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Economic Development December 18, 2018

Lower-tier LI consoled by $68M in 2018 REDC awards

By GREGORY ZELLER // If $68.3 million for workforce development and affordable housing programs is losing, Long Island will take it. That’s the Island’s haul in the 2018 Regional Economic Development Council competition, announced Tuesday by Empire State Economic Development Corp. President and CEO Howard Zemsky. Zemsky, also commissioner of the New York State Department of Economic Development, presented all 10 winners of the annual statewide development competition, each representing one of 10 economic-development zones….

Economic Development December 17, 2018

NYC magnate, Conn. corp. feel IDA’s holiday spirit

BY GREGORY ZELLER // The Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency is feeling the holiday spirit, giftwrapping new incentives deals for a growth-minded East Patchogue equipment-rental cooperative and a New York City developer with plans for a Medford warehouse. The IDA will help Connecticut-based national equipment rental company United Rentals build and operate an 18,000-square-foot facility on 10 acres in East Patchogue, designed to store and distribute construction and industrial equipment. And the development agency is helping…

News December 14, 2018

Top psychologist to lead new behavioral-health center

By GREGORY ZELLER // A highly credentialed expert in the psychological and social risk factors influencing cardiovascular disease will head the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research’s new behavioral-health center. Karina Davidson, most recently a vice-dean at Columbia University and chief academic officer of New York Presbyterian Hospital, will lead the Manhattan-based center, which will explore how behavior affects management of chronic cardiovascular diseases. Linking behavioral and cardiovascular health is second nature to Davidson, whose research…

News December 12, 2018

LIU poll: Climate change is real, and it’s not too late

By GREGORY ZELLER // Great swaths of the country may still register as “the base,” but a vast majority of Americans break from President Donald Trump on the key topic of climate change. That according to Brookville-based Long Island University, which this week released a new Hornstein Center poll showing nearly 80 percent of Americans are climate-change believers. Not only that, but the poll shows that more than three-quarters of Americans believe humans have contributed…

Health December 11, 2018

NIH gets behind new Feinstein Institute sepsis study

By GREGORY ZELLER // A five-year National Institutes of Health grant will pack the protein into a new Long Island sepsis study. Monowar Aziz, an assistant professor at the Manhasset-based Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, will apply the $1.68 million award to his work examining protein’s role in inflammation and injury in due to sepsis, a body-wide immune system reaction to infection. Sepsis is a sinister opponent, causing nearly half-a-million U.S. deaths annually and leaving…

Opinion December 11, 2018

50 years after Apollo, Cradle of Aviation still inspired

By ANDREW PARTON // It’s a challenging question: Can we be truly inspired by an event that occurred 50 years ago? The answer lies in the event’s impact – not just on us as individuals, but on a variety of aspects of society. In July 2019, we’ll celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the landing of the first men on the surface of the moon. That event impacted not just the United States,…

Workforce December 6, 2018

Daniel Gale Sotheby’s sees the forest for HQ2’s trees

By GREGORY ZELLER // With the echo barely faded from Amazon’s announcement heard ’round the nation – that Long Island City and Crystal City, Va., will host bifurcated “HQ2” facilities – Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty and several forward-thinking affiliates are getting busy. The Cold Spring Harbor-based agency announced this week the creation of MyHQ2Home.com, an online real estate collective offering relocation and referral services specifically to employees flocking to Amazon’s new headquarters facilities. Designed…

Mergers & Acquisitions December 6, 2018

New parent for Long Island travel-data ‘Expert’

By GREGORY ZELLER // A data-science and analytics company has added an original Long Island dotcom to its long list of assets. Red Ventures, a South Carolina-based operator of websites including the popular travel site The Points Guy, has acquired Patchogue-based Expert Travel Services LLC (dba ExpertFlyer), a circa-2005 startup focused on flight data and loyalty programs. ExpertFlyer was created by a group of frequent flyers from Long Island, including IT expert Chris Lopinto; his…

Opinion December 5, 2018

Maiman: LI is on the right road, with big things ahead

By MITCH MAIMAN // My view into the near-term future of the technology industry on Long Island reflects my lens on the world. Understanding the business model of IPS, a product-development and professional services company with a client base crossing a wide variety of vertical markets, provides context for my perspective on the technology industry here. From giants like Google and our local favorite Zebra Technologies to small-size startup businesses, we have clients in every…

Economic Development December 4, 2018

Hempstead IDA drives school bus company’s new HQ

By GREGORY ZELLER // The wheels on the bus go round and round in Hempstead, where the Industrial Development Agency has finally finalized an economic-incentives package for a leading school bus operator. Approved in September and closed Nov. 30, the Town of Hempstead IDA’s undisclosed tax-abatement deal will help Port Washington-based Dell Transportation Corp. acquire 1.37 acres at the intersection of Kellum Place and Union Place in the Village of Hempstead. Dell Transportation is planning…

Technology December 3, 2018

Microscopic imaging for any science? You better ThINC

By GREGORY ZELLER // Stony Brook University is living large at one of the smallest ideas it ever had. If you’re a multinational fragrance company based on Long Island, or a marine scientist studying trace elements in North Shore shellfish populations, or a civil engineer trying to mitigate South Shore coastal erosion in an era of climate change-charged superstorms, you’re likely familiar with SBU’s Thermonuclear & Imaging Nanoscale Characterization Laboratory. Others probably don’t give ThINC…

Opinion November 30, 2018

EVs OK, but ICE still have plenty of energy to burn

By BENJAMIN LAWLER // The internal combustion engine is old, inefficient and dirty. Its days are numbered. The future is electric vehicles, which are new, efficient and clean. At least, that what you’ve been told, by people who have a financial interest in propagating EVs. The truth is somewhat different. EVs and ICE-powered vehicles first competed in the late 1800s. But in the early 1900s, the ICE was found to be more desirable due to…

Health November 29, 2018

On the right path in Feinstein Parkinson’s pursuit

By GREGORY ZELLER // A new gene therapy can literally rewire the brains of Parkinson’s disease patients – and may rewrite the book on treatment of the nation’s second most-common neurodegenerative disease. A team of scientists from the Manhasset-based Feinstein Institute for Medical Research has published findings indicating that AAV2-GAD, an emerging Parkinson’s gene therapy, creates new circuits in the brain promoting improved motor skills – setting up AAV2-GAD for a critical final found of…

News November 28, 2018

New owner, CEO for top patient-recruitment firm

By GREGORY ZELLER // A company veteran with a history of breaking glass ceilings has taken control of a Jericho company leading the patient-recruitment pack. Clinical Trial Media, self-billed as “the industry leader” in global clinical-trial patient recruitment and retention, has named Cara Brant as its new CEO. More accurately, Brant has named herself: The new chief executive, who started at the Jericho firm as a project coordinator in 2001, also on Wednesday announced her…

Awards and Events November 28, 2018

Ten LI scientists earn prestigious AAAS fellowships

By GREGORY ZELLER // Ten Long Island scientists have received a prestigious peer-selected distinction, selected as 2018 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The high honor, a members-only selection by other AAAS members, recognizes “scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications,” according to Stony Brook University, which led the Long Island region with six fellows placed among this year’s 416 total honorees. Two Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory…