To start off this morning, we'd like to offer a big welcome to Investigative Post, an investigative journalism project for western New York, hosted by Jim Heaney, formerly of the Buffalo News. They crew starts off with a bang: a debrief on the governor's plan to spend a billion dollars in economic development money in Buffalo.
And today in your Trail Mix:
Business incubation ain't easy.
A small town wins the first round in the fight to ban drilling.
Plus, a thaw in sales forecasts at the Syracuse auto show.
Economic development
A business incubator that's selling a comprehensive slate of services - along with Buffalo's low cost of living - is seeing mixed results going into its second year (Daniel Robison, WNED/Innovation Trail).
The Coalition for Economic Justice is charging Monroe County's industrial development agency with scalping a business from another county, by offering incentives - a charge the agency says is unfounded (Carlet Cleare, WXXI).
It takes a hurricane to boost sales tax receipts in the Southern Tier - or at least it doesn't hurt, with proceeds going up 8.6 percent (Colby Hamilton, The Empire).
Drilling
The Town of Dryden has won the right to ban drilling in its limits - but the driller bringing the suit says it has several options to invalidate that ruling (Rachel Stern, Gannett). You may recall that it was an election issue in the small town, as drillers sought to override local opposition to drilling to set precedent for the rest of the state.
Three Pennsylvania counties that border New York are among the top five natural gas producing counties (Scott Detrow, State Impact PA).
Government
An increased DNA databank would be a sword protecting the public and a shield protecting the innocent according to advocates - but a man who spent 20 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit disagrees (Marie Cusick, WMHT/Innovation Trail).
Buffalo's transit authority is considering consolidating its security operations under the Erie County Sheriff's Office (Robert J. McCarthy, Buffalo News).
The new head of Monroe County's airport is a former Navy pilot (WXXI).
New York is creating a loan program to help minority and women-owned businesses get bonds that will help them win contracts (Bill Lambdin, WNYT).
Business
Dealers at Syracuse's auto show say visitors were more serious this year, hinting at a thaw in the freeze on new car purchases (Ryan Delaney, WRVO/Innovation Trail).
Outgoing Welch Allyn CEO and Empire State Development chair Julie Shimer has some parting thoughts to share with the Post-Standard's Charles McChesney, like:
"Economies don’t end at state or national lines; we’re competing for jobs and investment dollars across oceans and continents, and advanced manufacturing is the type of industry we need to be a leader in to keep jobs coming into our state."
Two brothers are planning a new distillery in the Finger Lakes, to join other burgeoning liquor operations in wine country (Sheila Livadas, Democrat and Chronicle).
The Greek yogurt boom is big business for a steel tank maker outside Syracuse (Marnie Eisenstadt, Post-Standard).
The National Science Foundation has dropped $1.6 million on Albany's nanoscale college to help commercialize research conducted there (Larry Rulison, The Buzz).
Businesses continue to reopen after being damaged by flooding in September (My-Ly Nguyen, Press & Sun-Bulletin).
A fuel cell firm and a ceramics firm have each picked up a share of a $700,000 grant from the state's energy research development agency (Jonathan D. Epstein, Buffalo News).
Environment
All Over Albany has a junker's delight - a photo tour of an electronics recycling facility in Troy.
While we're talking recycling porn, Diane Rehm spent an hour talking about municipal recycling and the business of garbage yesterday. Try to contain yourself.
A Rochester suburb has lost its bid for an environmental review of a cell phone tower, thanks to an order from a federal judge(Meaghan M. McDermott, Democrat and Chronicle).
The head of the Erie County legislature is urging families to have their homes test for radon (Mark Leitner, WNED).
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