Zack Seward

The city of Rochester just completed work on its first ever "green roof."

The roof of City Hall's Building B is now home to 8,700 square feet of succulent plants.

"It's basically for storm water management," says Anne Spaulding, the city's sustainability manager, during a rooftop tour. "All of the rainwater - instead of running into the storm system - is consumed by the plants on the roof."

Spaulding says the thick carpet of sedum can reduce storm water runoff by up to 90 percent, depending on the amount of rainfall.

The goal is to reduce the amount of pollutants that flow into the region's streams, rivers and lakes.

In a filing with the state labor department Wednesday, Kodak says another 141 local workers will lose their jobs.

The majority will be let go by mid-July.

The latest round of local cuts brings the number of layoffs since the imaging company filed for bankruptcy in January to 527.

That's according to the six separate filings Kodak has submitted to the state.

Kodak ended 2011 with just over 5,000 employees in the Rochester area. At its peak in 1982, that number was over 60,000.

An international company that processes Medicare appeals is more than doubling its footprint in the Rochester area.

Maximus Federal Services already employs about 160 workers in Victor and Fairport.

Now, the Virginia-based company is expanding to a new Pittsford location, opening its doors in mid-May with roughly 325 workers.

Eastman Kodak went before a Manhattan bankruptcy judge this morning, asking to cut the health benefits of some 16,000 Medicare-eligible retirees.

That motion was not acted on.

Judge Allan Gropper essentially put the motion on hold, according to Democrat and Chronicle business reporter Matt Danemam.

"The notion of cutting these retiree benefits moves into second place," Daneman said.

Moving into first: the issue of forming an official retiree's committee, which we reported on earlier this morning.

Bob Juncosa has a passion for old airplanes.

"This is one of the models that I made," Juncosa says. "This is a 1915 Sopwith Pup."

Juncosa points to a photo on his smartphone. It's an old biplane built to quarter scale. It has a wingspan of about eight feet.

Asked why he builds vintage airplanes, Juncosa says it's pretty much the same reason he runs a biotech company.

"It's the challenge of 'No one's done that, now let's see if we can go do that,' " Juncosa says. The tricky part with both a biplane and a company, he says, is to "get it off the ground and make it work."

Eastman Kodak is kicking off a new round of layoffs: 91 jobs will soon be cut.

But a much bigger dip in Kodak's local job numbers is coming as the result of a new accounting practice.

This time last year, Kodak reported a Rochester-area workforce of 7,100 people. Turns out that number should've been 5,900.

That 1,200 person drop is the result of a new classification system that excludes non-local employees who report to Rochester-based supervisors.

So, here is the current local workforce number for the Eastman Kodak Company: 5,129 workers, that's down almost 800 from a year ago.

According to the Rochester Business Journal, that means Kodak is no longer one of the region's top 5 private sector employers.

A bankruptcy judge has approved Kodak's request to remove its name from the theater that hosts the Oscars.

At Wednesday's bankruptcy hearing in New York City, lawyers for Kodak scored TWO key victories.

Judge Allan Gropper approved a 950 million dollar financing deal with Citigroup and also gave Kodak permission to cut bait on a sponsorship deal that would've cost the company $38 million.

Kodak signed a 20-year naming rights agreement with the Hollywood theater in 2000.

With less than two weeks to go until this year's Oscars, the judge didn't rule on how quickly the Kodak name should be removed.

He did say that Oscar host Billy Crystal is likely to make a few jokes at Kodak's expense.

Rochester is spending money to keep its dreams of a reimagined Inner Loop alive.

The mayor wants to spend two million dollars to increase the likelihood of winning federal funding.

Buckingham Properties CEO Larry Glazer has been following the project closely.

He says filling in a section of the moat-like Inner Loop will link up-and-coming neighborhoods, as well as Glazer’s Alexander Park redevelopment project, more tightly with downtown Rochester, “More importantly it creates frontage on streets, which are development sites, which have a lot of economic impact and potential value.”

Glazer says he's met with city officials to stress the economic development benefits of the Inner Loop project.

The Innovation Trail went to the Rochester Public Market last weekend - just days after Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection - to hear from you.

With all that's been written about the demise of Kodak, we wanted to capture the human side of the equation - in a city where Kodak still matters.

Why? Because for many thousands of Rochesterians Kodak is more than just a company.