Latest news with #UniversityatAlbany
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Canadian wildfire smoke to hit parts of New York this week
Smoke from the massive wildfires in Canada is expected to affect residents across New York state, creating hazy skies with smoke thick enough to block the sun and lower the temperatures in some areas. Air quality in parts of the U.S. began worsening late last week as high-altitude winds carried smoke from dozens of wildfires in Canada southward. On Tuesday, the National Weather Service in Binghamton, N.Y., released a satellite image showing smoke and clouds over the western and central parts of the state and much of Pennsylvania. The smoke is affecting solar radiation at the surface, with higher radiation values observed in the east. 'As a result, temperatures in smoke-affected areas could be cooler than originally forecast,' officials said. Just before 11 a.m., the NYS Mesonet at UAlbany — a high-resolution weather observation network operated by the University at Albany, SUNY — reported that Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) systems in Buffalo, Owego and Belleville had captured the smoke plume gradually 'advecting toward the surface over the past 6 to 8 hours.' In Syracuse, some smoke had already drifted into the area, creating hazy conditions and colorful sunsets, NWS meteorologist Danielle Kittle told 'It could be a little bit more noticeable [Tuesday] afternoon in terms of getting the faint smell of smoke,' she said. As of Tuesday morning, air quality had reached 'unhealthy' levels in parts of the Dakotas, Iowa and Minnesota, with a smaller region in Minnesota — including Minneapolis, Lakeville and Faribault — classified as 'very unhealthy,' according to the Environmental Protection Agency's AirNow page. While air quality levels remained 'good' for most of the New York City area, per EPA data, Fox5NY warned that smoke could reach the Big Apple sometime Tuesday. The Canadian fires, which began last month, have forced the evacuation of more than 25,000 people across three Canadian provinces. With News Wire Services
Boston Globe
22-05-2025
- Climate
- Boston Globe
Get ready for another busy Atlantic hurricane season, but maybe not as crazy as 2024
Ocean warmth is not quite as high as last year's off-the-charts heat. But it's sufficient to be the top reason for the busy forecast, National Weather Service Director Ken Graham said. Advertisement 'Everything is in place for an above average season,' he said. Despite 'The hurricane center is fully staffed up and we're ready to go,' acting NOAA administrator Laura Grimm said. 'We are making this a top priority for this administration.' Advertisement Since 1995, 21 of the 30 Atlantic hurricane seasons have been officially classified as above normal, with nearly half of those considered 'hyperactive,' according to NOAA. It classifies seasons based on their Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) index, which takes into account the number and strength of storms and how long they last. In the last 10 years, only 2015 was below normal and 2022 was near normal. Last year started with a record early Category 5 hurricane in Beryl but then had a lull during the early part of peak storm season from mid-August to mid-October. But then six storms, including Helene and Milton, formed in just two weeks. With 18 named storms, 11 of those becoming hurricanes and five major hurricanes, 2024 was considered a hyperactive season in the Atlantic. And it was the third such in the last 10 years. 'With a warming climate, forecasting above the long-term mean is always a safe bet,' said Kristen Corbosiero, a University at Albany tropical meteorology professor who was not part of the NOAA research. Human-caused climate change has generally made storms more intense, wetter and slower-moving so they drop more rain, Corbosiero and other experts said. 'The main fuel source for hurricanes is warm ocean waters,' Corbosiero said. 'Warmer ocean water, warmer atmosphere above it can hold more moisture, more fuel for storms.' Corbosiero said there are three main factors: Water temperature, the El Nino/La Nina cycle of natural ocean warming and cooling, and 'seeds' of storms coming off Africa as thunderstorms. The warmer-than-normal water pushes toward a busy season, the El Nino cycle is neutral and it's too early to know what's coming off Africa, she and other hurricane experts said. Advertisement With climate change, hurricanes are powering up from almost nothing to intense storms more quickly, giving people less notice for whopper storms, meteorologists said. Every Category 5 hurricane that hit the United States was a tropical storm or weaker just three days earlier, Graham said. Several other groups besides NOAA — private, public and academic — have already made forecasts for the upcoming season and they average out to a busy, but not hyperactive year with 16 named storms, eight of which become hurricanes and four major hurricanes. Phil Klotzbach, who coordinates Colorado State's pioneering forecast program, is calling for a bit more than other forecasters — 17 named storms, nine hurricanes and four majors — heavily based on the warm waters and past trends. Still, it should not quite be like last year, he said. 'At least we're not looking at a crazy hot Atlantic like we did last year at this time,' Klotzbach said. 'We're still pretty toasty out there. So I don't have the warm fuzzies about 2025.' Even if it's a quiet year, Corbosiero said just one storm can change everything, recalling an ultra quiet 1992, when that one storm was the devastating Hurricane Andrew. 'We don't need a hyperactive season to have devastation in the U.S. or the Caribbean or anywhere,' Corbosiero said.
Technical.ly
15-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Ecosystem builders are choosing community over capital
For organizations looking to support entrepreneurs, leaders in the space say it's time to stop obsessing over scale and the venture capital financing route. Instead, focus on deep impact through trusted referral networks, sharing leadership and being creative about getting capital to those who need it, panelists at the 39th International Conference on Business Incubation (InBIA) said last month in Philadelphia. Growth — sustainable and manageable — will follow. 'I don't know that what [entrepreneurs] need is a single place they can go to get all the help they need,' Heidi Knoblauch, a professor at the University at Albany, SUNY, said at the event hosted by the International Business Innovation Association. 'What they need is key people in their lives who will help propel them.' As federal funding for innovation becomes increasingly uncertain and living costs steadily rise, economic developers and entrepreneur support programs represented on the panel say they are pushed to reconsider how they work with their respective communities. Build referral networks, not (just) one-stop shops Many ecosystems are designed to have a single point of entry or a hub that can support every founder at every step of the way. But panelists, including Knoblauch, pushed back against this 'one-stop shop' model – and instead advocated for a distributed network of place-based support, where relationships matter more than standardized forms. A well-tended and trusted referral network, she said, is foundational to long-term partnership with, and within, communities of entrepreneurs. She also shared that entrepreneurs are likely to stop asking for help, and even quit, if they are referred to the wrong resource three times. Other ecosystem participants will be the connective tissue, bringing it all together, David Ponraj, CEO and founder of Economic Impact Catalyst (EIC) said. 'Once the entrepreneur raises their hand, it's the ecosystem's job to get them to the right place,' he said. In practice, that looks like using tools like EIC's network navigator to more effectively and efficiently provide referrals for entrepreneurs, Naila Jackson, program director at Network Navigator, said. But referrals are often seen as encroaching on the role of ESOs, so unsurprisingly, many local organizations found this new tool to be threatening. 'We are starting to see the difference and changes in making good referrals,' she said, 'and in good referrals, you build trust, and you are able to actually realize… the gaps that we have.' When funding tensions arise, share the leadership. Those who work in economic development or entrepreneurship support are familiar with the presence of 'silos' in our ecosystems. Baltimore readers will recognize the term 'Smalltimore' — the notion that any two strangers in the city are likely separated by a single degree of connection or two. And yet, for all its intimacy, Baltimore remains a city of siloes. Major breakthroughs, bold experiments and generational work unfold quietly in different corners and labs of the city, often unheard by those who might benefit the most from knowing. The instinctual response to this fragmentation is to 'break down these siloes' — gathering builders, funders, creatives and caretakers across communities and sectors, and seek for consensus on strategy and direction, according to Tarsha Hearns, formerly the vice president of entrepreneurship at Small Business Majority. This coalition-building is helpful and can bring about real change, but when one organization gets the funding to distribute to other organizations, tensions inevitably arise. The increased funding and services are great for the community, but they bring a new power dynamic into the fold, which can undermine trust and the relational capital. Informal leaders may be excluded and grassroots relationships can become transactional, while ecosystem players may feel pressure to take sides and join funder-driven agendas rather than community-rooted priorities. 'The two currencies at the table are funding and egos,' Rhonda Ladig, formerly the vice president at Northeast Indiana Innovation Center, said. So how do we overcome this dynamic? Hearns recommends shared leadership. 'Even though one organization might be getting all the money and … recognition, if you find that there is distrust or hesitation, or that money and leadership are the big elephants in the room,' Ladig said, 'then be willing to step back a bit, elevate the other organizations and share that leadership.' Help businesses get customers, not just raise VC Instead of looking for the next big check, panelists encouraged the audience to think creatively, and, as the community-generated wealth increases, to consider locally managed capital pools that reflect the communities they serve. Ladig and Knoblauch both pointed to the need for more creative innovation capital structures, rather than relying on the venture capital and investment firms, which are known to not always be accessible or inclusive. 'The system of capital is not built for the people who really need them,' Ladig said, highlighting how financial models too often exclude the very entrepreneurs that ecosystems claim to support. Knoblauch emphasized that the most effective way for an entrepreneur to secure money for their business isn't through chasing funding—it's by gaining customers. She challenged ecosystem support organizations (ESOs) to rethink their role: instead of focusing solely on fundraising, how can they directly help entrepreneurs find and retain customers? In her view, that's where ESOs can have the greatest impact, functioning more like community organizers than gatekeepers of capital. 'It's not [about] how we get funders to fund one on one,' Knoblauch said. 'That thinking about this wrong. [The better question is] how do we not need the funders? If you get businesses to have customers, to create jobs, to create wealth in your community, to do things like creating capital structures…to further generate wealth for people by aggregating small amounts of capital.' Knoblauch proposed smaller, community-driven funding mechanisms, not just dilutive investments that require giving up ownership of the company. This makes for friendlier deal terms that do not prey on first-time entrepreneurs or those who are unaware of financing options. Knoblauch briefly mentioned loan-loss reserves and seller equity as other creative financing levers to reach audiences that otherwise might not receive funding. If economic developers, ecosystem builders and civic leaders are serious about community transformation, they must consider how support is structured, shared and sustained, panelists said. The future of entrepreneurship support and ESOs, they said, will be rooted in relational currency. And the emerging leaders will be those willing to redesign the system, one relationship at a time.
The Sun
13-05-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
India-Pakistan near war averted after U.S. mediation
ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: At 2.09 am on Saturday, Ahmad Subhan, who lives near an air base in the Pakistan military garrison city of Rawalpindi, heard the first explosion that rattled the windows of his house - and took South Asia to the brink of war. As dawn broke, the heaviest fighting in decades between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan reached a crescendo, after nearly three weeks of escalating tensions. Fighter jets and missiles crisscrossed the skies of one of the world's most populated regions. Pakistani officials said they would convene an emergency meeting of their top nuclear decision-making body. The critical eight-hour window also saw Indian missile barrages on three major Pakistan air bases and other facilities, including Nur Khan, which is ringed by civilian homes like Subhan's, and just a 20-minute drive to the capital, Islamabad. After the initial blast, Subhan and his wife grabbed their three children and ran out of their home. 'We were just figuring out what had happened when there was another explosion,' said the retired government employee, who remembered the precise time of the strike because he was just about to make a call. This account of Saturday's events - which began with the looming specter of a full-blown war and ended with an evening cease-fire announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump - is based on interviews with 14 people, including U.S., Indian and Pakistani officials, as well as Reuters' review of public statements from the three capitals. They described the rapid escalation of hostilities as well as behind-the-scenes diplomacy involving the U.S., India and Pakistan, and underscore the key role played by Washington in brokering peace. The attack on Nur Khan air base saw at least two missile strikes as well as drone attacks, according to Subhan and two Pakistani security officials, who like some of the people interviewed by Reuters, spoke on condition of anonymity. The barrage took out two roofs and hit the hangar of a refuelling plane, which was airborne at the time, according to one of the officials, who visited the base the next day. A senior Indian military officer, however, told reporters on Sunday that an operation command center at Nur Khan had been hit. 'The attack on Nur Khan... close to our capital, that left us with no option but to retaliate,' Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told Reuters. Nur Khan is located just over a mile from the military-run body responsible for Pakistan's nuclear planning. So, an attack on the facility may have been perceived as more dangerous than India intended - and the two sides shouldn't conclude that it is possible to have a conflict without it going nuclear, said Christopher Clary, an associate professor at the University at Albany in New York. 'If you are playing Russian roulette and pull the trigger, the lesson isn't that you should pull the trigger again,' said Clary. India's defense and foreign ministries, as well as Pakistan's military and its foreign ministry, did not immediately answer written questions submitted by Reuters. A U.S. State Department spokesperson did not directly respond to questions from Reuters about the American role, but said that further military escalation posed a serious threat to regional stability. VANCE CALLS MODI India and Pakistan have fought three major wars and been at loggerheads since their independence. The spark for the latest chaos was an April 22 attack in Indian Kashmir that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. New Delhi blamed the incident on 'terrorists' backed by Pakistan, a charge denied by Islamabad. It was the latest of many disputes involving Kashmir, a Himalayan territory ravaged by an anti-India insurgency since the late 1980s. Both New Delhi and Islamabad claim the region in full but only control parts of it. Hindu-majority India has accused its Muslim-majority neighbor of arming and backing militant groups operating in Kashmir, but Pakistan maintains it only provides diplomatic support to Kashmiri separatists. After a go-ahead from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian military on May 7 carried out air strikes on what it called 'terrorist infrastructure' in Pakistan, in response to the April attack in Kashmir. In air battles that followed, Pakistan said it shot down five Indian aircraft, including prized Rafale planes New Delhi recently acquired from France. India has indicated that it suffered losses and inflicted some of its own. Senior U.S. officials became seriously concerned by Friday, May 9 that the conflict was at risk of spiralling out of control, according to two sources familiar with the matter. That evening, Modi took a call from Vice President J.D. Vance, who presented a potential off-ramp to the Indian prime minister that he described as a path the Pakistanis would also be amenable to, the people said. Vance's intervention came despite him saying publicly on Thursday that the U.S. was 'not going to get involved in the middle of war that's fundamentally none of our business.' The sources didn't provide specifics but said that Modi was non-committal. One of the people also said that Modi told Vance, who had been visiting India during the Kashmir attack, that any Pakistani escalation would be met by an even more forceful response. Hours later, according to Indian officials, that escalation came: Pakistan launched attacks on at least 26 locations in India in the early hours of May 10. Pakistan said their strikes occurred only after the pre-dawn Indian attack on its air bases, including Nur Khan. NUCLEAR SIGNALS A little over an hour after that Indian attack began, Pakistan military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed Indian strikes on three air bases. Some Indian strikes on Saturday, May 10 also utilized the supersonic BrahMos missile, according to a Pakistani official and an Indian source. Pakistan believes the BrahMos is nuclear-capable, though India says it carries a conventional warhead. By 5 a.m. local time on Saturday, Pakistan's military announced it had launched operations against Indian air bases and other facilities. About two hours later, Pakistani officials told journalists that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had called a meeting of the National Command Authority, which oversees the nuclear arsenal. Dar told Reuters on Tuesday that any international alarm was overblown: 'There was no such concern. There should not be. We are a responsible nation.' But signalling an intention to convene NCA reflected how much the crisis had escalated and 'may also have been an indirect call for external mediation,' said Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia expert. About an hour after the NCA announcement, the U.S. said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken to Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir - widely regarded as the most powerful man in that country - and was pushing both sides to de-escalate. Rubio also soon got on the phone with Dar and Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar. 'Rubio said that Indians were ready to stop,' Dar told Reuters. 'I said if they are ready to stop, ask them to stop, we will stop.' An Indian official with knowledge of Rubio's call with Jaishankar said that Rubio passed on a message that the Pakistanis were willing to stop firing if India would also cease. 'GREAT INTELLIGENCE' Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, who only days earlier warned of conflict, dialled into a local TV news channel at around 10:30 am on Saturday. Two-and-a-half hours after Pakistani officials shared news of the NCA meeting, Asif declared that no such event had been scheduled, putting a lid on the matter. The international intervention anchored by Rubio paved the way to a cessation of hostilities formalized in a mid-afternoon phone call between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMO) of India and Pakistan. The two spoke again on Monday. Pakistan Lt. Gen. Chaudhry said in a briefing that New Delhi had initially requested a call between the DGMOs after the Indian military's May 7 strikes across the border. Islamabad only responded to the request on Saturday, following its retaliation and requests from international interlocutors, according to Chaudhry, who did not name the countries. Almost exactly 12 hours after Pakistan said it had launched retaliatory strikes against India for hitting three key air bases, Trump declared on social media there would be a cessation of hostilities. 'Congratulations to both Countries on using Common Sense and Great Intelligence,' he said.
The Sun
13-05-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
How India and Pakistan pulled back from the brink with U.S.-brokered ceasefire
ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: At 2.09 am on Saturday, Ahmad Subhan, who lives near an air base in the Pakistan military garrison city of Rawalpindi, heard the first explosion that rattled the windows of his house - and took South Asia to the brink of war. As dawn broke, the heaviest fighting in decades between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan reached a crescendo, after nearly three weeks of escalating tensions. Fighter jets and missiles crisscrossed the skies of one of the world's most populated regions. Pakistani officials said they would convene an emergency meeting of their top nuclear decision-making body. The critical eight-hour window also saw Indian missile barrages on three major Pakistan air bases and other facilities, including Nur Khan, which is ringed by civilian homes like Subhan's, and just a 20-minute drive to the capital, Islamabad. After the initial blast, Subhan and his wife grabbed their three children and ran out of their home. 'We were just figuring out what had happened when there was another explosion,' said the retired government employee, who remembered the precise time of the strike because he was just about to make a call. This account of Saturday's events - which began with the looming specter of a full-blown war and ended with an evening cease-fire announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump - is based on interviews with 14 people, including U.S., Indian and Pakistani officials, as well as Reuters' review of public statements from the three capitals. They described the rapid escalation of hostilities as well as behind-the-scenes diplomacy involving the U.S., India and Pakistan, and underscore the key role played by Washington in brokering peace. The attack on Nur Khan air base saw at least two missile strikes as well as drone attacks, according to Subhan and two Pakistani security officials, who like some of the people interviewed by Reuters, spoke on condition of anonymity. The barrage took out two roofs and hit the hangar of a refuelling plane, which was airborne at the time, according to one of the officials, who visited the base the next day. A senior Indian military officer, however, told reporters on Sunday that an operation command center at Nur Khan had been hit. 'The attack on Nur Khan... close to our capital, that left us with no option but to retaliate,' Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told Reuters. Nur Khan is located just over a mile from the military-run body responsible for Pakistan's nuclear planning. So, an attack on the facility may have been perceived as more dangerous than India intended - and the two sides shouldn't conclude that it is possible to have a conflict without it going nuclear, said Christopher Clary, an associate professor at the University at Albany in New York. 'If you are playing Russian roulette and pull the trigger, the lesson isn't that you should pull the trigger again,' said Clary. India's defense and foreign ministries, as well as Pakistan's military and its foreign ministry, did not immediately answer written questions submitted by Reuters. A U.S. State Department spokesperson did not directly respond to questions from Reuters about the American role, but said that further military escalation posed a serious threat to regional stability. VANCE CALLS MODI India and Pakistan have fought three major wars and been at loggerheads since their independence. The spark for the latest chaos was an April 22 attack in Indian Kashmir that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. New Delhi blamed the incident on 'terrorists' backed by Pakistan, a charge denied by Islamabad. It was the latest of many disputes involving Kashmir, a Himalayan territory ravaged by an anti-India insurgency since the late 1980s. Both New Delhi and Islamabad claim the region in full but only control parts of it. Hindu-majority India has accused its Muslim-majority neighbor of arming and backing militant groups operating in Kashmir, but Pakistan maintains it only provides diplomatic support to Kashmiri separatists. After a go-ahead from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian military on May 7 carried out air strikes on what it called 'terrorist infrastructure' in Pakistan, in response to the April attack in Kashmir. In air battles that followed, Pakistan said it shot down five Indian aircraft, including prized Rafale planes New Delhi recently acquired from France. India has indicated that it suffered losses and inflicted some of its own. Senior U.S. officials became seriously concerned by Friday, May 9 that the conflict was at risk of spiralling out of control, according to two sources familiar with the matter. That evening, Modi took a call from Vice President J.D. Vance, who presented a potential off-ramp to the Indian prime minister that he described as a path the Pakistanis would also be amenable to, the people said. Vance's intervention came despite him saying publicly on Thursday that the U.S. was 'not going to get involved in the middle of war that's fundamentally none of our business.' The sources didn't provide specifics but said that Modi was non-committal. One of the people also said that Modi told Vance, who had been visiting India during the Kashmir attack, that any Pakistani escalation would be met by an even more forceful response. Hours later, according to Indian officials, that escalation came: Pakistan launched attacks on at least 26 locations in India in the early hours of May 10. Pakistan said their strikes occurred only after the pre-dawn Indian attack on its air bases, including Nur Khan. NUCLEAR SIGNALS A little over an hour after that Indian attack began, Pakistan military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed Indian strikes on three air bases. Some Indian strikes on Saturday, May 10 also utilized the supersonic BrahMos missile, according to a Pakistani official and an Indian source. Pakistan believes the BrahMos is nuclear-capable, though India says it carries a conventional warhead. By 5 a.m. local time on Saturday, Pakistan's military announced it had launched operations against Indian air bases and other facilities. About two hours later, Pakistani officials told journalists that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had called a meeting of the National Command Authority, which oversees the nuclear arsenal. Dar told Reuters on Tuesday that any international alarm was overblown: 'There was no such concern. There should not be. We are a responsible nation.' But signalling an intention to convene NCA reflected how much the crisis had escalated and 'may also have been an indirect call for external mediation,' said Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia expert. About an hour after the NCA announcement, the U.S. said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken to Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir - widely regarded as the most powerful man in that country - and was pushing both sides to de-escalate. Rubio also soon got on the phone with Dar and Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar. 'Rubio said that Indians were ready to stop,' Dar told Reuters. 'I said if they are ready to stop, ask them to stop, we will stop.' An Indian official with knowledge of Rubio's call with Jaishankar said that Rubio passed on a message that the Pakistanis were willing to stop firing if India would also cease. 'GREAT INTELLIGENCE' Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, who only days earlier warned of conflict, dialled into a local TV news channel at around 10:30 am on Saturday. Two-and-a-half hours after Pakistani officials shared news of the NCA meeting, Asif declared that no such event had been scheduled, putting a lid on the matter. The international intervention anchored by Rubio paved the way to a cessation of hostilities formalized in a mid-afternoon phone call between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMO) of India and Pakistan. The two spoke again on Monday. Pakistan Lt. Gen. Chaudhry said in a briefing that New Delhi had initially requested a call between the DGMOs after the Indian military's May 7 strikes across the border. Islamabad only responded to the request on Saturday, following its retaliation and requests from international interlocutors, according to Chaudhry, who did not name the countries. Almost exactly 12 hours after Pakistan said it had launched retaliatory strikes against India for hitting three key air bases, Trump declared on social media there would be a cessation of hostilities. 'Congratulations to both Countries on using Common Sense and Great Intelligence,' he said.
