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It turns out that the City of Buffalo stopped fluoridating its water in 2015, according to a report by Charlie Specht in The Buffalo News. Pretty outrageous. Then again, the administration of Mayor Byron Brown has been bad news for public health for a long time. It dragged its feet on addressing lead poisoning. Tolerates the death of civilians at the hands of police. Didn’t do squat about pollution from the Peace Bridge. Has been cutting down climate-soothing trees without sufficiently replacing them, especially on the East Side. And left residents to largely fend for themselves during the recent blizzard (more than 30 people died). All this prompts me to again pose the question I raised a couple of weeks ago: Is Byron Brown the worst mayor in America?
Reinvent Albany, the good government group that does stellar work, published a devastating analysis of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s economic development agenda that she outlined in her recent State of the State address and related documents. The headline sums things up pretty succinctly: “Governor Hochul doubling down on totally discredited corporate welfare.” I strongly encourage you to read their analysis.
Speaking of corporate welfare, The New York Times published an op-ed piece on the microchip industry, which is in line for massive subsidies from Hochul, and the Albany Times Union explained how the state’s push for microchip manufacturing could work at cross-purposes with its renewable energy goals.
How is this for brazen green washing? Ohio lawmakers, in coordination with the fossil fuel industry, have redefined natural gas as green energy.
Ron DeSantis is the modern day George Wallace.
The Intercept points to a deeper problem than Joe Biden and Donald Trump retaining classified documents: governments’ penchant for secrecy. It’s not just a federal problem. It’s at the root of stonewalling at the local and state level, as well.
The Verge has an inside account of Elon Musk’s disastrous takeover of Twitter.
RIP, David Crosby.
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