Categories for Co-produced with WGRZ

Sep 13

2013

Report faults state environmental regulators

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If you drove to work above the speed limit would you call the police to report that you were speeding? What if all laws were enforced only through such self-reporting? Sounds crazy, right? In essence, this is largely how the Department of Environmental Conservation operates, especially after drastic staffing cuts that have limited the agency’s ability to enforce environmental laws, according to a new report from Environmental Advocates of New York. The report is critical of the DEC’s recent track record on inspections and enforcement. The nonprofit’s report shows how environmental enforcement in New York is on the decline because of staffing[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Sep 11

2013

A rich, but tolerable development subsidy deal

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Anyone who has followed my work the past dozen years knows I am not a fan of economic development subsidies. And the deal announced Tuesday of a manufacturing plant involves a lot of public money – some $25.9 million over the next decade in grants, tax breaks and power discounts. That works out to nearly $151,000 per job, which ranks this as one of the region’s richest subsidy deals ever. It’s not the obscene $2.1 million per job subsidy awarded a few years back to Yahoo’s data center in Lockport. But it’s more than all but a handful of deals[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Aug 29

2013

Fact checking the Buffalo mayoral debate

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Jim Heaney examined the words and numbers expressed by Byron Brown, Bernie Tolbert and Sergio Rodriguez regarding the local economy during Wednesday’s mayoral debate. The bottom line: Tolbert and Rodriguez were generally accurate, while Brown made several claims that were unsubstantiated.  

Posted 11 years ago

Jul 25

2013

WNY has 3 of state’s worst greenhouse gas polluters

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The 650-foot smokestack at the Somerset coal-fired power plant in Niagara County billows plumes of smoke carrying greenhouse gases that can be seen on a clear day all the way across Lake Ontario in Toronto. The amount — 3.8 million tons in 2011 — makes the coal plant the top greenhouse gas polluter in New York State. That’s equivalent to the emissions from 712,893 cars annually. Western New York has two other facilities that rank in the state’s top 10 of greenhouse gas polluters: coal-fired power plants CR Huntley in the Town of Tonawanda and NRG Dunkirk in the City[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Jul 24

2013

Buffalo Housing Court fines: Progress and problems

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City Hall’s belated effort to collect $22 million in unpaid Housing Court fines is coming up empty. A dry run by a collections agency hired by the city earlier this year that sought about $430,000 from deadbeat court defendants yielded only $59 in fine payments, according to City Comptroller Mark Schroeder. That experience prompted city officials to scale back their expectations of what was collectable from the $22 million in unpaid fines that have accumulated since Mayor Byron Brown took office in 2006. Rather than $1 million, Schroeder said administration officials believe only $40,000 to $80,000 is collectable. “In terms[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Jul 17

2013

Brown challenger off to decent fundraising start

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It’s been a foregone conclusion that Mayor Byron Brown would continue to raise oodles of money in pursuit of a third term as mayor. The question has been whether his challengers would be able to raise enough money to mount a serious challenge. Brown’s two challengers – Bernie Tolbert, a Democrat, and Sergio Rodriguez, a Republican – filed their first campaign finance disclosure reports this week, and they provided insight into their viability as candidates. The numbers show Tolbert is well on his way to reaching his goal of raising up to $350,000 before the Sept. 10 Democratic primary. His[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Jul 16

2013

Money behind the Buffalo mayoral candidates

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Mayoral hopefuls Bernie Tolbert and Sergio Rodriguez filed their first campaign finance disclosure reports this week. They show Tolbert, while outgunned by incumbent Byron Brown 6 to 1, nevertheless has more money to campaign on than the mayor’s opponent spent four years ago. Rodriguez, however, has struggled to raise money.

Posted 11 years ago

Jul 16

2013

Fate of coal-fired plant in Dunkirk

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Dan Telvock of Investigative Post reports for WGRZ on a public meeting in Fredonia in which local residents and environmentalists squared off over whether power plant should be shuttered or converted to facility fueled by natural gas.

Posted 11 years ago
Investigative Post

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