Today in your Trail Mix:
Health concerns mount about hydrofracking.
Drones will practice their craft by buzzing the North Country.
Students across the state protest tuition, corporate control.
Fracking
Earlier this year the Department of Environmental Conservation noted that it would need more staff to cope with hydrofracking in New York. Now the Department of Health says it'll need more staff too, to deal with health complaints potentially connected to drilling (Jon Campbell, Gannett).
Two doctors spoke about the potential for fracking to affect health on Capital Tonight yesterday (Mike Whittemore, State of Politics/Capital Tonight).
http://youtu.be/nw_CJAnEhXI
AP is reporting that more than 250 doctors have signed on to a letter to the governor asking for a study about how fracking could affect health.
Pennsylvania lawmakers are unlikely to pass Governor Tom Corbett's drilling impact fee as currently proposed (Scott Detrow, State Impact PA).
North Country
Drones on training flights will start buzzing the airspace around Fort Drum, in the North Country (Rick Moriarty, Post-Standard).
The recession didn't hit the North Country as hard as it did other parts of the country, because it didn't experience the same busts in housing (Chris Morris, Adirondack Daily Express).
Opposition is growing in the North Country and beyond, to a new provision in law that gives New York State more control over small power projects – leaving small towns with fewer options to regulate local projects (Emma Jacobs, Innovation Trail).
Business
Corning is buying back $1.5 billion worth of its own stock (Elmira Star-Gazette).
A church in Buffalo is opening a grocery, to create jobs and give residents access to fresh fruits and vegetables (Denise Jewell Gee, Buffalo News).
AP's Ben Dobbin looks at how George Eastman's legacy holds up in the wake up rumored bankruptcy at his namesake company.
Higher education
University at Buffalo students walked out Wednesday, to protest tuition hikes and other changes that they say they haven't had input on (Jay Rey, Buffalo News).
Binghamton University students also got in on the act, adding anger with corporate influence over politics to their complaints (Jennifer Micale, Press & Sun-Bulletin).
Tourism and travel
Boosters for a Finger Lakes museum say it would give the 11 county region a focus and give tourism a bump (Leo Roth, Democrat and Chronicle).
Air service from Watertown to Albany ends on November 16, when Cape Air yields the route to American Eagle, which will fly to Chicago instead of Albany (Eric Anderson, The Buzz).
Government
Western New York's regional economic council says it should have a draft of its game plan for the next five years by the end of October (Jason Rodriguez, Post-Journal).
NYSEG wants to give you $30 for your old refrigerator. Full disclosure, we just got rid of a circa-1970 mustard-colored number that had been haunting our basement, using the same program (Samantha Maziarz Christmann, Buffalo News).
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