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Local
9:22 am
Tue October 16, 2012

Summer school for science teachers

Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
A new courtyard sporting a pond, stream, rocks and rotting logs will serve as a living lab for students at PS197 in Buffalo.
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Educators across the country agree schools need more students to excel in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Yet hooking students on these subjects remains a challenge, especially for generally low performing schools with few resources.

But this year, administrators in Buffalo Public Schools (BPS) tried to tackle the problem in a new way – by sending some of its teachers to summer school.

“I haven’t been in a lab in 43 years,” says Susan Wade, a BPS science teacher.

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Local
10:48 am
Fri October 5, 2012

A century later, Park School stays true to its roots

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Credit Courtesy photo / Park School
Park School enrolled its first class in 1912 at a location near Bird and Delaware Ave. The school moved to Snyder in the 1930's.
Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
Head of School Chris Lauricella leads this weekend's centennial celebration.
Credit Courtesy photo / Park School
Hamlin Hall was the school's first building and serves as an iconic image of its history.
Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
Students take botany classes in the school's greenhouse.
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One hundred years ago, a group of parents in Buffalo gathered to form a new school that would adopt the ideals of a progressive educational reformer and teach students in new ways.  A century later, the Park School still educates its pupils much the same way.

In 1912, Buffalo was one of the largest cities in the country with a bustling economy and booming population.

Also one hundred years ago, a group of parents in Buffalo gathered to form a new school that would adopt the ideals of a progressive educational reformer and teach students in new ways.

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Local
10:24 am
Fri September 21, 2012

Preventing high school dropouts – in kindergarten?

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Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
Ready Freddy is a new kindergarten-based program that tries to instill a love of school among students, which education officials hope translates into increased attendance.
Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
An unidentified adult dons a large plush frog outfit and high-fives students to encourage learning.
Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
Five schools in Buffalo are implementing the Ready Freddy program this year and so far, preliminary results are promising.
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This story is part of the Innovation Trail's partnership with FRONTLINE's Dropout Nation. You can read the other reports here.

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Business
1:44 pm
Fri September 7, 2012

WNY startups target $25 million in sales to China

Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
A $682,000 grant from the U.S. Commerce Department and others will aim to create $25 million in sales for western New York medical startups.
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Western New York is home to more than 200 growing startup companies catering to specific medical and life science needs.

While these small businesses offer unique products and services, they don’t always have a market for their goods or the personnel to aggressively seek out buyers.

A new initiative will try to give at least 40 of these companies the extra sales muscle to move $25 million worth of local products in the next three years.

'Hand in glove'

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Around the Nation
1:03 am
Sun September 2, 2012

Buffalo Cleans Up From Dirty Industrial Past

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Credit Daniel Robison for NPR
City leaders are attempting to increase public access to Buffalo's waterways, long blocked by aging industrial ruins and polluted land.
Credit Daniel Robison for NPR
Over the next three years, a clamshell will scrape the bottom of Buffalo's waterfront harbor, scooping out contaminants from the city's industrial days.
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Originally published on Sat September 1, 2012 6:37 pm

Along the shore of Lake Erie, the rusting relics of Buffalo, N.Y.'s industrial days have long blocked access to the water and posed risks to residents. Now, after decades of inaction, the city is finally clearing a path for the public to return to the waterfront.

Buffalo's approach has been dubbed "lighter, faster, cheaper." Tom Dee has led this effort as president of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp., a special state agency in charge of city waterfront property. He says years were wasted chasing grand redevelopment projects, but now the strategy is more homegrown.

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Local
9:19 am
Thu August 30, 2012

Controversy still simmers over SUNY Buffalo Shale Institute

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Credit Matt Richmond / WSKG
Weeks after its founding, the Shale Resources and Society Institute (SRSI) released a study that hydrofracking opponents called flawed and biased toward the natural gas industry. Above, a hydrofracked well and drilling pad in Pennsylvania.
Credit Courtesy photo / via srsi.buffalo.edu
Initially advertised as "peer reviewed," SRSI's study has since been stripped of that label by SUNY Buffalo administration.
Credit Courtesy photo / via srsi.buffalo.edu
SRSI needs over $1 million in the next three years to fund its plans for research, classes and overhead. The institute will accept funding from the oil and gas industry, among others.
Credit Matt Richmond / WSKG
SRSI's study determined that state oversight and regulations reduced the instance of problems associated with hydrofracked wells (above). But critics have questioned those assertions.
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Shortly after opening its doors at this spring, the Shale Resources and Society Institute (SRSI) ignited a controversy that persists several months later.

The newly-founded SUNY Buffalo institute issued a study which found a decline in accidents and environmental damage caused by hydrofracking – a drilling technique using high volumes of water, sand and chemicals to extract natural gas from shale far below the Earth’s surface.

Opponents call the study flawed and biased in favor of the oil and gas industry.

The dispute attracted national attention, especially in the higher education community. 

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Education
2:01 pm
Fri August 24, 2012

Innovation Trail to feature “Dropout Nation”

Credit WBFO News file photo
Empty school hallway
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According to statistics, every nine seconds in the U.S. a student drops out of school.  It leads to lifelong difficulties. 

WBFO & AM 970 will be airing a special five-part series produced by The Innovation Trail about education and the dropout crisis. 

Listen for those special reports beginning the week of September 17.   

Environment
4:41 pm
Tue August 14, 2012

An urban waterway's comeback

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Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
Over the next three years, a clamshell will scrape the bottom of the Buffalo River, scooping out contaminants from the city's industrial days.
Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
For two centuries the Buffalo River was used primarily by private industry. Recently, state and local efforts are inviting the public back to the waterway.
Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
Cleaning the Buffalo River will increase options for recreation, say state and local officials. Commercial and residential development has also been bandied as a possibility for the river's banks.
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In the late 1960’s, the Buffalo River was so polluted it caught fire.

“But it didn’t really get much national attention because that was just the way things were back in the day,” says Jill Jedlicka, executive director of Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper, an environmental advocacy group.

“People expected polluted rivers. It was just the cost of doing business at the time.”

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Local
11:41 am
Wed August 8, 2012

Local startup succeeds in research, struggles in business

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Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
The Buffalo BioBlower laboratory is a din of noise. Currently, the company is attempting to find commercial applications for its air sterilizing technology.
Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
The BioBlower requires extensive insulation for noise and heat.
Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
A poster aimed at investors accompanies BioBlower executives to conferences and meetings with venture capitalists.
Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
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Humans have always been vulnerable to airborne illnesses – especially given the developments in chemical and biological warfare. That vulnerability led two professors in upstate to pioneer a solution for sterilizing air.

But success in business has so far proven elusive.

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Local
10:52 am
Fri August 3, 2012

CoworkBuffalo crafts community with office space

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Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
Sitting above a coffee shop, CoworkBuffalo maintains a twice-daily brewing ritual that satisfies the caffeine needs of its members.
Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
Confined to one room for now, CoworkBuffalo will soon expand into an adjoining room organizers envision as a less formal "hang out"-style space.
Credit Daniel Robison / WBFO
Wall decorations are ad hoc. Here, name badges from conferences are loosely framed
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Working from home can be lonely or full of distractions.  And taking a laptop or tablet to the coffee shop has drawbacks, too. Ever try finding an electrical outlet amongst all the tables and chairs?

Now, CoworkBuffalo is offering a solution by inviting telecommuters to gather together in one office space.

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Local
2:40 pm
Thu July 26, 2012

Scientists uncover hidden history of polar bears

Credit U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service / Public domain
Scientists now believe polar bears have existed for over four million years, having endured many periods of climate change before.
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It all started with a fossil.

“We have this polar bear jawbone from the Svalbard archipelago in the North Atlantic,” says Charlotte Lindqvist, a professor at SUNY Buffalo and lead author of a landmark new study into the history of polar bears.

An ancient species

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Local
11:54 am
Tue July 24, 2012

Buffalo's roster of incubators grows by one

Credit G.G. Italy / via Flickr
Z80 Labs, Buffalo's first "Internet-focused" incubator, is named as an homage to the 1970's microprocessor. The chip helped form the foundation of the Z80 founders' early tech work.
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Buffalo’s latest business incubator is on the hunt for small tech companies who are long on ideas, but perhaps short on cash, office space and personnel. 

Calling itself Buffalo’s first Internet-focused incubator, Z80 Labs launched Monday with a well-orchestrated launch party featuring the region’s tech elite, as well as Forbes CEO Mike Perlis, and prominent venture capitalist Fred Wilson.

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