Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.
VIEWPOINT: End of an Era: New York’s COVID-19 Paid Sick Leave Has Ended
After more than five years, New York State’s pioneering COVID-19 paid sick leave law officially came to an end on July 31, 2025. What the COVID-19 Leave Covered When the state law was first introduced in March 2020, it was designed to provide employees leave if they needed to quarantine or isolate due to COVID-19. […]

VIEWPOINT: More than clicks & follows: How health-care influencers are changing the game
What do a YouTube doctor with 13 million subscribers and a hospital with a Facebook Live series have in common? They’re winning hearts — and health decisions — online. As traditional media outlets have seen their power and influence decline in the digital age, a new category of content creators rose to fill the information

Ask Rusty: I’m in Poor Health & Need to Know my SS Options
Dear Rusty: I plan to stop working soon. My health is not good. I am 66 years old, born in June 1959, so my full retirement age is 66 years and 10 months. My wife passed away in March 2024, and she was collecting Social Security (SS) benefits when she died. I have no dependent

VIEWPOINT: Hat Tip to the Economic Data
There is a lot to say about where the economy stands against the backdrop of the Federal Reserve’s dual-mandate goals. I’ll start with what we’ve learned from the data in recent months and how it relates to maximum employment and price stability. The GDP data oscillated quite a bit in the first half of this

Ask Rusty: How Do I Apply for Social Security and Receive My Payments?
Dear Rusty: I’m ready to apply for my Social Security (SS) benefits, and I’m aware of how my benefits are calculated. What I would like to know about is how the application process actually works and how my benefits are received Signed: Ready to Collect Dear Ready to Collect: Essentially, you have two main options

VIEWPOINT: All the Stars We Cannot See
I would like to] discuss a favorite topic of mine — and one that economists have obsessed over for longer than a century. Of course, I am talking about r-star, the natural rate of interest. What’s fascinating about variables like r-star is that while they are unobservable, they go to the heart of monetary theory

VIEWPOINT: N.Y.’s Hospital Quality Remains Among the Worst in the U.S.
The federal government recently updated its hospital quality ratings, and New York once again fell near the bottom. Among 132 New York hospitals that received a rating, the average grade was 2.5 out of 5 stars, which ranked 48th out of the 50 states. That marked a slight improvement from last year, when New York

Ask Rusty: I’m Still Confused about Medicare Part A and Part B Enrollment
Dear Rusty: I’m age 64 and still working full time, and plan to continue working at least until I’m 70 — it’s a good job, and I enjoy it. My job comes with health insurance, so I don’t really need additional coverage, but I understand I will be required to sign up for Medicare Part
VIEWPOINT: Trump aims to backstop domestic health-care pharmaceutical supply chain through new EO
We have seen plainly what happens when disasters interrupt domestic health-care supply chains: from N-95 masks to saline, our health-care system has struggled in the face of hurricanes and a pandemic, as just two recent examples, to maintain supplies essential to patient safety and care delivery. Cognizant of this history, on Aug.13, 2025, President Donald

VIEWPOINT: Why join LinkedIn in 2025?
LinkedIn isn’t going anywhere. If other social-networking platforms emerge, even those catering to B2B professionals, it’s unlikely that any will displace LinkedIn’s network size — already more than 1 billion members strong around the world. As a platform for corporate leaders to put a human face to the ideas and philosophies that guide their brands,
Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.