Week in Review: April 13-17, 2020
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CEG IN THE NEWS
Troy Record: Troy leaders discuss changes to business, government and schools amid pandemic
Troy Record: Tech Valley Center of Gravity partners with others to produce PPE devices
Times Union: CEG 2020 Tech Awards event canceled
Newsbreak: Center for Economic Growth offering support to manufacturers
WNYT: Troy-based collaboration using 3-D printers to make face shields
REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Shaker Group charges ahead with $6 million expansion as pandemic slows economy
“Amusement park closings, a manufacturing slowdown and port shipping delays will not stop Shaker Group Inc. from charging ahead with a $5.9 million plan to triple its space and move its operations to Saratoga County. ‘It makes you think twice when you look at what is happening to the economy,” said Shaker Group president Jason Smith. “We see this project as the only way to sustain our growth.’”
Dairy farmers strive to survive effects of coronavirus
“Demand has dropped for Jeff King’s goods this spring — but he can’t slow down production. ‘Cows just don’t automatically decide to produce 10 percent less, just because we don’t need it,’ said King, co-owner of King Brothers Dairy in Schuylerville. ‘They’re going to continue to produce the same amount today as they did yesterday. We’re dealing with animals, not a factory. We can’t just turn the dial back on the factory.’”
“met John Tobison in a crowded plaza last week, at the center of a campus where hundreds of eXp Realty employees were milling around, chatting with colleagues and conducting meetings as if nothing had changed — because for them, nothing had. We weren’t recklessly flouting social distancing protocol in the age of coronavirus; we were on a campus that was entirely virtual, a simulated world where eXp houses all of its offices. This has been eXp’s reality since the company was founded in 2009, but it’s never been more of an advantage than now, when the pandemic has severely limited the real estate industry and pushed agents to find new ways of doing business.”
Dinosaur built in Columbia County returns home
“A dinosaur that was built in Columbia County in the mid-1960s returned Friday to the area to be restored, according to officials at the Berkshire Museum. The 1,200-pound lifesize Stegosaurus named “Wally” has spent the last 23 years on the front lawn of the museum in Pittsfield, after the museum acquired it in 1997 from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where it was on display for 30 years, museum officials said.”
SUNY Poly professors work on new coronavirus test
“Researchers at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute are developing a new COVID-19 test that can also provide health care workers with other information important to treating patients. SUNY Poly Professor Nate Cady and Associate Professor Scott Tenenbaum were awarded funding from SUNY central to create the new test, which will be more complex in its ability to offer the extra patient information, according to a media release Monday announcing the new test research.”
Albany airport will receive $15 million from federal stimulus
“The Albany International Airport will be receiving a $15.3 million infusion from the federal government as part of the CARES Act stimulus package. Airport CEO Phil Calderone told the Business Review on Tuesday the money is contingent on an application and will require the airport authority to retain 90% of its employees. Otherwise, the money is relatively unrestricted and can be used for general operations or debt service, Calderone said.”
SUNY Poly develops detection chip technology to better treat COVID-19 patients
“SUNY Polytechnic Institute professors are teaming up with the State’s Public Health Lab to develop an advanced COVID-19 test. SUNY Poly was awarded 75,000 from SUNY for the project, which involves a new test using detection chip technology.”
Capital Region’s initial jobless claims 25 times last year’s level
“There was little comfort to be taken in Thursday’s report from the U.S. Labor Department that initial claims for unemployment insurance fell 20 percent from the previous week’s figure. After all, the 5,245,000 claims for the week ending April 11, down from 6,615,000 initial claims a week earlier, nevertheless pushed the total claims for the past four weeks over the 22 million mark. That essentially erased all the jobs created since the Great Recession, according to Business Insider.”
