Paging Barbara Kopple (director of Harlan County USA and American Dream)… why not come to Wayne County and make it an even trilogy?
In Mott’s Strike, More Than Paychecks at Stake
The story in a nutshell: Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, the company that owns the Mott’s apple juice plant in Williamson, says that their unionized workers […]

99 Weeks Later, Jobless Have Only Desperation
Facing eviction from her Tennessee apartment after several months of unpaid rent, Alexandra Jarrin packed up whatever she could fit into her two-door coupe recently and drove out of town. Ms. Jarrin is part of a hard-luck group of jobless Americans whose members have taken to calling themselves […]

You might not have heard, but a couple of tinhorn Utica-area politicians with nothing better to do have, with their mighty and authoritative voices, changed the fate of a region.
State officials agreed Sunday to officially rename the Greater Utica area to “Central New York” after retiring the name “Central Leatherstocking Region.” Senator Joseph […]

“What we see in the United States and some other economies is a statistical recovery and a human recession.” –Larry Summers, Davos, January 30, 2009
“Of course; that was the intention. The stimulus money, QE, low rates, etc., etc, were geared toward goosing the stats. They were never directed toward middle or lower income individuals […]

The State of the State makes one want to cry for help.

A rather good guest editorial from a Syracuse expat in Sunday’s Post-Standard hints that people are starting to come around to my way of thinking on Richard Florida. I’m quite sure it’s not because anyone has read my stuff, but possibly because a prolonged economic slump for everyone tends to relieve one’s thirst for […]

The New York Times has an article on increased food stamp use in America that delivers the staggering statistic that up to one-fourth of America’s children are currently being helped by the program. Food stamps mean different things to different people - for some, it’s something they chronically need to rely on, and for […]

It’s been 40 years since Richard Nixon declared war on cancer. Why haven’t we won yet?
Below the flip are a few thoughts on technology, apple picking, space travel, the State Senate crisis, DestiNY USA, the Connective Corridor, backyard gardens, physics, and youth and old age. Proceed at your own risk!

On New Year’s Day 2008 I posted about what sort of young people might be coming back to the Syracuse area in the future. In yesterday’s New York Times was a revealing look at what is happening to real families during a real economic fading, and what it’s like when economically broken young adults […]

If a bedrock institution like the newspaper business falls onto unprecedented hard times, how can anyone suppose that higher education, or even the Colossus of our health care system, are immune?