Jerry Davis, Alex Zordich and Cincinnati transfer Chazz Anderson are all battling for the starting spot at the University at Buffalo.

Deadliest single incident for American forces in the decade-long war.

The 5 year saga of the infamous 400 Block of Minnesota Ave winds down the summer with:

•  stray gun fire striking a car near 200 Dartmouth (Buffalo News July 24, 2011)
• a shooting near 3200 BaileyAve (Rashod Washington, no age or address listed, was in the 3200 block of Bailey at about 2:30 p. m. when the gunman began chasing and firing shots at him, police said. The chase continued south on Bailey and then east on Stockbridge Avenue, where the gunman then aimed and fired at Washington, striking him in the arm Buffalo News July 22, 2011)
• and a drive-by shooting near 200 Shirley that sent 3 people to the hospital. The three people were sitting on a porch, when they were struck by gunfire, police said. Buffalo News, July 29, 2011)

These incidents and others on or near the infamous 400 Block of Minnesota Ave took place within blocks of 25 Shirley Ave, the the only address of record for Buffalo City Councilwomen Bonnie Russell and Mr. Bonnie Russell.  But do we hear a peep from either of them? No.

We heard more from them when a drunk knocked down a gate at the entrance of University Ave, ol’ Bonnie moved those somewhat substantial buns toot sweet to get that fixed.  But shootings  on the front steps? No way!

Bonnie is completely MIA.

This September, primary voters in the University District actually have a choice;

A. Re-elect a Byron-Brown-rubberstamp-absentee-councilwoman who thinks coddling a few well trained block club presidents is actually doing her job.  

Or

B. Give a high energy new comer, Pam Cahill, a chance.

House on Shirley Ave, only address of record for Bonnie Russell ($52,797/yr) and Judge Robert T. Russell ($135,600/yr).

After routinely scooping him for five years, Buffalo News Political Columnist Bob McCarthy finally decided to look down his nose and over his epic 70′s porn mustache to condescendingly write about our website. In his weekly column, Bob wrote the following:

A local blogger named Chris Smith has been downright “giddy” in recent days criticizing The Buffalo News for reporting that SEIU Local 1199 is paying employee Jennifer Hibit to manage Poloncarz’s campaign for county executive. Around here, something unusual and of interest to voters makes a good story.

But not over at WNY Media Network, where Smith toils. More important to the network, apparently, is the $3,750 Poloncarz paid to WNY Media Network for website design and video editing, according to state campaign finance records. In fact, the same records show WNY Media Network has handled Poloncarz’s video campaign for years.

Some local bloggers receive money from politicians. The Politics Column does not — and that says it all.

So, what was I “giddy” about? I’m not sure, I didn’t think I was “lightheartedly silly” or “joyfully elated” about anything. But, I will say that it appears the column Bob refers to and the accompanying picture, must have knocked him off his well-worn bar stool.

Essentially, Mr. McCarthy accused me of being “on the take” as an internet columnist. His evidence? WNYMedia was paid $3,750.00 earlier this year for website and video work for Mark Poloncarz, a candidate for Erie County Executive.

Well, allow me to retort. I’ll try and make this explanation so simple that even the people in Sloan will get it. Let’s use a picture!

I didn’t receive any money from Mark Poloncarz nor any other politician and I never have. Not for work performed on a campaign, not for services provided to a campaign, not for content on this website, not for anything. Not once. Not a thin red cent. Neither has Alan Bedenko, Brian Castner, Chris Charvella, Tom Dolina, Gabe Armstrong, or any of our other writers. We’re simply a group of citizen journalists who add context and analysis to the evolving story of Western New York. Nothing more, nothing less.

On the other hand, Marc Odien runs a media services company which pre-dates this website and he counts several politicians as clients. He has also provided video production and website design work for dozens of local corporations, public authorities, not-for-profit agencies and individuals. If he wishes to explain that further, I’ll let him. It’s his business, not mine.

WNYMedia is a true labor of love for those of us who have poured tens of thousands of hours into it over the past six years. Should we do a better job of making it clear that Marc operates independently of the rest of us? Absolutely. Over the course of the last three months, we have been working on new branding for the website which was intended to provide a more clear separation between Marc’s business and our website.

Of course, Bob McCarthy would have been able to include that in his column if he had simply called and asked me for a quote. Since he’s the high-horsed journalist and I’m the blogger, you’d think he’d be interested in getting the story right.

This shouldn’t be about defending myself, it should be about Bob. Every local pol I speak with on a regular basis as well as several people who work with Bob in the newsroom tell me the same thing; he’s a lazy columnist on the verge of retirement and struggling for relevance. McCarthy has a small circle of sources who provide him weekly talking points for regurgitation in print, which was what my column was all about. Notice, he did nothing to address the larger point I made in the column. He instead decided to impugn my integrity, without offering an opportunity for comment.

Some local bloggers research their stories and work to get it right. The Politics Column does not — and that says it all.

Recent events underline how enlightened citizens can set a sensible communal approach.

2008 Olympic silver medalist overcomes physical weakness caused by reaction to gluten as pole vaulter prepares for World Championships.

915 daffy doppelgangers gather at Jamestown's Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy to try to set world record.

Beauty, it seems, really is in the eye of the beholder — even in banking.HSBC Bank USA stuck up its nose at upstate New York, dumping its 195 branches across the region because, in so many words, they weren’t hot enough.

Sometimes our summer schedules rival those of the school year, tax time and the Holiday season combined. Sometimes the last thing you want to do in between day camps, hockey camp, art camp, band camp and outdoor music fests, plus a trip to the in-laws and (oh yeah) a job, is go on an outdoor adventure. Sometimes you just want to be lazy and lay on the beach.

My wife was raised in a Lake Michigan beach-centric resort town, the kind of place where all the high school kids got summer jobs as life guards and ice cream scoopers; the main street of the village a historic brick-revived trap set to lure and snatch hordes of unsuspecting Chicago tourists. Growing up a mile from vacation-land water has not made her sick of sand and surf. In fact, quite the opposite. She loves the beach. I mean, luurrvvves the beach. As such, I think I’ve been to nearly every one within an hour’s drive of Buffalo.

With two Great Lakes and a mighty river on our doorstep, water should not be hard to find. And yet, I am always surprised to find the crowds thinner than I would expect, even on hot summer days. Buffalo needs to get to the beach more – a little more Vitamin D and a little less frenzy would do nearly all of us some good. So if you are looking for a beach, may I make the following recommendations. And if your favorite spot isn’t on this list, please chime in with a comment below to tell everyone about the places you like best.

Angola: The sand here is fine and the water is warm, but everyone really comes to the Mickey Rat’s bar/restaurant/volleyball complex for the drinks. As close to the Florida beach-bar scene as you’ll find in Western New York, Angola is the only place where you can get real food, real alcohol and real sand all in the same place on the water. I wouldn’t take my kids after dinner, but in the late morning and early afternoon the place stays plenty family friendly. After hours, enjoy the party.

Woodlawn Beach: The Town of Hamburg is trying to make a go of running this former state park for the benefit of local residents. Woodlawn has a great view of the Buffalo skyline and Steel Winds project, a fine beach area, nature center and interesting nearby woods and swamps that are being restored by Buffalo State’s Great Lakes Center through grant funding. Despite water quality issues (read: sewage from drain overflows) that occasionally close the beach, Woodlawn remains popular as the closest “real” beach to Buffalo.

Crystal Beach, Ontario: For those of us that remember riding the wonderful wooden Comet, Crystal Beach isn’t what it used to be. There is still the sand and view and friendly Canadians, but for many it will continue to be a shell of its former self. But get over that, say “hi” to the guys riding the SUPs, and get a burger from the rickety barbeque shack. It’s still a relaxing, pleasant place to lay around.

Beaver Island State Park: Benefits to swimming in a river: the water is warmer and contaminants get quickly flushed. There is fresh sand here, recently added, that replaced some uncomfortable gravel, and the warm weather has (counter-intuitively) reduced the seaweed growing just off shore. The swimming isn’t as nice as lakeside beaches, but the extensive park has bike trails, loads of picnic benches, a kayak/canoe launch, and the River Lea home to tour to make up for it.

Wilson: Where is the beach near Wilson, you ask? Ahh, but that is part of its charm. Grab a bite at the Boathouse, walk out along the pier and enjoy the view, but the beach remains out of site. To access this isolated strip, head back west to Wilson-Tuscarora State Park. There are private homes on the spit of land between Tuscarora Bay and Lake Ontario, but there is plenty of public areas to walk and enjoy a solitary undeveloped view of Lake Ontario.

Olcott Beach: Like Sylvan Beach on Lake Oneida to the east, Olcott Beach retains a 1950′s old-fashioned kiddie land charm of carousels, ice cream stands and carnival games along the midway.  The beach here at narrow and at the bottom of the bluff, but there is plenty to enjoy with small children other than the sand itself. In addition to the shops and Ferris Wheel, Olcott Harbor is the launching off point for many Lake Ontario sport fishing excursions, which you can learn more about in October’s Buffalo Spree (cough, shameless plug).

Miss Hathaway’s ’62 Sport Fury The 1962 Plymouth Sport Fury came along later in the model year and isn’t shown in earlier brochures. Here’s Miss Hathaway and Mr. Drysdale pulling into the Clampett’s driveway in her own Sport Fury during an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. The Drysdales drove (or, were driven in) Imperials while [...]

PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) - Fast as C.J. Spiller might be, it turns out there's some things the Buffalo Bills running back learned he can't outrun. For starters, there were the preposterously high expec...

visit site to read more]

Son born the same day he inked his contract with Bills; St. Joe's and UB product Cook placed on IR.

Linebacker misses practice again but issues aren't related to recent knee and Achilles problems.

Team will have to be improved one chunk at a time.