LITTLE FALLS - State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno joined state and local leaders - as well as members of the Herkimer County Chamber of Commerce - to talk "upstate economy."

While times may be tough, Senator Bruno focused on the positive. High-tech job growth took center stage today, as Senator Bruno made a stop in the Mohawk Valley. And where better to start planning for technology, than with the future of the industry?

Five Mount Markham first graders thanked Senator Bruno for his support of a program designed to promote math and science. It's an initiative in line with the state's desire to become more "tech" savvy.

"We're educating children for jobs that don't exist yet...to work in industries that haven't even been thought of," said Lyn Taylor of the Tech Valley Chamber.

"They want to be where the action is, and right now, the action is in Upstate New York," Senator Bruno said.

But with the promise of a prosperous high-tech future, there's still the immediate concern of rising gas prices. And though the State Assembly hasn't passed the gas tax relief bill, Senator Bruno says he'll continue to press for a solution for the pain at the pump.

But he says New Yorkers have to do their part.

"You have to create pressure, try and create pressure, and that's the constituency...has to come up under with the democrats who control the Assembly," Bruno said. "That's the only recourse we have."