health

Someday your local weatherman may also be able predict the latest flu outbreak.

That's according to a new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers looked back at the winters of 2003 to 2008 in New York City and examined real-time data from Google Flu trends, a website which aggregates online search queries. They were able to develop a model that could forecast the timing of a flu outbreak more than seven weeks ahead of the actual peak.

The Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Joe Martens, offered some remarks at the NYS Business Council's annual Industry-Environment Conference that wraps up in Saratoga Springs today.

Our own Capitol Bureau Correspondent Karen DeWitt, along with Gannett's Jon Campbell spoke with the the Commissioner afterwards, angling for some more detail on the role that external experts will play in the final version of the health impact study into fracking.

Commissioner Martens said today:

Two Syracuse University geology professors - along with a graduate assistant or two - are hurrying to collect water samples from drinking wells in the Southern Tier before - and if - the natural gas extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing is approved in New York.

Greg Hoke and Laura Lautz will use the samples to create a baseline database of drinking water quality in the region. The effort is being called Project SWIFT, for shale-water interaction forensic tools.

They have been collecting samples all summer and the results will soon be available online.

Following on from our summary of the "The Costs of Fracking" report released yesterday by Environment New York, Innovation Trail approached the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York for comment:

Statement by Brad Gill, Independent Oil and Gas Association (IOGA) of New York Executive Director.

Good morning. Here's the Tuesday Innovation Trail Mix

The DOT has been looking at the impact of fracking on NY roads and bridges and it's not pretty.

Health officials make the case for reinvesting $10 billion saved through Medicaid changes. 

Not everyone thinks the investment in the Adirondack watershed is a good idea.

Work finally starts on renovation of Rochester City schools five years after the funding approved.