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Feb 9

2022

Amazon subsidies: $4.7 billion and counting

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Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer and, at a current value of $1.6 billion, one of the wealthiest companies of any kind on the planet.  A report released Wednesday by the subsidy watchdog group, Good Jobs First, suggests the retail giant is also in an elite category when it comes to cashing in on taxpayer-funded benefits. The report, titled “Amazon.com’s Hidden Worldwide Subsidies,” found the company has received $4.7 billion in public subsidies over the past decade to help drive the expansion of its global network of warehouses, distribution centers, office complexes and call centers.  According to the report,[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 8

2022

School attendance continues to slide

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Attendance in Buffalo schools has gone from bad to worse this school year. Last year, when instruction was mostly remote, 34 percent of students attended class at what the state considered a satisfactory rate. So far this school year, that number has dropped to 18 percent. Conversely, the share of students with “severe” attendance problems – that is, they miss school at least one day a week, if not more – has jumped from 34 to 40 percent.  District officials said there are many reasons for the increase: Ongoing transportation issues, inclement weather and, especially, an increase in COVID-19 cases[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 7

2022

NFL stadium rush is on

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The Buffalo Bills aren’t the only NFL franchise interested in replacing or upgrading their stadium. Seven other teams are working on plans. While the Bills stadium plan – expected to cost $1.4 billion – is the most expensive at the moment, the other stadium deals won’t come cheap. Like the Bills plan, most of the stadium deals involve large sums of public money.  Here’s a look at the other plans in the works:  New England Patriots. Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, which opened in 2002, is getting a $225 million makeover starting this year. Owner Robert Kraft and his family[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 7

2022

The latest news on The Buffalo News

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Here’s the latest on the tussle over the ownership of the chain that owns The Buffalo News: To recap, Alden Global Capital made a bid late last year to purchase Lee Enterprises, whose newspaper holdings include The News. Lee has resisted in a series of maneuvers and the back-and-forth between the companies has gotten quite nasty.  The latest salvo came last week in the release of the chain’s quarterly financial report in which it described its media holdings as “the fastest growing digital subscription platform in local media.” Net profits were $13.2 million. All is good, according to Lee. Alden[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 7

2022

DailyPost

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Welcome to Daily Post, which we’ll produce Monday through Friday, featuring short enterprise pieces and summaries of full-length stories. Thursday, March 3, 2022 Cash calls it quits Kriner Cash has officially cashed out as Buffalo schools’ superintendent. He’s resigned after leading the district for five and a half years. The district’s Board of Education unanimously accepted his resignation at a special work session tonight. “Both the Board and the superintendent came to an agreement that we were going to part ways,” Board of Education President Louis Petrucci said. The full terms of the agreement aren’t clear — “You can FOIL[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 4

2022

State paid $1B in OT last year

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It cost New York taxpayers nearly a billion dollars to cover the overtime for state employees last year. That’s part of the findings from a review of state salary data posted Thursday to seethroughny.net, a government transparency website operated by the Albany-based think tank, the Empire Center for Public Policy.  In its analysis of the 2021 state government payroll, the Empire Center determined state agencies paid $953.6 million in overtime during the calendar year. That’s $100 million, or about 12 percent, higher than in 2020.  According to the Empire Center, 228 state employees were paid $100,000 or more in overtime[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 3

2022

Stadium benefits campaign goes public

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 A coalition that wants a community benefits agreement attached to public subsidies for a new Buffalo Bills stadium has taken their campaign public, after months of quiet organizing. The coalition held a press conference Tuesday morning at Johnnie B. Wiley stadium on the city’s East Side — the old Rockpile, the original home of the Bills. The speakers included community activist Karima Amin, Tanvier Peart and Miles Gresham of Partnership for the Public Good, Bridge Rauch of Buffalo Transit Riders United, and Dr. Myron Glick, the founder and CEO of Jericho Road Community Health Center. The coalition wants a legally[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 2

2022

Intel lured by $2 billion subsidy

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The microchip subsidy game is getting more and more costly for taxpayers. Multiple media outlets reported this week that it cost the state of Ohio more than $2 billion worth of incentives to convince tech-giant Intel Corp. to invest $20 billion in the construction of two chip-making plants just outside of Columbus. The subsidy package for what’s been described as the largest single private-sector company investment in Ohio history reportedly involves $1.2 billion in cash incentives, including a direct cash grant to the company valued at $600 million.  Economic development officials in Ohio described the $600 million as an “onshoring[...]

Posted 3 years ago
Investigative Post