Latest news with #Philly-based
Technical.ly
22-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Pittsburgh Public Schools seeks $2M software deal with FSH Tech to rethink cafeteria logistics
A Philly-based startup is reaching across the state with a proposed $2 million software deal to modernize operations at Pittsburgh Public Schools. The potential 10-year contract with Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) food services would provide custom-built software for the department, helping it bring five million meals to students annually. FSH Technologies would turn the complex, paperwork-based process of food distribution into a more modern endeavor, putting all the logistics onto one platform. 'The public sector has long been underserved, especially in technology,' Lilly Chen, founder and CEO of FSH Technologies, told 'They deserve access to modern technology with modern [user experience] and [user interface] that actually work for their process, because every single town, city, school district has their own unique way of operating.' PPS food services' current system involves using multiple software programs and manual methods like Excel spreadsheets and PDFs for various tasks, according to the director of the department, Malik Hamilton. With about 22,000 meals to serve daily, along with after-school snacks, school dinners and catering contracts with local private schools or daycares, the food services department needed a system that could integrate all its needs, Hamilton said, including regulatory compliance, production records, menu planning and forecasting. 'We have a lot of paperwork, a lot of things that we have to keep track of,' Hamilton said. 'We were looking for [a software program] that is more robust than what we're currently using and that could help us grow into some of the things that we want to do moving forward.' The new platform that FSH Tech is building has a unified database, so the department can share data about menus, ingredients, vendors and more, Chen said. When schools place food orders with the district's central kitchen, the platform allows them to select the menu item, how many need to be made, when it's being served and if the item is a main dish, side or dessert. The system automatically figures out what ingredients and how much of each are needed, placing the order with third-party vendors when the menu is made. Although the food services budget is not part of PPS's recent deficit issues — because the department funds its operations through meal sales — the cost of the platform was still a key factor in choosing FSH, Hamilton said. FSH 'did not come in as the lowest bidder,' Hamilton said. But he was optimistic the program would ultimately help the department save money because, as food costs rise, it would allow them to 'closely monitor financial decisions that are being made in each building.' The PPS board will vote on the proposed contract on May 28. Chen and Hamilton both said they are confident it would be approved. Software 'assembled to order' for public-sector needs FSH's goal was to create a system that used food efficiently and was easy to use for the district's employees because it impacts students' ability to access food, Chen said. 'There's a realness to what software does,' she said. 'It serves real people who have lives.' The wider problem of outdated workflows or software platforms that don't totally align with an organization's operations isn't unique to the Pittsburgh school district, Chen said. It's a common issue often caused by budget constraints — especially in the public sector. A former machine learning infrastructure engineer at Meta, Chen's interest in public sector technology sparked while she was volunteering for Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker's Open for Business initiative. She was helping to build a tool that would be a one-stop shop for Philadelphia businesses to access resources and grant information. That experience showed her how long and inefficient the process can be for developing government technology tools. 'It kind of shocked me,' she said. 'Everyone is so well-intentioned, so motivated to help, and yet we aren't getting solutions delivered to the people that we promise that we're going to deliver them to.' Most software is 'opinionated software,' she said, meaning that it's built to work a certain way using a specific method, but every unique city and agency has its own way of doing things. Instead, FSH focuses on composable software, pieces with specific functions that can be 'assembled to order,' with a specific focus on municipalities, she said. The private sector doesn't offer enough products for the public sector, she said. It builds tools that work for them and government agencies have to try to make them work, despite having different processes and serving unique groups of people. With the PPS contract, FSH learned what the needs of the school system are, the roles that employees play and designed the platform to check those boxes. 'We always say,' Chen said, 'that we build technology for people first that works for your process.'
Technical.ly
15-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
This entrepreneur from Ireland is helping US farmers wield analytics
Entering the large US market can be intimidating for some immigrant founders, but international experience can help give them a competitive edge. For Daniel Foy, cofounder and CEO of agtech startup AgriGates, leaning into his identity as an immigrant and his connection to agriculture helped him find support for his business. Foy grew up in the world of farming, food production and entrepreneurship in his home country, Ireland. His family is made up of farmers and his parents owned a local supermarket in his small town. He didn't choose to take on either of those businesses, instead going on to study pharmacology and microbiology in Scotland. Foy found himself returning to his childhood experience when he pursued food tech and worked with dairy and food companies to increase safety, nutrition and marketability. While he was working for a company that makes wearable technology to track livestock health, essentially 'Fitbit for cows,' he said, he was introduced to the North American market and American agriculture and agtech. In 2016, Foy moved to the US and went on to learn about the challenges the agriculture industry is facing, including how to use the data they were collecting about their livestock. There was no unified reporting system that connected all of the technologies farmers were using, he said. He started Philly-based AgriGates in 2020 to help farmers collect and analyze their data in one database, but ran into low-quality information. So, he pivoted to developing a hardware and software system that gathers high-quality data about individual animals throughout their lives. Foy's company uses machine learning to produce insights about the animals that farmers can use to make decisions about their business, he said. In this edition of How I Got Here series, Foy discusses how his experience as an immigrant has helped him navigate the agtech space in the United States and why he's excited about the impact technology will have on the food production industry. This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. What have you learned from your experience as a founder? You build a lot of confidence as you go. Do you believe you can do it at the start? Yes, but there are all these new unknowns that challenge you to keep moving. I'm a subject matter expert, but sometimes what business and funders want is different from being a subject matter expert. So you have to have your business case. You have to understand how it applies, how it's going to scale, what's the value. I'm at five years, and I would say, in the last year, I've become more confident in those areas. I hear a lot of companies in agtech talk about how much they're going to save farmers, but have never proven that in their use cases. We're really working to try and build trust and reliability into data. How has being an immigrant impacted your entrepreneurial experience? If you're coming in and you don't have an understanding of the US, you have to operate somewhere where it's hundreds of times bigger. That challenge as an entrepreneur, if you're coming into the market, should not be underestimated, because America is ginormous. In the last 12 months, the amount of support I get locally is astounding. People are cheering us on in Pennsylvania, which is so encouraging. And even being an immigrant, they want me to do well, because that is the viewpoint of success in America. It resonates with a lot of people, and I find that quite exciting. One of the things I have to my advantage is that I do come from a rural community. I have an understanding of rural life that excites people, because people imagine what Ireland's like, green fields and dairy industry. My native identity is associated with agriculture. I think partners are very willing to say, well, here's somebody who's come here who wants to help us have a better system in place. We should at least listen and support them, because there's a new possibility. As an outsider, it has not been negative. It's actually been really encouraging. What's next for your company? Our emphasis on welfare is really getting people excited, because if we can improve the lives of animals, and we can still have a profitable industry, we can have nutritious products and feel like we're paying a farmer and they're getting rewarded. But we're also able to have peace of mind that this animal has had a good life, and it's still supplying nutritious products to us. I'm just so excited about machine learning coming, or AI coming, to assist us with that. The foundation infrastructure and what we're doing with machine learning are about to blow that apart in our space. What excites you right now about the agtech industry in general? If farmers can actually have these metrics that we're talking about on their farms, they'd be standing in front of the milk and cheese and butter sections to promote their products, because they're so proud that they need more tools to help them be able to demonstrate that to the consumer. When that relationship is really digitized, and consumers can really look at a product and go back and maybe take a QR code and see where it came from, that's going to create a whole new understanding of where food comes from. That will get the consumer connected back to basic food, because we're so far removed. We want to build trust. Whatever part of the world you're in, you like going to markets. You like going to your butcher. You like going to these places, creating those opportunities for the consumer with technology from the farm level. I think it's so exciting for us as consumers and the industry itself. What advice would you give a fellow entrepreneur? Speak to everybody. If there is a goal, I will always communicate with people to find new ways to solve these problems. Lifting up your phone or writing to somebody and telling them what you need, how it would help, I think that's been one of the most valuable things I've ever done. Continuing to communicate with people about the challenge and what we're doing, you can't underestimate that. You have to plan. Don't hope that somebody's going to call you and help with your idea. You go out there and do it and keep going forward until you get what you need, and people communicate with you. Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
New York Post
05-05-2025
- New York Post
Philadelphia cops investigating ‘f–k the Jews' sign at Barstool Sports bar as Temple student suspended
Police are probing an antisemitic incident at a Barstool Sports bar in Philadelphia after video of a hateful sign went viral. A female server appeared to hold up a sign reading 'f–k the Jews' in the clip filmed at Barstool Sansom Street in Center City on Saturday night. 'We are currently looking into this matter,' a Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson told The Post. 'A video has surfaced showing a sign at the Philly Barstool bar, located at 1213 Sansom Street, reportedly from Saturday night. We are working to gather more information and will provide an update as soon as possible.' 3 Cops are probing an incident at Barstool Sansom Street in Center City, Philadelphia, after a sign reading 'F–k the Jews' was held up by a server. Instagram One of the people involved in the video is reportedly a student at Temple University. Students at the Philly-based school 'were involved in an anti-Semitic incident at an off-campus location,' the university said in a statement on Sunday. Other horrified patrons said they left the bar after seeing the sign. 'It was just like, 'Whoa,' it threw everybody off guard. Everything was so tense at the time,' Nyia Clark, who was in the bar that night, told NBC Philadelphia. 3 Barstool Sports founder and owner Dave Portnoy responded to the controversy. @stoolpresidente/X She and a friend decided to leave, appalled not only at the actions of the young students, but also at the fact that the server appeared to have endorsed it. 'Of course, some dumb college kids are going to do some dumb, stupid stuff, ask for stupid stuff, but I'm thinking, how did the workers sit there? They have to write the sign,' Clark's friend Sarah Noakes said. 3 Disgusted patrons left the bar after spotting the sign inside the bar on Saturday night. FOX29 One student believed to have been involved in Saturday's shocking scenes has been identified and placed on interim suspension, Temple University said, without identifying the student. naming the individual. 'In the strongest terms possible, let me be clear: antisemitism is abhorrent. It has no place at Temple and acts of hatred and discrimination against any person or persons are not tolerated at this university,' school president John Fry said. Anyone else found to have been involved 'will face strict disciplinary action,' including possible expulsion, the school said, adding that its Division of Student Affairs is investigating. Barstool Sports' founder and CEO Dave Portnoy, who is Jewish, had earlier released a furious video reacting to the incident at the bar. Hours after Saturday night's incident, Portnoy held what he called an 'Emergency Press Conference' in response to what happened. 'Tell me, how do I make this f–king right?,' Portnoy said in the video. 'What I'm saying is I'm getting the names. I'm trying to be a little responsible. I'm trying to keep it together, but I'm on it.' But hours later, he said he planned to send the pair to a tour of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland in an attempt to educate them, instead of ruining their lives. 'The more I thought about it, it's like, these are young f–kin' morons who did this,' he said. 'They're drunk. Do you really want to ruin somebody's life?'
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sen. Schumer calls for probe into FAA operations amid ongoing Newark airport delays
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday called for a federal investigation of the FAA amid ongoing delays at Newark Airport. 'The chaos at Newark Airport could very well be a national harbinger if all these issues aren't fixed, and if the FAA can't get real solutions to these problems off the ground,' Schumer said. '(I)t is quite clear that the FAA is just a mess right now.' Delays at Newark have been mounting since the afternoon of April 28, when twin failures of the FAA's air traffic control network — one affecting controllers' radar screens and the other affecting their communications — ground air traffic to a halt for two hours. Sources told the Daily News that those issues have both been fixed — albeit temporarily — but in the days since, a shortage of air traffic controllers responsible for the airspace over northern New Jersey has led to persistent cancellations and delays. In a Monday letter to Mitch Behm, the acting inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation, Schumer demanded an inquest into last week's dual outages as well as the shortage of air traffic controllers certified to guide planes across northern New Jersey — home to Newark, Teterboro and Morristown airports. 'I am calling on you to investigate the FAA's administrative, operational and capital functions to deliver more for the American people,' Schumer wrote. Specifically, Schumer said he was seeking answers as to why Philadelphia's Terminal Radar Approach Control facility — known as TRACON— is tasked with guiding pilots to airports in Eastern Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey but was not included in a May pay bump issued by the FAA in an effort to attract more employees to 'hard to staff' locations. New York and Washington, D.C.'s TRACONs were also omitted from the list. Schumer also asked Behm to dig into the FAA's plans to upgrade the infrastructure that relays radar and communication data to controllers — the same radar and telcom networks that failed last week. Control of the airspace over northern Jersey was transferred from NYC TRACOM on Long Island to the Philadelphia control center last summer in an effort to lessen the load on the Nassau County facility. Sources told The News that while control of the airspace is now handled by the city of brotherly love, the radar feeds of the skies above Jersey are still sent to Long Island. The feeds must then be transmitted to controller's screens in Philly, a situation that is prone to latency and outages. That system, along with the telecommunications network that lets controllers talk to planes and local airport control towers, failed for at least two hours last Monday, according to sources familiar with the outage. Of the 25 Philly-based air traffic controllers qualified to guide planes through the north Jersey airspace, at least five took contractually-allowed leave following the radar and comms failure — a move that some, including United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, have called an unofficial work action by the unionized controllers. United subsequently cut 35 daily flights from the airport on Sunday, about 10% of the carrier's schedule. A spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association — the controllers' union — did not immediately respond to a request for comment. As of midday Monday, more than 150 flights through Newark had been canceled, and 265 flights had been delayed. In a statement, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns Newark, JFK and La Guardia airports, called on the FAA to do more. 'The Port Authority has invested billions to modernize Newark Liberty, but those improvements depend on a fully staffed and modern federal air traffic system,' a spokesperson for the bi-state agency said. 'We continue to urge the FAA to address ongoing staffing shortages and accelerate long-overdue technology upgrades that continue to cause delays in the nation's busiest air corridor.' Aidan O'Donnell, the Port Authority's general manager for New Jersey airport operations, told The News Monday that he empathized with travelers. 'We recognize that they have places to be, or they want to come home,' he said. 'Nobody finds the level of delay that our customers have been subjected to in any way acceptable.' _____
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sen. Schumer calls for probe into FAA operations amid ongoing Newark Airport delays
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday called for a federal investigation of the FAA amid ongoing delays at Newark Airport. 'The chaos at Newark Airport could very well be a national harbinger if all these issues aren't fixed, and if the FAA can't get real solutions to these problems off the ground,' Schumer said. '[I]t is quite clear that the FAA is just a mess right now.' Delays at Newark have been mounting since the afternoon of April 28, when twin failures of the FAA's air traffic control network — one affecting controllers' radar screens and the other affecting their communications — ground air traffic to a halt for two hours. Sources told the Daily News that those issues have both been fixed — albeit temporarily — but in the days since, a shortage of air traffic controllers responsible for the airspace over northern New Jersey has led to persistent cancellations and delays. In a Monday letter to Mitch Behm, the acting inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation, Schumer demanded an inquest into last week's dual outages as well as the shortage of air traffic controllers certified to guide planes across northern New Jersey — home to Newark, Teterboro and Morristown airports. 'I am calling on you to investigate the FAA's administrative, operational and capital functions to deliver more for the American people,' Schumer wrote. Specifically, Schumer said he was seeking answers as to why Philadelphia's Terminal Radar Approach Control facility — known as TRACON — is tasked with guiding pilots to airports in Eastern Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey but was not included in a May pay bump issued by the FAA in an effort to attract more employees to 'hard to staff' locations. New York and Washington, D.C.'s TRACONs were also omitted from the list. Schumer also asked Behm to dig into the FAA's plans to upgrade the infrastructure that relays radar and communication data to controllers — the same radar and telcom networks that failed last week. Control of the airspace over northern Jersey was transferred from NYC TRACOM on Long Island to the Philadelphia control center last summer in an effort to lessen the load on the Nassau County facility. Sources told The News that while control of the airspace is now handled by the city of brotherly love, the radar feeds of the skies above Jersey are still sent to Long Island. The feeds must then be transmitted to controller's screens in Philly, a situation that is prone to latency and outages. That system, along with the telecommunications network that lets controllers talk to planes and local airport control towers, failed for at least two hours last Monday, according to sources familiar with the outage. Of the 25 Philly-based air traffic controllers qualified to guide planes through the north Jersey airspace, at least five took contractually-allowed leave following the radar and comms failure — a move that some, including United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, have called an unofficial work action by the unionized controllers. United subsequently cut 35 daily flights from the airport on Sunday, about 10% of the carrier's schedule. A spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association — the controllers' union — did not immediately respond to a request for comment. As of midday Monday, more than 150 flights through Newark had been canceled, and 265 flights had been delayed. In a statement, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns Newark, JFK and La Guardia airports, called on the FAA to do more. 'The Port Authority has invested billions to modernize Newark Liberty, but those improvements depend on a fully staffed and modern federal air traffic system,' a spokesperson for the bi-state agency said. 'We continue to urge the FAA to address ongoing staffing shortages and accelerate long-overdue technology upgrades that continue to cause delays in the nation's busiest air corridor.' Aidan O'Donnell, the Port Authority's general manager for New Jersey airport operations, told The News Monday that he empathized with travelers. 'We recognize that they have places to be, or they want to come home,' he said. 'Nobody finds the level of delay that our customers have been subjected to in any way acceptable.'
