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Scorecard: The Week's Winners and Losers

The Week's Winners & Losers

Independent Redistricting

After local politicians proved yet again they were too self-serving and dysfunctional to reach compromise, a federal judge on August 4 unveiled the 11 new districts of the Erie County Legislature. Credit goes to the judge, who ignored incumbency and showed independent integrity in redrawing the borders.

Anti-Government Rhetoric

Fringe presidential candidate Ron Paul, a bible-thumping Texas libertarian, brought his message of small government to East Aurora on August 5. While Paul’s stance on drug prohibition, the Patriot Act, and the War on Terror are admirable, it’s hard to put faith in a man that trusts food and medicine to inspect itself.

Death Blows

Laywers for Facebook claimed in Buffalo federal court on August 5 that it discovered a “smoking gun” disproving claims by Allegheny County man Paul Ceglia that he is entitled to a 50 percent share of the $69 billion social networking site. The only thing fading faster than this guy’s lawsuit is Google+.

Fault

Dead man walking. The Buffalo Board of Education on August 9 voted 6-3 in favor of moving forward with a “no-fault termination” of Superintendent James Williams’s contract. Sure, there’s no fault to be found in this whole mess. It’s merely a cordial, lawyered-up, $110,000 parting of ways.

Double Down

Gov. Andrew Cuomo doubled down on Indian resentment on August 9, announcing he would consider going all-in on casino gambling in New York. No, not race track slots or video poker, but full-on LasVegas-style gaming. If you thought the reservation was pissed about tax-free cigarettes, just wait.





By the numbers...

18

Millions of dollars in federal grants requested by Buffalo Public Schools that were rejected by New York State on August 9. The $2 million per school per year for three years request was being sought for Lafayette High School, Bilingual Center School 33 and Dr. Charles Drew Science Magnetto, three of the “persistently lowest achieving” schools in the state.

45.5

Average age of a bridge in New York—23rd highest among states and 3.5 years greater than the nationwide average of 42—according to a 2011 report released by the advocacy group Transportation for America. The same report revealed that 12 percent of bridges statewide were rated “structurally deficient” by government standards, compared to 11.5 percent nationwide. On August 7 the Peace Bridge celebrated its 84th birthday linking Buffalo with Fort Erie. Most bridges are designed to last roughly 50 years.

29.6

Value in billions of HSBC’s credit card holdings in the United States, which on August 10 it announced it had agreed to sell to Capital One Financial. Currently HSBC’s credit card business employs 140 people in Western New York, who will be transferred to Capital One under an agreement of the sale.


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