Latest news with #Depew
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
The mayor of Edgewater highlights the infrastructure improvements implemented in the city this year
Eyewitness News is taking you for a ride with Edgewater's mayor to see what improvements have been made to the city's infrastructure this year. Last fall, we showed you flooded roads and properties during afternoon rainstorms, a problem only made worse by Hurricane Milton. From widening retention ponds to clearing culverts and armoring canals, crews are clearly doing all they can to keep water flowing. Mayor Diezel Depew explained that infrastructure problems have piled up over the past twenty years. Then, in 2022, Hurricane Ian brought historic flooding, which further damaged the city's systems. 'We had to shut this whole entire facility down and we had millions, if not hundreds of thousands of gallons of raw sewage pumping into the city of Edgewater,' said Depew. Since then, the city has been working on longer-term solutions, like building a new public works facility. However, he said, after rainstorms flooded roads and properties last year, he knew they had to move faster. A significant part of the immediate plan was to help water flow from Duck Lake. The mayor said it fills up and pours into neighborhoods but soon it will have an outfall pipe. Allison Roberts is transforming her property to make it more flood-resilient. So far, she's cleared debris and pulled stumps. 'We are going to have a drain back here that drain is going to go to the culvert and once it reaches the culvert the rest is the city's responsibility. So, I just want to see that something is being done. I am doing my part,' said Roberts. Depew said the missing piece is a stormwater master plan. One is in the works, but it will be finished in December. 'It will tell us exactly what we have to do, when we have to do it and how much it's going to cost,' said Depew. We asked Depew if he thinks the work done so far this year will make the city more resilient during this hurricane season. 'Absolutely, I think we will be more resilient. Is it enough to stop all flooding? No, I am not confident enough to make that statement,' said Depew. He added the city did much better during Milton compared to Ian and he hopes that trend continues. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
2 incidents in Depew draw large police presence
DEPEW, N.Y. (WIVB) — WIVB News 4 is working to learn more about two incidents in Depew that drew a large police presence Wednesday night. Both Lancaster and Depew police were on the scene on Main Street near Sanilac Street. Residents said it began to unfold around 5:30 p.m. on Main Street. Around 11 p.m., News 4 heard police making commands over a loud speaker and then saw someone being walked in a backyard area towards a SWAT vehicle. Some law enforcement crews were leaving the scene around 11:15 p.m. Main Street is closed between Sanilac Street and Wyandotte Street until further notice, Depew police announced just after 10 p.m. in a Facebook post. The public is asked to avoid the area and use alternate routes. News 4 is also following other police activity located five minutes away from the Main Street scene at the D&L Plaza. Depew police were in the plaza at the Dollar Tree, which was sectioned off with yellow tape. It is currently unknown if the incidents are related. News 4 reached out to law enforcement for more information on both incidents and is waiting to hear back. This is a developing story. Check back for updates. Latest Local News Patrick Ryan is an award-winning reporter who has been part of the News 4 team since 2020. See more of his work here and follow him on Twitter. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to News 4 Buffalo.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Georgia testing workplace bonuses to address early learning educator shortages
Across the United States, schools are dealing with a teacher shortage. The State of Georgia is investing $17 million to reward, and keep, the best teachers. The initiative, which comes from the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, gives $500 workforce bonuses for childcare teachers and staff. Officials say they think the program is the first of its kind in the nation. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] For students at the Quadralingual Academy in Smyrna, young students are soaking up the sounds and words of a science lesson. Except it's sometimes in French. TRENDING STORIES: Man pretending to make DoorDash delivery tries breaking into woman's apartment Mother describes horrifying moments as she watched her SUV burst into flames along GA 400 DeKalb BBQ restaurant manager's house burns down while rushing son to ER They also learn English vocabulary everyday, as well as Spanish and Chinese. 'By the end of the year, students are able to connect words and make simple phrases,' Zena Hadjaz, a teacher there, said. 'It's a rewarding job.' She told Channel 2's Linda Stouffer she loves teaching the preschoolers. Jessa Depew is the founder of the Quadrilingual Academy, a private school in Smyrna. Depew told Channel 2 Action News that beyond the teacher support, DECAL connects more than a dozen families with tuition assistance 'For the state to be abel to support all families who pay taxes, it's really helpful to our mission,' Depew said. Hadjaz said she does it so the kids can 'open their minds to the different cultures.' Click here to learn more about Georgia DECAL's Bright from the Start for Pre-K. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How Trump could lose in court, but still gut Biden's green agenda
The Trump administration is hitting legal roadblocks in its attempt to revoke $20 billion in climate grants, but its efforts are already achieving one of the president's key aims: throttling a crucial part of Joe Biden's clean energy agenda. In Fort Worth, Texas, one affordable housing developer scrapped plans to add solar to a 116-unit project — and two other deals may soon collapse entirely. In North Carolina, energy efficiency upgrades at a small rural college are on hold. Also in peril is a New Mexico initiative meant to offer below-market loans that would help low- and middle-income people buy furnaces, add solar panels and reduce energy costs. All told, hundreds of organizations depending on cash from the Environmental Protection Agency's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund must wait out a potentially lengthy courtroom battle before receiving money that the Biden administration had awarded and distributed before President Donald Trump took office. Would-be participants also face potential risks to their reputations as Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin wage unyielding public attacks on the climate grants, which the administration has alleged without evidence are marred by potential fraud and waste. The Justice Department has also launched a criminal investigation into the grant program, over the objections of a career prosecutor in D.C. who resigned in February. Nine organizations waiting on shares of the climate funding told POLITICO that the controversy is stalling their projects, which range from financing programs for energy efficiency improvements to powering wastewater treatment plants with solar. The snarl could also force them to cancel projects designed to help people lower their energy costs. Megan Lasch, president of the Texas affordable housing developer O-SDA Industries, scrambled to replace program funding that she said 'evaporated' overnight for a 116-unit affordable housing project in Fort Worth, a city where both home and rent prices are rising. She needed to replace $4 million but only found $3 million — and at a higher interest rate — forcing her to scrap plans to add solar power. She's struggling to plug multimillion-dollar holes for deals with private financiers on two other Fort Worth projects, one of which is supposed to close next month although that timing is now uncertain. 'It's actually really scary,' she said, adding: 'A lot of developers could go belly-up over the situation.' Brian Depew, executive director of the Center for Rural Affairs, a rural development organization based in Lyons, Nebraska, said he warned a solar developer that the work they were doing was at risk because the federal funding has not materialized. Depew is assessing how the rural development nonprofit can continue the work it had planned to reduce consumers' energy costs through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. 'They're asking, 'Are you really going to have this money?'' Depew said. 'It's kicked off a lot of uncertainty at all levels.' Trump's critics including Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan have derided what they call 'sham' investigations by the FBI and Justice Department into the program. On Tuesday, a federal judge rejected EPA's attempt to terminate the grant recipients' contracts, saying the agency had not offered evidence to back up its claims of waste, fraud and abuse, though she did not immediately restore the groups' access to the money. But the EPA's tactics have already had an impact: Renowned charities Habitat for Humanity International and United Way Worldwide departed nonprofit coalition Power Forward Communities, which is suing EPA to restore access to its $2 billion grant. Habitat and United Way both cited the need to conserve financial resources amid a likely protracted legal fight with EPA. Habitat said that while it is 'confident these issues will be resolved favorably' for the grantees, it 'must remain committed to stewarding our resources in pursuit of core mission delivery rather than on unprecedented legal battles.' One supporter of the climate programs accused Trump's appointees of pursuing dubious tactics to obstruct the work. 'They know that a lot of this isn't legal,' said Chris Castro, chief sustainability officer at Climate First Bank who has advised the Coalition for Green Capital, one of the three nonprofit grantees suing EPA. 'The purpose was to stall.' EPA said it would not comment on pending litigation, but Zeldin has commented often on the program. He has accused the Biden administration of rushing the funds out the door with a structure that gave EPA little oversight of the federal money flow, calling the program 'riddled with self-dealing and wasteful spending.' 'This scheme was the first of its kind in EPA history and it was purposefully designed to obligate all of the money in a rush job with reduced oversight,' he said last month. The Biden administration selected eight nonprofits for $20 billion of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants, which are held at Citibank under an arrangement with the federal government. Those organizations said they would award shares of those funds to hundreds of other local development institutions for clean energy, energy efficiency and housing projects. The Biden administration said each public dollar would leverage an additional $7 in private capital. But now, in light of the Trump administration's broadsides against the program, nonprofits waiting on the funds say private sector interest is chilled. 'The headwinds are significant. The disruption just makes it hard to proceed,' said Melissa Malkin-Weber, co-director of the North Carolina Clean Energy Fund, which is counting on the money to finance $51 million of projects in North and South Carolina. 'The missed opportunities to really benefit people in the Carolinas is the real heartbreak right now.' Even if the money begins to flow, private investors will have to weigh whether it's worth partnering with a program the Trump administration is determined to fight. The relentless attacks could turn the program politically toxic even in a Trump-loving state like Indiana, said Alex Crowley, executive director of the Indiana Energy Independence Fund. 'It will slow down the willingness of private capital to become involved,' he said. 'There's a kind of residual effect that happens regardless of the federal funding coming down.' A sub-awardee in a conservative Western state said Trump's animosity and misinformation about the program is complicating efforts to attract private investors. The organization may have to significantly scale back initiatives like helping people pay for energy efficiency retrofits without the federal funds, leaving millions of dollars worth of projects without backing, said the person, who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive financial information. 'It certainly has a cooling effect,' the person said. That reality is straining resources and culling operations across the country, especially in communities that have long struggled to draw private investment like rural areas and neighborhoods where people lack access to traditional forms of credit. The freeze is causing 'hesitation from private capital sources — and also hesitation from developers, contractors that we might hire to do the work,' the Center for Rural Affairs' Depew said. 'Capital markets abhor uncertainty.' Missouri Green Banc Executive Director John Harris said losing the funds would 'hinder our ability to leverage private capital and sustain impactful projects.' He said those private markets 'are key to sustainable community support.' New Mexico community lender Homewise will have to 'be creative' and 'redirect our strategy' to fulfill a new plan to finance energy efficiency improvements to help low- and middle-income New Mexico households reduce their energy bills, deputy CEO Johanna Gilligan said. The mortgage lender had been counting on Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund money that remains frozen. But how long any of this takes to resolve is anyone's guess. Zeldin has vowed to keep fighting the program, saying in a statement posted Tuesday on X that he 'will not rest until these hard-earned taxpayer dollars are returned to the U.S. Treasury.' Other institutions suggested that the Justice Department probe has injected additional uncertainty beyond a mere legal dispute. Illinois Finance Authority Executive Director Chris Meister, whose organization sued EPA and Citibank on Wednesday over its stalled $109 million sub-award, said in an email he is 'equally concerned by the manner in which [the Trump administration is] seeking to deny' access to funds. He referenced news reports that showed political officials at the FBI and Justice Department had initiated investigations against the advice of career staff. And pushing back against EPA's claims is daunting in the face of the federal government's unlimited resources. Litigation costs are 'a significant factor and variable' for the nonprofits, said Adam Kent, director of blended and inclusive finance at the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, who is leading calls coordinating more than 100 groups interested in the funding. Many nonprofits awaiting funds from the primary grantees cannot afford a lengthy legal battle, said Climate First Bank's Castro, who helped set up the fund as a Biden administration Energy Department official. Some are even discussing laying off staff or moving on from the grant program — which he said might be the Trump administration's goal. 'They're kind of saying, 'Hey, maybe this might not be worth us getting some of these grant dollars, and we might have to pivot our strategy,'' he said. 'Which, again, helps [EPA] and their overall purpose of what they're trying to do.'
Politico
23-03-2025
- Business
- Politico
How Trump could lose in court, but still gut Biden's green agenda
The Trump administration is hitting legal roadblocks in its attempt to revoke $20 billion in climate grants, but its efforts are already achieving one of the president's key aims: throttling a crucial part of Joe Biden's clean energy agenda. In Fort Worth, Texas, one affordable housing developer scrapped plans to add solar to a 116-unit project — and two other deals may soon collapse entirely. In North Carolina, energy efficiency upgrades at a small rural college are on hold. Also in peril is a New Mexico initiative meant to offer below-market loans that would help low- and middle-income people buy furnaces, add solar panels and reduce energy costs. All told, hundreds of organizations depending on cash from the Environmental Protection Agency's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund must wait out a potentially lengthy courtroom battle before receiving money that the Biden administration had awarded and distributed before President Donald Trump took office. Would-be participants also face potential risks to their reputations as Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin wage unyielding public attacks on the climate grants, which the administration has alleged without evidence are marred by potential fraud and waste. The Justice Department has also launched a criminal investigation into the grant program, over the objections of a career prosecutor in D.C. who resigned in February . Nine organizations waiting on shares of the climate funding told POLITICO that the controversy is stalling their projects, which range from financing programs for energy efficiency improvements to powering wastewater treatment plants with solar. The snarl could also force them to cancel projects designed to help people lower their energy costs. Megan Lasch, president of the Texas affordable housing developer O-SDA Industries, scrambled to replace program funding that she said 'evaporated' overnight for a 116-unit affordable housing project in Fort Worth, a city where both home and rent prices are rising. She needed to replace $4 million but only found $3 million — and at a higher interest rate — forcing her to scrap plans to add solar power. She's struggling to plug multimillion-dollar holes for deals with private financiers on two other Fort Worth projects, one of which is supposed to close next month although that timing is now uncertain. 'It's actually really scary,' she said, adding: 'A lot of developers could go belly-up over the situation.' Brian Depew, executive director of the Center for Rural Affairs, a rural development organization based in Lyons, Nebraska, said he warned a solar developer that the work they were doing was at risk because the federal funding has not materialized. Depew is assessing how the rural development nonprofit can continue the work it had planned to reduce consumers' energy costs through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. 'They're asking, 'Are you really going to have this money?'' Depew said. 'It's kicked off a lot of uncertainty at all levels.' Trump's critics including Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan have derided what they call 'sham' investigations by the FBI and Justice Department into the program. On Tuesday, a federal judge rejected EPA's attempt to terminate the grant recipients' contracts , saying the agency had not offered evidence to back up its claims of waste, fraud and abuse, though she did not immediately restore the groups' access to the money. But the EPA's tactics have already had an impact: Renowned charities Habitat for Humanity International and United Way Worldwide departed nonprofit coalition Power Forward Communities, which is suing EPA to restore access to its $2 billion grant. Habitat and United Way both cited the need to conserve financial resources amid a likely protracted legal fight with EPA. Habitat said that while it is 'confident these issues will be resolved favorably' for the grantees, it 'must remain committed to stewarding our resources in pursuit of core mission delivery rather than on unprecedented legal battles.' One supporter of the climate programs accused Trump's appointees of pursuing dubious tactics to obstruct the work. 'They know that a lot of this isn't legal,' said Chris Castro, chief sustainability officer at Climate First Bank who has advised the Coalition for Green Capital, one of the three nonprofit grantees suing EPA. 'The purpose was to stall.' EPA said it would not comment on pending litigation, but Zeldin has commented often on the program. He has accused the Biden administration of rushing the funds out the door with a structure that gave EPA little oversight of the federal money flow, calling the program 'riddled with self-dealing and wasteful spending.' 'This scheme was the first of its kind in EPA history and it was purposefully designed to obligate all of the money in a rush job with reduced oversight,' he said last month. The Biden administration selected eight nonprofits for $20 billion of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants, which are held at Citibank under an arrangement with the federal government. Those organizations said they would award shares of those funds to hundreds of other local development institutions for clean energy, energy efficiency and housing projects. The Biden administration said each public dollar would leverage an additional $7 in private capital. But now, in light of the Trump administration's broadsides against the program, nonprofits waiting on the funds say private sector interest is chilled. 'The headwinds are significant. The disruption just makes it hard to proceed,' said Melissa Malkin-Weber, co-director of the North Carolina Clean Energy Fund, which is counting on the money to finance $51 million of projects in North and South Carolina. 'The missed opportunities to really benefit people in the Carolinas is the real heartbreak right now.' Even if the money begins to flow, private investors will have to weigh whether it's worth partnering with a program the Trump administration is determined to fight. The relentless attacks could turn the program politically toxic even in a Trump-loving state like Indiana, said Alex Crowley, executive director of the Indiana Energy Independence Fund. 'It will slow down the willingness of private capital to become involved,' he said. 'There's a kind of residual effect that happens regardless of the federal funding coming down.' A sub-awardee in a conservative Western state said Trump's animosity and misinformation about the program is complicating efforts to attract private investors. The organization may have to significantly scale back initiatives like helping people pay for energy efficiency retrofits without the federal funds, leaving millions of dollars worth of projects without backing, said the person, who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive financial information. 'It certainly has a cooling effect,' the person said. That reality is straining resources and culling operations across the country, especially in communities that have long struggled to draw private investment like rural areas and neighborhoods where people lack access to traditional forms of credit. The freeze is causing 'hesitation from private capital sources — and also hesitation from developers, contractors that we might hire to do the work,' the Center for Rural Affairs' Depew said. 'Capital markets abhor uncertainty.' Missouri Green Banc Executive Director John Harris said losing the funds would 'hinder our ability to leverage private capital and sustain impactful projects.' He said those private markets 'are key to sustainable community support.' New Mexico community lender Homewise will have to 'be creative' and 'redirect our strategy' to fulfill a new plan to finance energy efficiency improvements to help low- and middle-income New Mexico households reduce their energy bills, deputy CEO Johanna Gilligan said. The mortgage lender had been counting on Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund money that remains frozen. But how long any of this takes to resolve is anyone's guess. Zeldin has vowed to keep fighting the program, saying in a statement posted Tuesday on X that he 'will not rest until these hard-earned taxpayer dollars are returned to the U.S. Treasury.' Other institutions suggested that the Justice Department probe has injected additional uncertainty beyond a mere legal dispute. Illinois Finance Authority Executive Director Chris Meister, whose organization sued EPA and Citibank on Wednesday over its stalled $109 million sub-award, said in an email he is 'equally concerned by the manner in which [the Trump administration is] seeking to deny' access to funds. He referenced news reports that showed political officials at the FBI and Justice Department had initiated investigations against the advice of career staff. And pushing back against EPA's claims is daunting in the face of the federal government's unlimited resources. Litigation costs are 'a significant factor and variable' for the nonprofits, said Adam Kent, director of blended and inclusive finance at the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, who is leading calls coordinating more than 100 groups interested in the funding. Many nonprofits awaiting funds from the primary grantees cannot afford a lengthy legal battle, said Climate First Bank's Castro, who helped set up the fund as a Biden administration Energy Department official. Some are even discussing laying off staff or moving on from the grant program — which he said might be the Trump administration's goal. 'They're kind of saying, 'Hey, maybe this might not be worth us getting some of these grant dollars, and we might have to pivot our strategy,'' he said. 'Which, again, helps [EPA] and their overall purpose of what they're trying to do.'
