Latest

Sep 11

2013

A rich, but tolerable development subsidy deal

Published by

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 12 years ago

Sep 10

2013

When you cross the Peace Bridge …

Published by

The U.S. government, acting mostly in secret, has imposed rules that effectively suspend Constitutional protections against unwarranted searches and seizures at border crossings. A report from The New York Times.

Posted 12 years ago

Sep 5

2013

Clean air rules help revive forestland

Published by

Environmental News Network reports that the Clean Air Act’s regulations combating acid rain have brought life back to forestland in the Central Appalachian Mountain in West Virginia. Researchers chose this area because it is downwind from Ohio River Valley coal plants.

Posted 12 years ago

Sep 5

2013

Sustainable cities

Published by

New York and San Francisco are among 10 cities internationally that are plotting a sustainable future. Strategies involve transit, recycling and energy efficiency. A report from Fast Company.

Posted 12 years ago
Investigative Post