Jun 25
2013
Investigative Post agrees with Howard Zemsky that it’s going to take time to revitalize the region’s economy. But he finds claims made by Mayor Byron Brown to be “curious” and not supported by the facts.
Jun 21
2013
The intent of the Sewage Pollution Right to Know law passed 10 months ago was to inform state residents within four hours of sewage overflows into waterways to protect them from the dangers of swimming or fishing in tainted water. Not only would residents know the estimated amount of all overflows, they would know where it happened, the duration, what time, the reason and a description of steps taken to control it from happening again. But only half of the disclosure is happening 45 days since the law went into effect. The Department of Environmental Conservation and environmental advocates are[...]
Jun 15
2013
Bernie Tolbert is challenging Byron Brown in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary for mayor. Tolbert, 65, is a Buffalo native with an extensive background in law enforcement. He worked as an agent and supervisor with the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1980 to 2001. His assignments included special agent in charge of FBI operations in Buffalo and Philadelphia and several stints at agency headquarters in Washington, D.C. He joined the National Basketball Association in 2002, first and vice president of security and later senior vice president. He retired in 2010. Earlier in his career, Tolbert worked as a teacher and[...]
Jun 14
2013
I suspect a number of newspaper readers and television viewers surmise that the Peace Bridge Authority is about to go bye-bye as a result of Wednesday’s approval by the state Legislature of a bill that would dissolve the authority that operates the Peace Bridge next year unless its governing board acts in accordance with state wishes. That would be a false assumption, and the story I did Thursday evening on WGRZ was my attempt to set the record straight. I want to expand on that story here. The bridge authority has a legal opinion from Phillips Lytle, Buffalo’s biggest law[...]
Jun 14
2013
Jim Heaney fields questions from Athan Kompos of WGRZ about about the bill passed earlier this week by the state Legislature that purportedly lays the legal groundwork for a dissolution of the Peace Bridge Authority. Heaney cautioned that passage of the bill doesn’t necessarily mean the authority will disband.
Jun 13
2013
Raw interview footage of Jim Heaney answering questions from WGRZ’s Michael Wooten and Jeff Preval about latest developments involving the Peace Bridge.
Jun 13
2013
Jim Heaney interviewed Democratic mayoral candidate Bernie Tolbert on Tuesday. In this clip, Tolbert tells Heaney how much he intends to raise over the course of the campaign and how fundraising has gone so far. Interview highlights will air Saturday morning on WGRZ’s Daybreak. The complete interview and a transcript will post to this site later Saturday.
Jun 11
2013
For the first time, the numbers are flowing in on sewer overflows across the state and it isn’t pretty. In Erie County, almost 7 million gallons of untreated sewage were discharged into local waterways in May. This information wasn’t publicly available on the Internet until the Sewage Pollution Right to Know Law went into effect last month. Based on what’s reported so far, the biggest repositories of raw sewage were Ellicott Creek (2 million gallons), Scajaquada Creek (1 million) and the Niagara River (679,000). Heavy rain or snow melt is often the cause of these overflows. The ground water seeps through cracks in the sewer[...]