The Buffalo Chronicle
Erie County
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Erie County’s 2026 count isn’t finished. The 143rd Assembly race shows what is still left to tally
Five days after Election Day, Democrat Ryan Taughrin leads Assemblyman Patrick Chludzinski by 561 votes with about 800 absentees outstanding. Here is the Erie County Board of Elections’ canvass calendar, the recount…
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Erie County is right to open a 24/7 shelter. It should show the public the bill.
Erie County is right to open a 200-bed winter shelter on South Park Avenue. But it bid a 24/7 program with local money covering warm nights, and it should publish that cost…
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Erie County’s helicopter deal shows how its purchasing office slipped past its own guardrails
An April audit says Erie County’s purchasing office let one helicopter become two without legislative review, paid a deposit to the wrong vendor and could not document much of its own work.…
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Election Day in Western New York: polls open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. after nearly 100,000 early votes in Erie County
Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Here is where to vote, what is on the ballot, and what record early voting does and does not tell us.
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Niagara power and Albany spending frame the Bologna-Sholk race in the 144th Assembly District
Republican Assemblyman Paul Bologna says New York cannot spend its way to prosperity. Democrat Donna Dye Sholk wants unallocated Niagara hydropower sent to Erie and Niagara county households. Here is where the…
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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, with local funds paying for nights the state won’t reimburse,…
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Property tax relief means little unless Buffalo and Erie County say what they will stop paying for
A Reason Foundation commentary warns that property tax cuts without spending cuts only move the cost to other taxes, fees or debt. Buffalo’s 19% levy increase and Erie County’s lower rate on…
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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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Kenmore’s old Presbyterian church has a demolition permit and a Shake Shack plan, but no start date
The former Kenmore Presbyterian Church on Delaware Avenue is cleared for demolition to make way for a Shake Shack and apartments, but the village says it has no start date, and a…
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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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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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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 is already ahead.
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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 objections from Majority Leader…
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Lancaster and Depew close out a football rivalry that dates to 1919, and only one side wanted it to end
Lancaster beat Depew 48-8 Friday in what was billed as the last game of one of Western New York’s oldest high school rivalries. Depew chose to end the series, and Lancaster had…
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Boston overrides the tax cap for its 2027 budget, and town officials say water lines are the reason
The Boston Town Board unanimously approved a 5% levy increase that lands about $85,000 over the state tax cap. Town officials point to a waterline project costing more than $15 million, along…
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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 Erie County’s sales tax…
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A state broadband grant for Buffalo’s affordable housing has grown 67% while its promised reach shrank by a third
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 would reach has fallen from…
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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 through the Dormitory Authority.
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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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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 highway rate up. A…
