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Apr 6

2022

Buffalo FAFSA rates on the rebound

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The number of students applying for federal student aid as they transition into college is on the rise in Buffalo after a significant decline during the pandemic. Students looking to enroll in colleges or universities are required to fill out The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to determine if they’re eligible for any financial assistance for tuition, housing and any accompanying fees.  The number of students who completed the FAFSA in high schools across New York dropped 5 percentage points from before the pandemic in February 2020 through the same time this year, according to a recent report[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Apr 5

2022

Allegations of ICE mistreatment of detainees

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A coalition of advocates for immigrants’ rights claims that “egregious conditions” and “unsafe release practices” at the federal detention center in Batavia have caused detainees “serious injury and even death.” Those claims are leveled in a Freedom of Information request filed Wednesday with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, the agency that runs the Batavia facility, formally known as the Buffalo Service Processing Center.  In the FOIA request, the coalition cites current and former detainees’ accounts of beatings, medical neglect and other abuses.  In addition to conditions inside the detention center, the coalition takes issue with ICE’s practice of[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Apr 4

2022

WNY tops the list of most wasteful subsidies

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New York state has a long history of squandering huge amounts of taxpayer money on economic development projects that yield little to no returns.  A new report highlighting the state’s “Dirtiest Dozen” economic development deals ranked four Western New York projects at the top of the list.  The report, developed by the American Economics Liberties Project, a nonprofit organization that advocates for corporate accountability, singled out the subsidy package offered to Plug Power to locate a facility in Genesee County – at a public cost of $4 million per job – as the worst of the worst.  “The most expensive[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Apr 3

2022

Monday Morning Read

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This week’s reposting of the “What I’m Reading” section of my weekly newsletter is topped by a couple of  fresh items that published in newspapers Sunday. You can subscribe to DailyPost here. It’s free and arrives via email at 6 a.m. every Sunday. I devoted the entire newsletter this week to coverage of the Bills stadium deal, which has generated a lot of attention – and press – across the state and beyond. For perspective, consider this story from USA Today. The Tennessee Titans are planning a new stadium and the speaker of the state House of Representatives told a[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Mar 30

2022

Conflicting cost estimates to rehab stadium

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This story was updated Friday, April 1, at 12:39 p.m. Last November, a consultant working for New York State said it would cost $862 million to renovate the current home of the Buffalo Bills, Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park.  That number was often cited by team representatives and local and state officials as they advocated for what they said was a more cost-effective alternative: a new $1.4 billion stadium. “Many people believe you can renovate the stadium,” Jim Wilkinson, a spokesperson for Pegula Sports and Entertainment, told the Buffalo News in August. “That’s just not realistic.” Erie County Executive Mark[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Mar 29

2022

State lawmakers object to Bills stadium deal

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New York state Assemblyman Ron Kim did not hold back on Tuesday when asked for his thoughts on the plan to commit $1.13 billion in public funds to help the billionaire owners of the Buffalo Bills build a new $1.4 billion stadium in Orchard Park.  Tempering enthusiasm expressed on Monday by Gov. Kathy Hochul and other advocates for the project, the Bronx Democrat described the Bills stadium proposal as “one giant scam” that he predicts will be a “horrible” deal for New York State.  “The process of how we got here speaks volume of where we are in the state[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Mar 28

2022

Taxpayer hit on Bills stadium tops $1 billion

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The fear: A new Bills stadium would cost taxpayers $1 billion. The reality: It’s going to cost even more. The deal announced Monday commits the state to spending $600 million upfront to help cover construction costs. Erie County would put up an additional $250 million. But the subsidies don’t stop there. The state is also on the hook for $100 million over 15 years to cover stadium maintenance and repairs. The county and the state authority created to oversee the stadium would be obligated to kick in $180 million over the 30-year lease for capital improvements. Most, if not all of[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Mar 28

2022

Monday Morning Read

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Below is an excerpt from yesterday’s WeeklyPost, which is sent via email every Sunday morning. You can subscribe, for free, here. Ken Kruly has a terrific analysis on New York’s gambling addiction. That is, state’s government’s gambling addiction. It’s a very smart read. Personally, I think the whole gambling thing is getting a bit much. All the ads on my Twitter feed are enough to turn me off. But now we’ve got a pro athlete, no less than hockey superstar Connor McDavid, signing an endorsement deal with an online betting site. And, of course, there’s the continued practice of The Buffalo News[...]

Posted 3 years ago
Investigative Post