The carpenters, all 70 of them, are back on the job at SolarCity, but more than 120 plumbers were still out as of Tuesday as the state scrambled to make $82.5 million in late payments to contractors who hadn’t been paid since October on the much-hyped Buffalo Billion program.Read More

State Sen. Marc Panepinto may face a Democratic primary in the 60th District this year and if he is victorious he will likely face a strong Republican challenge from the winner of an expected Republican primary between Erie County Clerk Chris Jacobs and Tonawanda attorney Kevin Stocker, but Panepinto isRead More

Erie County Clerk Chris Jacobs, a Republican and a member of the prominent Jacobs family which owns the Delaware North companies, has told political leaders he is going to run for the 60th District State Senate seat now occupied by Sen. Marc Panepinto, a Democrat. “He told me he’s goingRead More

If there’s a financial crisis at Erie Community College, as certainly appears the case, there’s no sign of it if you take a look at the salaries at the college headed by President Jack Quinn at $192,500 even though he spends many days away from the institution on outside payingRead More

  As we have been reporting for the last several weeks, Tonawanda Town Attorney John Flynn appears to have locked up the Erie County Democratic Party’s endorsement for district attorney, and he is expected to officially get the nod at the Executive Committee’s meeting on Saturday (Feb. 13). Sources sayRead More

  Carl Paladino will be the guest speaker on Wednesday, Feb. 24, when A. J. Verel of South Buffalo, a member of the martial arts Hall of Fame, will be sworn in as the 52nd president of the Judges and Police Conference of Erie County at DiPaolo’s Restaurant on SouthRead More

Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael Flaherty who is facing a bruising Democratic primary battle against Tonawanda Town Attorney John Flynn this year, has tapped former Ch. 7 news anchor Joanna Pasceri to become the first public information officer in the history of the office. Flaherty announced the appointment thisRead More

The public will finally get a chance to weigh in on the Erie County bar closing debate next Tuesday (Feb. 2) at 5:30 p. m. at a public hearing in the legislative chambers in Old County Hall, 92 Franklin St., Buffalo. According to Majority Leader Joe Lorigo (C. – WestRead More

As embattled Erie Community College President Jack Quinn prepares to face county lawmakers today (Jan. 28) at 3 p.m. on the scathing state audit of the institution he leads, there are signs that Quinn has been working very hard to convince anyone who will listen that he’s not to blameRead More

So what’s next for Erie Community College now that a state audit has confirmed much of what I’ve written about over the last year about the unauthorized spending and job creation at the public college under the administration of President Jack Quinn? For starters, elected officials like the county executiveRead More

  The local construction company suing the state over its termination as the Canalside contractor in July of 2013 has won a major victory in the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court. In a unanimous ruling handed down last week, the court reinstated DiPizio Construction’s claim that the president ofRead More

The Buffalo Bills are the “ONLY” team in the NFL that hasn’t made the playoffs in the 21st Century, and they are on solid ground to make it 16 straight years not reaching the postseason after their ugly, penalty filled performance in Sunday’s 23 – 20 loss to the PhiladelphiaRead More

Joe Mascia, the elected tenant commissioner at the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority who was suspended by Mayor Byron Brown for racist remarks that were taped without his knowledge, will have a chance to make his case for reinstatement in front of a hearing officer Friday (Dec.18) at 9:30 a.m. inRead More

With the first state audit of Erie Community College in 20 years due to be released shortly at a time when the institution is facing serious financial challenges, new legal concerns are emerging for President Jack Quinn and his administration in the form of a discrimination complaint filed with theRead More

In an effort to keep track of the mounting legal fees taxpayers are paying to Buffalo’s second biggest law firm to defend a wrongful termination suit filed against the state by the Dipizio Construction Co. in the replica canal project, we have filed another Freedom of Information (FOIL) request withRead More

  The long-awaited state audit of Erie Community College (ECC) has now been released and it confirms much of what we have reported over the last several months about the management problems at the college that many have suggested have contributed to the institution’s current financial crisis that has resultedRead More

As I was moving slowly through the very long line at the wake for Kevin Dillon on Sunday at the Cannan Funeral Home, a gentleman who at one point was across from me held out his hand as if holding a microphone, and smiled at me as if to sayRead More

“Actions speak louder than words,” said civil rights attorney Steve Cohen when asked this week about his defense of Joe Mascia, the tenant-elected commissioner on the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority who was suspended Aug. http://southbuffalonews.com9 by Mayor Byron Brown shortly after the release of a tape recording where Mascia canRead More

The long-awaited state comptroller’s audit of financially troubled Erie Community College (ECC) is expected to be released very shortly, possibly as early as Friday (Jan. 8) but more likely early next week. We reported Dec. http://southbuffalonews.com0 that the exit conference between state auditors and ECC officials had been held inRead More

   Recently, a local newspaper in Niagara Falls published a year-end story that highlighted the federal indictment of businessman and newspaper publisher Frank Parlato, Jr., basically rewriting the indictment without any response from Mr. Parlato.  I feel it is necessary to respond to that story and to the public inRead More