By Tony Farina Are the same political interests that followed Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s lead more than a decade ago and banned hydraulic fracturing across New York State now doing their best to effectively…

Josh Wander's 777 Partners collapsed after a premature leak of a federal investigation, which prosecutors allegedly had no right to disclose. The piece asks whether the Justice Department's indictment ended up doing a favor for sanctioned Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, whose money stood behind Everton FC.

By Tony Farina I’ve covered many court proceedings and trials in my more than 35 years as a newspaper and television reporter and I want to make the point at the beginning of this story that whether elected or appointed, some judges are fair and honest and many others fall short of the mark. In other words, the word jurist does not convey skill and knowledge of the law; it is just a role that some serve with distinction, and others do not. By definition, a jurist is a person who has expert or thorough knowledge of the law but

By Tony Farina There are certainly many questions swirling around the mayor’s declaration of a state of emergency in Niagara Falls over trash, blight, and deteriorating streets that was declared back on July 20 and has been extended several times since because, according to Mayor Robert Restaino, the City Council refused to approve contractor agreements. But some observers point to depleted staff at City Hall, like in Public Works and Code Enforcement and other departments, as really self-inflicted wounds that are the underlying reasons work is not getting done in the city. Or is there even more to the story,