recession.
Sure, stock markets are bleeding out, banks and economists are recoiling in terror, CEOs are sweating profusely and world leaders are shaking their heads in disbelief at the sheer stupidity, but asinine economic “strategy” can’t stop the Long Island innovation economy, right?
Actually, that’s right. This too shall pass, intrepid innovators, and until it does, the best we can do is keep on keeping on. So stick with that hardworking voodoo that you do – and together, we’ll remain undaunted on the path to socioeconomic greatness.
There’s just one Hitch: Sir Alfred Hitchcock mastered suspense (and was pretty funny, too).
The mother of all working holidays: Today is March 12 and on the topic of productive and tireless types, we open with National Working Moms Day, established in 1983 by the American Business Women’s Association to honor double-duty dames who bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan.
Today is also Alfred Hitchcock Day, celebrating one of the most influential figures in cinema history. Why today? In true Hitchcockian fashion, that’s a conundrum wrapped in a riddle, since he was born in August and died in April.
To your health: Hug a dietician today … it’s National Registered Dietician Nutritionist Day, a second-Wednesday-of-March bouquet to harbingers of healthy diets.
And speaking of eating healthy, let’s lay off the red meat and fried foods today – easy enough on National Baked Scallops Day, de-shelling and buttering up the crowd-pleasing bivalve mollusks every March 12.
Chapter and verse: Other crowd-pleasers associated with this date include a new, easy-to-read Holy Bible highlighted in a 1455 letter from future Pope Aeneas Piccolomini to a friend, raving about the good book produced by an “amazing man near Frankfurt” – the first-ever reference to the famous Gutenberg Bible.
A-maize-ing: From Germany to England, where Middlesex-based innovator Orlando Jones earned a U.S. patent on March 12, 1841 (by mail, we presume), for his unique method of manufacturing starch from corn.
Low and behold: Juliette Gordon Low (right) founded the Girl Guides after returning to her native Savannah from Scotland.
Scout leader: From England to the States, where founder Juliette Gordon Low held the first meeting of the Girl Guides – predecessor to the Girl Scouts of the United States of America – in Georgia 113 years ago today.
Chat room: Also leading the way was President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who delivered the first of his famous “Fireside chats” on this date in 1933. (Ironically, his topic was the burgeoning national economic crisis.)
Un-doctrinated: And it was March 12, 1947, when President Harry Truman introduced The Truman Doctrine, which became a cornerstone U.S. foreign policy principle for the better part of a century.
Directly betrayed by current foreign policymaking, the doctrine pledged American support for democratic nations against authoritarian threats – for openers, military and economic assistance for Turkey and Greece to resist aggression by the growing Soviet bloc.
The beat goes on: American poet and novelist Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (1922-1969) – known best as Jack Kérouac, influential leader of the Beat Generation literary movement and master of the stream-of-consciousness “spontaneous prose” style – would be 103 years old today.
You can call me “Al”: Alwin Jarreau, smooth as silk.
Also born on March 12 were Russian mineralogist Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863-1945), a founder of geochemistry and biogeochemistry; American naval aviator and test pilot Walter “Wally” Schirra Jr. (1923-2007), the only NASA astronaut to fly Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions; American actress Barbara Feldon (born 1933), known best as “Agent 99,” silly secret agent maxwell Smart’s main squeeze; American singer and songwriter Alwin Lopez “Al” Jarreau (1940-2017), a Grammy-winning R&B/Pop icon; and American businessman and retired politician Willard Mitt Romney (born 1947), a Harvard-educated attorney, former Mormon missionary, successful CEO, two-term U.S. Senator and one-term Massachusetts governor, and the only Republican who voted to convict President Donald Trump in Trump’s first two impeachment trials.
Life is a “Cabaret”: And take a bow, Liza May Minnelli! The American actress, singer and dancer – a commanding stage presence, powerful alto and bona fide EGOT who tacked on multiple Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA awards for good measure – turns 79 today.
Give Judy Garland’s daughter your best at editor@innovateli.com, where you don’t have to tour with Sinatra or sell out Carnegie Hall to get our attention – news tips and calendar events do just fine.
About our sponsor: Presberg Law P.C. is Long Island’s premier “IDA” and business law firm for businesses locating, relocating and expanding on Long Island. Founded in 1984, this multigenerational practice focuses on the purchase, sale, leasing and financing of commercial and industrial real estate, SBA and other loan transactions, construction projects and business sales and acquisitions.
Great Neck
BUT FIRST, THIS
State of concern: It gives us no pleasure to report this, but it seems New York is the second-most expensive state in the union to start a business.
That’s the unfortunate word from our friends at Simplify LLC, a professional affiliation of accountants and attorneys working to crank up new limited-liability corporations and otherwise empower startup business owners. The Wyoming-based company – itself an LLC, known officially as Businessguider LLC but DBA Simplify – ranked the Empire State No. 2 on the most-expensive side of a new 2025 study that leverages data from a host of federal and state offices.
Analyzing key factors including state taxes, business filing fees, commercial rent, SBA lending trends and utilities costs, among others, the study tags California as the most-expensive startup state but places New York – where average wages ($91,428), monthly commercial electric bills (about $907) and corporate taxes (6.88 percent) are high, and the sheer number of business regulations (300,000-plus) is off the charts – a close second. Other expensive states for startups include New Jersey, Hawaii, Alabama and Massachusetts, while Utah, South Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana rank as the five least expensive.
Bee plus: Isabella Fong (center, first place), Vincent Foschino (right, second place) and Soha Jhaveri (third place) were the biggest thinkers in the 2025 Long Island Brain Bee.
Brains of the operation: Nearly 70 high schoolers from Long Island and New York City showed off their big brains – literally – at the Long Island Brain Bee competition, held March 1 in Hempstead.
The Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell hosted the seventh-annual competition, which explores brain functionality – and hopefully sparks interest in future neuroscience careers – over two rounds: a multiple-choice exam based on Society for Neuroscience data and a hands-on laboratory exercise where participants identified anatomical structures in an actual human brain.
Isabella Fong of Great Neck South High School, who placed third in last year’s Long Island Brain Bee, captured first place, earning a spot in the National Brain Bee Championship (scheduled for May at New Jersey’s Rutgers University) and a shot at the 2025 International Brain Bee (slated to be held virtually in November). “The Brain Bee is always an exciting competition,” noted Zucker School of Medicine Associate Professor of Science Education Vanessa Redin, organizer of the regional brain bowl. “The participating students … get exposed to a variety of brain anatomy and specific parts of the brain and hopefully spark an interest for a career in the brain sciences or medical field.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Center stage: Under the steady hand of Director Lee Stemkoski, the Adelphi University Innovation Center is ushering students – and the entire Long Island innovation economy – toward a collaborative, AI-powered future.
Conversational tone: Season 5 of “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast” has been killing it – one amazing guest after another, and there’s lots more to come. Catch up on everything and anyone you might have missed this season … plus four-dozen other amazing conversations straight from the innovation economy’s front lines.
VOICES
Voices historian and Long Island Bio Executive Director Tom Mariner travels to Islip – and to the town’s storied past – to explore its historical and present-day vitality as an important regional travel hub.
Something to say? Welcome to The Entrepreneur’s Edge, Innovate Long Island’s new promoted-content news feature platform – a direct link from you to our innovation-focused audience. Progressive product to promote? Singular service to sell? Sociopolitical position to push? Shine a bright light on the big picture, the little details and everything in between with The Entrepreneur’s Edge. Living on the edge.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Red alert: What ancient Mars weather patterns tell us about the future of climate change on Earth. Salon forecasts.
White flag? Anyone expecting a quick Canadian surrender in Trump’s trade war might be surprised. Raw Story reacts.
Blue cool: A former Navy SEAL’s “Force Blue” project is making marine conservation cool. NPR preserves.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Spiritus, a New Mexico-based climate-tech startup focused on carbon removal from the air, raised $30 million in Series A Funding led by Aramco Ventures.
+ AidKit, a Colorado-based government nonprofit aid administrator focused on streamlining disaster relief, raised $8.5 million in Series A funding led by Blueprint Equity.
+ Ataraxis AI, a New York City-based precision medicine innovator, raised $20.4 million in Series A funding led by AIX Ventures.
+ Bluebird Kids Health, a Massachusetts-based pediatric healthcare services provider, raised $31.5 million in funding led by F Prime and .406 Ventures.
+ Crogl, a New Mexico-based cybersecurity risk-management platform, raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Menlo Ventures and Tola Capital.
+ Shoulder Innovations, a Michigan-based med-tech focused on shoulder-replacement technologies, closed a $40 million Series E equity funding led by U.S. Venture Partners.
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 Presberg Law). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Highs And Lows Edition)
The air up there: Welcome to Leadville, the highest incorporated city in North America (elevation: 10,200 feet).
High point: History thrives in North America’s highest city.
Middle ground: Love AI-created art? Hate it? Let’s find a compromise.
Low profile: Officials remain mum on who started that massive Long Island wildfire.
Leveling up: Please continue supporting the fantastic firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Presberg Law, which always earns high praise (and is always on the level) regarding land-use and commercial matters. Check them out.
