No. 1025: In which we show true appreciation for (real) police officers, ‘Dear Abby,’ Gilligan and the LIA

 

One down: And 51 to go, intrepid innovators! After a long holiday break, you’ve somehow powered your way through the first workweek of 2026 – arguably, the year’s toughest workweek – and earned yourself a relaxing Winter’s weekend.

Just one more workday to go, and this informative and invigorating Innovate Long Island Friday Newsletter to kick it off right. Let’s finish strong!

ICE need not apply: Real police officers — trained for safety, service and respect, and to uphold Constitutional law — are heroes.

Blue heart: It’s Jan. 9 out there, and as the nation reels from the tragic events in Minnesota, we begin today with a heartfelt salute to National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day – reminding us of the critical differences between well-trained officers bravely defending public safety and cowardly masked stormtroopers shamefully enforcing political agendas.

Speaking of Constitutional crises, it’s also No Pants Subway Ride Day, now in its 24th year of testing the limits of public-decency laws on rapid-transit systems throughout the nation.

Indulge yourself: Menu-wise, the best we can find is National Apricot Day, offering warm fuzzies every Jan. 9 to the peach’s velvety cousin.

But go ahead and have whatever you want – seems right on National Quitter’s Day, the annual salute to the predictable collapse of New Year’s resolutions (most mathematically likely on the second Friday of January, according to science).

Try the nutmeg instead: You know where they don’t grow a lot of apricots? Connecticut, which became the fifth state to ratify the Constitution on this date in 1788 (and endures frequent frosts in early Spring, when apricots bloom).

Rarified air: To the south and west, America’s first manned balloon flight took off (and landed) on Jan. 9, 1793, carrying French aeronaut Jean Pierre Blanchard from Philadelphia to southern New Jersey.

Dear readers: As “Abigail Van Buren,” Pauline Phillips counseled millions.

Good advice: Way, way west, The San Francisco Chronicle published the first installment of “Dear Abby” – the seminal advice column written by Pauline Phillips, under the nom de plume Abigail Van Buren – 70 years ago today.

Photo finish: In Upstate New York, photography giant Eastman Kodak announced its abrupt departure from the instant-photo business – including a recall of all products and a stock swap for products already sold – on this date in 1986, following a bruising patent battle with rival Polaroid.

Smarter than it looked: And it was Jan. 9. 2007, when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone.

Apple did not invent the smartphone. But in no small measure, the iPhone changed the world.

League of her own: American suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) – an instrumental activist who spearheaded passage of the 19th Amendment, co-founded the International Alliance of Women and founded the League of Women Voters – would be 167 years old today.

Not a crook: He had some positive points, too, but … yeah, Dick, you were.

Also born on Jan. 9 were American botanist Elizabeth Gertrude Knight Britton (1858-1934), known best for dipping into mosses; Austrian neurologist Karl Dussik (1906-1968), remembered as the “Father of Ultrasonic Diagnosis”; 37th U.S. President Richard Nixon (1913-1994), the only American president to resign from office (so far); American author Judith Krantz (born Judith Tarcher, 1928-2019), a successful fashion magazine editor before she became a best-selling romance novelist; and American actor Robert Osbourne “Bob” Denver (1935-2005), forever beloved “Island”-hopper Gilligan.

Genetic giant: And take a bow, Sir Alec John Jeffreys! The British geneticist – the mastermind behind the genetic-fingerprinting and DNA-profiling techniques fueling modern forensic sciences – turns 76 today.

Send your best to the deoxyribonucleic detective at [email protected], where motivational storytelling is in our DNA – but we don’t have a clue without your story tips and calendar events.

 

About our sponsor: Presberg Law P.C. is Long Island’s premier “IDA” and business law firm for businesses locating, relocating to and expanding on Long Island. Founded in 1984, this multigenerational practice focuses on the purchase, sale, leasing and financing of commercial and industrial real estate, SBA and other loan transactions, construction projects and business sales and acquisitions.

 

BUT FIRST, THIS

Admission mission: Stony Brook University and Suffolk County Community College have announced another joint-admissions effort – this time, shifting focus away from each school’s primary campus.

Sharks and Seawolves at Stony Brook Southampton is designed specifically to clear professional pathways for East End learners. The collaboration – uniting Stony Brook Southampton, SCCC’s Eastern Campus in Riverhead and Hampton Bays Public Schools – offers high schoolers, current collegians and adult learners the opportunity to earn transferable college credits in three classes: SCCC’s Introduction to Psychology, Stony Brook Southampton’s Marine Biology of Eastern Long Island and the community college’s Introduction to Healthcare and Health Professions.

Set to launch Jan. 26, the new program follows a 2024 joint-admissions collaboration that guaranteed SBU admission – with priority course registration, paid summer internship opportunities and other perks – for SCCC graduates. “We see this partnership as an exciting new pathway for East End students,” noted Suffolk County Community College President Edward Bonahue. “By bringing high-quality, affordable courses directly to the Southampton campus, we are helping students stay connected to their communities, explore academic and career possibilities, and build the strong foundation they need for future success.”

Centennial sign: It’s triple digits for the LIA in 2026.

LIA all the way: One of Long Island’s busiest and most influential business boosters has hit the century mark.

The Long Island Association – known originally the Long Island Chamber of Commerce – has announced a year-long celebration marking its 100th anniversary. The former LICOC, which rebranded as the Long Island Association in 1934, has been a proactive steward of regional socioeconomics since officially adopting its bylaws in July 1926, supporting new infrastructure, fair tax laws and downtown development as Long Island has transformed from potato farms and beach cottages to America’s first suburb, a hotbed of aerospace manufacturing, a world-class academic mecca, a cornerstone of energy and life-sciences research and a thriving tourism destination.

In addition to introducing a new 100th anniversary logo, the LIA has created a special anniversary webpage to highlight its decades of achievement and is planning a Centennial Celebration for November. “The LIA has been a staple of Long Island and influential in ensuring our region’s success,” noted LIA Chairman Larry Waldman. “It was and continues to be driven by the business community, who help usher in continued economic growth.”

 

TOP OF THE SITE

Well worn: Wearable monitoring devices can dramatically improve a person’s health – but not everyone is convinced of their effectiveness, according to the latest Mount Sinai South Nassau Truth in Medicine Poll.

Watch this: Make sure your entire innovation team is watching out for new opportunities (and new pitfalls) with their own individual Innovate Long Island newsletter subscriptions – always easy, always free, always a click away. Synchronize your watchers!

 

ICYMI

With $56 million total – including $30 million to create a Regional Commercialization Corridor – Long Island was a big winner (again) in New York State’s annual Regional Economic Development Council competition.

 

BEST OF THE WEST (AND SOMETIMES NORTH/SOUTH)

Innovate LI’s inbox overrunneth with inspirational innovations from all North American corners. This week’s brightest out-of-towners:

From Georgia: Brunswick-based technology-commercialization consultancy Reditus Group introduces a six-point model to help early-stage tech firms maximize B2B growth.

From Massachusetts: Burlington-based pet-food pioneer Wellness Pet Company launches Wellness Protein Bowls to elevate health in adult dogs.

From Nevada: Las Vegas-based artificial intelligence-powered sports-entertainment platform VIP Play charges into the $11 billion skill-based gaming market.

 

ON THE MOVE

Brett McCabe

+ Brett McCabe has been appointed advocate for Knights of Columbus Council No. 6802, based at St. Paul the Apostle in Brookville. He is a partner in the Construction and Litigation practice groups at Uniondale-based Forchelli Deegan Terrana.

+ Garden City-based Moritt Hock & Hamroff has announced the promotion of three associates to partners:

• Lauren Bernstein is now a partner in the Litigation Practice Group, where she primarily represents financial institutions and middle-market companies in state and federal court litigation involving breach of contract, fraud and business torts. She also focuses her practice on business divorces, LLC formation and other corporate matters.
• Stephen Breidenbach is now co-chairman of the firm’s Privacy, Cybersecurity & Technology Practice Group. He concentrates his practice on technology-related matters including cybersecurity and privacy compliance.
• Alexander Litt is now a partner in the Litigation and Condominium & Cooperative Services practice groups, where he concentrates his practice on complex commercial litigation, arbitrations and appeals for high-net-worth individuals and small to medium-sized businesses.

+ Chris Kelly has been named executive director of the Westbury-based Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. He was assistant executive director at Episcopal Health Services in Far Rockaway.

+ Uniondale-based Rivkin Radler has announced the election of two new partners:

• Phillip Nash is now a partner in the Insurance Fraud & Recovery Practice Group, where he prosecutes complex civil lawsuits under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
• Elizabeth Sy is now a partner in the Business Dissolution, Commercial Litigation and Intellectual Property practice groups, where she resolves conflicts through litigation in state and federal courts and through alternative dispute resolution.

+ The HIA-LI has announced the election of five new Board of Directors members:

• Babak Beheshti is dean of the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences at the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury.
• Dawn Cagliano is president of IVCi in Hauppauge.
• Timothy Foley is the Long Island business banking market executive for Bank of America in Melville.
• Katherine Fritz is president and chief executive officer of Long Island Cares-The Harry Chapin Food Bank in Hauppauge.
• Robert McBride is the founder and chief executive officer of McBride Consulting & Business Development Group in Babylon.

 

Like this newsletter? Innovate Long Island newsletter, website and podcast sponsorships are a prime opportunity to reach the inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and executives you need to know – on Long Island, and soon, across New York State (just ask Presberg Law). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.

 

BELOW THE FOLD (Food Pyramid Edition)

Upside down: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has elevated saturated fats and demoted whole grains.

Saturated: Federal health officials roasted over new nutrition guidelines.

Corrupted: Honestly, the “food pyramid” has always been a political plaything.

Balanced: Science serve up a politics-free menu of what you should actually eat.

Food for thought: Please continue supporting the fantastic firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Presberg Law, where clients are nourished by a steady diet of expertise (and a healthy side of experience). Check them out.