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Adirondack Research Consortium, Colgate University partner on journal
HAMILTON — The Adirondack Research Consortium and Colgate University’s Environmental Studies Program recently teamed up to provide a new online home for the Adirondack Journal of Environmental Studies (AJES). The AJES is the consortium’s flagship publication that features original research and commentary addressing a wide range of issues concerning the Adirondacks. It seeks to bridge […]
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HAMILTON — The Adirondack Research Consortium and Colgate University’s Environmental Studies Program recently teamed up to provide a new online home for the Adirondack Journal of Environmental Studies (AJES).
The AJES is the consortium’s flagship publication that features original research and commentary addressing a wide range of issues concerning the Adirondacks. It seeks to bridge the gaps among academic disciplines, researchers, and practitioners devoted to understanding and promoting the development of sustainable communities, both human and wild, in the Adirondack region, according to the organizations’ Oct. 25 announcement.
Partnering with consortium on the AJES complements the interdisciplinary curriculum of the Environmental Studies Program at Colgate. Becoming the new academic home to the publication offers increased potential for research and educational opportunities for Colgate students and faculty, the university contends.
“Faculty and students in the Environmental Studies Program have a long history of engaging with Adirondack communities and landscapes, and this partnership provides new opportunities for us to further engage and share our scholarship with the Adirondack research community,” Mike Loranty, professor and director of the Environmental Studies Program at Colgate, said in the announcement.
The new partnership with Colgate is a natural extension of the legacy left by former Adirondack Research Consortium President and Colgate Professor, Bruce Selleck.
“This partnership brings together two organizations that share a deep commitment to advancing environmental understanding and policy. With Colgate’s academic strength and our regional focus, we are excited to elevate the journal’s role in informing sustainable practices across the Adirondacks,” Dan Fitts, executive director of the Adirondack Research Consortium, said.
The peer-reviewed AJES will be co-edited by Associate Professor of Social Science Joseph Henderson, Paul Smith’s College and Colgate University alumni, and Colgate Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies Emerita Ellen Percy Kraly. Henderson and Kraly stand ready to receive submissions for the next volume of the journal, which will be published following the annual conference on the Adirondacks held in Lake Placid in May 2025.
C & D Advertising achieves MWBE certification
ROME — C & D Advertising recently announced it has received its certification from New York State as a minority or woman-owned business (MWBE). Located at 103 West Court St. in Rome, the 26-year-old business began the certification process in January 2021 when President Jennifer Brillante became the majority owner after buying C & D
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ROME — C & D Advertising recently announced it has received its certification from New York State as a minority or woman-owned business (MWBE).
Located at 103 West Court St. in Rome, the 26-year-old business began the certification process in January 2021 when President Jennifer Brillante became the majority owner after buying C & D Advertising from founder George Carpenter.
“We are honored to receive the MWBE certification,” Brillante said in a statement. “As a woman, wife, mother of two sons, and a business owner, I deeply understand the challenges and perceptions we face in striving for equal footing with our male counterparts. Women often find themselves working twice as hard to balance the demands of personal and professional life, all while leading with empathy and resilience. Our culture will keep people at the heart of C & D Advertising as we serve those with whom we are blessed to do business.”
Founded in 1997 by Carpenter and Barry Damsky as Carpenter & Damsky Advertising, the firm hired Brillante in 2012. Today, C & D Advertising specializes in creating innovative advertising and marketing initiatives for clients, which include Enchanted Forest Water Safari, Symeon’s Greek Restaurant, Clinton Tractor, Cliff’s Local Market, Buy Madison County, and more. C & D services include advertising and marketing solutions such as business-strategy planning, media buying, and video and graphic-design services.
Lockheed Martin’s Suburban Syracuse facility wins $23M Navy contract modification
SALINA — The Lockheed Martin, Rotary and Missions Systems plant just north of Syracuse has recently won a nearly $23.1 million modification to a previously awarded U.S. Navy contract to exercise an option for AN/SLQ-32(V)6 design agent engineering, incidental material, and travel. Work will be performed in Lockheed’s facility in the town of Salina, and
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SALINA — The Lockheed Martin, Rotary and Missions Systems plant just north of Syracuse has recently won a nearly $23.1 million modification to a previously awarded U.S. Navy contract to exercise an option for AN/SLQ-32(V)6 design agent engineering, incidental material, and travel.
Work will be performed in Lockheed’s facility in the town of Salina, and is expected to be completed by January 2026, according to a Dec. 12 contract announcement from the U.S Department of Defense. Fiscal 2024 foreign military sale funds totaling $2 million (74 percent); fiscal 2024 other procurement (Navy) funds of $539,000 (20 percent); and fiscal 2025 research, development, testing, and evaluation funds totaling $168,795 (6 percent), will be obligated at the time of award.
The Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C. is the contracting authority.
Geneva General Hospital earns ACR ultrasound accreditation
GENEVA — Geneva General Hospital has recently been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in ultrasound. The accreditation resulted from an extensive review by the American College of Radiology (ACR), according to a news release from UR Medicine Finger Lakes Health, the hospital’s parent organization. Ultrasound imaging, also known as sonography, uses high-frequency sound waves
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GENEVA — Geneva General Hospital has recently been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in ultrasound.
The accreditation resulted from an extensive review by the American College of Radiology (ACR), according to a news release from UR Medicine Finger Lakes Health, the hospital’s parent organization. Ultrasound imaging, also known as sonography, uses high-frequency sound waves to produce images of internal body parts to help providers diagnose illness, injury, or other medical problems.
The ACR gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting specific requirements based on ACR practice parameters and technical standards after a peer-review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field, per the release. Image quality, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures and quality assurance programs were among the criteria assessed. The findings are reported back to the medical facility and provide the practice with a comprehensive report that can be used for continuous practice improvement.
Geneva General Hospital is a general acute care hospital providing both primary care and a full range of secondary level services. UR Medicine Finger Lakes Health is an integrated health-care delivery system that provides a full range of acute and long-term health-care services to residents of the Finger Lakes region in upstate New York. Acute and long-term care services are provided on three campuses located in Ontario, Seneca, and Yates counties. Primary care services are provided in Ontario, Seneca, Wayne, and Yates counties.
ACR, founded in 1924, is a 42,000-member medical association that advances patient care, medical practice, and collaborative results through advocacy, quality standards, research, and education.
Lewis County firms win $104K for improvement, visibility projects
LOWVILLE — Eight Lewis County businesses will use grant awards totaling nearly $104,000 for various projects. Naturally Lewis, Inc. says the money comes from two different funds. The organization in late November announced the recipients of grants from the Building Business Fund and the Small Things, Big Impacts Fund. Building Business Fund is designed to
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LOWVILLE — Eight Lewis County businesses will use grant awards totaling nearly $104,000 for various projects.
Naturally Lewis, Inc. says the money comes from two different funds. The organization in late November announced the recipients of grants from the Building Business Fund and the Small Things, Big Impacts Fund.
Building Business Fund is designed to provide matching funds to businesses looking to scale-up their business operations through various “tools,” and the Small Things, Big Impacts Fund seeks to provide matching funds to businesses and organizations looking to increase their visibility.
A total of $103,600 has been awarded to eight businesses in Lewis County; the awarded projects are estimated to have an impact of over $334,000 for the local economy.
Naturally Lewis administers the services of the Lewis County Development Corporation.
Besides the recipients announced below, Naturally Lewis also noted that applications for the Small Things, Big Impacts Fund are open through this Thursday with $5,000 in funding remaining for 2024.
The Building Business Fund aims to help businesses that are looking to expand or diversify and “demonstrate an overall benefit” to the community with matching grants greater than $10,000.
The recipients include S&S Spray Foam Insulation of Lowville, which was awarded $45,000 to help pay for a new spray foam system that will allow the addition of full-time positions.
At the same time, Snow Ridge Resort of Turin will allocate a $30,000 grant for interior upgrades in the Wax House to develop a four-season event venue.
In addition, Greene Acres Processing, LLC of Boonville will use its $25,000 award to help pay for a multi-tier sickle bar to “enable enhanced hemp harvesting operations by improving crop-cutting quality and efficiency,” Naturally Lewis said.
The Small Things, Big Impacts Fund provides matching grants totaling between $500 and $1,000.
The recipients included Squishy’s BBQ & Catering of Lowville, which was awarded $1,000 to help pay for a branded vinyl wrap on a trailer.
In addition, Harrisville Food Pantry will use its $450 grant for two interchangeable signs to promote events and programs, and Steeple & Hearth Marketing Collective of Lowville will allocate its $250 award toward a branding project.
The matching grants also included $1,000 for North Country Property Maintenance of Lowville, which will help pay for print and digital-marketing materials including yard signs, website development, and promotional materials.; and $900 for Old Croghan Engine House in Croghan, which will help fund four exterior signs that will impact three commercial tenants.
SBA says 14 upstate small-biz owners complete THRIVE
SYRACUSE — Their businesses operate in communities that include Boonville, Oneonta, Syracuse, and Auburn. A group of 14 small-business owners from across upstate New York on Dec. 6 completed the SBA’s THRIVE program. THRIVE is a redesigned version of the SBA’s annual Emerging Leaders program, an entrepreneurship-development program that helps small businesses grow and expand,
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SYRACUSE — Their businesses operate in communities that include Boonville, Oneonta, Syracuse, and Auburn.
A group of 14 small-business owners from across upstate New York on Dec. 6 completed the SBA’s THRIVE program.
THRIVE is a redesigned version of the SBA’s annual Emerging Leaders program, an entrepreneurship-development program that helps small businesses grow and expand, the Upstate New York district of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) said in its announcement.
Only one cohort was offered in New York, so this year’s class was “the most geographically diverse of any prior years,” the SBA said. Participants represented nine different counties, some traveling five hours one way to learn and support their peers during in-person sessions, the agency added.
The THRIVE program stands for “train, hope, rise, innovate, venture, and elevate.” It provides participants with a curriculum that includes mentoring, in-person coaching, and self-paced instruction. The hybrid model combines virtual and classroom sessions, “ensuring flexibility and accessibility for busy business owners,” the SBA said.
“The Upstate SBA team is proud to celebrate the graduation of another successful THRIVE cohort,” Dan Rickman, director of the SBA Syracuse-Upstate New York district, said in the agency’s announcement. “With two thirds of net new jobs being created by small businesses over the last several years, it’s clearly critical to support the growth of our small businesses in order to sustain a healthy local economy. This amazing group of small business leaders have spent the last six months working together to develop strategies and skills to grow their businesses, and they’ve already started achieving some of their goals, such as hiring more employees, expanding into new markets, and building strong foundations for continued success.”
THRIVE also seeks to help small businesses develop and execute strategic growth plans.
Participants worked over a six-month period from late June to December. These business owners were involved in an interactive curriculum; received coaching from experienced business experts; and developed a three-year strategic growth action plan.
The current THRIVE program uses a hybrid model that requires participants to meet in Syracuse monthly in addition to accessing parts of the curriculum online. Altogether, the program provided more than 100 hours of instruction, the SBA said.
The Upstate New York district office has hosted over a dozen cohorts of the Emerging Leaders program over the past decade, including 12 in Syracuse and three in Albany, with nearly 180 total graduates.
PARTICIPANTS
The following is a list of this year’s THRIVE participants, along with their business name and its location.
• Andrew Carter, owner of Resilienx in Syracuse
• Tonya DeMulder, owner of Sunshine Counseling Services in Oneonta
• Paige Flori, owner of Boutique Wines, Spirits & Cider in Fishkill
• Lee Frisbee, owner of Frisbee’s Landscaping, Ponds & Patios in Rochester
• Kyle Hierholzer, owner of Hand in Health Massage Therapy in Syracuse
• Sean Lattimore Sr., owner of Springside Inn in Auburn
• LaTerese Matthews, owner of Van Dyke Norris Cleaning Services in Syracuse
• Maria Metthe, owner of Salt City Coffee in Syracuse
• Vicky Panissa, owner of Dakota Property Preservation & Home Improvement in Central Islip
• Joanne Rauch, owner of CR Fletcher in Syracuse
• Shannon Secor, owner of R2I Defense in Boonville
• Catherine Toniatti-Yanulavich, owner of Applied Biophysics in Troy
• Tina Webster, owner of Finger Lakes Staffing Services in Canandaigua
• Alex Zaranski, owner of Saucy Confections in Syracuse
Syracuse native serves in U.S. Navy aboard guided-missile destroyer
Seaman Christopher Parks, from Syracuse, operates the helm in the bridge of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Preble (DDG 88) in the North Pacific Ocean, on Nov. 21. The Preble is forward-deployed and assigned to Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, the Navy’s largest DESRON and the U.S. 7th Fleet’s principal surface force. PHOTO CREDIT: U.S.
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Seaman Christopher Parks, from Syracuse, operates the helm in the bridge of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Preble (DDG 88) in the North Pacific Ocean, on Nov. 21. The Preble is forward-deployed and assigned to Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, the Navy’s largest DESRON and the U.S. 7th Fleet’s principal surface force.
PHOTO CREDIT: U.S. NAVY PHOTO BY RYRE ARCIAGA
Tropical Smoothie Café opens in DeWitt
DeWITT — W2B Management LLC has opened its seventh Tropical Smoothie Café, LLC location in Central New York at 5761 Celi Drive in DeWitt. The opening comes about a month after W2B — a partnership between Roger Wagner, Jr. and brothers Rick and Mark Bartlett — opened a café in Camillus (shown in accompanying photos).
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DeWITT — W2B Management LLC has opened its seventh Tropical Smoothie Café, LLC location in Central New York at 5761 Celi Drive in DeWitt.
The opening comes about a month after W2B — a partnership between Roger Wagner, Jr. and brothers Rick and Mark Bartlett — opened a café in Camillus (shown in accompanying photos).
At just under 1,400 square feet, the newest café features a slightly different style than the usual, Wagner says. The dining room will have about four or five tables as well as a counter.
“It’s a smaller café,” he says. “It’s set up for grab and go.” Diners can order ahead using the mobile app and have their order ready and waiting for them when they arrive, he adds.
The hope is to capitalize on those lunching on the go, Wagner says. Nearby, there are a number of medical businesses, and he hopes employees will swing by for lunch.
“We feel like there’s a huge need that’s underserved,” he says. Featuring smoothies made with fresh fruit and other ingredients, as well as wraps, flatbreads, and bowls, Tropical Smoothie offers something different for a quick meal, Wagner contends. “The whole eat healthy thing is catching on.”
W2B opened its first Tropical Smoothie Café in Victor in 2021, but has since sold that location to the general manager, who was looking for the opportunity to grow, Wagner says. The company also has cafés in Webster, Irondequoit, Cicero, New Hartford, and Camillus.
While originally a little worried how the smoothie business would hold up through New York’s chilly winters, Wagner says sales are great. Business is split about 50/50 between smoothies and food.
“We’re filling a niche with the millennial group,” he says of the Tropical Smoothie Café customer base.
W2B, which also operates a number of Burger King and Moe’s Southwest Grill locations, is working toward a base of nine cafes in its franchise area. That area spans from the Rochester area, east to Utica, north to Watertown, and south to Cortland.
“There’s a lot of opportunity as the brand recognition grows,” Wagner says. There are already plans in the works for three more cafés over the next 18 months, starting in Clay and Penfield.
Wagner says he and his partners are also eyeing some college towns, where he feels the Tropical Smoothie Cafés would be a good fit.
He can easily see the franchise growing to critical mass, with about 15 locations in the Syracuse area and seven or eight in the Rochester region.
“We’re going to build one or two a year until we completely penetrate the market,” he says.
The newest Tropical Smoothie Café location in DeWitt is open daily from 7 a.m.-9 p.m.
Tropical Smoothie Café, founded in 1997, has more than 1,500 locations across 44 states.
Syracuse Community Health Quick Care is now open at OCC
ONONDAGA — The new Syracuse Community Health Quick Care at Onondaga Community College (OCC) is now serving patients. Syracuse Community Health and OCC on Dec. 5 formally opened the new clinic on the OCC campus. The facility is open to OCC students and employees, as well as community members, the community college said in its
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ONONDAGA — The new Syracuse Community Health Quick Care at Onondaga Community College (OCC) is now serving patients.
Syracuse Community Health and OCC on Dec. 5 formally opened the new clinic on the OCC campus. The facility is open to OCC students and employees, as well as community members, the community college said in its announcement.
“The new opening of Quick Care at OCC is a great opportunity to expand access and provide equitable, high-quality care,” Dr. Ofrona Reid, president and CEO of Syracuse Community Health, said in the OCC announcement.
The new Syracuse Community Health Quick Care at OCC will help patients with health issues that include cold or flu symptoms; ear, nose, and throat problems; minor lacerations, splinters, cuts, and bruises; flu vaccines; sprains, aches, pains; treatment for rashes and infections; and work physicals
The clinic also offers phlebotomy services available on site, a pharmacy with prescription delivery available, and mental-health services (by appointment only).
It’ll also provide rapid testing (results during visit) for COVID-19 antigen, glucose glycosylated hemoglobin, influenza, pregnancy test (urine), strep A test, and urinalysis.
The Syracuse Community Health Quick Care at OCC is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is located in Residence Hall C with a dedicated, exterior entrance, OCC said. The phone number is (315) 234-5996.
“We are delighted to welcome Syracuse Community Health and its Quick Care Center to our campus. They are a vital healthcare organization in our community, committed to providing high-quality care to those in need. Like OCC, we share the middle name of ‘community’ and a similar focus. We are fortunate to have Syracuse Community Health as a partner dedicated to making Central New York a better place for all,” Warren Hilton, president of OCC, said.
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