Good Morning and welcome to the Innovation Trail Mix for Thursday.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) was out pushing her "America Innovates Act" in Buffalo and Syracuse yesterday and also commented on the need for more information about drilling.
There are around 5,000 bobcats (Lynx rufus) in upstate New York and 1,600 people sent comments to the DEC to inform a new management plan.
Business
So in addition to a commitment to promoting state-produced spirits, wine, beer and cider the Cuomo administration did a couple of other things yesterday at the Wine, Beer and Spirits Summit as Karen DeWitt reported.
1. Cuomo is going to set up an office within Empire State Development to be a single point of contact for all of the licensing and compliance agencies (7+) that businesses have to deal with at the present.
2. A range of reforms to regulation are going to be implemented immediately.
To save on typing, Jimmy Vielkind at Capitol Confidential has it all in hand here.
A Canadian manufacturer has set up operations on Buffalo's east side to take advantage of some tax credits and add 60 employees over the next few years, reports WBFO.
Verizon Wireless is adding 200 jobs to its Rochester-area operations reports the RBJ.
Two former RIT graduates have brought home the bacon in a Boston-based competition for new startups reports the Democrat and Chronicle.
Politics
Our Innovation Trail survey of the state Senatorial candidates continues with responses from the Green Party candidate Colia Clark. Here's a link to the topic page for Innovation Election 2012 that aggregates the candidate's responses.
Environment
The battle against invasive species continues apace in Lake George, reports Chris Knight for North Country Public Radio.
Apparently bobcats are enough of a problem in the state that the DEC has come up with a five-year strategy to deal with the furry marauders, reports the Utica Observer-Dispatch.
This management plan is the first in New York to provide direction and oversight for sustaining or enhancing the abundance, enjoyment and utilization of bobcats throughout New York State. The goal of this plan is not to reduce bobcat populations anywhere in the state, since bobcats cause few conflicts with human interests or activities. We expect our actions to maintain populations at or above their current levels in eastern New York, while allowing for continued population growth in central and western New York.
Energy
A company that trains folks for the renewable energy sector is putting its money on solar, reports Bloomberg.
This is a diagram from the New York Energy Highway Blueprint released this week, recommending 13 actions to modernize the state's energy system.
See that long blue line from Canada on the right? That hasn't been built yet, but it shows the dependency on the energy surplus in upstate. In the interests of fairness, here's the alternative energy plan from New York Transco. More comparisons on this shortly.
