NEWS & INFO

By: Sumit Majumdar CEO of Buffalo Biodiesel & Limited Partner of Verite Capital Partners      I started as a small business entrepreneur from a traditional East Indian family. We never spent what we did not have. I applied that to my first business venture; what a mistake that was when it came to growth. Borrowing money to pay bills is bad, but borrowing money to increase revenues AND your bottom line is good—if you are sure you can service that debt. Let's take a look at wha

Just weeks after prosecutors say an elderly South Buffalo man was killed while walking his dog in a marked crosswalk, the woman accused of causing the crash went online with a message. It was not an apology. It was not condolences. It was not even acknowledgment.      Instead, Renaiyah A. Cornelious told the world that God had forgiven her.      According to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office, Cornelious, 32, was arraigned on felony charges including Vehicular Manslau

LISTEN TO POLICE AUDIO BELOW Law enforcement received a call around 1:15am on February 22nd after reports of a medical emergency on the 200 block of Knowlton Avenue in the City of Buffalo. The 911 caller said said that she found a male party who was not breathing with an apparent gunshot wound to the head. She further told dispatch that there with a significant amount of blood. Dispatch advised the female to begin CPR. This did not occur. However, the female then exited the l

Buffalo Police officials have suspended a department captain who met in person with Officer Lance Woods hours before he was arrested and charged in the fatal shooting of his wife in Sanborn. City and police officials confirmed Wednesday that the captain – whose name has not been released – has been placed on paid suspension pending the outcome of an internal investigation. The department said the captain spoke with Woods at the D-District station on Hertel Avenue Saturday eve

An off-duty Buffalo police officer who fatally shot his wife inside their Niagara County home is now facing prosecution by the New York State Attorney General’s Office as local and state authorities continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Valentine’s Day incident.   Lance L. Woods, 53, a Buffalo Police officer assigned as a school resource officer, has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of his wife, Alexis Skoczylas, 35. Skoc

By: Scott Yerger      Healthcare spending is reaching unprecedented levels, with national expenditures projected to surge to $8.59 trillion by 2033, accounting for more than one-fifth of the total U.S. economy. While medical innovation continues to reach new heights, the financial burden on employers, families, and public health systems is creating a critical affordability crisis.  Addressing this challenge requires a dual understanding of the modern drivers behind these spik

An investigation by the New York State Attorney General’s Office concluded that students of color and students with disabilities in Buffalo Public Schools were suspended at significantly higher rates than their white peers and students without disabilities.      The findings stem from a review of district discipline data from 2019 through 2023 school, excluding the COVID-19-impacted year. According to the Attorney General’s report, in the 2022–2023 academic year, Black second

By: Tom George      Governor Kathy Hochul hosted a roundtable with law enforcement and elected officials to announce the “Local Cops Local Crimes Act” which prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies from partnering with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for civil immigration enforcement. Hochul made the announcement surrounded by more than a dozen District Attorneys, county sheriffs, police chiefs and county executives from across the state.      The Act

Mayor Sean M. Ryan today testified before the New York State Legislature at the Joint Legislative Public Hearing on the 2026 Executive Budget Proposal, where he laid out the City of Buffalo’s fiscal condition and called for a partnership with the State to restore long-term financial stability.      In his testimony, Mayor Ryan described a city operating under the weight of years of unrealistic budgeting practices and one-time revenue solutions that have depleted City reserves

By: Sumit Majumdar, CEO of Buffalo Biodiesel & Limited Partner of Verite Capital Partners As New York State pursues aggressive decarbonization, the answer may not lie in abandoning gas infrastructure, but in changing what flows through it. PEOPLE OFTEN ASK ME: "Why are you so passionate about the environment? Why are you building an RNG plant and what the heck is RNG? How is it different, and why is it so important?" To answer that, I have to go back to the beginning. As a li

By: Sumit Majumdar, CEO of Buffalo Biodiesel & Limited Partner of Verite Capital Partners Special Report: The 2026 Venture Outlook INTRODUCTION: A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE Many people have asked me recently: How did you get into venture capital, and why did venture capital invest in your company? To provide clarity, I want to explain what venture capital looks like today for a deal like mine. There is no question that this article does not cover the entire universe of investment

In what it portrays as an effort to remedy reputational harm rather than seek a payday, Buffalo Biodiesel, Inc. (“BBD”), a Buffalo-based company that collects used cooking oil from more than 28,000 restaurants across the Northeastern United States, has filed suit in Erie County Supreme Court against The Buffalo News (“BN”) and Manhattan-based attorney Michael Collesano. BBD claims it’s seeking to restore its reputation and confront a coordinated smear campaign against its bus

Two parents from Buffalo, New York are facing disturbing felony charges after prosecutors say they repeatedly abused a 7-year-old child, including forcing the child underwater in a cold bath as punishment. Erie County District Attorney Michael Keane announced Tuesday that Jacklyn J. Balabis, 26, and Parris D. Woods, 24, were arraigned on a 15-count indictment. Balabis is the child’s mother and Woods is the child’s stepfather. Both defendants appeared before Justice Kelly Vacc

A Buffalo family is turning to the community for help as their 20-year-old daughter fights for her life following a series of medical emergencies tied to a lifelong heart condition. Danielle was born with a complex congenital heart condition known as hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a diagnosis that has required her to undergo numerous medical procedures and open-heart surgeries throughout her life. Despite enduring significant health challenges since birth, her resilience an

Dante Richardson, a violent felon who is currently under investigation by the Buffalo Police Department, per sources, is in the news again as there has been an update in a shooting he was involved with on January 12th. Publicly available information regarding the incident outline that Richardson and his two passengers had been driving home from a bar in Buffalo, although at this time it still remains to be seen whether Richardson was drinking himself. Investigators say that s

In 2012, a now Niagara Falls resident, then of Buffalo, was arrested and charged with multiple felonies for a home invasion that occurred in the City of Buffalo. In 2014, this man was convicted in Erie County Court of first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon after a jury trial. He is considered a violent felon under New York's penal code. The defendant was incarcerated while awaiting trial. Prosecutors alleged the home inv

Dante Richardson, a violent convicted felon who ran for Niagara County Legislature and lost in 2025, has recently been the subject of a series of investigative pieces by Niagara Action. In those articles, this publication has uncovered that Richardson's entire public image has been, at least in part (you can decide to what degree), a lie. Before diving into his betrayal of public trust while campaigning to represent the residents of Niagara Falls, below is a recap of what we

The Buffalo-Niagara community is coming together to support the family of longtime firefighter and business owner Scott Janowski, a Buffalo Fire captain who died unexpectedly leaving behind his wife and a 3-year-old son. To help ease the financial effort facing the family, friends and loved ones launched a fundraising effort. A tribute posted with the fundraiser describes Janowski as a lifelong public servant, devoted father, and small business owner who dedicated himself to

Dante Richardson, 32-years-old, has been the subject of several recent Niagara Action articles that began after he was shot in an early morning incident on January 12th. Publicly available information regarding the incident outlined that Richardson and his two passengers had been driving home from a bar in Buffalo, although at this time it still remains to be seen whether Richardson was drinking himself. Investigators say that somewhere between the Vulcan Street and Sheridan

Niagara Action recently began an investigative series into failed Niagara County legislative candidate Dante Richardson who, by all accounts, is not who he holds himself to be publicly. Let’s recap what has been reported thus far:   Dante Richardson is a violent, convicted felon.   In 2014, he was convicted in Erie County Court of first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon for a violent home invasion that occurred in Buffalo