Jun 25
2014
The harmful algae blooms in western Lake Erie may be a problem over the next century. In fact, some parts of the western basin could see huge increases of blooms. A story from the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio.
Jun 23
2014
Jun 18
2014
SolarCity is buying Silevo, which last fall announced plans to bring 475 jobs to the city under the Buffalo Billion Program. SolarCity is a much bigger operator and has plans to increase the planned manufacturing plant’s capacity five-fold, which would make it among the largest such facilities in the nation. More jobs are also anticipated, a total of anywhere from 1,000 to 2,500. Beyond the jobs, SolarCity brings noted entrepreneur Elon Musk, whose ventures have included PayPal, Tesla Motors and SpaceX. Will the larger manufacturing capacity necessitate the state upping its $225 million investment to build and equip the clean energy[...]
Jun 18
2014
Jim Heaney makes his debut as a columnist for City & State this week with a piece that puts Buffalo’s improved economy in perspective. Heaney notes a great and growing divide between “the haves and have-nots.” Yes, there is the psychological boost thanks to the Buffalo Billion initiative, and construction cranes denote progress at Canalside and the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. But other aspects of the economy lag. “Any way you cut the numbers—poverty rate, unemployment rate, actual number of city residents working—they lag behind where things stood prior to the Great Recession of 2008–09,” Heaney writes. Meanwhile, the public[...]
Jun 18
2014
Investigative Post editor Jim Heaney discusses the SolarCity deal, and the thinking behind the Buffalo Billion initiative, with WGRZ’s Danny Spewak in a 6 minute, 42 second interview taped Tuesday evening.
Jun 16
2014
The start of the swimming season at Bennett Beach is getting off with a bang—a bacterial bang, that is. The beach, which is 22 miles southwest of downtown Buffalo, opened for swimming Saturday. But health department officials closed it Monday for high levels of E. coli bacteria. The announcement of the closing didn’t reach all levels of county government fast enough, however. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz sent this Twitter post at 10:58 a.m.: Two minutes later, the Twitter feed for Erie County Parks made the following announcement: Bennett Beach closed 15 times last season, according to data from the Environmental Protection[...]
Jun 16
2014
Jun 13
2014
The City of Buffalo will pay a $21,094 fine and spend $79,000 on nine community recycling events as punishment for numerous violations of federal hazardous waste laws under an agreement announced Thursday with the Environmental Protection Agency. City officials also agreed to improve its management of hazardous waste and spent lamps- a commitment the city failed to honor three years ago. The EPA conducted two investigations in 2008 and 2011 that found various violations of hazardous waste laws that put city employees and neighborhood residents at risk of potential mercury poisoning and chemical explosions. The settlement comes two days after Investigative[...]