Neil A. Carousso produces and co-hosts WCBS Newsradio 880’s Small Business Spotlight series with Joe Connolly. Click here to watch the weekly video segments featuring advice for business owners on survival, recovery and growth opportunities.

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    WCBS Small Business Breakfast Showcases WeWork, AI Company & More

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    EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (WCBS 880) — Small business owners from the Tri-State area gathered at the Meadowlands Hilton in East Rutherford, New Jersey for a morning full of networking and business tips Thursday at the WCBS Delta Dental Of New Jersey Small Business Breakfast, hosted by WCBS 880’s business reporter Joe Connolly.

    “I just love these days because we get so much energy and ideas from the people here, exchanging what’s working for them and whose business is up and why,” Connolly, host of WCBS 880’s Small Business Spotlight mini-series, said.

    https://www.facebook.com/wcbs880/videos/1577326709056633/

    The theme of the breakfast was “How To Think About Your Business in New Ways.”

    Special guests at the event included Rui Barros, Senior Vice President and Head of Operations US/Canada East/Tri-State of WeWork, as well as Tyler Mathisen, CNBC Business News Anchor. Before the breakfast kicked off, Mathisen spoke to WCBS 880’s Steve Scott on air with Wayne Cabot and Paul Murnane about the positive economic atmosphere the country has been experiencing recently.

    “I am hearing optimism. I think when you hear the chairman of the Federal Reserve yesterday say that the American economy is great that is not usually what you hear from the very circumspect heads of the U.S. central banks. So when he says something like that that sets the tone and you can see it reflected here. More businesses are hiring than not hiring,” Mathisen said. “More businesses are expanding than not expanding. And so you see a lot of sort of optimism in the crowd today the turnout is good, the turnout is great.”

    Among the many successful small businesses showcased at the event was Satisfi Labs, an artificial intelligence company that “made physical location a live search engine.” Founder and CEO Don White explained how he found his unique idea and turned it into a reality.

    “We saw an opening, and we looked at physical locations like a Jet game, a Broadway show, musical concert, retail store. A comment was mentioned about personalization of trying to find a person. Well when you walk into a place like that how easy is it to try and find a person? So you use artificial intelligence to enable a mobile device to locate and find things, services or purchase decisions you want to make in large physical areas. So we leverage artificial intelligence to essentially make a physical location a live search engine,” White said.

    https://www.facebook.com/wcbs880/videos/1577492379040066/

    Satisfi Labs, which has high-end clients including the New York Mets, has created software that allows users to find what they want when they want it directly from the source. Whether you’re a fan in a sporting arena looking for the closest peanut concession or a shopper looking for a certain shirt at the mall, users can log onto Satisfi Labs and search for their products. White explained this as training the “perfect employee,” then placing it into consumers’ phones, allowing them to find what they need immediately and without any issues.

    “So it’s like training your perfect employee, putting it in your phone and then that property or asset owner is telling you what they want you to know, not a third-party search engine that scrapes websites,” White said.

    To showcase his business model, White presented the “fan in a stadium” example, explaining that with Satisfi Labs spectators do not have to search all over the arena for a specific concession. Rather, they can search on Satisfi Labs’ venue information to find the exact location.

    “Provide a way for you to get what you want on demand from your seat or when you’re going to the stadium so you don’t have to find a person, and you can get it all on your phone,” White said.

    In addition, Gary Stout spoke about his company Buzzworthy Studio, which helps consumers expand and establish their digital brands.

    This year marks the 23rd year that the WCBS 880’s Small Business Breakfast has been connecting entrepreneurs in a professional setting. It now stands as the longest running small business event series in the New York area.

    For more pictures and information from the event, visit #WCBSBizBreakfast on Twitter.

    Neil A. Carousso produced WCBS Newsradio 880’s multi-media coverage of the Small Business Breakfast and assisted in organizing the event in East Rutherford, NJ on June 14, 2018. All WCBS 880 videos and social media posts were written, edited and published by Neil A. Carousso.

     

     

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    The New Wave: The Challenge of Getting More Women Elected

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    NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The number of women serving in Congress and other elected positions has grown dramatically over the years, but many say progress is taking too long.

    In this week’s segment of The New Wave: Women in Politics, Peter Haskell looks at calls to get more women elected to office.

    When Liz Holtzman was first elected to Congress in 1972, she was one of 16 women in the House of Representatives. In the Senate, there were none at all.

    Thus, Congress was just 3 percent female.

    But 45 years later, there are 107 women in Congress – 20 percent.

    “We’re making progress, but too slow in my opinion, and with a lot of damage to the whole society,” Hotlzman said, “because we’re losing out on the talents of extraordinary women.”

    Despite the record number of women candidates, Holtzman, 76, understands the process is incremental.

    “You know, it may take another 20 years before we get halfway or more, but the fact is, ultimately, progress in this is just not stoppable. It’s going to happen,” she said. “Unfortunately, it’s taking far too long. But there’s no way of stopping the progress that women make.”

    Political science professor Brigid Harrison of Montclair State University thinks the timing is right.

    “With the large number of retirements, what we see is that this will be an opportunity for many women to get that foot in the door, and become the incumbents that are so hard to beat,” Harrison said.

    Former New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman said it is about more than just numbers. It is about governing.

    “You need more women and you need more minorities at the decision-making table, because you need that different set of life experiences; a different way of approaching problems,” Whitman said. “You can’t, in today’s day and age, there’s no one group that has all the answers.”

    Another issue is misconduct. Former New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigned after being accused of dating abuse.

    Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, who ran for New York City mayor, said it matters.

    “You know, there’s an attractiveness about a female candidate, and I think it’s because men seem to get themselves in trouble, you know, whether it’s sex scandals, whether it’s corruption,” Malliotakis said.

    But more women running also means more women losing. Nearly 90 female candidates have already lost congressional primaries.

     

    Neil A. Carousso produced WCBS Newsradio 880 reporter Peter Haskell’s multi-platform series titled “The New Wave: Women in Politics.” See the video piece of this installment here.

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    Parade Of Ships Kicks Off Fleet Week 2018

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    NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Anchors aweigh!

    Fleet Week 2018 kicked off Wednesday with a parade of ships up the Hudson River.

    https://www.facebook.com/wcbs880/videos/1554601914662446/

    Eleven ships carrying 2,300 sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen are in for a week of tours and celebrations.

    As WCBS 880’s Marla Diamond reported, an FDNY fire boat welcomed the sailors to New York Harbor with sprays of water. The amphibious transport dock U.S.S. Arlington from Norfolk, Virginia led the parade with Marines in their dress blues and sailors in white manning the rails past the Statue of Liberty – and saluting at the 9/11 Memorial.

    Vincent Catalano of Babylon, Long Island was watching. His son, Michael, is the ship’s lieutenant commander.

    Catalano said his son was a fan of Fleet Week long before joining the service himself.

    “He loved Fleet Week. He always came down here. As a matter of fact, when the JFK was still commissioned, that’s the aircraft carrier that used to come up here, we went every year on the JFK,” he said.

    Diamond earlier was scheduled to join the Marines from Camp Lejeune aboard the Arlington, but her mission out to the ship was scrubbed because of heavy fog and she watched from the Battery.

    “The ceiling was too low for the pilot to take us out to the ship,” Diamond reported.

    The ship received cannon salutes at Fort Hamilton and Fort Wadsworth before headign heading toward Lower Manhattan.

    Ships will be docked on Manhttan’s West Side, Brooklyn, Staten Island, the Merchant Marine Academy and the Bronx CUNY Maritime College for the 30th annual Fleet Week in New York City.

    This is a chance for the men and women in uniform to get a taste of New York — the ballgames, the Statue of Liberty and of course Times Square.

    Participants said they always have a fantastic experience in New York.

    “This is actually my third personal Fleet Week, and each year, it just keeps getting better,” said Lt. Justin Vitalis, who is in charge of all helicopter operations for Fleet Week.

    He said it was a great opportunity for the sailors, Coast Guard officers, and Marines to experience “the best city on the face of the earth,” as well as an opportunity for people in the Tri-State Area to get a feel for what it’s like to be in the service.

    https://twitter.com/wcbs880/status/999287878361415680?s=21

    The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum will host a series of events including a free screening of Top Gun on the flight deck, a Battle of the Big Bands music and swing dancing event, and the annual Memorial Day commemoration ceremony, featuring the unfurling of a 100-foot American flag, the playing of Taps, a ceremonial wreath laying and a 3-volley rifle salute.

     

    Neil A. Carousso produced WCBS Newsradio 880’s digital content from Fleet Week on May 23, 2018.

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    The New Wave: Surge Of Women Running For Office

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    NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The midterm congressional primaries are kicking into full gear and there is a tidal wave of female candidates running for office this year.

    Although filing deadlines have yet to pass in every state, the country is already seeing a record number of women running for Congress. Many women are also on the ground in gubernatorial races, as well as some state legislative and municipal elections.

    “We’re looking at close to double the number of women who ran in previous record years,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers. “When we look at the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House and statewide elected offices we’re at over 700 women who are running for office. We’re really seeing a huge increase in the U.S. House.”

    Many believe the 2016 presidential election is responsible for inspiring women to run.

    “So many people got engaged in that election whether they were pro-Trump or pro-Hillary and they got off the sidelines and started volunteering and talking about politics,” said Mendham Township Committeewoman  Amalia Duarte. “I think right now it’s wonderful because women need to be represented, we need to be at the table otherwise we’re on the menu, or so goes the quote. I’m hoping that women continue to be engaged, continue to run and continue to stay involved in politics because it’s important. These are our lives.”

    Walsh credits President Donald Trump.

    “I think a piece of it was the defeat of Hillary Clinton, I think a larger part of that though is the election of Donald Trump,” Walsh said. “I think for a lot of women they thought that when the Access Hollywood tape came out that he couldn’t possibly win, that it would be disqualifying for anyone to get elected president of the United States who openly talked about sexually assaulting women.”

    Montclair State University Political Science and Law Professor Brigid Harrison agrees.

    “We can’t deny the influence that President Trump’s incendiary rhetoric has had,” Harrison said. “It has really ticked some women off and really made them mobilized and compelled to do something on a very personal level.”

    But Walsh thinks it goes beyond sexism.

    “I think it went also to the actual policies that women care about and feeling like some of the things that they were concerned about — issues like health care and the environment — were really in jeopardy and that they needed to have a voice of their own,” Walsh said. “It was a real kind of clarion call about the fact that elections have real consquences and that women really felt that they had to find a way to have their own power, their own voice and to be able to exercise their power in the electoral system and I think all of that has led to women being more engaged.”

    Roughly three-quarters of the congressional female candidates are Democrats.

    “There needs to be more done on the Republican side because political parity will not be achieved in this country on the back of one political party, both parties have to have a commitment to that,” Walsh said.

    But it’s not just Democrats.

    “On the Republican side, you are seeing some Republican women saying, ‘You know what, this is not my party. This is not what I believe in. I’m not a Democrat but this does not represent how I see the future of my party and so I’m going to do something abnout it,'” Harrison said.

    Republican Chele Chiavacci Farley, who is challenging U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, said she’s been traveling the state and speaking to people told her they’re appalled and disappointed at the general chaos they see in Washington.

    “There’s obstruction on both sides of the aisle and they’ve lost faith in their government leaders,” Farley said.

    Over the coming weeks, WCBS Newsradio 880 will examine the challenges women have faced, what it will take to achieve parity and how the political landscape is changing.

     

    Neil A. Carousso produced WCBS Newsradio 880 reporter Peter Haskell’s multi-platform series titled “The New Wave: Women in Politics.” See the video piece of this first installment here.

     

     

     

     

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    City Council Staffers Get Naloxone Training As Protesters Demand Safe Injection Sites

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    NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — City Council staffers were trained on how to prevent opioid overdose deaths as protesters staged an act of civil disobedience to get Mayor Bill de Blasio to act on so-called safe injection sites.

    City Councilwoman Diana Ayala, who represents the South Bronx, organized the training session, hoping staffers would take the information out into the community.

    “It’s a very personal subject matter for me as the family member of several individuals who are drug addicted and who have come close to overdosing,” Ayala said.

    Staffers received training and naloxone kits from Reilly Glasgow with the Alliance for Positive Change who has saved over 50 lives using Narcan at the East Side Harm Reduction Center.

    “I say this in joking but I’m jaded, this is something that you do all the time, you don’t even think about it. You just hope you’re not too late,” Glasgow said.

    As the training was held on the 16th floor at 250 Broadway, on street level more than a dozen people, including Brooklyn City Councilman Steven Levine, were arrested for sitting in a crosswalk, blocking traffic near City Hall.

    They are demanding that de Blasio release the results of a City Hall-commissioned study on so called “safe consumption sites” where users are monitored.

    https://twitter.com/mdiamond8/status/991694382284845061?s=21

    “Nobody has ever died of an overdose in a single one of them, you know, we can’t really understand what’s complicated about the best public health intervention for saving lives,” said  melissa more is with the drug policy alliance.

    “The mayor’s basically saying that it’s complicated, he wants to have everything in a row before he releases the report but while he’s doing that people are still dying,” said Hiawatha Collins with the Harm Reduction Coalition. “At the end of the day it’s not about politics, it’s not about where people are going in their position and elevating themselves, it’s about saving lives.”

    Canada and Europe have long had monitored injection sites. There are none in the United States.

     

    Neil A. Carousso produced Marla Diamond’s report for WCBS Newsradio 880.

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