I know that people are really going to be stoked when they hear that Pearl Jam is coming to town. I've never seen the band live before and I'd like to catch a performance, but for me they are an added bonus to the opening act coming to The HSBC Arena - Band of Horses. It was only moments ago that I learned that the group was even coming to Buffalo... the press release announced that Pearl Jam was hitting downtown on Monday May 10th. Then, as I gleaned the release the opening act jumped out at me.
I always thought that when I finally caught Band of Horses it would be at a more intimate venue, not The HSBC Arena. Of course I had not taken into account that they would be opening for Pearl Jam. The Indie rock band is preparing audiences with the release of its new album titled, Infinite Arms. With songs like "No One's Gonna Love You" and "The Funeral", Band of Horses has been climbing the ranks of stardom... maybe it's appropriate that they have teamed up with Pearl Jam and will be piggybacking on major production effects.
If you want to get a dose of one of their most acclaimed songs, then you might want to check out this YouTube video featuring BMX rider Danny Macaskill. The video is insane - and you'll never be able to get the images out of your head the next time you hear "The Funeral". Turn it up loud and let the video send shivers down your spine!
In 1955 Volkswagen produced its one-millionth Beetle. And you could buy yourself a new “Amazing Volkswagen” (for a bit under two-grand) at Kelly’s VW, located at 2360 Bailey Ave. in Buffalo, as seen in the accompanying ad from the Tuesday, Nov. 1, 1955 edition of the Buffalo Courier-Express. Just like the actual car, the ad [...]
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Brad Riter, Tom Schuh and Scott Wilson talk “American Idol,” Tyler Myers, bobsledding and live concerts on Thursday’s edition of Riter Radio.
Tim Graham of ESPN.com also calls in to discuss NFL free agency.
In the end, the boys say “good night and good luck” to the Kaspers Korner game.
ESPN.com’s Tim Graham calls in to discuss NFL free agency with Brad Riter.
More than two-dozen rooms in two dormitories on the University at Buffalo South Campus were broken into while students were away on break Tuesday, UB officials said.
The state pension system is hopelessly broken, and I don’t see how there’s a path to fixing it. Under this scheme, state workers can pad their state-tax-free state pensions by working ungodly and insane amounts of overtime during their last several years before retirement so that their lifetime pension payout is as large as humanly possible.
Take Barbara Miller-Williams.
The chairwoman of the Erie County Legislature is also a Buffalo Police Officer, and at age 60 she’s fast approaching retirement. That means that in 2006, she only racked up $384 in overtime earnings – the last year it didn’t count towards her pension calculation.
In 2007, however, that hopped to $7,600 just in overtime. In 2008, it skyrocketed to $25,000 in OT. In 2009, she doubled that by racking up an incredible $51,000 just in overtime, on top of her $60,000+ salary.
Jim Heaney FOILS Barbara Miller-Williams’ police payroll information and discovers that the chairwoman of the anachronistic and useless county legislature is simultaneously legislating and working near-60-hour weeks as a police officer.
This gaming of the system – which is universally done and for which Barbara Miller-Williams is not unique – helps boost her lifetime pension by about $14,000 per year. She will receive $44,000 per year from her state pension and pay no state income tax on that sum.
There’s a simple fix. Merely calculate one’s pension based on the earnings average throughout their career. But who’s got the political will to make that change? An Albany legislator who is waiting on a state pension? An Albany pol who relies on union support and money for re-election? Yeah, not so much.
Of course, Barbara Miller-Williams is also the chairwoman of the Erie County Legislature. Last year, she was a backbencher while working her regular police job plus an average of 19 police OT hours per week. Unless she never went to sleep during 2009, I’m amazed at how she could have served her constituents in the legislature, such as that is.
At least she underscores Kevin Hardwick’s point that being in the leg is a part-time gig.
But Miller-Williams’ police job prohibits her from working more than 20 hours at any other job. Her predecessor as chairwoman, Lynn Marinelli, says she worked 40 – 60 hour weeks when she was chair. Maria Whyte says the difference between the two is palpable; Miller-Williams is hard to find.
John Mills gives Jim Heaney a quote that I’m still trying to wrap my head around. It reads like, and was probably intended to be, a compliment. But honestly, it doesn’t get more backhandedly insulting than this:
“I attend more committee meetings than most people, and she’s there,” said the Orchard Park Republican. “I thought she’d have a longer learning curve, but she’s a much brighter person than I think a lot of people give her credit for.”
Shorter John Mills: “I thought she was an total idiot. I found out that “total” was too strong.”
If you want to talk about status quo, this pension largesse is among the biggest budgetary drags on taxing entities throughout the state. If you want to talk about agendas, the biggest agenda in this state has to do with public money and how to amass it.
I don’t begrudge Barbara Miller-Williams gaming the system to squeeze every penny out of it that she can.
But the system really needs to be changed.
NIAGARA FALLS -- Unattended cooking is being blamed for a fire that displaced several adults and children from their Cleveland Avenue home today.
A nearly 100-ton truck carrying a steel girder bound for Alabama crossed the Peace Bridge today, becoming the longest vehicle to travel the Buffalo-Fort Erie span, according to the Peace Bridge Authority.
The Bills addressed their thin numbers at the tight end position Thursday re-signing Joe Klopfenstein. Klopfenstein (6'5" 262) was originally signed by the Bills last season on two separate occasio...
Marcia Mitchell, a mentally troubled mother who tried to smother her 7-month-old daughter in a Buffalo hospital nearly two years ago, was ordered today to serve 3½ years in prison.
David F. Smith, National Fuel Gas Co.'s president and chief executive officer, was named Thursday to the additional role of chairman of the Amherst-based energy company.
Flight 3407 legislations moved along…Lockport schools to close….Watch out for flooding…
Anchored by Tom Schuh:
