It's not your grandmother's public library anymore in fayetteville. AS WRVO's Ellen Abbott reports, the Fayetteville Free library has gone beyond books to a high tech Fab Lab, the first of its kind in the country.
They weren't quite the Transformers from the movies, but once the bell rang inside the Museum of Science and Technology in Syracuse, the robot's wheels turned, gears spun and metal arms extended.
The VEX Robotics Competition was the culmination of weeks of engineering and problem solving for central New York students.
While large daily newspapers have been struggling, Oswego’s small daily paper is flourishing. One way it’s doing that is by sending out a new free product to some rural areas of the county.
The old Empire Fresh food processing facility in Oswego will soon be humming, packaging apples for schools and retail. As WRVO's Ellen Abbott reports, owners of an apple processing company expect to have the old Fresh Cuts plant online later this month.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced last week that the military wants to close some installations as its reduces its force size and winds down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The process is called BRAC – for “base realignment and closure.” A spokeswoman for Fort Drum said the post isn't commenting on the announcement, but Carl McLaughlin, executive director of the Fort Drum Regional Liaison Organization in Watertown, about how Fort Drum may fare as the BRAC process takes shape.
CenterState CEO in Syracuse is trying to get more companies in Central New York to do business outside the area. Syracuse is one of four metropolitan areas in the U-S that are working with the Brookings Institution to increase exports over the next five years. As part of two initiatives, they are asking local business for data about their exports, and encouraging them to look at more business opportunities outside the area.
The records of outpatients at Upstate University Hospital are entering a new digital world. The hospital has started installing a new electronic medical records program that will among other things, allow patients to access all their medical records on their computers or smartphones. WRVO's Ellen Abbott reports.
As New York State tries to dig out of a two million dollar deficit, ARISE Executive Director Tom McKown has an idea. Privatize many of the services currently done by government workers. He says groups like ARISE, which serves the disabled population in Central New York, and other non-profits can fill the gap if government went out of business.
Look for more steady modest growth in the Central New York economy in the coming year. According to numbers crunched by CenterState C-E-O, 2011 was a reasonably strong year for local businesses, with the economy growing slightly faster than the national average. The downside though was that the number of jobs created still lagged when compared to the national economy. Gary Keith, Regional economist for M&T Bank, thinks that could change this year.
