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Jan 10

2013

Buffalo shatters temperature record

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Some weather experts believe the record-breaking heat in 2012 is a warning that the frequency of extreme weather will increase in Western New York and the nation. The average temperature in the United States for 2012 was 55.3 degrees, which is 3.2 degrees above the 20th Century average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s State of the Climate report. The new record national average temperature is 1 degree hotter than the previous one, set in 1998. The temperature climbed even more in Buffalo. In 1998, Buffalo recorded its highest average temperature at 50.9 degrees. This record was shattered in 2012 by[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Jan 3

2013

Is hydrofracking safe with DEC?

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A year-old state report leaked to the New York Times and Gannett’s Albany bureau says that hydraulic gas drilling can be done safely if the state Department of Environmental Conservation stays on top of the regulations. Never has there been an environmental issue in New York that has garnered so much emotion and attention than hydrofracking. A record-breaking 80,000 comments were sent to the DEC when it released its first review of the controversial process of extracting natural gas deep underground with sand, massive amounts of water and chemicals. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has long delayed a decision on hydrofracking in the state,[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Dec 20

2012

Job claims inflated for Billion To Buffalo project

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Governor Andrew Cuomo summoned hundreds of muckety-mucks to the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center two weeks ago to make the kind of announcement that politicians live for: government aid to bring jobs to an economically struggling region. In this instance, Cuomo told the assembled that the first $50 million of his $1 billion in promised state economic development funds had leveraged a commitment from Albany Molecular Research Inc. to bring 250 jobs and up to $250 million in private investment to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Reads the headline on the governor’s press release: “Governor and (Western New York Regional Economic[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Dec 16

2012

Q&A: Howard Zemsky

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Howard Zemsky is one of the most influential people in Western New York. And certainly one of its busiest. He’s perhaps best known for his revitalization of the Larkin Building and the surrounding area into one of the hottest – and coolest –  commercial, residential and retail districts in the region. It’s only one of several of his business ventures, including Taurus Capital Partners. Zemsky, 53, has emerged as a key community leader and political player in recent years. Most significantly, he is co-chairman of the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council, which is guiding Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s initiative to spend $1[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Dec 10

2012

Antoine Thompson? Really?

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Antoine Thompson couldn’t find a job when voters fired him from his state Senate job two years ago. So, of course, Mayor Byron Brown has now hired Thompson to help the county’s 37,900 unemployed find jobs. Yeah, right. This is about as blatant – and shameless – as patronage hiring gets. First consider that Thompson and Brown have been joined at the hip, politically speaking, for most of their careers, dating back to their days together in Grassroots, the political club that helped spawn both of their careers. Thompson worked as a legislative aide to Brown when he served on[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Dec 6

2012

First $1B beneficiary awash in red ink

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The biotech company the state plans to spend $50 million on to lure to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus has lost $112 million the past three years and hasn’t posted an annual profit since 2008. And that’s just the beginning of the financial difficulties confronting Albany Molecular Research, according to a probe by Investigative Post. The company has laid off at least 80 employees since 2010 and shuttered one of its foreign facilities, with plans to close a second operation near Seattle. The Albany-based company’s stock price, meanwhile, sunk from  $61.66 in 2001 to $2.26 in December 2011, although the stock[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Dec 5

2012

Good plan off to bad start

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There’s a lot to like about the blueprint for spending $1 billion in state aid to revitalize the Western New York economy that was released Tuesday. I’d feel better about the plan’s prospects, however, if Gov. Andrew Cuomo hadn’t used its release to announce a heavily subsidized deal to bring 250 jobs here that smacks of the business-as-usual, smokestack-chasing approach that has failed us in the past. Let me get my skepticism out of the way up front. The state has agreed to spend $50 million on a biomedical facility and equipment to accommodate an expansion of Albany Molecular Research to[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Dec 2

2012

Q&A: Matt Enstice of the downtown medical campus

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Matt Enstice is chief operating officer of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. He’s been involved with the project since its inception 10 years ago and has used an unassuming, innovative management style to lead the effort to transform 120 acres on the northern edge of downtown into a world class medical campus. A native of Western New York, Enstice earned an undergraduate degree in English from Hobart College and a master of business administration from Canisius College. He left Buffalo after school to work in the entertainment industry and spent five years in the 1990s working at Saturday Night Live[...]

Posted 11 years ago
Investigative Post

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