Chippewa to be closed to traffic weekend nights following reported stabbings
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Chippewa Street in downtown Buffalo will be closed to traffic during late night, weekend hours until Labor Day after three people were stabbed in a large fight over the weekend, Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon said Thursday.
The closures will take place from Delaware Avenue to Franklin Street from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
The Vintage Room at 88 West Chippewa St. is temporarily closed after a large fight occurred over the weekend, according to B-District Police Chief Tommy Champion. The fight spilled out into the parking lot and across the street. Three people were reportedly stabbed in the fight and suffered non-life threatening injuries, Champion said.
Scanlon said the Chippewa closures are intended to keep patrons, business owners, and police officers safe.
'By reducing vehicular traffic during those peak hours in this corridor, we're creating a pedestrian friendly environment that's safer, more walkable, and better suited for a night life activity and beneficial to all the restaurants and bars down here in this area,' he said.
Scanlon is collaborating with Buffalo police and the Chippewa Alliance in this effort. It is unclear when the Vintage Room will be reopened.
Kayleigh Hunter-Gasperini joined the News 4 team in 2024 as a Digital Video Producer. She is a graduate of Chatham University.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
a day ago
- Politico
VOA's final reckoning
Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government, your guide to Donald Trump's unprecedented overhaul of the federal government — the key decisions, the critical characters and the power dynamics that are upending Washington and beyond. Send tips | Subscribe | Email Sophia | Email Irie | Email Ben The Trump administration today sent out termination notices to hundreds of employees at Voice of America. Included in that group are employees working for the network's Persian-language service who were called back from administrative leave just last week in the wake of Israel's attack on Iran, according to two people familiar with the decision. Today's move — which makes official what has long been expected since hundreds of contract employees got termination notices in early May — is the latest step in the Trump administration's sweeping agenda to downsize the federal government, tamp down on the press and remake America's role in the global order. Critics of the administration's focus on VOA have said that the network has played a vital role in combatting disinformation abroad. But the administration says these cuts are in service of 'cutting waste' and putting 'American taxpayers first.' 'Today, we took decisive action to effectuate President Trump's agenda to shrink the out-of-control federal bureaucracy,' senior presidential adviser KARI LAKE said in a statement. The action eliminates 1,400 jobs, roughly an 85 percent cut to the workforce. The last day on payroll for the employees will be Labor Day. Those affected by today's cuts who are not eligible for mandatory retirement, are being terminated without severance pay — contradicting VOA's parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media's policy on severance, according to one of the people. 'As our legal team fight[s] for our rights under the law, we call on Congress to continue its long tradition of bipartisan support for VOA,' the named plaintiffs in VOA's lawsuit against the Trump administration said in a statement. 'Moscow, Beijing, Tehran and extremist groups are flooding the global information space with anti-American propaganda. Do not cede this ground by silencing America's voice.' All of the lead plaintiffs — former White House bureau chief PATSY WIDAKUSWARA, former press freedom editor JESSICA JERREAT and former director of strategy and performance assessment KATE NEEPER — received their RIF notices today. Lake said in her statement that 250 employees will remain across VOA, the the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and their parent company, USAGM. She noted that none of the OCB's 33 employees were terminated. The government-funded network, which was founded 80 years ago to combat Nazi disinformation during World War II, has — largely unsuccessfully — fought the administration's decision in court. The administration has sent RIF notices to employees in small batches for weeks. But today's notice could deliver the coup de grâce for VOA. MESSAGE US — West Wing Playbook is obsessively covering the Trump administration's reshaping of the federal government. Are you a federal worker? A DOGE staffer? Have you picked up on any upcoming DOGE moves? We want to hear from you on how this is playing out. Email us at westwingtips@ Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe! POTUS PUZZLER Who was the first president to have a phone installed in the White House? (Answer at bottom.) Agenda Setting GET OUTTA HERE: The Trump administration has put new restrictions on members of Congress' access to immigration enforcement field offices after several Democratic lawmakers were refused access or even arrested, Reuters' JONATHAN ALLEN reports. New DHS guidelines also say ICE has sole power over whether to deny or cancel a tour of a detention center by a member of Congress. Federal law prohibits DHS from preventing members of Congress from entering any facility 'used to detain or otherwise house aliens,' and lawmakers do not have to give DHS prior notice of a planned visit. But the new guidelines say that the law does not apply to ICE field offices, although immigrants are often detained at ICE field offices before being transferred to an ICE jail. TIME TO MERGE: The Trump administration is considering whether to transfer some programs from USDA's Rural Development agency to the Small Business Administration, according to documents obtained by our MARCIA BROWN. SBA staff have drafted an executive order for President DONALD TRUMP, which would give SBA control over three programs in the Rural Business Cooperative Service, which offers grants, loan guarantees and other capital products. However, USDA officials have pushed back on the proposal in a briefing memo meant for Agriculture Secretary BROOKE ROLLINS, arguing that SBA is not equipped to handle those programs and that it would detract from the administration's priorities. (WILD)FIRE AT WILL: The Trump administration's changes to federal wildfire response have left public health, meteorology, forest management and disaster experts concerned that the nation's wildfire defenses will be decimated, our ZACK COLMAN reports. In an executive order, Trump moved to consolidate federal firefighting personnel and ramp up the use of AI and other technologies to identify and respond to wildfires. He's also looking for state and local officials to take more responsibility for wildfire response. The administration is 'doubling down on a failed approach,' said DAVE CALKIN, who served 25 years in the U.S. Forest Service before leaving in April through the deferred resignation program. 'This approach is incredibly hard on the firefighters,' he said. 'The firefighters are not well.' WHO'S IN, WHO'S OUT THE PLANS FOR EPA: The EPA has laid out more details on Trump's fiscal blueprint to slash the agency's funding, gut environmental justice efforts and downsize its workforce, our KEVIN BOGARDUS reports. The agency's 736-page justification to Congress for the fiscal 2026 plan was posted online recently. EPA's environmental justice work, designed to aid underserved communities struggling with pollution, would be axed. Zero dollars nor personnel are allocated to community grants, technical assistance and coordination with the Superfund program for that work. Musk Radar BACK TO THE BASICS: ELON MUSK, who has been relatively quiet on his social media platform X in recent weeks, did not mince words about top Trump adviser SERGIO GOR both Thursday and today. Musk on Thursday called Gor — who played a role in his split with the president — a 'snake,' our GISELLE RUHIYYIH EWING reports. And this afternoon, Musk said that Gor is 'breaking the law,' referring to a New York Post story from this week that found Gor did not turn in his Standard Form 86, a questionnaire of more than 100 pages required for officials who need security clearances. In the Courts MORE ON USAGM: A federal judge today ordered USAGM to pay the money it owes to Open Technology Fund, a tech nonprofit promoting global internet freedom, for the rest of the fiscal year, our ANTHONY ADRAGNA reports. Judge ROYCE LAMBERTH of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered the agency, and Lake, to immediately dispense more than $2 million in funds appropriated by Congress to OTF and to pay out another $2 million through the rest of fiscal 2025. What We're Reading Seeking Jobs and Purpose, Fired Federal Workers Form New Networks (NYT's Eileen Sullivan) White House floats a new funding trick — and GOP lawmakers grimace (POLITICO's Jennifer Scholtes) A former DOGE employee gives his account of working for the operation (NPR's Bobby Allyn) POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER In 1877, former President RUTHERFORD B. HAYES had the first telephone installed in the telegraph room in what was then known as the Executive Mansion, our ANDY GLASS reported in 2017. While Hayes embraced the new technology, few people called him. The phone, whose number was '1,' initially could only be reached by the Treasury Department. Fifty years later, HERBERT HOOVER had the first phone line installed at his desk in the Oval Office. Former President BARACK OBAMA recounted Hayes' thoughts on the invention in 2012: 'It's a great invention but who would ever want to use one?'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Fact-checking attack ads in Buffalo Mayor's race
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – News 4 is Your Local Election Headquarters, and we're fact-checking nasty television attack ads from the top two Democratic candidates in the race for Buffalo mayor to help you separate fact from fiction. The Buffalo primary is just days away and will be held on Tuesday, June 24. In these relentless attack ads, State Senator Sean Ryan is depicted as being too dangerous to be mayor. The ads against Buffalo Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon claim that Scanlon is tied to President Donald Trump, Carl Paladino and MAGA Republicans. But not everything you hear and see in the ads is true. 'Sean Ryan is just too extreme,' one ad says. 'Carl Paladino and MAGA are with Scanlon,' another ad says. You've probably seen these dueling political attack ads all over the airwaves. The two top Democratic candidates in the race for Buffalo mayor hurling accusations at the other. Where to vote early for the primary election for Buffalo mayor In one ad against Ryan, Scanlon's campaign uses real Buffalo police officers, not in uniform, making the claim that Senator Ryan is too dangerous. And, that he voted for bail reform — that's true, but he's also supported revisions to the bail reform law ever since it was approved as part of the State Budget in 2019. It also repeats the false notion that India Walton wanted to cut $7.5 million from Buffalo Police and fire 100 police officers. This claim came up four years ago, during Walton's campaign against former Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. As an activist, Walton was aligned with the Defund the Police Movement. But, as a candidate for mayor, Walton's campaign at the time said her plan was to reallocate money to mental health programs within the department and that this would not result in layoffs — so that claim in Scanlon's ad is false. '[…] and the hotel tax on out-of-towners to fund our police, he fought against that too,' the ad against Ryan continues. Yes, Senator Ryan has been against Buffalo's hotel tax. But, the ad gives the impression that the extra fee could strictly fund BPD, which isn't the case. Instead, the hotel tax would be a way to balance the city's budget — so this claim is partially true. The use of Buffalo police officers in political ads is a tactic that Byron Brown used to defeat India Walton four years ago and was a strategy that raised ethical concerns. In New York state, police officers are prohibited by punishment of a misdemeanor from using or attempting to use their official power or authority, in any manner to control, affect or influence the opinion of any citizen. 'If you read the statute very literally, you can see how someone could interpret that to say that what they're doing by getting on the ad, talking about police-related issues and then, having a banner that says these are real Buffalo police officers, but they're not in uniform, you could see how it could be interpreted to be an A misdemeanor, a violation of election law,' said legal analyst Barry Covert. Covert says officers in campaign ads could still be protected under the First Amendment for free speech. 'First Amendment political speech is the most protected in the broad array of what the First Amendment protects by way of speech,' Covert said. Scanlon's chief of staff and deputy mayor Brian Gould told News 4 in an email: '[…] any Buffalo police officer, male or female, that appears in a television ad for the mayor's candidacy is doing so as a volunteer, is not in a BPD uniform, is not representing themselves as a BPD officer or representing the department itself.' Buffalo PBA president John Davidson says: 'The Buffalo PBA is fully endorsing Christopher Scanlon for mayor of Buffalo and we encourage our members to support him in any way that they feel comfortable, including political ads, while off duty.' Big takeaways from News 4's Democratic mayoral debate Claims to defund Buffalo Police — although deceptive in these ads — can be effective, said Republican political strategist Carl Calabrese. 'Even staunch Democrats will tell you that when the Democrat party back in 2020 got onto the defund police message it was a loser and it's been a loser since and you've seen a lot of Democrats backtracking from those previous positions. So yeah, people want law enforcement, they want safe neighborhoods,' Calabrese said. We questioned Acting Mayor Scanlon on the use of Buffalo police officers in his ad. Asked if he was using real Buffalo police officers in his ads, potentially in violation of Election law, Scanlon said: 'I don't think that's the case at all, but I would say because the senator has a history, a track record of supporting legislation that impacts public safety in the City of Buffalo.' Now to Senator Sean Ryan's attack ad against Chris Scanlon. 'He's been Carl Paladino's pick,' one ad says. It's true when the acting mayor was a political newcomer over a decade ago, Carl Paladino supported him. Paladino, a local businessman, has been around politics for years — he once ran for governor and for Congress, and served on the Buffalo School Board. 'Paladino's made racist comments about Michelle Obama,' the ad says. Paladino has faced accusations of racism in the past, while serving on the Buffalo school board for comments he made in an Artvoice survey nearly a decade ago. 'The Paladino's are even bankrolling Scanlon's campaign,' the ad continues. Campaign contributions from the Paladino family to Scanlon came up during News 4's Mayoral Debate. 'Chris Scanlon has received tens of thousands of dollars from Carl Paladino and Carl Paladino has received tens of millions of dollars from the City of Buffalo. That ratio Chris, you're a cheap date on this one,' Ryan said. WIVB News 4 looked up New York State Campaign Finance records and found that since Chris Scanlon became acting mayor and then announced he was running for the office, nine campaign contributions can be linked to Carl's son William Paladino, or companies in the Paladino family ranging from $150 to $5,200. Donations from William Paladino, Paladino Development, Ellicott Construction, Joseph Hannon, the president of Ellicott Development, the 4628 Group, and an LLC called 727 Elmwood Avenue — totaling $19,100 in campaign contributions. 'William Paladino is the owner and CEO of Ellicott Development and a personal friend; William Paladino has donated to my campaign,' Scanlon said. 'As far as the assertion that Carl Paladino is funding my campaign and fueling my campaign, I have not received one dollar in this campaign from Carl Paladino.' We couldn't find any record of Carl Paladino directly giving campaign donations to Chris Scanlon. But Carl Paladino is still listed on Ellicott Development's website as the chairman of the board. 'It was me who was donating to the campaign, yes,' William Paladino said earlier this month. James Gardner endorsed by Republicans for Buffalo mayor We asked political strategist Carl Calabrese about Ryan's approach against Scanlon. 'Ryan on the other hand, it appears to me that his polling is telling him attack big money donors, attack Trump, attack MAGA Republicans and tie Chris Scanlon into those things. He's probably looking at how those messages play to the core Democrat voter, what's called the prime voter,' Calabrese said. What's not in Ryan's campaign ad is the $500 he received in 2014 from William Paladino when Ryan was in the state Assembly. We asked Senator Ryan about this. 'So, 10 years ago or so a donation slipped through my campaign, which I didn't find out about until a long time thereafter and we had a screen on the campaign for Ellicott Development and Carl Paladino, I never thought another Paladino would send a check in,' Ryan said. Ryan says that $500 check was then donated to a group in Albany. 'We took that donation of $500 and made a $1,000 contribution to the Alliance for Quality of Education, a group that supports high quality public education,' Ryan said. Senator Ryan says that policy not to take any money from Ellicott Development and Carl Paladino was then updated to include all Paladinos and their companies. We did reach out to Carl Paladino to get his reaction on being brought into the campaign as a talking point. Carl Paladino says he has no comment right now on the ad and asked that we contact him after the primary. Early voting in the Primary Election is already underway. The primary is just days away on June 24. Since Scanlon became acting mayor Date Name Amount To 1/10/2025 William Paladino $5,200 Friends Of Christopher P Scanlon 1/10/2025 Paladino Development Group Inc $5,000 Friends Of Christopher P Scanlon 12/6/2024 William Paladino $2,500 Friends Of Christopher P Scanlon 1/10/2025 Ellicott Construction Company II $2,500 Friends Of Christopher P Scanlon 1/10/2025 4628 Group, Inc $2,500 Friends Of Christopher P Scanlon 5/19/2025 727 Elmwood Ave LLC $500 Friends Of Christopher P Scanlon 4/8/2025 Joseph Hannon $500 Friends Of Christopher P Scanlon 1/7/2025 727 Elmwood Ave LLC $250 Friends Of Christopher P Scanlon 1/7/2025 Joseph Hannon $150 Friends Of Christopher P Scanlon Jeff Preval is an award-winning anchor and reporter who joined the News 4 team in December 2021. See more of his work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Politico
a day ago
- Politico
Majority of staff axed at Voice of America
The Trump administration on Friday sent out termination notices to hundreds of employees at Voice of America. Included in that group are employees working for the network's Persian-language service who were called back from administrative leave just last week in the wake of Israel's attack on Iran, according to two people familiar with the decision. The move — which makes official what has long been expected since hundreds of contract employees got termination notices in early May — is a part of the Trump administration's sweeping target to downsize the government and remake America's role in the global order. Critics of the administration's focus on VOA have said that the network has played a vital role in combatting disinformation abroad. But the administration says these cuts are in service of 'cutting waste' and putting 'American taxpayers first.' 'Today, we took decisive action to effectuate President Trump's agenda to shrink the out-of-control federal bureaucracy,' senior presidential adviser Kari Lake said in a statement released Friday . The move eliminates 1,400 jobs at U.S. Agency for Global Media, VOA's parent agency, roughly an 85 percent cut to the workforce. The last day on payroll for the employees will be Labor Day. Some of those affected by Friday's cuts who are not old enough for mandatory retirement, are being terminated without severance pay, according to one of the people. The move would contradict USAGM's policy on severance. 'As our legal team fight[s] for our rights under the law, we call on Congress to continue its long tradition of bipartisan support for VOA,' the named plaintiffs in VOA's lawsuit against the Trump administration said in a statement. 'Moscow, Beijing, Tehran and extremist groups are flooding the global information space with anti-American propaganda. Do not cede this ground by silencing America's voice.' Lake said in her statement that 250 employees will remain across the USAGM, VOA and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting. She noted that none of the OCB's 33 employees were terminated. The government-funded network, which was founded 80 years ago to combat Nazi disinformation during World War II, has — largely unsuccessfully — fought the administration's decision in court. The administration sent RIF notices to employees in small batches for weeks. But Friday's notice could deliver the coup de grâce for Voice of America after decades of providing the world with accurate information in countries where media is state-run.
