Today in your Trail Mix:
Flooding damage approaches $100 million for Irene and Lee.
To steal a phrase: Who are these people? (On the regional economic councils that is.)
The Thruway wants to be powered by wind.
A municipal drilling ban is challenged in court.
Plus, the PAETEC project gets more federal cash - even though PAETEC may be no more.
Flooding
State officials say the price tag for Irene and Lee is almost $100 million (Jimmy Vielkind, Times Union).
The governor wants the Public Service Commission to review how utilities did keeping the lights on during the recent flooding (Joseph Spector, Vote Up!).
The DMV commissioner told Capital Tonight that the flood waters' strike on urban areas like Binghamton are complicating clean up (Nick Reisman, State of Politics/Capital Tonight).
Flood victims will be eligible for rebates from New York, ranging from $250 to $2,500 for new appliances (Joseph Spector, Vote Up!).
The flood damage to Binghamton's sewer plant could top $25 million (Nancy Dooling, Press & Sun-Bulletin).
The remains of many homes and lives in the Southern Tier are winding up in the Broome County landfill (Debbie Swartz, Press & Sun-Bulletin).
The air, water, mud and debris left behind by the flood waters could be toxic (William Moyer, Press & Sun-Bulletin).
Regional councils
Daniel Robison looks at the potential for conflict of intereston the governor's regional councils.
The Innovation Trail team profiles the members of the regional councils.
There's still time to weigh in on our survey about what your economic priorities are for your community, before our talk show with Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy on Friday at 1 p.m. on your Innovation Trail partner station.
Energy
The Thruway Authority is planning to use wind turbines to power its operations on a stretch of road between Buffalo and Pennsylvania (Tom Precious, Buffalo News).
The Town of Dryden is being sued by a gas company over its local ban on drilling (Jon Campbell, Gannett).
Sometimes actor and more-often-times anti-fracking activist Mark Ruffalo was on Capital Tonight last night to talk about the potentially negative economic impact of fracking (Maureen McManus, State of Politics/Capital Tonight).
National Grid is spending $250,000 on a redevelopment project in Buffalo to transition former steel and coke plants into a business park (Buffalo Rising).
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded the state's energy research authority $1 million for it to encourage electric vehicle use (Eric Anderson, The Buzz).
Education
UAlbany, SUNY Binghamton, Alfred State and Buff State are among the colleges deemed "military friendly" by G.I. Jobs Magazine (AP).
Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering is partnering with a mentoring group to teach teen girls about nanoscience (Yi-Ke Peng, Times Union).
Government
Despite the fact that PAETEC may no longer building its headquarters in midtown Rochester, the federal government has still come through with $2 million for redevelopment (Thomas Adams, Rochester Business Journal).
Commercial traffic, like busses, will be banned from the Onondaga Lake Parkway, because of a low railroad bridge (Marnie Eisenstadt and Jim O'Hara, Post-Standard).
Canadian and U.S. officials may collaborate across the border to fight marijuana trafficking (Robert Gavin, Times Union).
Some towns and cities don't know who owns plots of land - but that doesn't mean the tax bill stop piling up (Steve Orr, Democrat and Chronicle).
Two Buffalo-area banks may have to write contingency plans to enable their own dissolution, thanks to a federal rule (Jonathan D. Epstein, Buffalo News).
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