Almanack Contributor Kenneth Aaron


Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Trudeau Institute Fellow Takes Lead Role In Covid-19 Vaccine Trial

Trudeau Institute Fellow Dr. Stephen Thomas has been named lead principal investigator for Pfizer/BioNTech’s phase 3 clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

On Monday, those companies announced early tests showing that the vaccine was more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19.

Thomas, the chief of infectious disease for SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, became Trudeau’s first fellow in 2018. He has worked closely with the Institute on projects targeting Zika virus and other emerging infectious diseases and was co-organizer of the Institute’s 2018 Global Health Summit.

In his role as lead principal investigator, Thomas will assist Pfizer and BioNTech as the companies share trial results with regulatory agencies.

» Continue Reading.


Thursday, October 29, 2020

Adirondack Health, Trudeau Institute launch high-speed COVID-19 testing lab

Adirondack Health, in collaboration with the Trudeau Institute, has opened a high-speed COVID-19 testing laboratory—the first of its kind in the North Country to rely on the most accurate testing technology available.

The laboratory, located at Adirondack Medical Center, began operating last Friday. In its first phase, the lab will process results for 80 to 160 tests a day; in a second phase, the lab will install additional equipment with the ability to handle up to 1,000 tests a day.

» Continue Reading.


Sunday, August 2, 2020

Leading Harvard immunologist discusses COVID-19 vaccine at Trudeau

Professor Barry Bloom delivers annual Steinman lecture, connects TB lessons to work today

A leading global health expert said last week that researchers know they can create a vaccine to protect against COVID-19, but it’s still too soon to predict how effective the first vaccines will be.

Dr. Barry Bloom, a renowned immunologist who has spent his career easing the impact of tuberculosis and leprosy on developing nations, was at the Trudeau Institute on July 27 to deliver the annual Ralph M. Steinman Memorial Lecture. Trudeau named Bloom an honorary trustee at the event. A video of Bloom’s presentation can be found here.

» Continue Reading.


Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Court Orders Trial In Adirondack Paddlers’ Rights Dispute

shingle shanty web photoNew York State’s highest court has ruled that it doesn’t have enough evidence to rule on a long-running navigation-rights dispute between the editor of the Adirondack Explorer and a group of property owners.

The decision sends the six-year-old case back to a lower court for trial. It also wipes out, at least for now, a pair of decisions that cleared the way for the public to paddle a waterway that connects two parts of the state-owned William C. Whitney Wilderness.

In a unanimous decision handed down Tuesday morning, the seven-member Court of Appeals found the court record in the case is filled with too much “conflicting or inconclusive evidence” and that a trial on the facts is warranted.

» Continue Reading.


Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Navigation Rights Case Heading To NYS Court Of Appeals

For five years, a group of Adirondack landowners has engaged in a legal battle with the editor of the Adirondack Explorer and the state Department of Environmental Conservation over navigational rights on a remote waterway in the William C. Whitney Wilderness. Now both sides have reinforcements.

In December, lawyers representing environmental, recreational, and property-rights groups were preparing to file friend-of-the-court briefs (also known as amicus curiae briefs) in the case. Because the dispute has reached the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest tribunal, the outcome could have widespread consequences for landowners and paddlers. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, July 21, 2015

On The Hunt For Adirondack Aircraft Wreckage

Van_Laer_Navy-600x604As I made my way up Seward Mountain with Scott Van Laer last October, trying to find the wreckage of a Piper Cherokee that slammed into the peak in 1970, I kept thinking that the search would go pretty quickly. After all, a plane, even a single-engine model like the Cherokee, is big. It does not belong in the forest. How could we not find it?

Van Laer was pretty confident in our chances, too. He’s done this before, having tracked down about twenty of these wrecks throughout the Adirondacks, and is writing a guidebook for others who want to make their own way to the sites. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, January 15, 2015

Appellate Court Upholds Paddling Rights

Phil Brown paddles Shingle Shanty Brook in the Adirondack ParkA state appeals court has narrowly upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed against Adirondack Explorer Editor Phil Brown after he paddled through private land in 2009.

The Third Department of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court, located in Albany, handed down the 3-2 decision on Thursday morning. It affirmed a 2013 ruling by State Supreme Court Justice Richard T. Aulisi supporting the public’s right to travel down an isolated, two-mile waterway that connects two pieces of the William C. Whitney Wilderness. » Continue Reading.


Monday, July 21, 2014

Paddling Case Advances To Appellate Court

Map by Nancy BernsteinA state appeals court is expected to hear arguments this fall in a trespassing lawsuit filed against Adirondack Explorer Editor Phil Brown after he paddled through private land on a remote waterway that connects two tracts of state land in the William C. Whitney Wilderness.

The landowners—the Brandreth Park Association and Friends of Thayer Lake—sued Brown in the fall of 2010, more than a year after he wrote about the paddling trip for the Adirondack Explorer.

Last year, State Supreme Court Justice Richard T. Aulisi dismissed the suit, but the landowners have appealed to the court’s Appellate Division in Albany. » Continue Reading.


Friday, April 5, 2013

Landowners Will Appeal Shingle Shanty Paddling Case

shingle shanty web photoThe owners of a remote Adirondack waterway who lost a bid in court to keep it closed to the public will appeal the decision, their lawyer told the Adirondack Almanack on Thursday.

Dennis Phillips, a Glens Falls attorney representing the Friends of Thayer Lake and the Brandreth Park Association, confirmed via email that his clients intend to file an appeal. He did not explain the basis behind it. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, February 28, 2013

John Caffry: Decision “A Good Victory” For Paddlers

shingle shanty web photoNow that attorney John Caffry has successfully defended the public’s right to paddle a remote waterway near the Whitney Wilderness—at least for the time being—he hopes the case will have broader benefits for canoeists and kayakers.

“It’s a good victory for the rights of the public and the rights of paddlers that the judge upheld the right to use this waterway,” Caffry said. “Hopefully it will discourage other property owners from trying to close off streams through their property that are navigable, so people don’t have to go court.”

The Glens Falls lawyer represented Adirondack Explorer Editor Phil Brown, who paddled the disputed waterway in May 2009 while traveling between tracts of the state-owned Whitney Wilderness. Brown later wrote an article for the Explorer about the trip and the issue of navigation rights. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Navigation Rights Arguments Heard in Fulton Court

Was Adirondack Explorer Editor Phil Brown trespassing when he paddled through private land abutting the state-owned Whitney Wilderness in 2009?

Or did he have a right to be there because the waters he canoed are navigable and provide a useful link between parcels of public land?

The question rests with State Supreme Court Justice Richard T. Aulisi, who heard arguments on the case Friday in Johnstown.
» Continue Reading.


Monday, October 29, 2012

Shingle Shanty Paddling Suit Advances

The landowners suing Adirondack Explorer Editor Phil Brown for trespass say he’s just the latest in a long line of people who have tried to pry open closed waters for public use, and if he succeeds, they argue, he will weaken traditional standards of property rights.

In a legal memorandum filed in late September, Dennis Phillips, the attorney for the Friends of Thayer Lake and the Brandreth Park Association, asserts that Brown is carrying the flag for a small band of paddling fanatics, including members of the Sierra Club, who would open just about every stream in New York State to canoes and kayaks.
» Continue Reading.


Monday, May 23, 2011

Shingle Shanty Paddling Rights Case Update

The state’s effort to intervene in the trespassing case against Adirondack Explorer editor Phil Brown hurts private property owners, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit argued early last week.

“This case is asking the court to say, basically, ‘Have canoe, will travel,’” said Dennis Phillips, the Glens Falls attorney representing the Friends of Thayer Lake and the Brandreth Park Association. » Continue Reading.



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