The Ithaca Journal reports that the state's breezy projections of a windfall from the sale of "enhanced" drivers' licenses, which contain radio-transmitting RFID chips, are way, way off.

State officials once estimated revenue from new enhanced driver's licenses would bring in $66.4 million a year for the state's coffers. Now they estimate it will bring in $3 million a year.

In the year since the federal government has required U.S. citizens entering the country to present an enhanced license, a federal passport card or a U.S. passport, New York has issued about 320,000 enhanced driver's licenses -- far short of initial expectations.

Are New Yorkers content to carry their passports on jaunts over the Canadian border? Are they nervous about the prospect of identity theft via RFID hackers? Or do they just not want to spend an extra $30 at the DMV?

Looks like Tom Golisano's not the only New Yorker to flee to the bosom of the Sunshine State because of taxes. Kingston business Uptown Cigar Co., facing a possible 90% excise tax on tobacco, is headed south too:

The store, which has stood at the corner of John and Fair streets for 12 years, will relocate to Florida, according to owner Michelle Tuchman, who will continue to live in Kingston.

The closing's culprit?

Tuchman blames New York state's "unending appetite for tax and fee increases."

17-year-old Olivia Rose Belfiglio fell to her death Friday afternoon while hiking with friends in the Devil's Kitchen in Hunter. It's the second fatality in just over a month in the area.

From the Times Herald-Record:

Authorities said none of the hikers was wearing proper footwear to maneuver through the rocky, steep terrain, and police told the Times Herald-Record that Belfiglio was wearing flip-flops when she lost her footing.

Lt. Darryl Kittle, a state forest ranger, said the mountain does not have marked trails where the teens were hiking. The area is popular among ice climbers, but authorities tell even the pros to hire a knowledgeable guide.

"There's numerous drop-offs, ledges and caverns that go right through there," Kittle said. "It's not an area that's conducive for hiking."

While New York State is still mulling the pros and cons of Marcellus shale gas drilling, we have a ringside seat from which to watch the drama already unfolding just over the border in Pennsylvania. Exhibit A: a massive blowout last night at a hydrofracked well in Moshannon State Park in Clearfield County. The well spilled about a million gallons of frac fluid as well as unignited gas before it was contained, with help from emergency crews from Texas, around noon today, WJACTV reports:

Around 10:30 a.m., officials checked camps to make sure all campers were evacuated around the site while gas leaked into the air.

According to state Rep. Bud George's office, initial reports from Process Equipment Manufacturers' Association said three of four wells were secured. The other well was releasing frack water and unignited wet gas, which caused the evacuation. Officials said an estimated 1 million gallons of frack water was uncontrolled as of 11 a.m. in the area of exit 111 on Interstate 80.