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Your go-to podcast for inspiring stories, uplifting news, and positive vibes from across New York State!
Whether it’s groundbreaking innovations, community heroes, or businesses making a difference, we bring you the stories that remind us all of the good happening around us.
Join us as we highlight the changemakers, dreamers, and everyday folks bringing positivity to the Empire State.
From local businesses thriving in Syracuse to heartwarming tales from Buffalo, Albany, and beyond—this is the news you’ll actually want to hear. Because good news deserves to be heard.
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Fundraising Skate Art Show and DIY Skate Space Plans with Activist-Artist Mike Giannattasio Host Noah Chrysler interviews Syracuse community activist and sculptor Mike Giannattasio about fundraising and placemaking through skateboarding, including plans to develop a DIY skate space designed with the city, community, and skaters and built collaboratively. Giannattasio promotes a year-four skateboard deck gallery show and silent auction at Stay Fresh Gallery in the Delavan Art Center on May 30 (6–10 PM), featuring 30+ artist-designed old-school decks plus raffles from local business donors; artists can contact him on Instagram (@supermisterg) for remaining decks. He discusses Syracuse-area skate parks (Eastwoods, Onondaga Lake Park, and a DIY spot near Ormond Spencer/Harvey’s Garden), what makes balanced parks, and community outreach models in Rome and Rochester. He also describes his public art fabrication background, including Syracuse bike racks and his role as SU School of Architecture fabrication manager. The episode ends with a May 20 skate trivia fundraiser at Salt City Market (6–9:30 PM) for the Kirk Park DIY Skate Park Initiative and a sponsor plug for Click Stream Studios. 00:00 Welcome to Good News York 00:15 Mike Introduces Himself 01:03 DIY Skate Space Vision 01:51 Deck Art Fundraiser Details 03:07 How the Silent Auction Works 04:28 Are These Boards Rideable 06:07 Syracuse Skate Parks Today 09:56 What Makes a Great Park 14:37 Pivot to Public Art Career 16:52 Bike Rack Projects Around Town 19:51 Fabrication Skills at SU 20:31 Process Driven Creativity 21:08 Running the Fab Labs 21:54 Helping Students Build Ideas 23:20 Balancing Teaching and Self 24:32 Airport Birdcage Fabrication 27:45 Why Make Things 30:43 Skateboarding as Creativity 33:19 Skate Culture and Community 34:47 Aging and Injury Risk 37:13 Health and Mentorship Benefits 38:56 Skate Trivia Fundraiser 40:19 Thanks and Sponsor Outro
After 35 years on a skateboard, Mike Giannattasio has learned that the most important skill has nothing to do with tricks — it is knowing yourself. In this clip from Good News York, he talks about understanding your energy, your limits, and whether you are present enough to attempt what you are about to attempt, […] More
Laurel Flanagan, CEO of Operation Northern Comfort, shares the story of how her organization came to life. After Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, founder Norm Anki refused to sit on the sidelines. Rather than simply writing a check, he picked up the phone, rallied a dozen volunteers from Central New York, and showed […] More
Mike Giannattasio has a take that might surprise people — skateboarding is not a sport. Nobody keeps score, nobody tells you that you had a bad session, and nobody goes home disappointed in the team. Mike explains why the skate community is one of the most positive and supportive ones out there, and why sometimes […] More
Mike Giannattasio draws a connection that not many people would think to make — skateboarding and creativity demand the exact same thing from you: to be completely present. If your mind is somewhere else, you end up on the ground. In this clip, he talks about what it takes to truly get into a creative […] More
Mike Giannattasio is not waiting around. He makes the case that Syracuse deserves a destination skate park — and that while the city catches up, the community is going to make it happen on their own terms. Full episode is out now. More
Good News York EP. 172 | feat. Mike Giannattasio In this episode of Good News York, host Noah Chrysler sits down with Mike Giannattasio — local community activist, sculptor, fabricator, and lifelong skateboarder — for a wide-ranging conversation about art, community, and what it really takes to build something meaningful from the ground up in […] More
Bert Aufsesser makes a simple but convincing argument — vintage is worth it. Every piece at Scholars & Champs is one of a kind, built to a standard that modern merchandise simply does not match. As Bert puts it, if it has already lasted 40 years, it will easily last another 40. And with prices […] More
Bert Auf knows Syracuse sports culture better than most. Having lived in Los Angeles — a city packed with professional and college teams — he says nothing quite compares to what he found in Syracuse. Here, the college team is everything. Fans live and die by the Orange, and it is not uncommon for people […] More
Bert Auf didn’t set out to open a store — he just couldn’t find anything worth wearing. As the Syracuse University alumni club president in Los Angeles, Bert kept coming back to campus looking for cool, unique, high-quality gear and kept coming up empty. So he took matters into his own hands, started collecting vintage […] More
GNY EP.171 | feat. Bert "The Shirt" Auf from Scholars & Champs In this episode of Good News York, host Noah Chrysler sits down with Bert Aufsesser — better known as "Bert the Shirt" — the founder and owner of Scholars & Champs, a one-of-a-kind vintage Syracuse University merchandise store located right in the heart […] More
Noah Chrysler asks Sheila Ohstrom a question many people quietly wonder about: how do you support someone who is caring for a loved one with dementia? Sheila’s answer is simple but powerful. Showing up with coffee, offering to sit with their loved one for an hour, or taking a family member out to lunch so […] More
Sheila Ohstrom shares one of the most profound and lesser-known truths about dementia: rhythm is one of the last things a person loses. Stored on the right side of the brain, our connection to music, poetry, and prayer remains intact even when the ability to communicate fades. It is a reminder that even in the […] More
GNY EP.170 | ft. Sheila Ohstrom from Living with Dementia CNY In this powerful episode of Good New York, host Noah Chrysler sits down with Sheila Ohstrom — president and co-founder of Living with Dementia CNY, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting caregivers and families across seven counties in Central New York who are navigating […] More
Laurel Flanagan, CEO of Operation Northern Comfort, speaks to what keeps her team going. She describes the quiet power of showing up during someone’s worst moment — and how something as simple as helping a person roll themselves out of their own front door for the first time can be completely life-changing. For the volunteers […] More
Fleet Feet Syracuse’s Grant Fletcher shares one of the moments that says everything about what his team does. A 92-year-old woman walked into the store for the very first time, tired of living with sore feet. They took her through the fitting process, and she walked out thrilled — knowing she finally had the right […] More
Grant Fletcher of Fleet Feet Syracuse shares the story of how he went from baseball player to marathon runner. In 2014, the furthest Grant had ever run was 90 feet between bases. When a charity opportunity came along and someone finally said "put up or shut up," he had one question: could he become a […] More
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