The Buffalo Chronicle
Feature 1
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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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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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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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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 advance notice before survivors’…
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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 him, while Roche Development, which bought…
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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 Upper Mountain Road. A former owner’s…
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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 plan to reopen it in early…
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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 to the 2032 bicentennial. The Common…
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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 or market study yet,…
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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 show how each is spending it…
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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 she has in the…
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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 raise the stakes for the Seneca…
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Four years after it was announced, Tonawanda’s fix for Young Street bridge strikes gets final approval
The City of Tonawanda has approved $1.225 million in federally funded work on a sensor-triggered warning system meant to stop overheight trucks from hitting the Young Street railroad bridge. Officials say it…
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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, and Batavia, Holley and…
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Depew opens a new St. James Street Park playground, built mostly with a $150,000 county block grant
Depew and Erie County officials opened a rebuilt playground at St. James Street Park, funded largely by federal Community Development Block Grant money. The mayor says sidewalks around the park could be…
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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 needed to govern.
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West Seneca’s Boys & Girls Club finds a home in the Winchester building, aiming for a fall 2027 opening
West Seneca schools will give a new Boys & Girls Club three years of free rent and busing at 650 Harlem Road, with East Aurora’s club as lead agency. Organizers are now…
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Chow’s second term opens with a $1.1-billion hole and a cooling housing market
Olivia Chow won re-election with 54 per cent and a friendlier council. Now she has to close a projected $1.1-billion gap as the land transfer tax softens and her deal with Queen’s…
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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 tower into about 70 senior apartments,…
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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 of 2026, about $28,600 a store…
