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People December 9, 2019

Adelphi, SBU mix it up in Island-wide diversity drive

By GREGORY ZELLER // From the It Takes a Village file come multiple attempts to promote inclusion at some of Long Island’s top universities, and beyond. Just weeks after Stony Brook University announced it would steer nearly $1 million of SUNY money toward a new faculty-diversity initiative, Garden City’s Adelphi University has announced the appointment of a new vice president and new executive director of diversity and inclusion. Adelphi’s equality effort, announced Friday, involves two…

Voices December 6, 2019

On whiskey in winter: Some like it hot

By AMBROSE CLANCY // It was raining horizontally, with sleet, driven by a December gale. We could hear the sea pounding the concrete strand one street away as we ducked down an alley with the sharp smell of turf fires on the wind. No one was around, except the two village dogs crouched in a doorway, just their noses sticking out to the wind. Soaked, shivering, we made it into the safe harbor of the…

Economics December 5, 2019

Pay up, LI employers: Minimum wage is rising again

By GREGORY ZELLER // Going up? You bet – minimum wages on Long Island and around New York State are set to rise again. As part of a Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s phased-in master plan, which ultimately targets a statewide $15 minimum wage, Westchester-, Nassau- and Suffolk-based employers are required to pay a $13 hourly minimum as of Dec. 31, with the $15 minimum scheduled to arrive in 2021. In New York City, where the minimum…

Calendar December 4, 2019

Stuff we’re thinking about going to

  December 11 Business Partnerships – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly 8:30-11:30 a.m., SBU Small Business Development Center  The Stony Brook University SBDC presents a free workshop on the importance of partnership agreements, particularly when doing business with family and friends, featuring Bohemia attorney Lisa Renee Pomerantz. Registration and more information. December 11 ACIT Distinguished Business Leaders and Awards Luncheon  11:30 a.m., Crest Hollow Country Club, Woodbury Advancement for Commerce, Industry and Technology…

Education December 4, 2019

Island ‘hub’ scores as New York Tech adds second PhD

By GREGORY ZELLER // There’s another doctorate in the house at the New York Institute of Technology, which has announced its first-ever computer science PhD program. Starting in the Fall 2020 semester, the NYIT College of Engineering and Computing Sciences will offer a Doctor of Philosophy program featuring “advanced, research-oriented education” in cybersecurity, data science, cloud computing and other critical computational fields. The new coursework is the second PhD offering for the Old Westbury- and…

Biotech December 3, 2019

In TD grant, big win for CSHL, Tuveson and society

By GREGORY ZELLER // A cutting-edge Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory cancer-detection science will get cutting-edgier, thanks to a stocking stuffer from TD Bank. New Jersey-based TD announced Tuesday more than $3 million in fresh grants, comprising the second funding round of its TD Ready Challenge, an application-based national competition designed to balance social scales while innovating early disease detection and intervention. Among them: a $750,000 award for CSHL aimed at advancing organoid-based clinical tests –…

Cybersecurity December 2, 2019

FuzeHub boosts digital defenses for LI manufacturers

By GREGORY ZELLER // Nobody is immune from cyber criminals – including regional manufacturers, who have a new opportunity to defend themselves. FuzeHub, the regional New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership center dedicated to connecting small and mid-sized manufacturing companies to resources and industry expertise, has scheduled a Cybersecurity Forum for Manufacturers, jam-packed with cyber-assessment workshops, the latest U.S. Department of Defense requirements – key for regional defense contractors – and the most cutting-edge trends in…

Philanthropy November 27, 2019

On Long Island, innovation never takes a holiday

By GREGORY ZELLER // As holidays are wont to do, Thanksgiving brings out the best in people – and Long Island has no shortage of can collections, stuff-a-bus campaigns and other holiday-themed charity drives. In addition to their regular assortment of collections and programs, the region’s largest anti-hunger agencies really cook this time of year. Last week, Bethpage-based Island Harvest Food Bank completed its 11th annual Turkey Drive, centerpiece of its master plan to provide…

Earnings November 22, 2019

Restructuring charge zaps 3Q, but Lifetime lives on

  LIFETIME BRANDS INC. Headquarters: Garden City Industry: Capital goods Nasdaq: LCUT Reporting Date: Nov. 8, 2019 Reporting Quarter: 3Q FY2019 Quarter Ended: Sept. 30, 2019 Numbers: Net sales for the third quarter were reported as $215.5 million, a 2.9 percent increase from the $209.4 million reported for the same quarter last fiscal year. However, the company recorded a quarterly net loss of $13.5 million (a 66 cent loss per diluted share), lightyears off the…

News November 22, 2019

No snow is low, but banning balloons would really blow

By GREGORY ZELLER // Humbug! Chances are low that Long Island will experience a white Christmas in 2019, according to expert forecasters, while another elemental disappointment may scrub a big part of the national Thanksgiving tradition. With about one month to go before Santa’s snow-equipped sleigh comes screeching to a halt on regional rooftops, national forecast modeler AccuWeather is predicting no late-December snow for the Eastern Seaboard. Technically, a “white Christmas” requires at least one…

Voices November 22, 2019

As channels evolve, brands need a grip on social media

By DAVID CHAUVIN // Thanks to the proliferation of social media, the relationships brands share with their target audiences have changed drastically. Researchers suggest that consumer/brand relationships psychologically mimic personal relationships; professionals measure how consumers feel about a brand based on categories including Passion, Commitment, Intimacy and Trust. This relationship is measured by the Brand Relationship Quality Index. Without giving away the secret sauce, I can say marketing teams use this measurement to develop messaging…

Environment November 21, 2019

EPA, bus buddies help Bay Shore schools charge ahead

By GREGORY ZELLER // Long Island’s “first fully electric production line” from iconic school-bus manufacturer Blue Bird Corp. is now rolling through Bay Shore. The Bay Shore Union Free School District has added four 100 percent electric buses to its mix, featuring electric drive trains with 120-mile-per-charge range. The clean-gen carriers come straight from the Blue Bird production line – no hybrids, retrofits or test models, according to a joint statement from the school district…

Startups November 21, 2019

Mud in their eye at i-hamptons’ “Riptide III”

By GREGORY ZELLER // A sunscreen with an ecological nature and an unmistakable Long Island ID took top honors at the third-annual “Riptide: $ink or $wim” business competition. The Montauk Mud Co., a 2019 LLC founded by Islanders Collin Kavanaugh and Elias Van Sickle, won the i-hamptons-hosted pitch-a-thon, collecting $20,000 in business-development grants and goodies, including radio ads with Long Island Broadcasting and gratis membership in The Spur, the part co-working space/part members-only “entrepreneur’s club”…

Awards and Events November 20, 2019

Galactic gala honors past, present of LI air and space

By GREGORY ZELLER // After four trips to space, a front-row seat for the breathless Apollo 13 rescue and some relatively ho-hum years as a U.S. Air Force airman and test pilot – Arctic interceptor missions, midair collisions, yawn – Thomas Stafford doesn’t surprise easily. And the retired Air Force lieutenant-general – who’s graced numerous aerospace-industry boards, once simultaneously oversaw NASA and USAF test facilities at Edwards Air Force Base and has flown just about…

Awards and Events November 15, 2019

In Israel, high honors for Feinstein’s diabetes warrior

By GREGORY ZELLER // A Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research professor who’s dedicated his life to battling diabetes has earned a rare honor. Endocrinologist Jesse Roth, a fellow of the American College of Physicians and head of the Laboratory for Diabetes and Diabetes-Related Research at the Feinstein Institutes’ Center for Biomedical Science, was honored Nov. 14 for his lifelong achievements in diabetes research at the ninth D-Cure Symposium in Israel. D-Cure is focused on advancing…