Today in your Trail Mix:
Flood damage has affected about 75 percent of homes in the town of Owego.
How the governor plans to pay for the regional council projects.
U.S. News & World Report has its annual list ranking upstate's schools.
Congresswoman Slaughter makes headway on her push for migrant labor.
Flooding
The majority of homes in Owego were damaged by flooding after Tropical Storm Lee, according to the mayor (Jason Whong, Press & Sun-Bulletin).
Homes for many of Binghamton's most vulnerable residents - the elderly and the disabled - were damaged in the flooding (George Basler, Press & Sun-Bulletin).
Yesterday the governor announced that five counties in the Southern Tier are now disaster areas, and eligible for FEMA aid (Steve Reilly, Press & Sun-Bulletin).
A flood control study for the Mohawk River around Albany has only received $100,000 of the projected $1.6 million cost from Congress, crippling the work of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Brian Nearing, Times Union).
The mud left behind from flooding can be toxic though (Scott Detrow, State Impact PA).
Binghamton-area assemblywoman Donna Lupardo says the state's new property tax cap could make flood recovery tough for schools (Liz Benjamin, State of Politics/Capital Tonight).
Regional councils
The Innovation Trail continues its series examining the governor's regional economic councils today.
Zack Seward looked at how the governor plans to pay for the projects selected by the regional councils as their regional priorities.
And yesterday, Marie Cusick gave us an overview of the process the councils are undertaking - and the concerns that they don't have enough time to finish.
Tune in during Morning Edition tomorrow on your Innovation Trail station to hear about the composition of the councils from Daniel Robison. And tune into your station Friday at 1 p.m. to have your chance to talk to the lieutenant governor about your regional priorities.
Higher education
Five Rochester colleges crept up in the U.S. News & World Report college rankings (James Goodman, Democrat and Chronicle).
Here's how the Albany area schools fared on the same list (All Over Albany).
The Post-Standard's editorial board has some help for new students at Syracuse University trying to navigate the city's streets.
Natural gas
Earlier in September the Innovation Trail's Emma Jacobs reported that a member of the governor's fracking task force said the Department of Environmental Conservation would need more staff to deal with a likely increase in "compulsory integration" cases. Now Jon Campbell at Gannett has some specific numbers, thanks to a memo shared with the task force yesterday: 226 new staffers within five years.
The DEC had another meeting of its hydrofracking advisory panel yesterday, this time focusing on water safety (Marie Cusick, Innovation Trail).
After the meeting, the commissioner of the DEC spoke for the first time about the agency's decision to combine to regulatory moves required for hydrofracking (Jon Campbell, Vote Up!).
Agriculture
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter says the federal Labor Department is getting closer to easing restrictions on migrant farm workers (Jerry Zremski, Buffalo News).
Amanda Folts at the Finger Lakes Times has a profile of grape grower Sam Argetsinger and his work in the region's wine industry.
Apple crops weren't damaged by Irene's winds and rains (Cara Matthews, Vote Up!).
Medicine
If you're heading to the hospital in New York State, there's a chance you might be making a return visit after you're discharged, according to a new report. About 15 percent of all initial stays prompt another (Aaron Scholder, Gannett).
New York's regulatory and tax environment are dampening growth in the state's biotech sector, says a trade group leader at a conference in Rochester (Tom Tobin, Democrat and Chronicle).
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