Seneca owners expanding
A new restaurant, run by the people who own Seneca on Division Street, will open in the former Saratoga Stadium on Broadway in Saratoga Springs, the Albany Business Journal says. Rhea was inspired by Seneca’s pop-up noodle-house dishes, the story says. Seneca survived the pandemic, which gave the owners, Mike and Michelle Spain, the confidence to jump when the Stadium space opened.
NYSERDA supporting carbon-neutral buildings
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is offering $10 million in grants for construction of carbon-neutral, multifamily buildings, the Albany Business Journal says. The grants come as part of the third round of NYSERDA’s Buildings of Excellence Design Competition, which has supported 40 projects since 2019, mostly for energy affordability and housing equity, the story says.
Warren County prepares for climate change
Changes in the climate will have health effects on an aging community such as that in Warren County, experts and local leaders told a group gathered Thursday evening in person and online. The county's panel did not address why climate change is happening, but how it will affect the health of the population, a story in the Post-Star says. More heat and less snow will affect people with chronic cardio-pulmonary problems, and make Lyme disease more prevalent as ticks live longer. The experts in the Post-Star story said that prevention against the health effects will serve people better than trying to fix the health problem after it occurs.
Hochul gets cozy with donors
The affluent donors that made records with their payments to Gov. Kathy Hochul last year, also see the red carpet rolled out before them as they work the Capitol, according to 161 pages of emails the Times Union received under a Freedom of Information Law request. Top Albany lobbying firms set up high-dollar campaign fundraisers for their clients to mix and mingle with the governor and her campaign staff.
In one instance, a trade group held a fundraiser and wrote that they could raise more money if the governor included a $500 million item in the budget, the story says. "It is not unusual or improper for the governor to speak with attendees at her events and it is within ethical guidelines for her staff to redirect people to the proper office," a campaign spokesperson told the T-U.
Paul Smith's Adirondack Water Institute wins accreditation
The New York State Department of Health recently certified Paul Smith’s College's Adirondack Watershed Institute through the Environmental Laboratory Approval Program. The approval says that AWI conducts accurate testing. The AWI Environmental Research Lab is a state-of-the-art laboratory specifically designed for the analysis of surface and ground water in the Adirondack region, a story in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise says.