Tagged: 2021

Letter: Brown used incumbency to unfair advantage

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Letter: Brown used incumbency to unfair advantage

By Beth Krom

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

As the daughter of a television anchorman – the late Irv Weinstein – I’ve always been attentive to how stories get written. As a former elected council member and mayor who served 16 years in public office, I know something about what it takes to run, win and serve. And as a former resident of Buffalo and Kenmore, now living in Irvine, Calif., I’ve been watching the race for Buffalo mayor with interest.

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Who Counts?

By KJ Shepard

Read the full article from Protean Magazine, here.

The actual extent of homelessness in the U.S., writes KJ Shepherd, is drastically underestimated—a result of flawed counting metrics, enabled by a broader refusal by power to admit its true, staggering scale.

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Brown’s 2022 capital budget proposal includes new firehouse, police training center

By Deidre Williams

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

Public safety projects account for one-third of Mayor Byron Brown’s $25 million capital spending proposal for next year.

The mayor recommends spending about $4 million for a new fire station and $1.3 million for a training center for the Buffalo Police Department among other spending for public safety – for a total of $8.3 million.

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“At the End of the Day, Climate Is a Working-Class Issue”

By Andrew Giambrone

Read the full article from Jacobin, here.

India Walton may have lost the Buffalo mayoral race last week, but her campaign isn’t the only socialist one in upstate New York. Today in the Mid-Hudson Valley, Sarahana Shrestha, the Ulster County cochair of the Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) local chapter, announced her bid for the state assembly seat for Kingston, New Paltz, Woodstock, Rhinebeck, and other areas. The seat is currently held by Kevin Cahill, a nearly twenty-nine-year incumbent expected to seek reelection in New York’s 2022 Democratic primary.

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After a long strike at Mercy Hospital, how do Catholic Health and union workers repair the relationship?

By Jon Harris

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

Catholic Health System and the Communications Workers of America traded blows like heavyweight boxers in a 35-day main event at Mercy Hospital in South Buffalo – shaped during the prior 18 months by a pandemic that forever changed each side.

The bout is now concluded, after about 2,500 workers overwhelmingly ratified new labor contracts over the weekend and into Monday.

Now it’s time to recover. That starts now, as the 2,000 workers who were on strike for 35 days begin returning to Mercy Hospital on Wednesday.

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NAACP ‘coming back home’ to African American Heritage Corridor

By Mark Sommer

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

The 106-year-old Buffalo branch of the NAACP is “coming back home,” branch president Rev. Mark Blue said Tuesday of the organization’s imminent relocation to a rehabilitated 19th century building in the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor.

“This is kind of like a dream come true,” said Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, who grew up on the East Side never knowing about the history of the corridor, including the start of the Niagara Movement, the precursor to the NAACP, or the role of the Underground Railroad at the Michigan Street Baptist Church.

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With a community on edge, the trial over the killing of Ahmaud Arbery begins.

By Richard Fausset

Read the full article from The New York Times, here.

The jury, which is made up of residents from Glynn County, where more than a quarter of the population is Black, includes 11 white people and one Black person. Anxiety over the jury’s racial makeup was palpable among observers and participants during the more than two weeks that the jurors were being chosen.

Lawyers have said the trial could last a month. The extraordinarily long jury selection process, a grueling process that took two and a half week and included the seating of four alternate jurors, has already underscored the explosive nature of this case. That is particularly true in coastal Glynn County, where many of the 85,000 residents are connected by bonds of family, school or work, and where racial tension and harmony are deeply laced.

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Joe Biden Is Giving Us the Presidency the Left Always Predicted

By Luke Savage

Read the full article from Jacobin, here.

Joe Biden ran for president as the “Stop Bernie” candidate who promised that “nothing would fundamentally change” under his watch. Now, with his ambitious policy agenda being whittled down to a fraction of a loaf, he’s returning to his centrist roots.

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Covid-19 vaccination rate climbs statewide; so do positive test rates in WNY

By Scott Scanlon

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

Covid-19 vaccination rates continued to climb across New York State over the weekend as children ages 5 to 11 began to receive their first smaller dose of the Pfizer vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration authorized such doses for children in that age range last month.

“The weather is getting colder, and friends and family will be spending more time indoors, increasing the risk of transmission and threatening the incredible progress we’ve made so far,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday afternoon as she reported almost 111,500 new vaccines were given during the previous 24 hours.

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Why India Walton’s candidacy could pave way for left-leaning politics in Buffalo

By Robert J. McCarthy

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

When India B. Walton acknowledged Wednesday that she would lose her campaign for mayor, she seemed resolved to avoid ending up as a footnote in Buffalo’s political history.

Instead, the nurse-turned-candidate who captured national attention with her challenge to incumbent Byron W. Brown served notice on the city’s political establishment. While unsuccessful, she said, her campaign had accomplished “ending the era of complacent Buffalo politicians.”

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