Julie Philipp

Eastman Kodak's rise was largely due to what was inside that little yellow box.  But still film also helped bring about Kodak's decline, and this week the company announced it is exiting the still film business altogether.  Matt Daneman, business reporter for the Democrat & Chronicle, shares the latest with Need to Know Rochester host Julie Philipp.

Every Friday on Need to Know Rochester, Democrat & Chronicle business reporter Matt Daneman highlights the week in local business.

A group of Tibetan monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery in India recently visited Rochester.  During the visit, they shared authentic Tibetan Buddhist traditions aimed a promoting world peace and healing.  Among those, the construction of sand mandalas.  Our videographer Marty Kaufman shows us one of them, which was then swept up and deposited in the Genesee River to acknowledge the impermanence of everything.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the 2010 graduation rate for community colleges in New York as less than 20%.  That's even after those who took three years to earn a diploma were factored in.  At Monroe Community College, only about 11% of students earn diplomas after two years of study.  That climbs to 24% after three years.  MCC President Anne Kress talked about this, as well as the upcoming school year, during this week's Need to Know Rochester.

New York State is putting a lot of energy...into energy storage.  Matt Fronk is with NYBEST, a consortium working to make the state a global leader in this growing and diverse sector.  It includes developing all kinds of backup energy sources for buildings and products such as electronics and cars. Fronk says Rochester is a key part of the state's efforts.  While research and development is happening all over the state, Rochester's Eastman Business Park has been chosen as the state's manufacturing hub for energy storage products.  Fronk appeared on WXXI-TV's Need to Know Rochester.

This week on Need to Know Rochester, we find out what former PAETEC CEO Arunas Chesonis has been up to since selling the company to Windstream a year ago.  We'll have a one-on-one interview with Chesonis, as well as the leaders of several tech startup companies he is supporting.   Chesonis says their ideas -- which include turning ordinary windows into solar panels, and sugar into plastic -- could change the world.  Watch Need to Know Rochester, Friday at 8:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

WXXI News Director Julie Philipp and 1370 Connection Host Bob Smith discuss political headlines in advance of this year's election.

Click on the video box below to watch the segment from WXXI's Need to Know Rochester that originally aired Friday, July 27, 2012.

WXXI News Director Julie Philipp and Democrat and Chronicle Business Reporter Matt Daneman discuss the local business headlines for the week ending July 27, 2012.

WXXI News Director Julie Philipp interviews Julio Saenz and Beatriz LeBron of ROC ONE Magazine. The new publication debuted in Rochester in Summer 2012.

WXXI's Carlet Cleare profiles one of the stories in the first edition of the magazine: a unique Indian dance school that brings a bit of Bollywood to our region. Click on the video box below to watch the interview and the story about the dance school.