BY KEVIN R. KOSAR For the past several years, there have been murmurings on Capitol Hill about possibly bringing back earmarks. Now it appears possible that the scandal-tainted earmarks of old may never come back. This week, a congressional committee
BY E.J. McMAHON Six months into the novel coronavirus pandemic, New York State’s private-sector employment recovery was the slowest in the 48 contiguous states—and getting slower. The latest monthly jobs report from the state Labor Department and the Bureau of Labor Statistics
Residents of Marine Drive Apartments — Buffalo’s largest public housing complex — prefer that Carl Paladino‘s Ellicott Development was their landlord, rather than the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority (BMHA), at a rate of more than 2 to 1, privately conducted
BY IAN KINGSBURY Education Week released its A-F grades for states on school quality last week. New York earned a B-, appreciably better than the nationwide C average. A closer look at scoring methodology, however, shows grade inflation at work. Education Week raised New
BY KEN GIRARDIN New York’s largest teachers union this summer threatened to go on strike rather than allow schools to reopen for in-person classes—despite months of preparation by officials and a state law that prohibits union work stoppages. Public employee
BY KEN GIRARDIN Months of bad decisions and inaction by New York state officials have put school districts in the awkward position of having to give pay raises to most teachers while laying off others. The districts could have avoided
BY IAN KINGSBURY Governor Andrew Cuomo is withholding 20 percent of state school aid allocations pending federal bailout negotiations. The decision has been met with alarm and objection from district leaders and New York teachers unions. Yet notably absent from pleas to maintain funding
There are four local public school districts that serve large populations of Native American students living on area Indian Reservations: Gowanda, Niagara-Wheatfield, Akron, and Salamanca. Students and parents in those districts — both indigenous and non-indigenous — have been demanding
BY KEVIN KOSAR Key Points The US Postal Service (USPS) will not run out of money in the foreseeable future. It has more than $13 billion in cash and a new $10 billion borrowing line with the US Treasury. The
The U.S. Justice Department’s newly announced inquiry into coronavirus in New York’s nursing homes comes with a crucial caveat: it will look only at government-operated facilities, which represent a small fraction of the state’s nursing-home industry. Given this puzzlingly narrow
BY E.J. McMAHON Federal income taxes paid by New Yorkers decreased by nearly $3.4 billion in 2018, the first year of the new federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), according to newly released Internal Revenue Service data. The drop in
The state Health Department is offering a new explanation for why it won’t provide the full death toll of coronavirus in nursing homes: it can’t find the records. Early last month, the Empire Center filed a Freedom of Information Law
Mayor Byron Brown is planning to list the City-owned Erie Basin Marina for sale with an asking price of $5 million or best offer, with all offers being due to the City by November 1st. The City is facing a
Sources tell The Chronicle that Mayor Byron Brown and Common Council President Darius Pridgen are considering a sweeping privatization of the Buffalo Urban Development Corporation (BUDC) and the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency (BURA) that could raise upwards of $100 million
The Town of Tonawanda’s Town Board voted unanimously to authorize Supervisor Joe Emminger to terminate Police Department dispatcher Brett Rider on sexual misconduct allegations that the Town is refusing to disclose to the public. Rider is declining to make public
Following tawdry rumors over a sexual misconduct allegation against a popular career police officer, Brett Rider, 46, several Town of Tonawanda residents are pushing the Town Board to change its policies to allow officers to receive ‘sexual gratuities’ while on
Mayor Byron W. Brown today announced the City of Buffalo’s scheduled 2020 updates at Sahlen Field have been completed. The nearly $759,000 improvements bring total investments in the City-owned ballpark to over $5 million in the past 15 years. This
The Empire Center for Public Policy today announced its lawsuit against the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) for refusing to disclose a study DOT claims justified forcing bidders to sign a deal with specific construction unions. DOT last
Payroll for Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) in calendar year 2019 increased by more than $150 million, according to data released today on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s transparency website. Payroll at Port Authority totaled more than $997
New York’s governor and state lawmakers dished out $152 million for local projects favored by state lawmakers through the state Dormitory Authority during the state’s 2020 fiscal year, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s government transparency website. The
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