Top Stories
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Solstice will make its Buffalo lab its global research hub, with $1.4 million in state credits for 12 new jobs
The Honeywell spinoff is putting $49 million into its Peabody Street R&D site as it races to develop next-generation refrigerants. The state’s…
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Goodyear shuts its Niagara Falls chemical plant on the day its pollution fix was due. Who checks what it leaves behind?
[PREMIUM] Goodyear will close its Niagara Falls chemical plant Oct. 31, the same day a state order required permanent controls on a…
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Ottawa’s watchdog prices the trade war: a smaller economy, bigger deficits and a budget target propped up by tariffs on U.S. goods
[PREMIUM] Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Office says the tariffs traded since 2025 will leave the economy 1.4% smaller and could cost up to…
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Judge refuses to halt Seneca Nation’s Miami Street One Stop, rejecting Buffalo’s bid to stop construction
A state judge found Buffalo hadn’t shown enough immediate harm to stop work on the Seneca Nation’s $10 million One Stop at…
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Change Buffalo PAC urges governor to help put control board back in charge of city finances
Change Buffalo PAC wants the governor to press the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority to reimpose a control period. Under state law, only the board can make that call, and Mayor Sean Ryan, who sits on it, has called the idea irresponsible.
Latest Headlines
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Solstice will make its Buffalo lab its global research hub, with $1.4 million in state credits for 12 new jobs
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Goodyear shuts its Niagara Falls chemical plant on the day its pollution fix was due. Who checks what it leaves behind?
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Ottawa’s watchdog prices the trade war: a smaller economy, bigger deficits and a budget target propped up by tariffs on U.S. goods
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Judge refuses to halt Seneca Nation’s Miami Street One Stop, rejecting Buffalo’s bid to stop construction
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Trump’s $8 billion diesel relief pays grain farmers first. Western New York’s dairy and fruit growers have to wait
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Justice Department will pay fraud tipsters up to $30,000 once charges are filed, and Trump says he’ll settle disputes himself
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Iran says it offered to reopen Hormuz in seven days. Until there’s a deal, Western New York pays 65% more for heating oil
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Change Buffalo PAC urges governor to help put control board back in charge of city finances
Change Buffalo PAC wants the governor to press the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority to reimpose a control period.…
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Erie County Republicans try again to cap the gas tax at $2. Poloncarz, who backed a cap in 2022, calls it posturing
With Buffalo gas at $4.37 a gallon, Erie County Legislature Republicans want the county’s sales tax capped at…
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Buffalo nonprofits press Hochul on late state payments as two contract bills await her decision
Western New York nonprofits that do the state’s work first and get paid later are pushing Gov. Kathy…
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Buffalo’s school board votes tonight on a closure plan that changed again overnight
The Buffalo Board of Education is set to vote Wednesday on closing six schools, down from eight, after…
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Western New York’s SNAP rolls fell nearly 10 percent in a year. Albany’s free school lunch promise may pay the price
[PREMIUM] State data show 20,909 fewer Western New Yorkers on SNAP than a year ago. Because benefit rolls…
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Niagara Falls gets $25 million toward a $338 million sewer plant fix its own engineers call unaffordable
Western New York landed $66.6 million in Albany’s new water grants. The biggest award covers about 7 percent…
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Road-repair merger forces sale of Suit-Kote plants in Jamestown, Buffalo and Belmont to keep county bids competitive
In nine Western and Central New York counties, Colas and Suit-Kote were often the only two companies bidding…
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Still waiting on your $200 energy rebate? Most New Yorkers are, and the checks keep coming through December
Only 3 million of 8.2 million POWER checks had arrived by mid-October. Here’s who qualifies, why your neighbor…
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Iran says it offered to reopen Hormuz in seven days. Until there’s a deal, Western New York pays 65% more for heating oil
Tehran says the U.S. accepted its conditions but wants more, and Iranian officials see no breakthrough before Nov.…
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Trump’s $8 billion diesel relief pays grain farmers first. Western New York’s dairy and fruit growers have to wait
USDA will set Harvest Fuel Relief payment rates for corn, soybeans and other program crops in November and…
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Trump says Ukraine needs ‘somebody else’ at the table as Ukrainians’ U.S. protection passes its deadline with no decision
Ukraine’s Temporary Protected Status hit its Oct. 19 end date with no federal decision, leaving about 101,000 Ukrainians…
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Lockport’s short line gets $9.6 million from the last of the infrastructure law’s rail money. Congress hasn’t refilled the pot
The Falls Road Railroad between Lockport and Brockport won $9.64 million in Monday’s $2.3 billion federal rail round,…
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Justice Department will pay fraud tipsters up to $30,000 once charges are filed, and Trump says he’ll settle disputes himself
The new Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program pays $10,000 to $30,000 at charging, not conviction, and prioritizes hospice, home…
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Powder letters hit Schumer, Gillibrand and dozens of other offices as New York heads into early voting
At least three dozen congressional offices and election officials in 15 states have received suspicious letters, including New…
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DOJ threatens California election workers with prosecution as New York, which beat the department in court, opens early voting
The Justice Department says California officials who count ballots from 20,000 “likely” noncitizens risk prosecution. A federal judge…
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Brooklyn judge tosses Trump’s sanctuary suit against New York City and finds a key federal information-sharing law unconstitutional
A federal judge dismissed the Justice Department’s suit against New York City’s sanctuary laws and held that 8…
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Goodyear shuts its Niagara Falls chemical plant on the day its pollution fix was due. Who checks what it leaves behind?
[PREMIUM] Goodyear will close its Niagara Falls chemical plant Oct. 31, the same day a state order required…
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Niagara County weighs fully exempting its most disabled veterans from county property taxes
Niagara County lawmakers hold a hearing Tuesday on a full county property-tax exemption for veterans the VA rates…
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Niagara Falls froze its trash fee for 2027, leaving a $1.12 million gap for the mayor’s budget
The Niagara Falls City Council voted 5-0 to keep the garbage and recycling fee at $181, leaving about…
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Niagara SPCA gets $5,000 county boost as grace year for New York’s new shelter rules runs out
Niagara County legislators gave the Niagara SPCA $5,000 to upgrade kennels under New York’s new shelter standards, as…
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Buffalo’s police overtime keeps climbing, and the city’s own auditors say staffing alone doesn’t explain it
Buffalo police overtime topped $17 million last year and has grown by more than a third in five…
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Shootings are falling in most of New York’s hardest-hit cities. Buffalo and Niagara Falls are going the other way
[PREMIUM] Shootings with injuries are down 16% across the state’s GIVE cities this year, but Buffalo is up…
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North Tonawanda traffic stop that ended in Border Patrol arrests is under state review
The attorney general’s office is reviewing a complaint over an Oct. 7 North Tonawanda traffic stop that ended…
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No charges in Cheektowaga Flock camera misuse, leaving discipline and oversight as the open questions
Erie County prosecutors won’t charge three Cheektowaga police employees who used Flock cameras to track a co-worker for…
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M&T’s profit slips as rising rates bite, and its finance chief warns mortgages and commercial real estate will feel it next
Buffalo’s hometown bank earned $775 million in the third quarter, down from $818 million. On the earnings call,…
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Solstice will make its Buffalo lab its global research hub, with $1.4 million in state credits for 12 new jobs
The Honeywell spinoff is putting $49 million into its Peabody Street R&D site as it races to develop…
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43North’s final pitch is over. The biggest return on New York’s startup bet now sits in a foundation
[PREMIUM] 43North handed out its last $5 million this month. Tax filings show how a state-funded stake in…
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Buffalo Niagara added jobs again in September, but it’s the only peer region with fewer businesses than in 2020
A second straight month of hiring still left Western New York’s private sector slightly smaller than a year…
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Josh Allen ties Jim Kelly in Las Vegas, but a spitting ejection leaves the Bills with a suspension question
Josh Allen tied Jim Kelly’s franchise touchdown-pass record in a 33-30 win over the Raiders. Now the 5-1…
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Bills are 4-1, but Jim Leonhard says his defense can’t keep waiting for Josh Allen to rescue it
The Bills are 4-1, but defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard says a unit giving up historic numbers can’t keep…
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Bills fans paid $1.08 million in Erie County’s stadium surcharge in August. Where does it go?
A 6% Erie County surcharge on tickets, food and merchandise at the new Highmark Stadium raised $1.08 million…
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Sabres keep digging out of early holes, and Lindy Ruff wants them to stop digging
The Sabres keep rallying from two-goal deficits, including Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss in Montreal. Coach Lindy Ruff’s verdict:…
Latest News
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Buffalo’s school board votes tonight on a closure plan that changed again overnight
The Buffalo Board of Education is set to vote Wednesday on closing six schools, down from eight, after the district posted yet another version of its plan Monday…
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Buffalo’s police overtime keeps climbing, and the city’s own auditors say staffing alone doesn’t explain it
Buffalo police overtime topped $17 million last year and has grown by more than a third in five years. The union blames a 100-officer shortage, but the comptroller’s…
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Erie County Republicans try again to cap the gas tax at $2. Poloncarz, who backed a cap in 2022, calls it posturing
With Buffalo gas at $4.37 a gallon, Erie County Legislature Republicans want the county’s sales tax capped at $2 a gallon starting Dec. 1. Mark Poloncarz says the…
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Buffalo nonprofits press Hochul on late state payments as two contract bills await her decision
Western New York nonprofits that do the state’s work first and get paid later are pushing Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign two contracting bills. She has vetoed versions…
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Cheektowaga’s 9.8% tax plan leans hardest on the sewer district as the board clears a path past the cap
Cheektowaga’s board has authorized breaking the state tax cap for 2027. More than half of the $202 increase on the average town bill comes from the sewer district,…
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Orchard Park’s five-story stadium zone stalls after 31 residents take the microphone
Orchard Park’s plan to allow five-story buildings near Highmark Stadium was tabled after 31 people spoke at an Oct. 7 hearing, most of them opposed. It is not…
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Grand Island weighs leasing town land for battery storage, but the terms aren’t public
Grand Island’s Town Board is weighing a lease that would let CleanCapital put a battery storage system on town land at 1600 Whitehaven Road, while a 12-Megapack project…
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The Broadway Barns hosted Woodrow Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald and pro hockey. City Hall says it will probably come down
Buffalo says its crumbling 1884 drill hall at 201 Broadway will probably be demolished once the plows are out. No engineer’s report is public, and a 2023 landmark…
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Radioactive slag was documented at a Town of Niagara drive-in in 2020. Neighbors are still waiting for answers
A 2020 report for Niagara County’s land bank found radiation on a vacant Witmer Road drive-in across Gill Creek from homes and recommended a $1.25 million cleanup. Six…
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Traditional Gayogo̱hó:nǫʼ council challenges Cayuga Nation police appointment, saying no clan consensus approved it
The Condoled Chiefs and Clan Mothers Council says the Halftown administration’s police department was never approved by the clans, and that Cayuga families who oppose it should not…
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Buffalo’s Finest: Dion Dawkins, the Shnowman who makes the trenches look good
The Bills’ left tackle wears red cleats, a snowflake face mask and sea-green suits, and he makes the least glamorous job in football look like a fashion statement.…
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Broadway Market’s $45 million makeover slips to 2027. Here’s what the design would change
A tax-credit delay has pushed the Broadway Market rebuild to spring 2027. The plans would restore its 1956 Art Moderne face, tear down the rear garage and cut…
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Two weeks after neighbors reported it, the state still hasn’t said where the oil in the Buffalo River is coming from
DEC’s spill record for the South Buffalo sheen lists diesel, mineral oil and latex, with the source “Unknown” and no volume. The same stretch near Ogden Street has…
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Lockport’s short line gets $9.6 million from the last of the infrastructure law’s rail money. Congress hasn’t refilled the pot
The Falls Road Railroad between Lockport and Brockport won $9.64 million in Monday’s $2.3 billion federal rail round, the final one funded by the 2021 infrastructure law. The…
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Powder letters hit Schumer, Gillibrand and dozens of other offices as New York heads into early voting
At least three dozen congressional offices and election officials in 15 states have received suspicious letters, including New York’s two senators and two of its House members. None…
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Erie County drivers deserve license plate camera rules written by lawmakers, not by Flock
Cheektowaga’s Flock misuse case shows how little stands between drivers’ movements and anyone with a login. Town boards, the Erie County Legislature and Albany should write license plate…
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Shootings are falling in most of New York’s hardest-hit cities. Buffalo and Niagara Falls are going the other way
[PREMIUM] Shootings with injuries are down 16% across the state’s GIVE cities this year, but Buffalo is up 14% and Niagara Falls has nearly doubled, state data show.…
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Darian Bryan’s Reserve Steakhouse is a big-night splurge in Larkinville. Here’s what the record shows
Chef Darian Bryan’s Larkinville steakhouse puts a $65 prime strip “on weck” at the center of a $155-Tomahawk menu. Our Food column reads the menu, the health record,…
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Niagara County weighs fully exempting its most disabled veterans from county property taxes
Niagara County lawmakers hold a hearing Tuesday on a full county property-tax exemption for veterans the VA rates permanently and totally disabled, following Erie County and Buffalo. The…
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Erie County lawmakers killed a new jail. The plan to keep the two old ones running now costs $57 million
Poloncarz’s 2027 budget puts $7 million toward repairs at the Holding Center and the Alden jail, the first piece of a $57 million plan through 2032, after legislators…
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BMHA’s director goes month to month Nov. 1, with two board seats empty and tenants pressing on safety
Gillian Brown’s contract as head of the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority expires Oct. 31, and two of the mayor’s five board seats sit empty. Tenant commissioners are pressing…
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Erie County’s budget holds Buffalo’s stages to last year’s dollars and leaves out a dozen groups its own reviewers backed
Poloncarz’s 2027 budget recommends $8.5 million for 112 arts groups, $113,862 less than this year. The BPO, Shea’s and most theaters are held flat, and 12 groups the…
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43North’s final pitch is over. The biggest return on New York’s startup bet now sits in a foundation
[PREMIUM] 43North handed out its last $5 million this month. Tax filings show how a state-funded stake in ACV Auctions became a $61 million foundation that now decides…
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Nearly three years of Seneca casino money sits in escrow. If the compact the Nation describes is approved, the 2023 deal sends it to arbitration
[PREMIUM] Since December 2023 the Seneca Nation has paid its 25% slot share into escrow. The extension Hochul signed says a new compact without exclusivity, like the one…
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Road-repair merger forces sale of Suit-Kote plants in Jamestown, Buffalo and Belmont to keep county bids competitive
In nine Western and Central New York counties, Colas and Suit-Kote were often the only two companies bidding on road-sealing work. Attorney General Letitia James says a forced…
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Still waiting on your $200 energy rebate? Most New Yorkers are, and the checks keep coming through December
Only 3 million of 8.2 million POWER checks had arrived by mid-October. Here’s who qualifies, why your neighbor may get one first, and what the $1 billion payout…
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Buffalo Niagara added jobs again in September, but it’s the only peer region with fewer businesses than in 2020
A second straight month of hiring still left Western New York’s private sector slightly smaller than a year ago. A new Buffalo Niagara Partnership report ranks the region…
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Erie County’s plan to widen its senior property-tax break has sat in committee since summer
A bill to raise Erie County’s senior exemption income limit from $37,399 to $50,000, at a cost of about $7 million, was back on the Finance and Management…
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Alden’s 2027 budget sets aside $40,000 for ambulance service as Mercy Flight takes over Dec. 1
Alden’s preliminary 2027 budget carries $41,000 for ambulance service and billing after a decade of free coverage from Lancaster’s volunteer ambulance corps. Mercy Flight EMS takes over Dec.…
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Amherst’s tax hike lands on plows and garbage trucks, not the general fund
Amherst’s proposed 2027 budget breaks the state tax cap by $3.55 million, yet the town’s main operating fund barely moves. The increase lands on highways, salt and garbage,…
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Erie County drivers deserve license plate camera rules written by lawmakers, not by Flock
Cheektowaga’s Flock misuse case shows how little stands between drivers’ movements and anyone with a login.…
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ORELL: Richard Franke left a legacy on the liberal arts education
By Brent Orell This weekend, the Wall Street Journal marked the passing of Richard J. Franke,…
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TEWS: 5G, Planes, and Progress
By Shane Tews Last week, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s…
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ABRAMS: New England liberal arts colleges are dangerous to American civility
BY SAMUEL J. ABRAMS With their leafy campuses, visually diverse student bodies, well-stocked libraries, and attentive…
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