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Saunders Finger Lakes Museum receives $1.8 million grant for construction project
BRANCHPORT, N.Y. — Saunders Finger Lakes Museum (SFLM) recently announced receipt of a grant award totaling $1.8 million from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) to support the organization’s continued construction of its main exhibition hall. The museum, located in Yates County in the Finger Lakes region, received its grant as part […]
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BRANCHPORT, N.Y. — Saunders Finger Lakes Museum (SFLM) recently announced receipt of a grant award totaling $1.8 million from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) to support the organization’s continued construction of its main exhibition hall.
The museum, located in Yates County in the Finger Lakes region, received its grant as part of New York State funding of 134 capital projects across the state, totaling more than $86 million.
SFLM said its mission is to foster appreciation and celebrate the rich cultures and diverse ecology of the expansive Finger Lakes region. While the museum is currently under construction, its mission is already coming to life through hands-on programming and outdoor features such as a natural playscape, an accessible kayak and canoe launch, and wetland trails, it stated in its announcement.
This grant funding will support the continued development of a more than 15,000-square-foot building that will house SFLM’s immersive indoor exhibits and experiences focused on the region’s cultural and ecological heritage. The facility will feature engaging, interactive elements for visitors of all ages, a flexible community room/traveling exhibit area known as the Finger Lakes Story Lounge — available for special events — and an educational center designed to deepen understanding of the region’s historical and cultural narratives, SFLM said. Each space is intentionally designed for flexibility, inclusivity, education, and future expansion.
The mission of the NYSCA is to foster and advance the full breadth of New York state’s arts, culture, and creativity for all. To support the ongoing recovery of the arts across the state, the organization will award more than $161 million in FY 2026, serving hundreds of arts organizations and artists across all 10 New York regions.
Onondaga County hotel business indicators log minor improvement in May
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Onondaga County hotels registered a slightly positive month of business in May as measured by a trio of key indicators. The hotel-occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) in Central New York’s largest county edged up 0.5 percent to 63.2 percent in the fifth month of 2025, compared
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SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Onondaga County hotels registered a slightly positive month of business in May as measured by a trio of key indicators.
The hotel-occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) in Central New York’s largest county edged up 0.5 percent to 63.2 percent in the fifth month of 2025, compared to May 2024, according to STR, a Tennessee–based hotel market data and analytics company. Year to date through May 31, occupancy was down 0.9 percent to 56.2 percent.
Revenue per available room (RevPar), an industry gauge that measures how much money hotels are bringing in per available room, rose 2 percent to $97.31 in Onondaga County this May from a year ago. In the first five months of 2025, RevPar was up by 2.1 percent to $73.91.
Average daily rate (or ADR), which represents the average rental rate for a sold room, went up by 1.5 percent to $154.07 in May versus the year-prior month, STR reports. Year to date through the month of May, ADR was higher by 3 percent to $131.50.
SurePrint Pack N Ship opens second location in Ilion
ILION, N.Y. — A local entrepreneur has expanded his operations beyond Dolgeville by opening SurePrint Pack N Ship in the Arc Mall in Ilion. Jacob Manning says his shop provides a much-needed service in the Ilion area that has been lacking — an authorized FedEx shipping center. “It’s been very positive for the community and
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ILION, N.Y. — A local entrepreneur has expanded his operations beyond Dolgeville by opening SurePrint Pack N Ship in the Arc Mall in Ilion.
Jacob Manning says his shop provides a much-needed service in the Ilion area that has been lacking — an authorized FedEx shipping center.
“It’s been very positive for the community and positive for us,” he says. “We can ship out FedEx packages. We can receive returns.”
The location, which opened in May, also provides fax services and has a commercial printer for copy services. It can even offer freight shipments with advance notice.
Manning opened his first location in Dolgeville not quite a year ago. Both his Ilion and Dolgeville stores are co-located with another business, Tailored Computer Care operated by Mike Taylor. While the businesses share locations, they are separate businesses.
Manning says he first got the idea to open in Dolgeville when the community was looking for a new use for the old library building. The Halverson family donated the building to the village, and it sat unused for some time. About a year ago, Manning was one of a number of people who submitted a proposal for how they would use the space — which led to him opening his first SurePrint location there.
Now that he’s open in Ilion, Manning plans to make that his primary location. The Dolgeville location remains open with help from an intern through the Access VR program.
Prior to opening SurePrint, Manning worked for a time for Arc Herkimer’s Mohawk Valley Golf and Event Center. That connection eventually led to finding space at the Arc Mall, which Arc Herkimer owns and operates.
Looking ahead, Manning has plans for more growth, whether it comes from adding additional services at his existing locations or opening more locations.
“There are some things down the road that may happen,” Manning says.
Both stores are open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Jefferson County hotels post slight drop in occupancy in May
WATERTOWN, N.Y. — Jefferson County hotels welcomed slightly fewer overnight guests in in May, as two other key business indicators were mixed during the month. The hotel-occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) in the North Country’s most populated county slipped 2.7 percent to 48.9 percent in the fifth month of 2025,
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WATERTOWN, N.Y. — Jefferson County hotels welcomed slightly fewer overnight guests in in May, as two other key business indicators were mixed during the month.
The hotel-occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) in the North Country’s most populated county slipped 2.7 percent to 48.9 percent in the fifth month of 2025, compared to a year prior, according to STR, a Tennessee–based hotel market data and analytics company. Year to date through May, occupancy was down 5.4 percent to 41.8 percent.
Revenue per available room (RevPar), a key industry gauge that measures how much money hotels are bringing in per available room, edged down 1.5 percent in Jefferson County to $56.88 in May, compared to May 2024. In the first five months of the year, RevPar fell 5.1 percent to $46.58.
The average daily rate (ADR), which represents the average rental rate for a sold room, inched up 1.2 percent to $116.33 in May from the same month in 2024, per STR. Year to date through May 31, ADR was up 0.3 percent to $111.51
SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Syracuse Boat Tours – Making Waves in The Community
During the summer of 2024, a new boat tour company made its way onto the waters of the Seneca River and Onondaga Lake. Syracuse Boat Tours provides locals and visitors the opportunity to gain an appreciation for the Central New York area and the beauty it has to offer. Annette Peters, the company’s owner, is
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During the summer of 2024, a new boat tour company made its way onto the waters of the Seneca River and Onondaga Lake. Syracuse Boat Tours provides locals and visitors the opportunity to gain an appreciation for the Central New York area and the beauty it has to offer.
Annette Peters, the company’s owner, is a passionate entrepreneur, visionary, and proud member of our community. She lived on the Seneca River for years and enjoyed taking her friends out to boat on both the river and Onondaga Lake. Peters took notice of how much they appreciated the beauty of the water, especially the lake.
After spending most of her career in human resources and marketing, Peters was ready for a big change. Annette started working on her idea with the help the North Central Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and M&T Bank a few years ago and opened her company in July 2024.
“Starting a small business can be overwhelming, but having an objective, experienced business advisor made all the difference for me. Mark Pitonzo expertly guided me through the financial process by asking all the right questions to help me craft accurate financial projections,” Peters said. “He escorted me through the entire loan application process and beyond and was always ready to answer my calls — even the last-minute ones. Having a business professional to consult and strategize with has been an invaluable tool for me. He was also very helpful with constructing my business plan. Without his help and the North Central SBDC, we wouldn’t have been able to secure the funding for the boat through M&T Bank.”
Syracuse Boat Tours holds regular themed cruises on her boat and offers many experiences for different audiences. All tours are captained by U.S. Coast Guard master captains. Rides include sunset cruises, beer and popcorn tours, wine tasting, and cocktail cruises. Peters and her crew offer Tiki Bar Tuesdays, historical lake cruises, and even a “Swiftie” cruise where guests sing along to their favorite Taylor Swift songs. There are also family tours that appeal to all ages.
Most tours last 90 minutes with some lasting an hour. Customers get to build the experience that they want on their tour. They can pick the music and the overall “vibe” that they’re seeking. Syracuse Boat Tours is open to letting the customers set the tone and schedule. It’s really the experience that people want and enjoy.
The boat is used for special events in which groups can rent out the entire boat for whatever kind of ride they are seeking. Peters has hosted corporate charters, birthday parties, baby showers, anniversary parties and church groups. She believes it’s a perfect little intimate party venue. People come from all over to experience the tour. It’s a great place to bring guests from out of town or for locals to gain a new appreciation for the beauty and fun that is in their backyard.
Peters “wears a lot of hats” as she’s involved in all aspects of the tours, from being the company’s owner to bartending during the rides. She says she has as much fun as the passengers do. The business has been an excellent fit for her because she’s been able to use her strengths from her past experiences in management and marketing. And thanks to an outpouring of community support and impressive demand in her first year, she quickly realized that she was going to need a larger boat — and has purchased a new one. So, hop aboard Central New York.
Mark Pitonzo is an advanced certified business advisor with North Central SBDC.
VIEWPOINT: Community Banks, Credit Unions Need to Market Local, Build Trust
Community banks and credit unions hold a unique position in the financial-services marketplace. As vital members of their local communities, these organizations serve an essential role in fostering economic growth, giving them an inside track in building and maintaining trust with their customers and members. However, the financial landscape is rapidly evolving. With changing demographics
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Community banks and credit unions hold a unique position in the financial-services marketplace. As vital members of their local communities, these organizations serve an essential role in fostering economic growth, giving them an inside track in building and maintaining trust with their customers and members.
However, the financial landscape is rapidly evolving. With changing demographics and increasing competition from national banks, online lenders, and non-traditional financial-services organizations, community financial institutions find themselves at a crossroads. Identifying new ways to strengthen core community relationships is a key to the long-term success and resilience of these organizations — the lifeblood of their communities’ financial landscape.
Fortunately, as a community financial-institution leader, you have several arrows in your quiver, and it all starts with a focus on localized participation and engagement. Here are some proven ways to establish closer ties with your communities:
1. Understand your community’s needs: Before you can effectively serve your target audience, you must have a comprehensive understanding of their financial needs and challenges. This will help you to both cater your product offerings and align your engagement strategy with your market.
For example, if you’re serving a rural region, it makes sense to offer services like agricultural loans and financial-wellness instruction designed for farmers. If, on the other hand, you’re located in a downtown central business district, then offering commercial accounts and small-business loans makes a ton of sense.
Start with market research. This can be done informally, by having conversations with local civic leaders, business owners, and your own customers or members. Or you can take a more analytical approach, using established marketing-research methods like focus groups and surveys to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. Or, ideally, you can do both.
2. Develop community-centric programs: Community financial institutions are well known for sponsoring events, nonprofit causes, and youth sports teams in their hometowns. Seek out local, family-friendly festivals, school-based programs, and charity events to increase your visibility and goodwill. Encourage your staff/colleagues to participate in community projects, serve on local nonprofit boards, and volunteer their time to charitable organizations they believe in. You can also sponsor a company-wide philanthropy project and ask all employees to participate. Some popular projects include Habitat for Humanity home builds, Food Bank packing events, and community garden plantings. One of our bank clients does random acts of kindness at holiday time, with bank executives showing up at bagel shops and convenience stores to pick up the breakfast tab or fill a surprised patron’s gas tank.
3. Partner with local organizations: It makes sense to collaborate with local businesses and nonprofits, as it allows you to bask in the reflected glow of their reputation, and leverage a built-in audience to market your own services.
You can offer co-branded promotions or financial workshops in partnership with local enterprises. Offer them the opportunity to sponsor or set up a booth at your events, and make sure to reciprocate. This approach helps to strengthen community ties while expanding your current customer or member base.
Always conduct full due diligence of any organization with whom you choose to partner. Only consider those that align with your corporate mission and have a stellar reputation in your community.
4. Get hyper-local with your marketing: To reach your target audience it already resides, make sure you are using local media like TV, radio, and outdoor billboards, along with neighborhood social-media platforms like NextDoor. To get the most value out of the major social and digital platforms, implement geo-targeted online ads to ensure you are reaching your desired audience most effectively.
Localized marketing and trust-building are essential to strengthening relationships and maintaining strong community ties. In these challenging times, focus on enhancing your current strategies to create a foundation of community engagement and trust for the long-term.
Steve Johnson is a managing partner at Riger Marketing Communications in Binghamton. Contact him at sdjohnson@riger.com.
L3Harris wins nearly $30M Army contract for communications equipment
L3Harris Global Communications Inc., of Rochester, was recently awarded a $29.6 million firm-fixed-price contract from the U.S. Army for communications equipment and accessories. Bids were
VIEWPOINT: From Burden to Breeze: Redefining Compliance with AI-Powered Solutions
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are steadily transforming the way businesses approach risk, regulation, and operational oversight. With an ever-evolving cyber ecosystem, compliance is regularly playing catch-up. Revelations regarding zero-day attacks, where no prior knowledge of the exploitation exists, promote additions and amendments to what defines a “secure environment.” New software and breakthroughs in industry
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Artificial intelligence and machine learning are steadily transforming the way businesses approach risk, regulation, and operational oversight. With an ever-evolving cyber ecosystem, compliance is regularly playing catch-up.
Revelations regarding zero-day attacks, where no prior knowledge of the exploitation exists, promote additions and amendments to what defines a “secure environment.” New software and breakthroughs in industry advancement force entities like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to issue new policies year after year, proliferating the complexity and time it takes to perform compliance in an area long associated with paperwork heavy audits, complex standards, and rapidly evolving expectations. This backlog of paperwork creates systemic drawbacks in efficiency and adds cost to the companies forced to comply.
For many organizations, the challenge is not whether to use artificial intelligence (AI), but how to use it. This is where systems like LORE (Linguistic Operations for Relevant Extraction), are turning the tide on workplace inefficiencies escalated by policy assurance. Built using privately hosted open-source large language models (LLM) and designed around retrieval augmented generation, LORE demonstrates how assistive intelligence alongside human-in-the-loop automation can reduce compliance overhead while maintaining clarity, precision, and control.
Business owners understand that regulatory compliance is not only non-negotiable, but also time-consuming and resource intensive. Automation offers clear benefits here, such as faster response times, improved document tracking, and the ability to surface relevant content on demand. Not all automation is created equal, and consequently blindly trusting AI-generated answers without validation can lead to errors, missed standards, or worse, regulatory action due to inaccurate claims.
LORE’s architecture bridges the gap between efficiency and trust, as it automates early-stage review and classification of compliance content but keeps expert humans in the loop for oversight and final decision-making. This structure ensures that AI is a partner in the process and not a substitute.
At the heart of LORE is an increasingly adopted AI and ML (machine learning) approach known as retrieval augmented generation, or RAG. This architecture addresses one of the biggest risks of language models, hallucination, the generation of text that may sound plausible but is factually incorrect or unsupported.
Rather than relying solely on data from model training, RAG enhances outputs with real-world references. When a user inputs a question or answer for review, LORE transforms that input into a vector, a mathematical representation of meaning, and searches within a database of pre-encoded compliance documents. These may include standards like NIST Special Publication 800-53 Rev.5, NIST Interagency Report 8228, or other authoritative frameworks that specify specific security controls that should be in place. The top matching sources are retrieved in real-time and passed to the AI model, which uses those sources to generate responses that are grounded in actual policy text.
This structure operates as a safeguard by drawing on a vetted source library at the moment of inference. The RAG architecture helps mitigate hallucination risks and reinforce trust in AI outputs, which is a compelling reason for business leaders to pursue AI-assisted compliance tools.
While Quanterion Solutions Inc. currently uses LORE for cybersecurity compliance, its architecture serves as a template for compliance in all industries and topics. Given the nature of compliance rollouts occurring annually and sometimes even faster, a critical component of LORE is its design with scale in mind. As new frameworks emerge or organizational needs evolve, additional documents can be encoded and added to the system’s retrieval library, or old ones may be replaced. This makes LORE adaptable across industries, whether in healthcare, defense contracting, or environmental regulation.
Just as importantly, LORE supports transparency, as each compliance classification it produces is paired with reasoning statements, numerical-confidence scores, and direct references to the relevant sections of the regulatory texts. This makes it easy for human reviewers to validate the AI’s conclusions and for organizations to create a clear audit trail. It is a practical way to increase confidence in automated decisions without increasing manual-review time.
Business leaders looking to adopt AI and ML tools in regulatory settings should carefully evaluate their current compliance workflows and AI-system reliability. Key considerations include:
• Scalability of workflows: Determine if audits or internal reviews are straining resources and could benefit from targeted AI automation to improve efficiency early on.
• Grounding in real documentation: Ensure the AI system uses retrieval augmented generation, so answers are based on verified source material rather than speculation.
• Trustworthiness of outputs: Verify if the AI’s outputs are reliable enough to act upon, favoring tools that offer transparency, citations, and grounded reasoning for reassurance.
As regulatory environments grow more complex and digital operations continue to scale, AI-enabled compliance tools will become less of a luxury and more of a necessity. The tools that succeed will not try to automate everything but rather understand the value of precision, traceability, and human judgment.
LORE is one example of how that future might appear, as it combines smart automation with trusted documentation and AI-generated classifications with human-led decisions. It does not eliminate the work of compliance; it accelerates it.
For business leaders preparing to modernize their compliance functions, now is the time to explore how architectures like RAG, when paired with human oversight, can become powerful allies in managing risk and staying ahead of regulation.
Nicholas Hartnett is a software engineer at Quanterion Solutions Inc. Contact him at nhartnett@quanterion.com.
Founder of insurance agency in Lake Placid elected chair of Big I New York board of directors
DeWITT, N.Y. — Big I New York, a trade association for independent insurance agents in New York, announced the recent election of Kelly Gonyo as chair of its board of directors for the 2025–2026 term. Gonyo is the founder and president of Blue Line Insurance Agency, headquartered in Lake Placid. “A dedicated leader within the
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DeWITT, N.Y. — Big I New York, a trade association for independent insurance agents in New York, announced the recent election of Kelly Gonyo as chair of its board of directors for the 2025–2026 term.
Gonyo is the founder and president of Blue Line Insurance Agency, headquartered in Lake Placid. “A dedicated leader within the industry,” Gonyo has served on the Big I New York board of directors since 2020, previously holding the roles of vice chair and secretary/treasurer, the association said in its announcement. Beyond her work in the insurance space, she is also actively involved in her community, serving as treasurer of the Lake Placid Olympic Museum and president of the Adirondack Economic Development Corporation, both since 2023.
Gonyo was formally installed during Big I New York’s annual business meeting, held in conjunction with the Go Big 2025 conference May 14-15 at the Long Island Marriott Hotel in Uniondale (on Long Island).
“I know I’ve said this a million times — and it still doesn’t feel like enough — the Big I NY team, led by their incredible leader, Lisa Lounsbury, is like no other. Our board and our association are so dialed in with how we work together, and I can say without a doubt, my time here will be a highlight of my insurance career,” Gonyo said in the announcement.
Looking ahead, Big I New York announced that its Go Big 2026 event will be held on May 4-5, 2026, at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona.
Big I New York, which is based on Widewaters Parkway in DeWitt, says it seeks to fulfill the educational, political, and business interests of more than 1,500 agencies and their 13,000-plus employees.
CNY regional job growth mixed in May compared to a year ago
May brought a mixed picture of job growth among the six sub-regions of Central New York. The Syracuse, Binghamton, and Elmira regions all gained jobs between May 2024 and this past May. Meanwhile, the Utica–Rome and Watertown–Fort Drum areas lost jobs in that same period, while the Ithaca region saw no change in jobs. That’s
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May brought a mixed picture of job growth among the six sub-regions of Central New York.
The Syracuse, Binghamton, and Elmira regions all gained jobs between May 2024 and this past May.
Meanwhile, the Utica–Rome and Watertown–Fort Drum areas lost jobs in that same period, while the Ithaca region saw no change in jobs. That’s according to the latest monthly employment report that the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) issued on June 18.
The Syracuse region gained 6,300 jobs in May compared to a year prior, an increase of 2 percent.
Elsewhere, the Binghamton metro area added 300 jobs, a rise of 0.3 percent; the Elmira region picked up 500 positions, an increase of 1.4 percent; the Utica–Rome metro area lost 300 jobs, down 0.2 percent; the Watertown–Fort Drum region shed 200 positions, a drop of 0.5 percent; and the Ithaca metro area posted no change in jobs in the period between May 2024 and May 2025.
New York state as a whole added nearly 111,000 jobs, an increase of 1.1 percent, in that 12-month period. The state economy also gained more than 5,000 jobs, a 0.1 percent rise, between April and May of this year, the NYSDOL said.
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