Facing Out: The Week’s Most Interesting News

August 19, 2023

The Perseid meteor shower is active for about six weeks every summer, peaking in mid-August with up to 100 meteors visible on a clear night. Kurt Ruppel

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

The next time you’re tempted by the cynicism that defines our age, think about the effort a small community mustered to help one dying man fulfill his final wish. Peter Capizzi, who has dementia and can no longer walk, told the hospice chaplain he’d like to have one last meal at Rudy’s Lakeside Drive-in in Oswego, N.Y., a popular seafood restaurant on Lake Ontario where he would take his wife, Marilyn, when they were dating. The drive-in is about 45 minutes from their home west of Syracuse. Members of a local ambulance squad transported him free of charge. Volunteer firefighters helped carry him to the ambulance and members of another volunteer squad helped move him to the restaurant pavilion and eventually to the side of the lake, where he watched his great-grandchildren skip rocks like he once did. “It’s just such a sense of community, and we are so grateful,” his daughter told Syracuse.com. “We’re very blessed.”

FILLING A HEALTHCARE HOLE: This weekend in Bennington, Vt., known for having the tallest and most-visited monument in the state, dozens of people will spend hours in line for free dental or vision care at a pop-up two-day medical clinic meant to serve the indigent and people without insurance from around the region, not just Bennington. The services are by Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps, a Tennessee-based nonprofit that provides free medical services around the country, working with local organizations — in this case, the Albany Times Union reported, Greater Bennington Community Services, a nonprofit that works with people who live in or near poverty in Bennington County. A convenience store chain in Oklahoma has likewise taken an unconventional but promising approach to healthcare, opening a dozen urgent care clinics in the Tulsa area. The company, QuikTrip, recognized that urgent care had much in common with retail spaces and patterns. At one point, the clinics, known as MedWise, administered curbside Covid-19 tests to hundreds of patients a day, USA Today reports, many of whom paid cash. 

TO A NEWSPAPER’S DEFENSE: These are challenging days for daily and weekly newspapers struggling to serve their communities in the face of economic pressures that are immense. But one crusading local paper, the weekly in Marion, Kan., drew national support this week after local police raided its offices and the home of its editor and publisher and seized computers, cellphones and records. The raid was led by a chief who got run off the force in Kansas City and authorized by a judge with two DUIs on her record. The alleged reason for the raid was a concern that the newspaper had improperly accessed the personal driving record of a local restaurant owner. Turns out the newspaper was also looking into the chief. The search was so egregious that the county prosecutor told the police to return all of the material. The newspaper’s 98-year-old co-owner died the day after the raid, “stressed beyond her limits,” the newspaper reported.

From left: Henry Westbrook III, president and assistant business manager, IBEW Local 1249; Thomas J. O’Connor, vice president of government relations, Capital Region Chamber of Commerce; Vic Mullin, president, New York Transco; Doreen M. Harris, president and CEO, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority; Emilie Nelson, executive vice president, New York Independent System Operator; and Diane X. Burman, commissioner, New York State Public Service Commission. Courtesy of New York Transco.

ENERGY MILESTONE: We were proud to join the celebration and ribbon cutting this week as our client, electric transmission developer New York Transco, announced the successful energization of the New York Energy Solution (NYES), a clean energy transmission project in the Capital Region and Hudson Valley, just two years after starting construction and six months ahead of schedule. The NYES project plays a critical role in bolstering the backbone of the electric grid while helping New York State meet the nation-leading clean energy goals outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, including 70 percent renewable energy generation by 2030 and a zero-emissions electricity sector by 2040. The project completely rebuilt an existing 55-mile electric transmission corridor on utility-owned property through portions of Rensselaer, Columbia and Dutchess counties in Upstate New York.

WELCOMING A LEGEND: Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Gloversville, N.Y., native Richard Russo, fresh off the triumph of “Somebody’s Fool,” the final book in a trilogy that started in 1993 with “Nobody’s Fool” and picked up seven years ago with “Everybody’s Fool,” set in a gritty upstate New York community much like the one he grew up in, will participate in a reading and conversation Tuesday, August 29, at the University at Albany’s New York State Writers Institute. The New York Times called “Somebody’s Fool” Russo’s finest work. In the words of book critic Hamilton Cain, “Russo cycles through an array of techniques and perspectives, including expert use of third person and even a young man’s profanity-laced letters; the flow is smooth, like ‘a shot of Jack … like velvet.’ … He paints a shining fresco of a working-class community, warts and all, a 30-year project come to fruition in this last, best book.” As for Russo, he told the Albany Times Union, “I’ve been so blessed. I have had the kind of career writers dream about, but that was never the object. I’d like to think I would have gone about my writing the same way even if I had never had a bestseller. I never chased money or success, and I think it’s hard to be successful at anything if success is all you want.”

DAVID SMITH’S LIFE: The Wall Street Journal takes a serious and admiring look at The Hyde Collection’s current David Smith exhibition and tells the story of Smith and his wife Dorothy Dehner and the fascinating cultural community they helped foster in Bolton Landing. “Previously part of New York City’s small community of vanguard artists, they now lived above Lake George where, as summer residents, they had formed a circle of friends that included artists, art enthusiasts and the curators of the Hyde Collection in nearby Glens Falls, as well as members of the Skidmore College art faculty in Saratoga Springs,” writes Journal critic Karen Wilkin. “Rejected by the Army in 1944 — sinus problems — he returned to intense sculpture-making at Bolton Landing and a lively postwar cultural life. An acclaimed cellist who lived in the area and a visiting distinguished harpsichordist gave concerts. There was a chamber music group. The modern dancer Franziska Boas held classes there.”

MEANWHILE, after 87 years, an annual exhibition of art produced by artists of the Mohawk-Hudson Region, one of the longest running regional exhibitions in the country, is ending. Even as museums work to make art more accessible to the public, funding challenges constrain their ability to mount such labor-intensive exhibitions.

AUGMENTING CANCER SCREENINGS: Researchers at MIT are developing a wearable ultrasound scanner designed to be attached to a bra and provide additional screenings for women at high risk of breast cancer, Fox News reports. The goal is to help women detect breast cancer tumors in the early stages and maximize the survival rate. The device has detected cysts as small as 0.3 centimeters in diameter — the approximate size of tumors at early stages of the disease. 

HOLY OIL CHANGE, BATMAN: Batman had his trusty butler Alfred take care of maintenance on the Batmobile, and car enthusiast Bill Reilich apparently had Bobby Johnson, according to a lawsuit. Johnson is a former Deputy Public Works Commissioner for the Town of Greece, near Rochester. He alleges in the lawsuit that Town Supervisor Reilich required him to maintain his replica Batmobile on town time or lose his job. Reilich is a former New York State Assemblyman and longtime car enthusiast who owns Hot Rod Ranch in the Rochester suburb of Sweden and served as chair of the national State Automotive Enthusiast Leadership Caucus. 

SPA HAMILTON: A home in New York’s Hudson Valley called Table Rock, once owned by the family of Alexander Hamilton’s great grandson, has been sold to a California company that plans to create an exclusive health and wellness retreat on the 200-acre estate in Sloatsburg. The 40,000-square foot home with 52 rooms was built in 1902 by J.P. Morgan for his daughter as a wedding gift when she married the great-grandson of Alexander Hamilton. The new Ranch Hudson Valley is due to open in March 2024 and will offer 3-day and 4-day wellness programs with nutrient-dense, plant-based diets, based largely on ingredients harvested from the onsite organic garden or supplied by local, organic farms. 

QUIET, PLEASE: In this week’s installment of AI Will Kill Us All, Cornell University researchers trained an AI model on the audio recordings of people typing and found the model could identify the key that was pressed with 95% accuracy, making password shortcuts like Touch ID and the use of password managers that much more appealing. They tested the model using a smartphone’s built in microphone with someone typing on a MacBook Pro laptop. It was nearly as accurate listening to people type on video calls, a potential bonanza for hackers.

AMERICA STUMBLES ON DUNKIN’: Because there can never be too many varieties of alcohol to satisfy thirsty Americans, Dunkin’ has officially released Dunkin’ Spiked iced coffee and iced tea. “The growing appetite for adult beverages inspired us to put a twist on our customers’ favorite Dunkin’ Iced Coffee, Iced Tea and Refresher flavors,” said Brian Gilbert, vice president of retail business development at Dunkin’. He added, “Dunkin’ Spiked is perfect for day or night enjoyment.” If you have one too many, there’s always the original to help get you through it.

CUTTING THE CORD: The U.S. reached a pop culture milestone of sorts last month — it was the first time traditional television platforms like cable and satellite fell below 50% of overall viewers, a category that includes gamers. Nielsen reported that cable television accounted for 29.6% of total U.S. viewing time in July and broadcast attracted 20%, according to The Wall Street Journal. Streaming services captured 38.7% of Americans’ viewing time, and a category labeled “Other” — which Nielsen said includes usage such as DVD playback and gaming —accounted for the remaining 11.6%. About 75 million U.S. households still subscribe to a pay-TV package, down from a peak of around 100 million about a decade ago, The Journal reported.

• Roughly three in 10 adults have been addicted to opioids or have a family member who has been, and less than half of those with a substance use disorder have received treatment, according to a new survey conducted by KFF, a health policy research group.

• No, Taylor Swift did not purchase the 250-year-old Burgoyne House in Kinderhook, N.Y., a rumor fanned by a middle school co-principal who will have a lot of explaining to do to his heartbroken students.

• The TV and film writers’ strike has crossed 100 days since the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers failed to reach an agreement on a new contract, and it’s likely to have cost the California economy at least $3 billion so far.

 • A New Hampshire couple is suing Eataly Boston, an Italian dining emporium, for $50,000, alleging she slipped on a piece of prosciutto that fallen to the floor, fracturing her ankle.

• A state judge in Montana ruled that Montana’s oil and gas policies are infringing on young people’s constitutional rights to a safe environment, handing a big win to youth climate plaintiffs that will likely reverberate across the legal landscape. “I think this is the strongest decision on climate change ever issued by any court,” Michael Gerrard, director of Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, told Bloomberg Law.

CLARENCE AVANT was among the most powerful and influential figures in the entertainment business, rising to become chairman of Motown Records and helping to nurture the careers of major Black artists and athletes. He held sway in politics, too, advising President George H.W. Bush and raising funds for Presidents Carter, Clinton and Obama, who said in the 2009 biographical documentary Black Godfather, “Clarence was the bridge from the time where there was no opportunity (for Black talent) to a time where doors began to open.” Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, Avant suffered a terrible tragedy later that year with the murder of his wife, Jacqueline, during a violent burglary in their home. He was 92.

WAYNE HUTCHINS never wrote a book, never held elective office, never left the town where he was born. He had a huge impact nonetheless on the Adirondack community of Indian Lake, N.Y.,  where was known as a skilled and hard-working logger, an ever-hopeful gardener and fisherman, a magician with non-working motors, and a friend to all. He read the Bible, thought deeply about the problems of other people, and always turned up on the side of the underdog. The fish he caught and the firewood he cut he shared with neighbors, particularly seniors, who had less than he had. He owned a home but lived in the outdoors, in a homemade camper, in a place known as the Cedar River Flow. He died there, his favorite place on Earth, while doing what he loved most, fishing, at 78.

“When I hear the way they’re being talked about, I get so angry. It’s so unfair. People are always saying it’s a burden they’re here. Don’t you think it’s an even harder burden on them, (for) what they’ve been through and what they’re facing?”
— Restaurateur Aneesa Waheed, owner of Tara Kitchens, a chain of five restaurants where nearly one-third of the staff were, like Waheed, born outside the U.S. Restaurants for decades have often provided the first jobs for new immigrants to the country, and several have risen to prominent positions at restaurants in New York’s Capital Region.

EPICALLY BAD BEAT: “Bad beat” is the term gamblers use when something unlucky or random causes them to lose a bet — think, a fluke special teams touchdown on the last play of the game, or a poker player with a great hand losing when the final card helps a rival complete an inside straight. A bettor with FanDuel Sportsbook can relate — when the Yankees blew a four-run lead in the ninth inning and lost to the Miami Marlins last Sunday, the stunning defeat cost him a nearly $1 million payout.

Some of the linked material in Facing Out requires a subscription to read.

Principal Author: Bill Callen. 

Sincere Thanks to Contributors: Ryan Moore, John Brodt, Kristy Miller, Tina Suhocki, Tara Hutchins, Claire P. Tuttle, Troy Burns, and Kurt Ruppel.

FACING OUT is what we do. We help companies, organizations and individuals work effectively with their most important external audiences – their customers, their shareholders, their communities, the government and the news media.  www.behancommunications.com

Facing Out features news and other nuggets that caught our eye, and that we thought might be of value to you, our friends and business associates. Some items are good news about our clients and friends, others are stories that we hope will leave you a bit more informed or entertained than you were five minutes ago. As always, we welcome your ideas and feedback. 

Let’s make it a conversation: mark.behan@behancom.com