Top Stories
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Erie County’s new South Park shelter will stay open on warm nights, too, and local taxpayers will cover those nights
Erie County’s lease on the former Buffalo Creek Academy began Nov. 1. County documents show the shelter will run 24/7 all winter,…
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Carney and Trump say a trade deal is back in reach, but Ottawa warns it is “not on the verge” before the midterms
Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Donald Trump spoke Sunday and say their teams will work toward a trade deal in the…
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On Election Day, the Supreme Court takes up Catholic preschools shut out of Colorado’s free pre-K
The justices open their November session Monday and hear St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy on Tuesday, a test of whether states…
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Seneca voters pick a new president Tuesday, and with it the next negotiator on an unsigned casino compact
Councilor Tina Abrams, the Seneca Party nominee, would be the Nation’s first woman president. She would inherit a compact standoff in which…
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Marilla’s budget grows by half a million dollars, but the highway tax rate goes down
Marilla’s 2027 budget would rise about 17% while the highway tax rate dips a penny, with reserves covering health insurance and fire costs. The board holds a hearing and votes Thursday, the same night it fills a vacant seat.
Latest Headlines
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Station Twelve opens its first stores Thursday, 11 years after Amherst was promised a new Northtown Plaza
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Herzog tells Israel’s leaders to ‘stop climbing trees’ as Arab parties line up behind Eisenkot
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UB will test 20 Flock license plate cameras this spring. Students and faculty want to know why
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Hamburg is set to vote on a one-year pause on data centers while it rewrites the rules
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Buffalo should publish a plow report card after every storm
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Property tax relief means little unless Buffalo and Erie County say what they will stop paying for
Deeper Analysis
Deeper Analysis
Erie County early vote passes 80,000, already above the 2022 nine-day total
Erie County voters have already cast more early ballots in seven days than they did in all nine days of early voting in the last race for governor, and with two days left the county is on pace to set a new mark for a midterm year.
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Albany should send Hochul the Richardson campus land bill, and she should sign it
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Brookings says hospital cybersecurity needs mandates and money together. New York already tried that mix
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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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Buffalo picks a former police precinct in the Old First Ward for its new animal shelter
Mayor Sean Ryan says the city will turn the former police station at 294 Louisiana St. into a modern animal shelter, replacing the cramped Oak Street…
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Buffalo adds snowblower tractors, contractor money and plow tracking to clear side streets
Buffalo’s DPW is adding seven snowblower tractors, a $2 million contractor budget and plow technology aimed at side streets.
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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…
Suburbs
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Baskin runs on her record as Szymanski tries to unseat her in the 63rd Senate District
First-term state Sen. April Baskin faces former Lackawanna Mayor Geoffrey Szymanski on Tuesday in a district covering much of Buffalo’s East Side, Cheektowaga and Lackawanna.
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Albany’s $9 billion surplus cuts next year’s budget gap to $2.9 billion, two days before voters pick who spends it
The state’s Mid-Year Update raises tax revenue by $8.1 billion and cuts next year’s gap from $6.4 billion to $2.9 billion. What it means for the…
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Erie County early vote passes 80,000, already above the 2022 nine-day total
Erie County’s early vote has topped 80,000 ballots with two days left, about 14% above the full 2022 total.
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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
As New York’s legal cannabis market passes $4.1 billion in sales, Comptroller data show WNY’s 78 dispensaries brought local governments $2.23 million in the first half…
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Defense bill’s 65-year streak heads into the lame duck with no Senate vote
The NDAA has no Senate floor vote and no budget deal as Congress breaks for the election.
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Opportunity Zone nominations close today, and New York hasn’t said which neighborhoods made its list
Wednesday is the extended deadline for governors to nominate the next decade of Opportunity Zones. New York can pick 429 of 1,716 eligible tracts, including 84…
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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 from individuals. Federal filings…
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Israel’s partial count puts Netanyahu’s bloc ahead but short of a majority after record turnout
With about 42 percent of ballot boxes counted, Netanyahu’s bloc held 57 seats to Eisenkot’s 47, with Arab-led parties holding 16. Neither side had the 61…
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Justice Department asks appeals court to lift order barring pressure on election officials over noncitizen ballots
A federal judge barred the Justice and Homeland Security departments from pressuring election officials to set aside ballots. The administration has asked the 9th Circuit to…
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White House circulates fishing industry praise for America First Seafood Strategy
The White House released endorsements from fishing groups and Cabinet officials for its seafood plan.
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Federal survey finds serious violent crime fell 25 percent in 2025, with caveats from a redesigned count
The government’s victimization survey found serious violent crime fell 25 percent and aggravated assault 31 percent in 2025. The Justice Department credits President Trump; the bureau…
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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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Niagara Falls sewage plant fix now costs $338 million, and the water board’s engineers call it unaffordable
A state order forces Niagara Falls to convert its sewage plant to biological treatment. The estimate has climbed to $338.2 million, and the board’s engineers say…
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Lockport Common Council votes to take down the city’s Flock license plate cameras
The Common Council voted 5-1 to revoke permission for all eight Flock Safety cameras in the city.
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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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Haldimand Tract trial breaks until Nov. 9 as the court weighs Six Nations oral history
The Six Nations land-rights trial adjourned Oct. 28 and resumes Nov. 9 in Ontario Superior Court. Here is where the case stands.
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Haldimand trial week three: Canada and Ontario challenge Six Nations oral history
Canada and Ontario objected to Six Nations’ oral history evidence as the land-rights trial entered its third week.
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Tribes tell the Supreme Court prediction markets are ‘today’s prospectors’ as Kalshi’s legal fight widens
130 tribes and 15 tribal groups have asked the Supreme Court to rein in Kalshi’s sports contracts. A new Seventh Circuit appeal and New York’s lawsuit…
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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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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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The Old Pink’s arsonist gets five years. The Allen Street lots the fires left behind are still waiting on a plan
John W. Burns was sentenced to 60 months for the 2024 fire that destroyed the Old Pink. Court records lay out the texts that helped convict…
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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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Buffalo Urban League gets $5 million in state aid for Jefferson Avenue headquarters
Gov. Hochul announced $5 million toward the Urban League’s $25 million campus at 1137 Jefferson Ave.
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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
Young Development paid $1.2 million for 11 acres on Quaker Road for a 118-unit, 55-and-older complex. The project, which divided residents at a July rezoning vote,…
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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…
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
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Bills come off the bye with a safety suspended, Lamar Jackson back and a fourth-quarter problem to solve
The 5-1 Bills host Baltimore today with C.J. Gardner-Johnson suspended, Damar Hamlin stepping in and Lamar Jackson expected back. After giving up 30 fourth-quarter points in…
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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…
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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Albany installs a deli-counter ticket machine for its $9 billion surplus, and Western New York pulls No. 4,117
Satire: New York finds $9 billion it didn’t expect, and the line for it runs down State Street. Buffalo, as usual, is near the back.
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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
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,…
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New laws make hotels post trafficking help or face fines, and warn abuse survivors before their voter privacy lapses
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed three bills that add civil penalties for hotels that skip required human trafficking notices, expand address confidentiality to victims of image-based abuse, and require…
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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 IDA says it has no tenant…
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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 drawn more public matching money than…
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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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Dunkirk is Western New York’s only city in fiscal stress, and the state can’t score 21 other local governments
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 Jamestown, North Tonawanda…
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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 to the…
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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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USDA proposes chip cards for every SNAP account, but states would cover the switch
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 cuts. New York…
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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 race.
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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
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 faces…
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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 six needed…
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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 a local…
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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 the House.…
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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 their TV…
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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 venture…
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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 to ban…
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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 with no…
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Buffalo voters should approve Proposal 8 and make City Hall prove its budget math before it spends
Buffalo’s $103 million structural deficit grew out of budgets built on one-time money and lowball cost estimates. Proposal 8 would give the comptroller an early review and 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 63 tribal…
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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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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 in New…
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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
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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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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A stuck sewer camera keeps the old Niagara County Infirmary in limbo on Lockport’s city-town line
A plan for roughly 70 homes at the former Niagara County Infirmary is on hold while the Town of Lockport waits for usable video of a city sewer…
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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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Backyard apartments are catching on, and Western New York’s suburbs should make room for them
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Albany should not hand Erie County the bill for SNAP’s error-rate penalty
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The case for rethinking hospital tax breaks, and why Buffalo should tread carefully
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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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