Top Stories
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Chautauqua IDA is hiring engineers to see if 500 lakeshore acres at Eagle Bay can become an industrial park
Proposals were due Monday for engineering and environmental work on the vacant Eagle Bay site in Sheridan, funded by $1.35 million. The…
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In Stefanik’s open seat, Constantino’s $17 million in loans meets Gendebien’s $7 million from donors
Republican Anthony Constantino has lent his campaign $17 million and raised nothing from individual donors; Democrat Blake Gendebien has raised $7.2 million…
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Albany Democrats send $196,000 to defend McMahon as public matching money fuels McGuire’s Amherst challenge
The Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee moved $196,000 to Assembly Member Karen McMahon before a $236,000 TV buy, while Republican Terry McGuire has…
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Tribes tell the Supreme Court prediction markets are ‘today’s prospectors’ as Kalshi’s legal fight widens
[PREMIUM] 130 tribes and 15 tribal groups have asked the Supreme Court to rein in Kalshi’s sports contracts. A new Seventh Circuit…
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State audits flag a $346,000 fire hall overrun in Lancaster, questioned meal spending in Le Roy and lapsed school door badges across WNY
[PREMIUM] Comptroller audits found Town Line Fire Department spent $1.65 million on a station expansion budgeted at $1 million, Le Roy Fire District paid about $17,000 auditors call unnecessary, and Batavia, Holley and North Collins schools left door badges active for people long gone.
Latest Headlines
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Israel’s partial count puts Netanyahu’s bloc ahead but short of a majority after record turnout
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Western New York has one in nine of the state’s cannabis shops but gets about one in 15 dollars of the local pot tax
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Young Development buys the land for its $25 million Village Walk senior apartments in East Aurora as plans head to the Planning Commission
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Opportunity Zone nominations close today, and New York hasn’t said which neighborhoods made its list
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Federal survey finds serious violent crime fell 25 percent in 2025, with caveats from a redesigned count
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New laws make hotels post trafficking help or face fines, and warn abuse survivors before their voter privacy lapses
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The Old Pink’s arsonist gets five years. The Allen Street lots the fires left behind are still waiting on a plan
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Niagara County’s sewer moratoriums need a repair plan and a hard end date, not open-ended renewals
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Reason makes a case for a Jones Act economic-need waiver, and Buffalo’s lakers deserve a say in the details
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Backyard apartments are catching on, and Western New York’s suburbs should make room for them
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The Swannie House, closed two years, is headed for a $300,000 rehab under new owners
Kevin and Brian Gould and Ellicott Development CEO William Paladino are under contract to buy the 1886 Old First Ward tavern at 170 Ohio St. They…
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Ryan’s arts task force wants a city culture department and an end to grants with “no transparent, equitable process”
Mayor Sean Ryan’s CREATE Task Force recommends a $150,000 Department of Arts and Culture, a competitive process for city arts grants and a cultural plan anchored…
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Legacy Development asks the Common Council to overrule preservationists on a 150-year-old North Oak Street building
Main Gateway L.P. says rehabilitating 328 North Oak St. would lose about $803,000 and is appealing a 4-3 Preservation Board vote that fell short of the…
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Nietzsche’s, the Allen Street stage that launched Ani DiFranco, is up for city landmark status
The Common Council receives a proposal Tuesday to designate 248 Allen St., home to Nietzsche’s since 1982 and to bars and live music since Prohibition, as…
Suburbs
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A Buffalo psychiatric-campus land bill waits on Hochul as she pitches state hospital land for housing
As Gov. Hochul offers part of a Utica psychiatric campus for housing, a bill letting the state sell 1.62 acres of the former Buffalo Psychiatric Center…
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Flock cameras, crime and party-funded TV ads shape the 143rd Assembly race between Chludzinski and Taughrin
Republican Assemblyman Patrick Chludzinski and Democrat Ryan Taughrin are sparring over license plate readers after a Cheektowaga police scandal, while party money pays for most of…
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Dunkirk is Western New York’s only city in fiscal stress, and the state can’t score 21 other local governments
[PREMIUM] The comptroller’s latest scores put Dunkirk in significant fiscal stress as it weighs an 11 percent tax hike, while 21 Western New York governments, including…
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In the 142nd Assembly race, Burke runs on a trooper leave law and Dickson on West Seneca’s tax record
Assembly Member Pat Burke (D, WFP) points to the trooper critical-incident leave law he sponsored, and West Seneca Supervisor Gary Dickson (R, C) to five years…
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USDA proposes chip cards for every SNAP account, but states would cover the switch
[PREMIUM] A proposed USDA rule would require chip-and-tap EBT cards in every state to stop skimming thieves, without new federal money as states absorb SNAP administrative…
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Joe Morelle’s House record: bipartisan election bills, median attendance and mostly party-line votes
Rep. Joe Morelle missed 1.9% of House votes, sided with most Democrats on 449 of 464 party-split roll calls and steered one bipartisan FEC bill through…
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Trump’s $810 million rescission request tests Congress’s budget powers as the 45-day clock runs past Election Day
The White House says its $810 million September rescission package would cut unnecessary and wasteful spending. GAO calls the timing unlawful, and House Budget Democrats want…
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Israelis vote in a close race that will decide whether Netanyahu keeps power
Benjamin Netanyahu faces former army chief Gadi Eisenkot in Tuesday’s Knesset election, with President Trump openly backing the prime minister and polls showing a tight bloc…
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Justice Department asks Washington state to set aside ballots of about 400 registrants it says are noncitizens
Federal prosecutors gave Washington 24 hours to review a list of about 400 voters they say are noncitizens. Secretary of State Steve Hobbs says the timing…
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FBI surge on unsolved Indian Country crimes doubles arrests, Justice Department says
Operation Not Forgotten 2026 produced 118 arrests and 41 federal charges across Indian Country, the Justice Department says. None of the 12 surge field offices was…
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Divided 5th Circuit says detained immigrants have no right to bond hearings as Supreme Court takes up Buffalo case
The full 5th Circuit ruled 10-7 that immigrants who were never admitted have no constitutional right to a bond hearing. The Supreme Court has already agreed…
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Trump order aims to trim mortgage insurance and refinance costs as Buffalo-area prices climb
President Trump signed an executive order directing federal housing agencies to cancel mortgage insurance sooner, make cheaper refinancing permanent and speed up factory-built housing. Here’s what…
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Feds sue the successor of a Niagara Falls manufacturer over radioactive waste under two Lewiston homes
The Justice Department is suing NLI Holdings to recover what the EPA spent digging about 10,000 tons of radioactive waste out from under two homes on…
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Niagara Falls council holds off on delaying DeVeaux student-rental ban until Main Street housing breaks ground
Planners wanted to push the DeVeaux student-housing restrictions to June 2028 while a $25 million Main Street project for Niagara University students gets built. The City…
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Niagara Falls’ first North Main Street tax break: what $376,523 in incentives buys at 2109 Main
The Niagara County IDA’s first incentive deal on the north end of Main Street backs a $1.13 million, six-apartment renovation of a former nightclub. It is…
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Niagara County’s sewers hit their limit, and Lewiston moves to pause bigger developments
[PREMIUM] Lewiston’s sewage plant ran about 320,000 gallons a day over its state permit after a wet summer. On Monday the Town Board takes up a…
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Tribal nations push back on Senate permitting deal that would rewrite Section 106 consultation
Tribal organizations say a bipartisan Senate permitting bill would narrow the historic preservation reviews that protect sacred places, and they are urging Congress to drop the…
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Seneca Nation’s Cattaraugus gas expansion selected in record federal tribal energy round
The Seneca Nation requested $6.7 million from the Department of Energy to expand its own natural gas system on the Cattaraugus Territory. It is one of…
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Navajo Nation braces for weeks of recovery after record San Juan River flooding
Homes in Shiprock went underwater as the San Juan River broke a 1909 record upstream. President Buu Nygren is seeking $10 million in tribal disaster relief.
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Appeals court says 1929 census descendants belong in organizing the California Valley Miwok Tribe
[PREMIUM] A unanimous D.C. Circuit panel upheld Interior’s decision to let descendants of Miwok people on a 1929 Calaveras County census take part in organizing the…
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DOE touts West Valley cleanup progress, but the study behind its biggest decision still hasn’t been released
The Energy Department is highlighting demolition and a rebuilt spillway at the West Valley nuclear site, but the draft study it projected for late 2025, which…
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A vacant Swan Street corner is slated for housing. Tests found lead at 50 times the residential cleanup limit
A developer who grew up nearby wants to build apartments and affordable townhomes at Swan and Chicago streets. His consultant’s tests found lead, mercury and buried…
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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…
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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…
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Halton-Pope moves to write Buffalo’s limits on ICE cooperation into city law
A Common Council resolution would direct Corporation Counsel to codify Mayor Sean Ryan’s January executive order barring city resources from federal civil immigration enforcement, with quarterly…
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Gendron jury selection enters week three as a fatal taxi crash brings an indictment
Gendron’s lawyers tell prospective jurors the case is about life or death. Also: a DWI homicide indictment in Kensington-Grider, two sentences for Buffalo killings, a Hamburg…
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Four charged with murder in alleged plot to kill a witness, as federal gun case and day care shutdown round out the week
An indictment accuses five Buffalo residents of conspiring to kill a murder-trial witness. The week also brought a federal gun-trafficking complaint, Timon Street arrests and a…
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Woodhill Capital’s president admits to mail fraud as records detail a $54 million collapse
[PREMIUM] Richard Teplitsky pleaded guilty Friday to mail fraud in the collapse of Woodhill Capital, which federal prosecutors say took $54.4 million from about 200 investors.…
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UB-trained planner Brian Smith wants to turn North Tonawanda’s empty DeGraff hospital tower into senior housing
The UB communication and urban planning graduate runs real estate development for People Inc. His biggest pending test is converting the vacant DeGraff Memorial Hospital bed…
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A Buffalo-made battery moves into a West Side apartment building as Dunkirk pauses storage projects
Viridi and Good Carbon say they have installed a 3.75-megawatt-hour, state-backed battery system inside the 105-unit Peace Bridge Place, as Dunkirk’s council passes a six-month moratorium…
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State innovation summit brings $430,000 startup competition and quantum talk to Buffalo
The two-day NYS Innovation Summit opens Tuesday at the Buffalo Convention Center, where nine finalists will compete for $430,000 and state officials will outline technology priorities.
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After ACV, UB alum Dan Magnuszewski is trying to build Buffalo startups on purpose
The UB computer science graduate helped turn ACV Auctions into Buffalo’s first tech unicorn. With 43North’s competition over and ACV now owned by Copart, he runs…
The Chronicle Magazine
Culture, Food & Life in Western New York
Music & Entertainment
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Hell’s Kitchen leads a crowded theater week downtown as Shea’s builds its next century
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The BPO premieres its second new work this month, a Leshnoff symphony written for the orchestra
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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
New reporting is coming soon.
Food
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Marketside has fed Niagara Falls breakfast since 1939, and its fourth generation just made room for more
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Sun Cuisines still makes the case for Burmese food in Williamsville, if you’re willing to wait
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Darian Bryan’s Reserve Steakhouse is a big-night splurge in Larkinville. Here’s what the record shows
Design
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Buffalo asked in March to lead the Scajaquada makeover. The state’s timeline still puts it behind the 33
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Developers are converting Main Street offices into apartments. The city-owned hostel building across from Shea’s is still empty
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The Broadway Barns hosted Woodrow Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald and pro hockey. City Hall says it will probably come down
Buffalo’s Finest
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Natalie Merchant brings Jamestown grit and a cabinet full of wonder to a new generation
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Buffalo’s Finest: Christine Baranski, the Cheektowaga girl who dreamed up sophistication and took it to the West End
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Buffalo’s Finest: Dion Dawkins, the Shnowman who makes the trenches look good
New reporting is coming soon.
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Western New York’s four Division I men’s basketball teams open Monday picked near the bottom
UB, Canisius, Niagara and St. Bonaventure all start the season Nov. 2 ranked in the bottom third of their conference polls. That includes UB, which just…
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Messiah Burch carries UB past Bowling Green and into a crowded MAC race
Senior running back Messiah Burch ran for a career-high 184 yards and three touchdowns as Buffalo beat Bowling Green 31-24 on Senior Day. The Bulls are…
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Sabres fall behind early again, and the goaltending question follows them on the road
A 3-1 loss to the Flyers ended Buffalo’s point streak and sent the 4-4-2 Sabres on a four-game road trip. As Connor Hellebuyck’s suspension in Winnipeg…
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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 Bills wait to learn whether the NFL will…
From Coast to Coast to Coast
Canada Edition
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Canada is thirsty for a strong father figure. Pierre Poilievre is built for the job
A GTA mom argues the country is aching for confident, masculine leadership, and that the handsome, hard-charging Conservative leader is the dad Canada has been waiting for.
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Ontario bill aims to finish Highway 69 widening five years sooner
The proposed Building Highway 69 Faster Act would streamline environmental reviews for the last 68 km between Parry Sound and Sudbury. The province hasn’t given a cost or a completion date.
Ottawa
House of Commons · Senate · Supreme Court · Global Affairs · Prime Minister’s Office · Leader of the Opposition · Assembly of First Nations · Federal Elections
Latest News
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Pentagon presses Congress to write the ‘Department of War’ name into law in the final defense bill
Both the House and Senate Armed Services versions of the defense bill would make the Department of War name law. The Pentagon and White House want it kept…
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Erie County picks a South Park school for a permanent Code Blue shelter and tells City Hall it doesn’t need permission
[PREMIUM] Erie County wants to lease the former Buffalo Creek Academy on South Park Avenue as a permanent emergency shelter, says it is immune from city zoning, and…
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White House touts refinery funding and diesel relief, says New York hasn’t adopted fuel waivers
The White House says gas and diesel prices will soon drop, pointing to Defense Production Act refinery money and diesel tax deferrals. It singled out New York for…
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Trump weighs a deal or renewed strikes on Iran as Tehran says messages are still moving
President Trump said he is weighing whether to make a deal with Iran or “finish them off,” while Tehran says messages are passing through intermediaries. Israel votes Tuesday.
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Erie County’s IDA has backed $143 million in projects this year, a fifth of 2025’s pace, as its board takes up a 2027 budget
[PREMIUM] Through September, the ECIDA approved seven projects worth $143.1 million, down from $728 million in 2025, and its fee-funded budget now leans on two bond deals.
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Who owns the land around Millrace Park? City records point to a Larkin-linked company
[PREMIUM] Property records show a company sharing Larkin Development’s address owned the Millrace Park site and at least 22 nearby parcels. The state is paying $6 million of…
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Albany’s license plate reader bill passed without a no vote, but it doesn’t reach the police cameras drawing fire in Western New York
A bill setting standards for private plate reader use passed 144-0 and 60-0 but hasn’t reached Gov. Hochul — and it leaves out the police networks that ran…
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Hochul’s $36 million for crime victim programs has yet to flow as providers cut staff
The August boost was routed through the same Office of Victim Services procurement now under appeal at the Comptroller’s office, nearly a month after contracts were due to…
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Jamestown weighs $36 million in downtown requests as an EPA grant targets its industrial riverfront
Downtown project sponsors pitch residents Tuesday for a share of nearly $10 million in state DRI money, days after the EPA spotlighted a $1 million brownfields grant to…
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Albany adds $10 million to Buffalo’s East Side Building Fund after 300 applications chased the first round
Thirty-five projects split the first $10 million. With a second round expected, here is how the storefront and mixed-use grants work and who gets priority.
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Elmwood Bidwell apartments start leasing, 10 months past the developer’s target
Studios start at $1,700 at Douglas Development’s long-delayed Elmwood and Bidwell project. City permit records trace a five-year path, mismatched unit counts and a storefront that still has…
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Claudia Tenney’s campaign has spent $2.6 million in a safe seat, and most of it went to raising more
FEC filings show Rep. Claudia Tenney’s campaign spent about $2.6 million this cycle, more than half on fundraising and digital vendors, about $208,000 on travel and meals, and…
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The Feed: Cheektowaga’s camera discipline, Alberta’s vote and Trump’s gas-price remark dominate the week online
A Cheektowaga police camera case, radioactive backyards in Niagara, Alberta’s referendum and a U.S. Embassy fact sheet, and President Trump’s oil-profits remark led the week’s public conversation online.
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UB alum Judge John Sinatra has a consistent answer for New York’s gun laws: show the history
The federal judge behind last week’s body armor ruling earned both of his degrees at UB. Since 2022 he has applied the same historical test to New York’s…
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Golden Dome hits early milestones as senators from both parties press for steadier funding
President Trump’s missile-defense shield has an operational site and two tests behind it, but most of its 2027 money depends on a stalled reconciliation bill. Senate Armed Services…
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Albany should not hand Erie County the bill for SNAP’s error-rate penalty
Washington is shifting SNAP costs to the states, and New York passes its share to counties. Albany should commit now to absorbing any SNAP benefit penalty and renew…
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A one-town ceasefire, November talks and a diesel tanker bound for New York: Inside Washington’s new approach to Moscow
[PREMIUM] A U.S.-brokered pause in Oleshky begins Tuesday, three-way peace talks are set for early November, and the first Russian diesel cargo since 2022 is headed for New…
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A state broadband grant for Buffalo’s affordable housing has grown 67% while its promised reach shrank by a third
[PREMIUM] Empire State Development wants to raise a ConnectALL grant for low-cost fiber in Greater Buffalo affordable housing to $4.75 million, even as the number of homes it…
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Hochul sends $5.8 million to Amherst and Williamsville for the Peanut Line Trail and Island Park
The state is putting $3.8 million into Amherst’s 4.9-mile Peanut Line Trail and $2 million into removing the old dam at Williamsville’s Island Park, with the money flowing…
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New York’s quantum study ranks the state second nationally, but finds Western New York’s footprint thin
A new state-commissioned study ranks New York second in the nation for quantum technology, but its regional map shows only a small cluster of activity in Western New…
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Rich Products cuts 60 Buffalo jobs in a global overhaul while it keeps building on Niagara Street
Rich Products is eliminating about 60 Buffalo jobs in a global restructuring that will see roughly 380 people leave, even as it keeps investing in its Niagara Street…
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Wyden drafts data center excise tax as $19.46 billion STAMP project advances in Genesee County
Sen. Ron Wyden’s draft would tax data center revenue and end key tax breaks for the industry, though the rate is still blank. Republicans and the White House…
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Federal disaster loans open to Buffalo-area homeowners, renters and businesses hit by Sept. 3 floods
The SBA’s Oct. 19 declaration covers Erie and five neighboring counties after the Sept. 3 flash flooding. Applications for physical damage loans are due Dec. 18.
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The case for rethinking hospital tax breaks, and why Buffalo should tread carefully
A new Tax Foundation paper lays out ways to tax the country’s largest nonprofit hospital systems. With Kaleida Health’s revenue above the paper’s $1 billion line and Buffalo…
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A Rochester developer bets factory-built homes can fill Buffalo’s vacant lots for about $175,000
Cook Properties is buying 18 city lots for unsubsidized modular homes, starting on Northampton Street. Its plan comes as Albany funds factory-built starter homes elsewhere and the White…
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Buffalo’s long ballot: 11 charter changes, from a human rights commission to who controls the budget
With no city offices on the ballot, Buffalo voters will decide 11 proposed charter changes on Nov. 3. Here’s what each would do, from police advice and human…
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Kennedy presses DHS on Batavia detention expansion as the administration points to Albany and the 2024 vote
Rep. Tim Kennedy wants answers by Nov. 2 on a roughly $16.7 million ICE expansion in Batavia. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says voters backed mass deportations, and…
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A democratic socialist and a Hamburg Republican face off for the open 149th Assembly seat
Tenant lawyer Adam Bojak (D, WFP) and Hamburg Councilman Frank Bogulski (R, C) are offering sharply different answers on taxes, utilities and affordability in the open West Side-Lackawanna-Hamburg…
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Clarence holds its tax rate flat for 2027, but leans on $3.2 million in savings to do it
Supervisor Patrick Casilio’s preliminary 2027 budget keeps Clarence’s general fund rate at about 57 cents per $1,000, but draws heavily on fund balance while road salt pushes the…
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A year into the top job, UB alum Allana Krolikowski steers Jericho Road through a leaner era for health centers
Dr. Allana Krolikowski, a two-time UB graduate who started at Jericho Road as an unpaid intern, marks a year as CEO as Medicaid changes reshape how safety-net clinics…
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Want more starter homes in Western New York? Start with the minimum lot size
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Niagara Falls bought back Main Street. Now it should publish a scorecard for every building
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The NFTA should tell Buffalo what the Metro Rail extension costs before it spends more planning it
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Hochul should stop vetoing on-time pay for the nonprofits that do New York’s work
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Erie County drivers deserve license plate camera rules written by lawmakers, not by Flock
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ORELL: Richard Franke left a legacy on the liberal arts education
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TEWS: 5G, Planes, and Progress
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