Cara Matthews reports on Pressconnects.com - “With the federal Race to the Top application due Tuesday, time is running out for lawmakers and the governor to agree on expanding charter schools and revamping teacher evaluations, changes needed to boost New York’s chances of winning up to $700 million.

Negotiations between the governor and Legislature continued Thursday evening on a bill that would improve New York’s application for Race to the Top money.

It was unclear whether the Assembly would have a bill to vote on Thursday evening. The Senate left for the day without taking up Race to the Top legislation and was scheduled to return Friday morning…

Gov. David Paterson said Thursday on WOR 710 AM in New York City that he would do everything he could to get a deal in time to send in the application. He said there have been “positive negotiations and the Assembly has concerns that we’re trying to address.”

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Mark Weiner of the Syracuse Post-Standard writes - “Reva Electric Car Co., the Bangalore, India-based electric car maker whose partners want to open an assembly plant in Central New York, agreed Wednesday to sell a controlling stake to a larger firm that could inject new capital into the company.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. will acquire 55.2 percent of Reva, and the company will be renamed Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicle Co., the companies announced.
Full financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Mahindra & Mahindra manufactures compact trucks, and plans to begin the first exports of Indian made vehicles to the United States in December.”

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The Business Council of New York State and other influential business leaders in New York along with local government and industry associations today issued an open letter to New York State legislators applauding SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher on the launch of a new strategic plan for SUNY and urging legislators to support the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act (PHEEIA).

“We are encouraged by the collective support of our partners in business, local government and community organizations across New York State,” said Chancellor Zimpher. “These leaders understand the importance of protecting SUNY students and campuses from the worst effects of the fiscal crisis while maximizing SUNY’s potential as a driver of New York State’s economic recovery.

“Given the positive response from these critical stakeholders, along with endorsements from our students and faculty, we hope that the Legislature will pass the Empowerment Act and fully leverage SUNY’s enormous capacity to create economic opportunities for New York.”

To read more about this issue click here.

To read the full text of the letter click  here.

Spinal cord injury work in danger of falling victim to state’s budget woes

Eric Anderson ofthe Times Union reports - “The state’s budget woes are being felt at the New York State Neural Stem Cell Institute, where scientists have been working to find ways to regenerate damaged spinal cords.

New York officials now want to use the funds that are collected from a surcharge on moving violation traffic fines and dedicated to research to instead help close the budget gap. Legislation establishing the Spinal Cord Injury Research Trust Fund provided that up to $8.5 million a year was to fund research into spinal cord injuries.

Sally Temple is scientific director at the stem cell institute, housed in the Cancer Research Center at the University at Albany’s East Campus. Grants from the trust fund cover about 20 to 30 percent of the institute’s activities.

“We would lose all of that progress that we’ve made over the past six years,” she said Thursday. “We have promising new treatments that would just die on the vine.”

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Michael Gormley of the Associated Press writes on LoHud.com about the SUNY Chancellors plan to create an innovation environment throughout the SUNY system that will lead to more inventive ideas, more grants and more jobs. - “State University of New York Chancellor Nancy Zimpher is calling for a new “cradle to career” plan for the nation’s largest public university system, aimed at nurturing new jobs for New York graduates to fill.

Her long anticipated “Strategic Plan for 2010 & Beyond” is scheduled to be released Tuesday in Manhattan.

A copy obtained by The Associated Pressshows it includes plans to bolster teacher education to improve students before they reach SUNY, then integrate academics at college with entrepreneurs who create jobs.

She calls for new programs that would connect the 64 campuses to bring an innovative idea to market. She calls it an “entrepreneur mindset.”

“In the 21st century, knowledge creation is no longer enough,” Zimpher’s plan states. “Economic growth depends on translating that knowledge into tangible, measurable benefits — from more patents issued, to more grants won, to more jobs.’

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Nancy L. Zimpher, chancellor of the State University of New York writes in an letter to the editor of the Syracuse Post Standard.

“With the state’s finances at a crisis point, it is time for bold ideas that will not only get us through these difficult times, but return New York to greatness.

The Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act is an idea of that magnitude.
This landmark legislation shields our students and our campuses from the worst effects of the fiscal crisis while maximizing our potential as a driver of economic recovery.

The legislation removes tuition from the state budget, allowing SUNY to expand enrollment and increase access to excellent educational opportunities. It enables SUNY to engage in partnerships with the private sector, which means new revenue to support SUNY and the ability to create 2,000 faculty positions and a total of 10,000 jobs across the system — along with 65,000 construction jobs for capital projects. The principles of collective bargaining and union worker rights are specifically protected.

Finally, the legislation cuts the red tape that costs SUNY time and money and stifles economic activity.
Unfortunately, some critics continue to defend an indefensible status quo, providing no alternative solutions — only criticisms. In contrast, we understand the need to be proactive and strategic about the future. If current projections are accurate, there will be even less money to go around next year. Business as usual will be nothing short of disastrous.

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A Word From the Wise

Thomas Friedman in a recent op-ed in the New York Times writes about the need for business to increase investment in the US - “I was traveling via Los Angeles International Airport — LAX — last week. Walking through its faded, cramped domestic terminal, I got the feeling of a place that once thought of itself as modern but has had one too many face-lifts and simply can’t hide the wrinkles anymore. In some ways, LAX is us. We are the United States of Deferred Maintenance. China is the People’s Republic of Deferred Gratification. They save, invest and build. We spend, borrow and patch.

And this contrast is playing out in the worst way — just slowly enough so the crisis never seems acute enough to take urgent action. But, eventually, infrastructure, education and innovation policies matter. Businesses prefer to invest with the Jetsons more than the Flintstones, which brings me to the subject of this column.”

To read the rest of the Column click here.

Elizabeth Cooper of the Utica Observer -Dispatch writes - “We knew salaries for nanotechnology jobs were high.

Just not how high.

Alain Kaloyeros, who is one of the prime movers in the effort to bring a Computer Chip Commercialization Center to Marcy, makes a salary of $734,353 in his position as senior vice president and chief executive officer at the University of Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.

That makes him the second-highest-paid state employee, according to figures provided by the state Comptroller’s Office and to an analysis by Gannett News Service, which reported earlier this week on Kaloyeros’s pay.

Nine others at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering make more than $170,000 per year, the Comptroller’s Office figures show.

Such pay levels speak to the new opportunities for well-paying jobs in the Mohawk Valley as the nanotech initiative moves forward at SUNYIT in Marcy.

College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering spokesman Steve Janack said people working at the planned nanotech facility could make anywhere from $40,000 to about $200,000, depending on what their job was.”

To read more click here.

Raymond J. Keating a Long Island-based economist and columnist with Long Island Business News provides the following op-ed in the New York Post.

“New York City is a lousy place to start up, run or invest in a small business, but city officials don’t seem to have a clue as to what to do about it.

Economic growth, innovation and job creation are overwhelmingly about entrepreneurs, along with the investors willing to supply capital to entrepreneurial ventures. According to the US Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, small businesses created about two-thirds of net new jobs over the last decade and a half. But Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council have done little to lower the cost of innovating, building businesses — small or otherwise — and creating jobs.

Quinn: Proposing a way-too-timid fix.

In her Feb. 18 State of the City Address, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn talked up the high-tech economy. She said: “Now what does it mean to create an economy of innovation? It means attracting and investing in the kinds of high-tech companies that will grow into the major employers of tomorrow. Unfortunately, when it comes to new technology startups, New York City lags behind other parts of the country.”

To read more click here.

The Business Council of New York State supports this bill, which would establish an information access infrastructure to support and promote teaching, scholarship, research, innovation and economic growth. This legislation builds on recommendations found within the New York State Commission on Higher Education 2008 Final Report which identified academic libraries as key to maintaining global competitiveness in a knowledge and innovation-based economy.

To read the bill memo in support of the bill click here.