Jul 30
2023
Monday Morning Read
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The USA Today network took a look at government’s response to the Christmas Blizzard and found plenty of blame to go around. “Put simply, emergency management breakdowns cost lives,” the story concluded.
A state senator wants his local district attorney to investigate a company who he says lied in an effort to secure IDA subsidies. And no, we’re not talking about the recent shenanigans in Lockport, although maybe we should.
Relatively few contracts to build Terry Pegula his football palace have gone to minority or women owned businesses. April Baskin, chair of the Erie County Legislature, is “disgusted,” in her words. She got played by Pegula, Mark Poloncarz and Kathy Hochul on the community benefits agreement that included hiring goals and is now paying the price.
If the numerous discrimination lawsuits filed against Roswell Park are any indication — and I think they are — the state-funded cancer center has a problem. The solution, as they see it: hire a public relations firm.
Thomas Sibick, the Jan. 6 rioter from Amherst, was sentenced to four years in prison the other day. He cried his way through his sentencing hearing, but he got off easy as far as I’m concerned. Everyone sentenced so far in connection with the insurrection has gotten off easy when you consider their treasonous conduct.
Ken Kruly wrote an incriminating piece adding up all the money raised over the years by Joe Lorigo and his wife Lindsay in pursuit of seats on the Erie County Legislature, and for his run for state Supreme Court. Kruly reports on activity that warrants an investigation by the state Board of Elections, but that body rarely does its job.
Handwriting on the wall: Most dailies owned by Lee Enterprises now publish print editions only three days a week. A few of its largest holdings, including The Buffalo News and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, have been spared. For now. Do you think maybe Lee executives were thinking three days a week when they decided to outsource printing The News to Cleveland?
New studies have cast doubt on the conventional wisdom that social media algorithms promote political division. What I found most interesting: “”More than 97 percent of the links to news stories rated as false by fact checkers on the apps during the 2020 election drew more conservative readers than liberal readers, the research found.”
Some Tesla drivers have complained their cars don’t go as far as advertised before they need a recharge. Tesla’s response: cancel their service appointments, and celebrate doing so.
It’s been a hot summer across the nation and the globe, with many more apparently to come.
Consider:
- The planet is heating up fast; solutions can’t wait.
- The Gulf Stream is headed for collapse, perhaps as soon as a couple of years from now. The last time it happened, Europe and North America, among other parts of the globe, were plunged into the Ice Age.
- July is the hottest month on record.
- There’s a link between rising temperatures and infectious diseases.
- An alliance of right-wing extremists is preparing plans to scuttle climate change measures in the event the GOP regains control of the federal government.
For you baseball fans, the reflections of Carl Erskine, the last living Boy of Summer, including his take on Say Hey, Hammerin’ Hank and Stan the Man. Delightful reads.
