Ryan Delaney

After three years of waiting, the first-ever "energy efficient" tax break has finally been awarded by the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA).

And the winner is ... Welch Allyn, a global supplier of medical equipment to hospitals and doctor's offices.

Welch Allyn sunk $5 million into putting a LEED Gold certified addition on its research and development building at its Skaneateles headquarters.

An independent auditor who looked over the books of Onondaga’s County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA) presented his findings to the OCIDA board Tuesday.

OCIDA board members liked what they heard. 

“I was very pleased,” says OCIDA Executive Director Mary Beth Primo. “It’s reassuring to know my board and the auditors realize the staff is doing a very good job.”

Standing in a Syracuse union hall that will close later this year, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announced support Monday for a bill that would allow the U.S. government to slap tariffs on foreign-made auto parts.

United Auto Workers Local 624 and 2149 once supported about 4,000 workers at nearby New Process Gear. The factory, which makes parts for SUVs, is also slated to shut down later this year.

Union leaders say Gillibrand's efforts may be too late for New Process Gear, but they could help other plants in upstate New York.

U.S. Representative Ann Marie Buerkle will run for a second term in congress, but the day she made that official was marked with protest.

Staffers for the representative got in a brief scuffle with demonstrators at the event to kick-off the re-election campaign.

It became the buzz inside her christened campaign office on Erie Boulevard in Syracuse as dozens of supporters awaited her arrival Saturday afternoon.

Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy has been beating a path back and forth across upstate New York, as he campaigns for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s budget initiatives.

Duffy made his second stop in Syracuse this week on Thursday, this time to drum up support for changes to pensions and Medicaid funding.

But this time he brought some friends.

Duffy led a hearing of the 11-member Mandate Relief Council [PDF], made up of members of Cuomo’s administration and elected lawmakers. The group heard testimony from central New York government and business leaders at Le Moyne College.

The month of March is around the corner, and in the minds of auto dealers, it not only brings warmer temperatures, but also customers back to their lots.

And after a few years of hard times and sluggish sales, they’re more optimistic going into their busy selling season.

The move to downtown Syracuse was three years in the making for Nicole Samolis. That’s how long it took her to convince her husband to forgo their home in the suburbs.

The couple lives in the newly renovated Dey’s Plaza. The building was once a large department store, and then failed as an office building.

But since it was converted to apartments a few years ago, there’s been a waiting list to get in. Samolis was sold on the place by its view of Syracuse landmarks like the county courthouse.

Ken Simonson is on a road trip to lobby for an increase in government investment in infrastructure projects.

Tuesday morning he stood in front of equipment at Milton Caterpillar in Syracuse and said “It’s great to see all this magnificent construction equipment, but it would be even better to see it in action.”

Simonson is the chief economists for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), a trade group. He highlighted Syracuse as one of four metro areas that have struggled more than most to regain jobs in constructions.

They weren't quite the Transformers from the movies, but once the bell rang inside the Museum of Science and Technology in Syracuse, the robot's wheels turned, gears spun and metal arms extended.

The VEX Robotics Competition was the culmination of weeks of engineering and problem solving for central New York students. 

For property developers Rich DeVito and Bob Doucette of Paramount Realty, the motivation for taking on large scale renovations of downtown Syracuse’s previously empty buildings was this:

“We wanted to make money,” says DeVito flatly, though Doucette chuckles at the simplicity of the answer. “It’s where the market is,” DeVito goes on to say.

And make money they did.

New York’s Canal Corporation was 0 for 3 in its efforts to find someone interested in redeveloping Syracuse’s Inner Harbor.

Their last request for proposals, a few years back, garnered zero submissions.

But now, the City of Syracuse is in charge, after stepping up and asking to be put in charge of the project. And today the city made public its ambitious new plan to redevelop the harbor.

An IT company will keep its local offices in Syracuse and create more jobs thanks to a state tax break.

The Empire State Development Corporation is giving ShoreGroup $3 million in tax credits over the next 5 years to expand its footprint and job force in Syracuse.

N.Y. Senator Charles Schumer is pressing for the release of a Syracuse native being held captive in Syria.

Sen. Charles Schumer is continuing his efforts to land a chip fabrication plant in central New York. Monday he visited a potential site, just north of Syracuse, with the CEO of chipmaker APIC.

A chip fabrication plant at Electronics Park in Salina isn’t a done deal, but Sen. Schumer said it’s just a matter of all the pieces coming together at a press conference Monday. The biggest hurdle is APIC first signing a contract with the US Navy.

Governor Andrew Cuomo is leaning on New York’s network of public colleges to play a bigger role in economic growth -- and he’s proposing to provide the resources to do so. But there could stiff competition for those funds.

Sen. Charles Schumer is using some political muscle to try and land central New York a high-tech chip maker. But the deal is contingent on the company first getting a contract from a spending-conscious Defense Department.