Latest news with #Cowing
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Au Train area campground is closing in June. What the DNR is saying about closure
The Forest Lake State Forest Campground, south of Au Train, will permanently close Monday, June 9, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The park, south of M-94 and east of M-67 on the Au Train/Cleveland Cliffs Basin in the Upper Peninsula, is closing because the property leased by the state has been foreclosed upon and taken over by a bank, making it no longer available for public recreation use, the DNR said in a release. Prior to becoming bank-owned, the state campground property was owned by a hydroelectric power company that was required to provide recreation as part of its federal energy license for the operation of a dam, the news release said. The property was leased and managed by the DNR, said Eric Cowing, district supervisor for the DNR Parks and Recreation Division in a news release. 'We've had an agreement in place to operate the facility for 70 years, through several dam ownership changes,' Cowing said. 'Unfortunately, due to recent foreclosure, we will no longer be able to continue providing camping, boating and other recreation opportunities at Forest Lake. It is our understanding that the new owners do not wish to operate a campground or continue public access.' In November, reported that the owners of a dam on the north end of the basin said they were out of money, in part because of repairs costs associated with work the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy was requiring to upgrade the structure. What to know about the park closure. The park will be open during Memorial Day weekend, through June 8, before the permanent closure takes effect. The rustic campground, managed by Indian Lake State Park, is located on the Au Train River's Au Train/Cleveland Cliffs Basin at the confluence of Slapneck Creek and has offered fishing, camping, boating, bird watching and paddling opportunities for more than 70 years. There are 26 sites for tent, small trailer and large trailer use at the site. Camping is limited to a 15-day maximum stay. The fee is $20 per night. Amenities include vault toilets and potable water from a hand-pump well. Nearby camping facilities operated by the U.S. Forest Service include Au Train Lake Campground, Hovey Lake Campground, Island Lake Campground and several others. Superior Time Resort & Campground, a private facility on Au Train Lake, provides campsites, cabins and watercraft rentals. Visit the DNR's Things to Do webpage to learn more. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: DNR says Forest Lake State Forest Campground to close in June
Business Journals
23-04-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
North Tonawanda's Mid-City Plaza: Owner's vision starts to take shape
By submitting your information you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy and User Agreement . Join the Buffalo Business First to unlock even more insights! The Niagara County shopping center is about 80% occupied, up a bit from when it was sold in late 2023. Story Highlights A Houston-based group acquired Mid-City Plaza for $20.75 million in 2023. The new owners are aiming to increase occupancy and improve tenant mix. Renovations are planned that will upgrade the facade and parking lot. The latest owner of a Niagara County shopping center has a larger vision for the site. Mid-City Plaza, located at 967 Payne Ave. in North Tonawanda, was acquired in an off-market sale in late 2023 by a Houston-based investment group for $20.75 million through two LLCs — Sky Mid City LLC and BDA Mid City LLC, according to county real property information. Cleeman Realty Group represented both the buyer and seller. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events 'As far as leasing is concerned, I think it's a nice central North Tonawanda location,' said Robert Cowing III, associate real estate broker with Pyramid Brokerage Co., which handles leasing for the property while the site owners handle property management. 'There's already a diverse mix of tenants within the space. It makes it nice for us in trying to identify and draw in complementary businesses, instead of competitors, where everyone can thrive in this plaza at once and hopefully stay long term.' Why it matters: The mixed-use plaza trend has been growing for years across the U.S., but in Buffalo it presents a particular opportunity. It's the game plan used by centers like Mid-City Plaza, and it's part of plans for larger redevelopment projects at the Eastern Hills Mall and Boulevard Mall. The Niagara County shopping center is about 80% occupied, up a bit from 77% occupancy when the deal closed in late 2023. Cowing said 10 suites are available with sizes ranging from 2,000 to 9,000 square feet. Suites can be combined up to about 17,000 square feet for larger tenants. Since the new owners took over, several new tenants have signed leases, including Pizza Hut, which took a 1,200-square-foot space at the plaza and committed to a 10-year lease. expand A look at Mid-City Plaza in North Tonawanda. Tracey Drury Cricket Wireless, which used to be a tenant, is coming back to Mid-City Plaza. Also coming: a local video game retailer, who Cowing said he couldn't name yet, but the store should open within the next couple of months. He's also in 'serious discussions' with at least two national retailers that he declined to name until deals are finalized. Overall, the ownership wants a good tenant mix with existing retailers Tops, Dollar Tree and M&T Bank, he said. 'We're trying to satisfy neighborhood services,' Cowing said. 'There's space for apparel, sporting goods, perhaps cosmetics – retailers similar to that.' Cowing said the owner also wants to give the plaza a more uniform look. The previous owner left the site looking run down, he said, which presented an opportunity for the new owner to make upgrades. Façade work started late last year on the Tops side of the plaza and plans call for finishing the rest of it this spring/summer, weather permitting. The parking lot also needs repairs. Cowing said he didn't have an exact estimate for the amount to be invested but he expects it to be in hundreds of thousands. 'They're going to do what it takes to make this plaza what it should be,' he said.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NASA Employees Reportedly Started Booing When Elon Musk Was Mentioned at an All-Hands Meeting
Elon Musk has been something of a thorn in NASA's side since long before he became an unelected government official — but it sounds like anger is now bubbling over at the space agency. According to former NASA astrobiologist Keith Cowing, who for years since his service at the agency has documented its internal politics and drama online, a "round of boos was heard" upon mention of Musk's name during an all-hands meeting at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland yesterday. Those jeers, Cowing wrote on his NASA Watch blog, were in response to mention of Musk's newly reiterated directive demanding all government employees explain what they did the week prior in bullet points to justify their jobs — or risk being fired. Over the weekend, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent a second threatening email to federal employees, instructing on Musk's behalf that they explain what they did at work last week to keep their jobs. While that first missive was amended to say that the demand was "strictly voluntary," this new one has no such language. "The NASA administrator will not be providing any further guidance to NASA employees regarding the latest [five] bullet email that everyone got over the weekend," Cowing wrote, "so NASA employees are pretty much left to make a personal choice." During the meeting, the NASA staffers were also warned that the youthful hatchet men from Musk's Office of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have badges to enter the facility at any time they choose, without needing to inform anyone of their entrance. That's not all the bad blood Musk has kicked up at NASA lately. The billionaire also enraged a cadre of former astronauts last month by issuing repeated digs, including the erroneous claim that Boeing Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams had been left stranded on the International Space Station for "political reasons." "When you finally get the nerve to climb into a rocket ship, come talk to [us]" former NASA astronaut and senator Mark Kelly tweeted in response to the world's richest man amid insults about his colleague, former ISS commander Andreas Mogensen, and his twin brother and fellow astronaut Scott Kelly. And even actions at NASA that aren't directly tied to Musk, like reports of leadership at the space agency ordering employees to throw out their LGBTQ pride swag, feel tightly bound up in his ideological mission to crush "wokeness" out of the federal government. All told, it's an extraordinary villain arc. Just a few years ago, Musk's work at SpaceX was a shining example of NASA working with the private sector to push the frontiers of America's space capability. Now, it seems that a mention of his name at a NASA meeting is enough to draw heckling. More on Musk cuts: Even NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Is Getting Its Budget Slashed
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hundreds of NASA employees decide to resign as DOGE investigates the space agency
The Brief Hundreds of NASA employees accepted resignation offers as the federal government moves to cut spending, with more layoffs expected. Former NASA scientist Keith Cowing and The Planetary Society warn that thousands of jobs could be at risk, drawing parallels to past budget cuts. Some officials, including State Senator Randy Fine, support the spending reductions, arguing that government agencies need stricter financial oversight. ORLANDO, Fla. - Hundreds of NASA employees accepted resignation offers from the federal government on Thursday as President Trump tries to gut federal spending. On Wednesday, a NASA spokesperson confirmed new details as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) started looking into NASA contracts this week. What they're saying Here's the latest statement NASA shared on the developing situation: "NASA continues to work as quickly as possible to comply with the guidance and direction provided by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for the Deferred Resignation Program and probationary employees. The agency is in the process of validating hundreds of employees who responded to the deferred resignation offer before the deadline. Some probationary employees have taken the deferred resignation offer and those individuals have been, or will be, on administrative leave by the end of this week. NASA is working with OPM on exemptions for those in the probationary period in mission-critical functions." A former NASA employee tells FOX 35's Esther Bower this is just the beginning of job cuts at the federal space agency. The other side Keith Cowing is a retired rocket scientist who was with NASA for about a decade in the 1980s. What's happening now brings him back to 1996. He says President Clinton also tried to make massive federal spending cuts, and hundreds of NASA employees lost their jobs back then. The retired scientist says he's hearing from employees who aren't sure what will happen to their jobs or the programs they're working on. "Everybody's confused. Everybody's freaking out, and everybody just wants to get back to the dream job of exploring the universe," said Cowing, who's the editor of Cowing still hears from employees working at NASA. His online publication keeps a close watch on what's happening at the agency. "I'm hearing things now in 2025 that are a scary echo of 1996, the last time there was a big layoff," said Cowing. He thinks thousands of jobs are on the chopping block. "This is the pre-game show. There is still a big layoff coming, a reduction in force," he said. The Planetary Society is also sounding the alarm about layoffs this week. The independent space advocacy organization put out a statement condemning the dismissal of 1,000 scientists, engineers, and explorers. The statement reads in part: "We urge the Trump Administration to reverse this arbitrary decision and work with Congress and other stakeholders to define a clear strategy for continued U.S. leadership in space and to ensure the nation's space agency has the workforce necessary to succeed in its mission." Not everyone thinks NASA's mission is in jeopardy even with the cuts. "You think Elon Musk is going to hurt our ability to go back to the Moon and Mars? Absolutely not," said Space Coast State Senator Randy Fine. State Senator Fine says federal spending is outrageous, and every agency needs to be investigated. "How many people at NASA were focused on DEI?" asked Fine. "The federal government has been irresponsible beyond our wildest imaginations in how they spend our tax dollars." FOX 35 reached out to NASA on Wednesday, asking if DOGE was on-site specifically at Kennedy Space Center. Officials were not able to confirm that with us. Cowing says he's hearing more rumors about layoffs also being announced on Friday. Let me know if you need any further formatting adjustments! STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 35 ORLANDO: Download the FOX Local app for breaking news alerts, the latest news headlines Download the FOX 35 Storm Team Weather app for weather alerts & radar Sign up for FOX 35's daily newsletter for the latest morning headlines FOX Local: Stream FOX 35 newscasts, FOX 35 News+, Central Florida Eats on your smart TV The Source The information in this article comes from reporting done by FOX 35's Esther Bower.
