New York has a new money man

In naming Kenneth Adams, the president and CEO of the Business Council of New York State, Cuomo tapped one of the state's most prominent voices for reducing the tax and regulatory burden, as well as someone credited with pumping new life into the Business Council.

Still uncertain is how the agency will change if Cuomo goes ahead with plans -- still not detailed -- to create regional councils around the state to decide how state economic development money should be spent in places like Western New York.

UPDATE1: The Business Council has made Vice President of Government Affairs Heather Briccetti their acting President and CEO. The Council tells CapTon that the Board of Directors will be conducting a nationwide search for a permanent replacement. UPDATE2: Adams will be paid $175,000 – a $40,000 decrease from what Mullen received. This, according to Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto, is a sign of things to come. Similar salary reductions will be made throughout ESDC in a nod to the state’s fiscal difficulties.

Choosing Adams shows Cuomo is serious about transforming New York, Robert Simpson, president of CenterState CEO, said in a news release. CenterState CEO is the Syracuse area's main business and economic-development organization. "Gov. Cuomo understands that for New York state to thrive once again, we need a strong private sector to lead the way," Simpson said. "Ken will do wonders for New York's economic development and I applaud the governor on his choice."

[Buffalo Niagara Partnership's Andrew] Rudnick, who has a close working relationship with Adams, said the new role will be a tough one. Adams will be responsible for overseeing Cuomo’s plan to create 10 regional councils that will comprise the revamped Empire State Development Corp. At least one of those councils will focus on the Buffalo Niagara region. “ESD, going forward, will be very different than the ESD of today,” Rudnick said. “Fortunately, Ken probably understands the upstate issues as much as anyone from downstate can.”

And [Adams] seems unlikely to push for further taxes. He was recently quoted in The Atlantic issuing dire warning about the state's fiscal future. According to Kenneth Adams of the Business Council of New York State, many of his members would love to expand in the state, but they can't afford to, because the tax burden is too high on their businesses and their employees. East Coasters eagerly awaiting the opening of the next Wegmans supermarket in their area should perhaps give a silent thanks to New York State's legislators; the hugely popular chain no longer seems to be opening stores in its home state, which now ranks dead last on the Tax Foundation's annual State Business Tax Climate Index.

"I urge you to take advantage of technologies that can minimize the costs of operating and maintaining those vehicles," the New York Democrat wrote in a letter sent Thursday.

But some congressional Republicans and business trade groups, such as the National Federation of Independent Business, or NFIB, said the tax credit's expected benefits were overstated. NFIB estimates that only 35 percent of firms with fewer than 25 employees qualify for the tax credit if all the qualifiers — such as the requirement that employers pay at least half the cost of premiums — are taken into account.

"We raise standards because we want our children to do better than we did." Steiner said the raising of standards must be accompanied by a new flexibility. That could include exams that will allow students to advance in certain subjects on a proficiency basis, without taking the course. "We give special-education students a [proficiency exam], but we seem to assume that all other students are interchangeable," he said, "like robots advancing exactly parallel with each other."

[Associate professor Miki] Amitay and his team of 10 graduate students and 15 undergrads believe that the jets allow the turbine blades to last longer and produce more energy by being more aerodynamic and less prone to vibrations. "You make a smarter blade," Amitay said. "We don't control the structure. We control the flow."

Banging on pots and pans to go along with catchy and clever chants, the mob paraded proudly for their cause around the campus before settling inside the campus center for a "teach-in," where the protest's organizers spoke in front of a packed room of eager listeners. "The teach-in is the primary activity that we are trying to get going today to motivate the students," said James Searle, a PhD. candidate at the University who helped organize the event. "Students haven't been efficiently made aware of the budget costs. There have been five department cuts and Governor Cuomo indicates that there are more to come. If we get the students to vote or lobby against them, maybe it'll make the New York State Assembly more aware of the students and it'll show them that they do care."