Living

BY MATT RICCHIAZZI In the days after Artvoice and The Buffalo Chronicle published a story detailing the rampant open-air drug trade and prostitution economy that has engulfed the Grant Ferry section of the Upper West Side, residents say that the activity is

BY MATT RICCHIAZZI Barely four years after winning a landslide election as Pennsylvania’s first female Attorney General, Kathleen Kane was convicted Monday of perjury, obstruction, criminal conspiracy, and other crimes relating to an illegal vendetta against a political enemy. The prosecutor,

John Ciampoli is the Nassau County Attorney who signed off on the Ab Tech deal that was designed to enrich Adam Skelos, the son of the former Senate Majority Leader who was convicted of bribery last year. Ciampoli was then fired

BY MATT RICCHIAZZI City Comptroller Mark Schroeder said if he is elected mayor in 2017, he will reverse the controversial new Hertel Avenue metered parking plan set to go in effect this fall. “Every single business district has been put

The Buffalo Police Department reported their Narcotics Division executed a series of search warrants during the week of July 25-29, arresting several individuals and announcing they seized small quantities of drugs, mostly marijuana. What they did not report was the

BY TONY FARINA The battle for the job of Erie County district attorney is turning into a war of words between Acting DA Michael Flaherty and his opponent in the Democratic primary, Tonawanda Town Attorney John Flynn. Last week in

BY FRANK PARLATO Former Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority (BMHA) Commissioner, Joe Mascia, 71, who was removed by Mayor Byron Brown from office in May, is suing BMHA and The City of Buffalo in NY State Supreme Court. In what could

BY JIM OSTROWSKI “War is the health of the state,” said Randolph Bourne.  “War is hell,” said General Sherman.  The war criminal Sherman was an expert in the subjects of hell and war.  When I was twelve, I attended my

BY TONY FARINA Carrie Cohen was a big-time prosecutor with corruption-fighting U. S. Attorney Preet Bharara in the Southern District of New York and before that, with the State Attorney General’s office.  But she left it all behind a few

BY TONY FARINA The big political news this week, of course, was the nomination of New York billionaire Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for president at the GOP convention in Cleveland. Prominent among the Trump supporters is Buffalo developer

BY TONY FARINA Almost lost in the unbelievable feeding frenzy over the indictment last week of political operative Steve Pigeon was the news that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s highly-touted job-creation program Start-Up NY has created more tax-free zones than jobs. Empire

BY FRANK PARLATO As everyone knows, there is often a difference between “the law” and justice. After all laws are made by elected officials under the influence of lobbyists and their desire to enrich themselves, and get reelected. Anyone who

BY TONY FARINA Gov. Andrew Cuomo came to Niagara Falls on Tuesday to officially break ground on the long-awaited Hamister hotel project in downtown Niagara Falls and he used the occasion to praise his state development team led locally by

BY MATT RICCHIAZZI One of the most accomplished political activists of his generation, former Erie County Democratic Party Chairman G. Steven Pigeon has long been a target of entrenched special interests and party hacks. Today, he is fighting for his

BY JOSEPH KISSEL Rus Thompson says he can’t talk about it, but as he said during his Sunday “remove the tolls” address at Fisherman’s Park in Grand Island, anybody else can. Thompson was recently charged with five felony counts of

BY TONY FARINA Dr. [Eugene] Gosy was “the last best hope for patients suffering from chronic pain,” said Joel Daniels this week in describing the difficulties many patients have had finding help since the Williamsville pain treatment center operated by

Rumor has it that County Clerk Chris Jacobs is nervous following sweeping losses for the school board’s reform coalition earlier this month. Jacobs has been a chief architect of the reform coalition for years, and is said to be shaken by

Former State Senator Greg Ball, a popular two-termer from the lower Hudson Valley, has taken a major annual political fundraiser private. The move follows a decision last year to forgo a reelection effort after US Attorney Preet Baharara started asking