Holly Kirkpatrick

Jan 10, 2025 | wbfo.org | Holly Kirkpatrick

Calls and emails from residents have prompted the Town of Aurora to summon representatives from fiber internet company GoNetspeed to its upcoming town board meeting, Monday. Town of Aurora councilmember, Joe McCann (D), claims some of the tree cutting already performed by GoNetspeed in the neighboring village of East Aurora, seems overzealous. “In many cases, they are essentially being left as standing trunks. And I don't see how a tree can possibly survive as a standing trunk,” McCann said.

Nov 8, 2024 | wbfo.org | Holly Kirkpatrick

New York Democrats have lost their supermajority in the state Senate which means they have lost the power to override any veto that may come from the governor’s office. Republicans only needed to flip one state Senate seat in this year’s elections to dismantle the Democrats’ razor-thin supermajority, and they managed to do just that in Brooklyn with Republican Stephen Chan unseating Democratic state Sen. Iwen Chu in the district 17 race.

Nov 6, 2024 | wbfo.org | Holly Kirkpatrick

Democrat Sean Ryan successfully defended his seat against Republican challenger Christine Czarnik in the 61st Senate District. Unofficial figures from the Erie County Board of Elections show that with 99% of the vote counted, Ryan leads the race with 61% of the vote to Czarnik's 38%. It is perhaps an unsurprising result if the amount of cash raised toward Ryan's re-election campaign is anything to go by.

Oct 30, 2024 | wskg.org | Holly Kirkpatrick

Early voting is underway in New York and all eyes are on the presidential race. But that's not the only office up for election. There are Congressional and some Senate seats on the ballot, as well as local races which vary depending on where you live. In Genesee County, almost all local seats are unopposed. In fact, of the 15 local offices on the ballot, there are just two contested seats and there's not a single Democratic candidate in the heavily Republican county.

Oct 29, 2024 | wxxinews.org | Holly Kirkpatrick

Saturday saw the first day of early voting in New York, and two Western New York counties confirmed a record number of ballots cast on opening day. The Erie County Board of Elections reported 18,946 ballots were cast on day one of the early voting period, with the county’s Democratic office calling it “by far the strongest opening we’ve ever had” on X.