Businesses in Ulster County are busy preparing for the big game. Our Beth Croughan stopped at several food and drink establishments and has more on what they’re expecting for Super Bowl Sunday.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

KINGSTON, N.Y. — “Because everybody knows where they were when their team was in the Super Bowl. I’m blessed to know that hopefully they’ll be in my place, watching the game,” explained Brian Kennan, the owner of McGillicuddys in New Paltz.

Keenan expects many will be making memories at McGillicuddy’s Sunday. He hopes having the Giants in the big game brings big crowds. “You’re surrounded by hundreds of other fans that rooting for the same team you are. A few fans that are rooting for the other team, which makes it even more fun,” he said.

McGillicuddys is known for its Monday night wing night; with staff generally sending about 12,000 wings out the kitchen doors. The owner is expecting them to serve up just as many come sunday.

Wings are also on the menu at the Hurley Mountain Inn.m Steve Nekos scheduled extra staff and ordered extra kegs. “We do football all year long. We have the NFL Sunday Ticket. So we have every game, every sunday. Actually, it’s one of the best time of years for us, is football,” said Hurley Mountain Inn Owner Steve Nekos.

This football game, The National Retail Federation estimates will make businesses 11 billion dollars; about 70 percent of that being spent on food and drinks.

“It’s calls morning, noon, night, for 3-foot subs, for wrap platters, for food being delivered. So, it’s a real boost to the local economy,” said Alex Stier, the owner of Home Plate Deli.

Stier said it matters who is playing; and if you walked into Adam’s in Kingston, you knew it was the Big Blue.

“It makes an extra holiday in the middle of the winter, it’s an excellent holiday for us. Beyond that, being the Giants being in, makes it even better because the spirit the area. Everybody is more interested in the game,” said Adams’ Manager Michael Paesano.

A true-life story of whales trapped under the Arctic ice comes to the big screen in “Big Miracle.” Entertainment Weekly contributing critic Owen Gleiberman filed the following review.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

“Big Miracle” is an inspirational true-life drama set in 1988 that tells the story of Operation Breakthrough, the international effort to rescue three gray whales that got trapped under the Arctic ice near Point Barrow, Alaska.

The likable John Krasinski plays a TV reporter who first spots the whales poking their noses up through a hole in the ice to in order to breathe. Spearheading the rescue mission is Rachel Kramer, a Greenpeace activist played by Drew Barrymore. I have to give credit to Barrymore for playing Rachel not as a cuddly heroine, but as exactly the sort of woman who has compassion for whales because she’s got so many neurotic issues with the human animal.

The thing that separates “Big Miracle” from, say, “Free Willy” is that on the surface, at least, the film has an amiable cynicism. Its hook, which becomes a running joke, is that everyone who participates in the rescue mission is in it for his or her own selfish reasons. The Greenpeace activist has her eco-princess self-righteousness. The greedy oil man, played by Ted Danson, who agrees to lend his hover barge to break up the ice, is just looking for some environmental-friendly PR. Yet by the time we hear President Reagan enlist the Soviets for help by picking up the phone to say “Hello Gorby, it’s Ronnie,” the movie has become a we-are-the-world lovefest.

“Big Miracle” wants to be a nostalgic tale of how, back in the good old ‘80s, everyone could come together when it mattered. At times, the movie is like a cheesy rabble-rouser made in the ‘80s.

“Big Miracle” is harmless enough, but what sticks in my craw about it, just a little bit, is its aura of fake activism. The movie doesn’t seem to realize that it’s exactly when the news media started to spend more time covering subjects like whales that it began to turn into news not for activists but for couch potatoes.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

FULTON COUNTY, N.Y. — A Fulton County woman has traded in her cigarettes to help improve her health and also kick off American Heart Month.

Tressa Rossi has been smoke free for 32 days. In honor of her success, she received a red dress pin as a reminder that she’s improving her heart health by not smoking.

The American Heart Association and the New York State Smokers’ Quitline are giving out pins in February to encourage smokers to kick the habit.

The 24 year smoker says she quit because she wanted to be there for her two children and says cancer is something that hits close to home.

“My mom is a cancer survivor and I didn’t want to leave that lasting memory with my children. I was 14 when my mother was diagnosed and I remember the call she received, still plays in my mind, daily. So, it is time to quit,” Rossi said.

According to health officials, heart disease is the number one killer of women and smoking contributes to that risk.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

TROY, N.Y. — After just one season, there’s a shakeup at the helm of the RPI men’s football program. Tim Landis has resigned as head coach, effective immediately.

College officials tell us the sudden announcement was due to personal reasons.

Landis went four and five this fall.

Landis replaced Joe King, who had been head coach of the program for 22 years.

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, has emerged from his lair and saw his shadow, in the process predicting six more weeks of winter.

But, at this rate, that might not be so bad. The groundhog made his “prediction” on Gobbler’s Knob, a tiny hill in the town for which he’s named about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

Temperatures were near freezing when he emerged at dawn unseasonably warm and are forecast to climb into the mid-40s in a winter that’s brought little snow and only a few notably cold days to much of the East.

Thursday’s ceremony is largely that Phil’s prediction is determined ahead of time by the Inner Circle, a group which dons top hats and tuxedos and decides in advance what the groundhog will predict.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

ALBANY, N.Y. — A local soldier receives a warm welcome home from his family and friends Clifton Park native Jake LaMountain landed in Albany Saturday after returning back to the US from Afghanistan last week.

He is stationed in Gulfport, Mississippi. LaMountain was welcomed by a huge crowd from the American Legion Post 1450 in Halfmoon, who organized a welcome party to greet him with signs and flags, thanking him for his service.

He said he is happy to be home just in time to go to a boxing match with his dad and watch the Giants in the Super Bowl.

Although, LaMountain admits, it is emotional.

LaMountain, U.S. Navy Petty Officer, 3rd Class said, “I haven’t seen my niece in a long time. Coming here is wonderful. I was expecting to see my parents, sister, mike, I just didn’t realize this whole thing. It’s very overwhelming right now. Still trying to get adjusted and used to the time zone changes and what not.”

Now that he’s home, LaMountain said he is most excited to spend time with his family, drink a beer, and go snowboarding.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

ALBANY, N.Y. — A local official grows out his hair for a good cause former Judge Bruce Trachtenberg chopped off his long locks Saturday at the Bellezza Hair Salon to help those in need.

He was the Town Justice in Niskayuna for 8 years and now serves as Deputy Conflict Defender for Family Court in Schenectady County.

Trachtenberg said he stopped cutting his hair in October 2010, after the September 2010 primary for Family Court.

He will be donating his hair to “locks of love,” a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.

Trachtenburg said his parents taught him to give to others, especially the young.

Trachtenberg said, “I realize my clients don’t really care how long my hair is, but since it is long enough, why not give it to the children who need hair because they’re losing theirs’ due to cancer and other heavy treatments…but when it comes to children, they’re very important people and those kids fighting cancer, maybe 1 or 2 might be able to benefit from this long hair.”

While he said it was strange to cut his thick, wavy hair, he feels good knowing it is going to a good cause and to children who really need it.

So what’s really causing this mystery illness that’s caused more than a dozen Genesee County teens to exhibit unexplained symptoms?

Some say it’s something in the environment, others say it’s a bacterial infection, or, as originally diagnosed, something more psychological. Experts say right now solving this mystery is a process of elimination. Casey Bortnick reports.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

Could it be a case of extreme anxiety – a physical response to emotional trauma?

“It should be the diagnosis of last resort,” said Dr. R P Singh.

Singh is a board certified psychiatrist. He says it’s possible more than a dozen students in LeRoy are converting stress into physical symptoms, but unlikely.

“As a physician I’d be extra careful,” he said. “Whatever rare possibilities are there should not be unexplored.”

Possibilities like a common bacterial infection.

Dr. Michael Pichichero has spent most of professional career studying strep bacteria. He says the antibodies the body produces to fight it can attack a part of the brain that controls voluntary movement. It’s called Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders, or PANDAS.

“You can make the diagnosis on the very first case,” Pichichero said.

Pichichero says the strep antibodies appear in a specialized blood test; one he’s written about extensively and one the treating physicians in LeRoy should be aware of.

“If somebody has raised the idea of PANDAS or Sydenham’s chorea, I’d be fairly certain that blood test has already been done and it was negative,” said Pichichero.

There’s one more popular theory: an environmental toxin.

“Like a railroad car or a spill from a truck,” said J. Grant Esler.

Esler is an expert in environmental management and safety. A Kodak retiree, Esler now lectures his students on the topic at RIT.

“The legal system deals in certainties. The scientists deal in probabilities,” Esler said.

Esler says a train derailment in the 1970s certainly introduced an environmental toxin to the area. Under a scientific dose response model, he says it’s unlikely any chemicals remained in the environment long enough to poison these students.

“That you’d have a group of people who come up with the same response suddenly on the same day – it’s very unlikely that it would be an environmental thing compared to an emotional thing,” Esler said.

“We don’t want to miss any physiological basis for their difficulties,” said Singh.

Singh says if all other possibilities are eliminated, it’s time to revisit the original diagnosis, as unlikely as it may be.

“It’s possible, but it’s unusual,” Singh said.

The New York Giants and New England Patriots meet Sunday in Super Bowl 46.
But as our Kevin Garrity reports, the two teams sure have seen a lot of each other lately.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

The one thing you can say about this matchup between the giants and patriots, for two teams from different leagues, they sure have faced each other a lot over the last four years.

Eli Manning, Giants Quarterback said, “It does feel like we’ve played them a decent amount over the last couple of years. We know them and we know they can put up points and their defense has the ability to prevent points.”

The giants defense has been performing at a “high level” for the last 6 games. They need one more huge effort against one of the best quarterbacks in the game.

Chris Canty, Giants Defensive Lineman said, “We have to make them as one dimensional as possible. Not allow them to get first downs. And allow our pass rush to get to Tom Brady.”

Kenny Phillips, Giants Safety said, “He’s not gonna make too many mistakes. He won’t get rattled. We have to keep pressure on their receivers and give our pass rushers to get to him.”

Justin Tuck, Giants Defensive End said, “Its intertwined between our defensive backs and other players. At the end of the day somebody up front has to make a stop. No matter how much film you look at, you have to do that to stop Brady. “

One of the other key matchups in this game will be on the opposing sidelines. Bill Belichick will be going for his 4th Super Bowl title, Tom Coughlin will be battling for ring number two.

The development of natural gas through a process known as hydraulic fracturing is a priority of the President’s for 2012. As our Washington Bureau reporter Erin Billups explains, as more attention is focused on fracking, more pressure will be placed on the Obama administration from fracking advocates and opponents.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Despite concerns voiced by the environmental community, President Obama says drilling for natural gas under rock formations by a method known as hydraulic fracturing can be done safely.

“It was like finally!” said Rayola Dougher, American Petroleum Institute Economic Advisor.

It’s a nod the oil and gas industry says is long overdue. But the benefits of a presidential endorsement, they say, has its downside.

“He’s saying all the right things, but on the other hand, we say, now wait a minute, there are eight different federal agencies right now looking at new rules and regulations. You make it very, very difficult to operate in these states. One size does not fit all,” Dougher said.

The president has directed the Department of Interior to develop a disclosure rule for companies looking to frack on public lands, a White House official saying it’s an area where the administration can show leadership. The Environmental Protection Agency is studying the effects of fracking on water and the Department of Energy is currently compiling a scientific report on the safest drilling techniques. They say it’s not to bog states down, but to help.

“Our job is to make sure that we’re bringing some scientific rigor and some scientific focus in that the resources that we have here, really have the potential to do things that are really useful to state level regulators,” said Christ Smith, Department of Energy Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oil and Gas.

Those concerned about the public health and environmental effects of fracking want the administration to be aggressive in its scrutiny.

“It absolutely has to be done with the greatest bit of science applied,” said New York State Representative Paul Tonko.

It’s a debate that continually grows more contentious. Just this week, the director of a well-known documentary that warns of the dangers of fracking was arrested after refusing to leave a GOP led congressional hearing on the issue.

The Obama administration, meanwhile, finds itself in the middle, trying to balance protection of public health and the environment, with the demand for job creation in a struggling economy.

Smith said, “We’ve got this great natural resource, potential for creating up to 600,000 new jobs here in the U.S., over a hundred years of supply, potentially. But something we have to get right from an environmental standpoint, from a safety standpoint.”