Daniel Robison, WNED

Correction: We originally referred to one of NxtArrow's incubator clients as "WorkSmart Solutions" in this story, but as founder Michelle Maria Nicholas notes in a comment below, the name of her firm is "WorkSmart Small Business Support, LLC." The Innovation Trail regrets the error.

One trip around the sun ago, NxtArrow launched in Buffalo.

To recap, this for-profit private business incubator offers free rent and other services for any business willing to move to western New York.

While the venture saw some success in its first year, it also experienced some growing pains.

Good morning loyal readers. Today, your Trail Mix is a tasty one:

Governor Andrew Cuomo hawks his budget during a visit today in Rochester.

Not Kodak’s moment.

A public authority considers selling a popular boat harbor in Buffalo to a private company.

Now more expensive: riding the bus in Buffalo.

And: Where’s the snow?

A fight over a small item in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s budget proposal has been building for months.

At issue is $15 million in a $130 billion budget. But for two opposing factions in Buffalo, it’s symbolic of the city’s path forward.

To sprawl or not to sprawl? 

That’s the question. And today’s the last day Governor Cuomo can change his mind.

Music usually takes years to master through practice and study. But Andrew Willoughby claims he learned it all overnight – literally.

Now the Rochester resident is trying to help others do the same.

There’s a sense that American automakers have turned the corner.

Just ask factory folks from Ford and General Motors, who are showing off their latest wares at the Buffalo Auto Show this week.

Sure, there are new vehicles polished from hood to tire, but this year the event pushes the narrative that domestic automobile manufacturing is back, as both companies’ western New York facilities prepare to hire and increase production.

Under a reform proposal from Governor Andrew Cuomo, employees hired by New York State in the future would receive pensions that are much smaller than those brought home by current state retirees.

The idea's been endorsed by pro-business groups, but labor leaders are decrying it.

To recap: The row is over the retirement benefits of people who haven't been hired yet - and it's shaping up to be quite a fight.

Meeting for the first time since winning $100 million in a state competition late last year, the Western New York Regional Council (WNYREDC) was still aglow with pride Tuesday.

But in 2012, the council faces a litany of new tasks, starting its sophomore season with a to-do list longer than ever.

In fact, shortly into Tuesday’s meeting, the 30-member body was told their work has only really begun.

“Remember this is taxpayer dollars - so we need to ensure there’s appropriate documentation and due diligence demonstrating that the awardees did in fact do what they said they’re going to do,” Christina Orsi, a regional director with Empire State Development, told the council as it gathered in horseshoe-shaped seating arrangement.

Buffalo-based CUBRC could earn $67 million for work on the behalf of the federal government.

Through a grant from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), CUBRC will investigate potential medical treatments for a handful of conditions that currently have no cure.

"Our country, and frankly our world at large, face a growing threat," says Anne Radcliff, director of biological & medical sciences at CUBRC. "That's a threat from deadly infections for which treatments are nonexistent or inadequate. These diseases could be caused by either man made threats, in the case of biological weapons, or emerge naturally."

One of the tasks of the HHS is to fill the gaps in the government's response to possible medical scenarios.

Governor Andrew Cuomo called on western New Yorkers to adopt his vision as their own during a visit to Buffalo Wednesday.

But questions surrounding his latest budget proposal are coming from more than one direction.

The first term Democrat has barnstormed the state since unveiling his budget last week.

During these drop-ins, Cuomo repeats the broad strokes of his spending plan, but tweaks the message for that day’s host community.

The state’s second largest city heard the governor again promise to send a $1 billion to spur economic growth, but this time it was tinged with a message of self empowerment.

“Change begins with the man in the mirror ... [With] a billion dollars, we’re going to turn around Buffalo. You know who it starts with? It starts with you!” Cuomo roared. “You have to wake up and say, ‘You know what? I believe in this city. I believe in this region. I’m not going to talk about the past. I’m going to talk about the future!”

Can a vaccine treat cancer?

That’s the question behind new clinical tests, soon to begin at Buffalo’s Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

The medicine in question is not your average vaccine: Each dose is customized for each cancer patient.

Researchers will draw healthy cells from each study participant, attach a specialized protein in a sterile lab environment and then inject the mixture, now known as a dendritic cell vaccine, back into the body.

“You can see that these cells now come back. They have memory. They’re able to remember that cancer cells are bad. They need to be destroyed. They need to be killed,” says Kunle Odunsi, chair of the Department of Gynecologic Oncology.