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2025-01-10
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Trump threat: ‘You’re fired!’Two sides level on points in the top half of the League One standings go head to head as Barnsley play host to Reading on Tuesday evening. The Royals journey to the Oakwell Stadium where they are unbeaten in each of their last 11 visits since December 2008 and will be looking to extend this impressive streak. Barnsley were guilty of a lack of sting at the attacking end of the pitch on Saturday when they suffered a 1-0 defeat against Wigan Athletic at the Oakwell Stadium. After falling behind to Thelo Aasgaard 's 42nd-minute strike, the Tykes fired 16 shots after the break as they searched for a way back into the game but Wigan held their own to see out their fourth league win of the campaign. Prior to that, Barnsley were on a three-game unbeaten run across all competitions, picking up one draw and two wins, including a 3-1 victory over League Two outfit Port Vale in the FA Cup first round on November 2. Darrell Clarke 's men have won seven of their 16 League One matches so far while losing four and claiming five draws to collect 26 points and sit sixth in the standings , level on points with Huddersfield Town, Lincoln City, Bolton Wanderers and Reading. While Barnsley will be looking to find their feet on Tuesday, recent results against the visitors offer little optimism as they have failed to win 17 of the last 20 meetings between the teams, losing 10 and claiming three draws since December 2008. Reading, on the other hand, picked up just their second away win of the season at the weekend as they edged out Peterborough United 2-1 when the sides met at the Weston Homes Stadium. Harvey Knibbs continued his fine form in front of goal as he netted a brace to put the hosts two goals up inside the opening 23 minutes before Emmanuel Fernandez struck in the 96th minute to give the home fans something to cheer. This followed a 3-0 victory over League Two side Newport County at the Select Car Leasing Stadium on November 12, when Knibbs netted on either side of Jayden Wareham 's 75th-minute strike to send Reading into second-place in Group H of the EFL Trophy. With Saturday's result against Peterborough, Ruben Selles 's men are now unbeaten in five of their most recent six League One games — picking up four wins and one draw — a run which has seen them surge into the top half of the table as they look to finish in the top six this season. Reading have won eight of their 15 league matches so far, exactly half of their total tally from last season, when they finished 17th in the standings, level on 53 points with 16th-placed Charlton Athletic and nine points above the drop zone. Barnsley remain without the services of 24-year-old midfielder Josh Benson , who is set to sit out his fifth straight game since coming off injured against Doncaster Rovers in October. Former Cardiff City man Max Watters missed the game against Wigan last against Wigan at the weekend through injury and the 25-year-old is a doubt for the home side. As for Reading, Ghanaian defender Andy Yiadom continues his journey to full fitness since picking up a severe injury in April while fellow countryman Kelvin Abrefa has been ruled out since coming off injured in October's game against Rotherham United. English midfielder Kelvin Ehibhatiom has missed the last six games and is also out of contention for the Royals while Harlee Dean has been sidelined since picking up an injury against Stockport County on October 29. With his brace against Peterborough, Knibbs has now scored five goals in his last three matches and the 25-year-old should lead the visitors' attack once again, alongside Sam Smith and Chen Campbell . Barnsley possible starting lineup: Killip; De Gevigney, Roberts; Earl, O'Keeffe, Phillips, Connell, Russell, Gent, Humphrys; Keillor-Dunn Reading possible starting lineup: Pereira; Craig, Mbengue, Bindon, Dorsett; Elliot, Wing, Savage; Campbell, Smith, Knibbs Barnsley and Reading have enjoyed a solid league campaign so far and find themselves level on points in the top half of the table. While they will be looking to get the better of each other, we predict the spoils will be shared at the Oakwell Stadium. For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here .
Emerging tight end Noah Gray gives Mahomes and the Chiefs another option in passing gameOn Constitution Day, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla emphasized the importance of placing the nation above differing ideologies. Addressing ANI, Birla reflected on the Constituent Assembly's diverse and constructive debates, underscoring that such differences represent the strength of democracy. Birla praised past speakers for their dedication to the Constitution, which he described as a guiding force for all branches of government, including the Judiciary, Executive, and Legislative. He stressed the need to keep the Constitution away from political biases, highlighting its role in achieving social and economic progress. Addressing the significance of the Constitution as a unifying force, Birla noted its global recognition for inclusivity. He reiterated that while constitutional amendments have occurred, they are intended to align with the public's rights and aspirations, maintaining the Constitution's fundamental spirit. (With inputs from agencies.)
NoneMoment of silence for former President Jimmy Carter held before the Falcons-Commanders game
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Long-awaited legislation to abolish England's "feudal" leasehold property system will be published in the second half of next year, the government has confirmed in a major update for the millions of people affected. In a Written Ministerial Statement (WMS), housing minister Matthew Pennycook gave the first details of how quickly Labour intend to axe the controversial form of homeownership, as promised in their manifesto. Politics Live: PM and defence secretary issue warnings over Ukraine war The minister said there will be a consultation and white paper early next year to get the plan in motion, with the aim to make commonhold "the default tenure" by the end of parliament in 2029. The news has drawn a mixed reaction from those caught up in the system, with some hailing an end in sight and others saying it is too little too late. What is leasehold? Leasehold is a centuries-old form of tenure that is unique to England and Wales. People who buy their home with a lease buy the right to live there for a given number of years but don't own the land itself, regardless of whether it is a house, or a flat in a building. That is the reserve of the freeholder, who can charge expensive ground rents simply for owning the land, as well as service charges for the maintenance and insurance of the properties. There have long been concerns around leaseholders being exploited, especially by unregulated managing agents who are typically contracted to oversee the day-to-day running of buildings and can charge large fees on any works they arrange. Advertisement Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:44 Michael Gove in 2023: Leasehold 'unfair form of property ownership'. Criticism intensified after the building safety scandal that emerged post-Grenfell with many homeowners facing crippling bills for remediation, leaving them stuck in worthless properties they cannot sell. Read More: Pensioner, 90, hit with £17k increase in ground rent 'Buying a flat... Faye Brown'We'll take it:' 2 Windsor-Essex business owners welcome tax holiday that starts SaturdayKirkland’s ( NASDAQ:KIRK – Get Free Report ) and Bath & Body Works ( NYSE:BBWI – Get Free Report ) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, dividends, valuation and earnings. Analyst Ratings This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Kirkland’s and Bath & Body Works, as reported by MarketBeat.com. Kirkland’s currently has a consensus target price of $4.50, indicating a potential upside of 164.71%. Bath & Body Works has a consensus target price of $42.50, indicating a potential upside of 11.31%. Given Kirkland’s’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Kirkland’s is more favorable than Bath & Body Works. Volatility and Risk Profitability This table compares Kirkland’s and Bath & Body Works’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Institutional & Insider Ownership 15.4% of Kirkland’s shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.1% of Bath & Body Works shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.0% of Kirkland’s shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Bath & Body Works shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term. Valuation & Earnings This table compares Kirkland’s and Bath & Body Works”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation. Bath & Body Works has higher revenue and earnings than Kirkland’s. Kirkland’s is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bath & Body Works, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. Summary Bath & Body Works beats Kirkland’s on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks. About Kirkland’s ( Get Free Report ) Kirkland’s, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer of home décor and furnishings in the United States. Its stores provide various merchandise, including holiday décor, furniture, textiles, ornamental wall décor, decorative accessories, art, mirrors, home fragrance, lighting, floral, housewares, outdoor, and gifts. The company operates its stores under the Kirkland’s, Kirkland’s Home, Kirkland’s Home Outlet, Kirkland’s Outlet, and Kirkland Collection names. It also operates an e-commerce website, kirklands.com. The company was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee. About Bath & Body Works ( Get Free Report ) Bath & Body Works, Inc. operates a specialty retailer of home fragrance, body care, and soaps and sanitizer products. It sells its products under the Bath & Body Works, White Barn, and other brand names through retail stores and e-commerce sites located in the United States and Canada, as well as through international stores operated by partners under franchise, license, and wholesale arrangements. The company was formerly known as L Brands, Inc. and changed its name to Bath & Body Works, Inc. in August 2021. Bath & Body Works, Inc. was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Receive News & Ratings for Kirkland's Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Kirkland's and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
What's your favorite dressing for the holidays? Oyster, cornbread, andouille, dirty rice or something else? (File photo by Patrick Dennis, The Advocate) Lafayette, La chef Ronnie Stelly prepares his own brand of rice dressing mix. PROVIDED PHOTO Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Decades of tradition as depicted in books and movies might make some believe that Americans all eat the same thing at Thanksgiving. Not so. While a turkey and sides are the traditional stars of the show, regional menu variance thrives during the holiday season. Parts of the northeast are partial to oyster stuffing, while midwesterners start polishing their casserole dishes for endless varieties of "hot dish" this time of year. Depending on where one lives in the South, cornbread and rice dressings often take pride of place on the Thanksgiving table, as opposed to the herby, buttery, cubed bread stuffing popular in many homes in other parts of the country. And in south Louisiana, many rules that define the holiday in the rest of the country go out the window. Cajun and Creole people approach the Thanksgiving meal a little differently, according to one Lafayette chef who says that in Acadiana, flavor is everything. Ronnie Stelly, owner of the Catin’s Eatery food truck, pictured Wednesday, November 15, 2023, in Lafayette, La. "A Cajun fried turkey is something that I find stands out above everything else," says Ronnie Stelly, owner of Catin's Eatery food truck, which is currently closed . "We like to fry everything. It's what happens to the crispiness of the skin — it turns the wings almost into cracklins." Stelly admits that for the past several years, his wife has insisted on a roasted turkey. But regardless of the method of preparation, a Cajun turkey goes much further than just the Thanksgiving meal. "The rest gets turned into turkey gumbo and turkey stock to be used throughout the year," he said. "It's the culture to repurpose everything. We've been cooking like this for 100 years — it's how we get together. We meet up and we cook, and I've always found Thanksgiving is our Super Bowl." A famous Louisiana Thanksgiving bird If it's a matter of competition, one Louisiana Thanksgiving dish that surely stands out among the rest is the turducken. The history of this deboned chicken-duck-turkey , filled with a cornbread and pork stuffing, is hard to pin down. But, in keeping with the football analogy, it is known that John Madden was such a fan of the turduckens he tried in the New Orleans area in the 1990s, he talked about them repeatedly while sharing color commentary at Saints games — spreading the popularity of this stuffed bird creation around the country. A turducken from Gourmet Butcher Block in Gretna has turkey and chicken and duck between layers of dressing. While Paul Prudhomme claims to have invented the turducken at a lodge in Wyoming in the 1960s (he trademarked "Turducken" in 1986, but did not enforce the trademark), Acadiana residents are partial to a more local origin story explaining one of Louisiana's best-known Thanksgiving dishes. When Hebert's Specialty Meats opened in Maurice, Louisiana in 1984, Widley Hebert Jr. said that a local hunter came in with the three birds, and asked them to be deboned and stuffed. The results proved wildly popular. Samuel and Quinn Hebert say that they sell up to 3,000 of the specialty birds during Thanksgiving and Christmas. "It's become a part of a lot of family traditions," says co-owner Samuel Hebert. "It's just different from what anybody else has. You can have one bite with the turkey, duck, chicken and some cornbread dressing all together, and the drippings from the chicken keeps everything moist. We'll have people calling to order one for just six people — just to try it. But they feed 25, easily." Superior Cajun sides Rice dressing, green bean casserole, potato salad, corn maque choux — at Thanksgiving, the bird (or three birds in one) at the center of the meal can feel like an afterthought compared to the sheer variety of favorite side dishes that populate the rest of the table. Lafayette, La chef Ronnie Stelly prepares his own brand of rice dressing mix. Stelly says that he spent a Thanksgiving in Texas when he was younger, and that experience taught him an essential Cajun truth: "Texas has good barbecue," he says. "But Louisiana does better sides. No matter what you're talking about — potato salad, green bean casserole, rice dressing, mashed potatoes — Cajun sides are far superior." And while Thanksgiving might be the Super Bowl for Louisiana chefs, it's also one of those holiday meals where the responsibilities are divided, since everyone has that one dish they refuse to hand over. Nina Charles, owner of the Lafayette-based Nina Creole food truck, is a pastry chef (and former star of Netflix baking show "Is It Cake?" ) who says that she gets to take a break from baking during Thanksgiving. Her family holiday is a large gathering, where everyone meets at her mother's house in Carencro for a feast that typically features turkey, a turkey roll and ham as the central proteins. Lafayette, La chef Ronnie Stelly fried a turkey for an event benefitting honor roll students in 2018 "Rice dressing is the biggest thing that comes to my mind that I have to have for Thanksgiving," says Charles. "When I was in Texas or Florida, we never had it. People didn't even know what I was talking about unless I said 'Cajun rice.' I can't eat my turkey without rice dressing." Another thing she says she has to have this time of year is her grandmother's pecan candies, simply made in the traditional way of stirring milk, sugar and butter on the stovetop. "They're traditional to this area, my Mamaw still does them to this day," she says. "That's another thing I hated doing without in the period I was away." Her grandmother is 80 now, so Charles's family is taking the cooking burden off of her by doing a potluck Thanksgiving this year — but some traditions are too special to give up easily. Charles says that her grandmother will still be at the stove, stirring carefully to make sure her pecan candies don't burn. "We try to make her sit back, but she won't give that up," says Charles. At a south Louisiana Thanksgiving, one thing's for sure — we know what we like, and what we do better than anyone else.Amid traffic, Utah walked to Leafs' arena pregame - ESPNFearne Cotton and Jesse Wood's shock split: After celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary and a family summer holiday - all the signs their marriage was secretly on the rocks
The Tampa Bay Rays have had six of their 2025 regular-season games shifted to the early season due to weather issues from playing outside, Major League Baseball announced Monday. The Rays' usual home, domed Tropicana Field, was damaged by Hurricane Milton last month with almost all of its roof shredded and no possibility of playing there next year. As a result, the Rays moved their 2025 home games from St. Petersburg to the New York Yankees training complex at nearby Tampa, which has an 11,000-seat outdoor stadium. An April series scheduled against the Los Angeles Angels that had been set for California will instead be played April 8-10 in Florida. A series between the two which had been set for August in Florida will now be hosted by the Angels on August 4-6. A Rays series against the Minnesota Twins planned in Minneapolis from May 26-28 will instead be played on the same dates in Tampa while a series that had been set for Tampa on July 4-6 will now be played in Minnesota. Florida summers can bring extreme heat and rain. js/bspEthan Taylor scores 21 as Air Force takes down Mercyhurst 82-48
ZETA BREAKING NEWS: BFA Law Announces that Zeta Global Holdings has been Sued for Securities Fraud – Investors with Losses Urged to Contact the Firm (NYSE:ZETA)CS Northridge 89, Utah Tech 79
WASHINGTON (AP) – U Street is mostly deserted when Aceba Broadus and his three-person crew from the District of Columbia’s Department of Public Works (DPW) start setting up shop before 8am at one of DC’s perennial graffiti hot spots. They tap a hydrant to fill the 275-gallon tank in their truck and get to work – coating graffiti-covered walls with a special chemical and then blasting them with high-pressure water. The work progresses quickly, but Broadus holds few illusions that their efforts will last long. “Come back on Friday and it will be all retagged again,” he said. “It’s definitely a bit frustrating.” Across town, Eric B Ricks is engaged in his own graffiti project, far different from the tags and protest slogans often found on buildings and monuments across the nation’s capital. Using a scissor lift, Ricks applies a coat of primer to the wall of Savoy Elementary School in preparation for what will become a city-sponsored mural of geometric patterns and multicoloured birds. “Graffiti is different for every practitioner of the craft. It’s like a hydra, this multiheaded thing that’s many things to many people,” said a longtime graffiti artist Ricks. “Graffiti in its purest form is like a flower growing out of filth and muck.” Aceba Broadus paints over graffiti in a neighbourhood of Washington. PHOTO: AP Workers removing graffiti. PHOTO: AP Queen Jones sprays on a chemical to remove graffiti on a wall. PHOTO: AP This eye-of-the-beholder dynamic between vandalism and urban art form has been a reality since the earliest days of graffiti. One person’s artistic expression is another’s problematic eyesore. At any given time, there are three DPW removal teams working, and the city budgets USD550,000 per year for the task. Those teams use a variety of methods, depending on the type of paint and material of the wall – limestone is the hardest to clean. Sometimes, they use gray paint to simply cover the graffiti on metal security doors. Some types of stone get a special chemical and the water hose. And occasionally, they need to call in outside contractors with a sandblaster. The district also has to contend with political graffiti often left by the frequent mass protests that are drawn to the nation’s capital. Most recently, the large protest against the Israel-Gaza war peaked with a takeover of Columbus Circle in front of Union Station, the Amtrak and commuter rail station. The protesters left graffiti throughout the area, including on a replica of the Liberty Bell. One protester sprayed slogans on the statue of Christopher Columbus. That protest actually produced a rare graffiti-related arrest as authorities later charged a 20-year-old Maryland woman. But mostly it’s tagging, the distinctive stylised bubble-letter signatures that can be seen on hundreds of buildings and all along the Metro train lines. A 21-year DPW veteran, Broadus has become intimately familiar with some of the regular taggers. Three different times, young graffiti artists have been sentenced to community service on his crew; he has occasionally tasked a tagger with covering over their own work. “I ask them why they do it, and they usually say something like, ‘We want to promote our name’,” Broadus said with a shrug. For Ricks, that inability to grasp the motivation has been there since the earliest days of the modern graffiti movement – something he tracks to the early 1980s in New York City. “Most people don’t understand why these kids are doing this,” he said. “Not everybody with a spray can has the same motivations and goals.”POLAND - 2023/09/19: In this photo illustration, a WhatsApp logo seen displayed on a smartphone with ... [+] stock market percentages in the background. (Photo Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) Facebook-owned WhatsApp , launched in 2009, has become the most used mobile messenger app in the world, with nearly three billion users. It's often used for work these days, as well as for chatting with friends. As a result, getting hacked can cause significant problems for users, with attackers using their access to steal money and scam the user's contact. And it can happen to anyone, through methods such as social engineering , web hacking, spyware and Forward Call. We look at the warning signs that your WhatsApp account is hacked , and how you can recover your account if it has. Did Your WhatsApp Get Hacked? WhatsApp users are generally alerted to the fact that their account has been hacked after one of a number of warning signs. Generally, this is strange activity, such as messages from unknown contacts, unread messages marked as read, or the arrival of unsolicited verification codes. Often, you may be alerted to this unauthorised activity on your account by friends and family, who may have received fake messages from you, perhaps asking for money or personal information, or containing fraudulent links. In some cases, WhatsApp users discover that their profile details have been changed, perhaps with a new photo — this allows the attackers to impersonate someone else as part of a wider scam. You may also realise that further devices have been logged in to your account without your permission. It's also a warning sign if you find that your phone is running slowly — this may mean that the hackers are running hidden applications. What To Do If Your WhatsApp Is Hacked? If you think that your WhatsApp account has been hacked, you'll need to try and undo any damage caused, get your account back under your control and take steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. Recovering a WhatsApp account is usually a very simple process — see “How Can You Recover Your WhatsApp Account?” below. But there's a little more time and effort involved in clearing up any problems that may have been caused by the hack and doing a better job of protecting your account from future attacks. Here's what you'll need to do to make that happen. This Viral Smart Bassinet Is 30% Off With The Snoo Black Friday Sale The 50 Best Black Friday Deals So Far, According To Our Deals Editors Step 1: Delete Fake Messages Once you've regained control of your WhatsApp account, the first step is to delete any messages that the hacker may have sent from your account. This should be very straightforward. If your profile picture or other account information has been altered, then you should change back to the original version. You should also check whether the hacker has added any new contacts — if so, delete those too. Step 2: Check For Unexpected Apps The hackers may well have installed new apps on your phone in order to help them target new victims. Check through all the apps you have, and delete any that weren't installed or approved by you. Step 3: Check For Unauthorized Devices WhatsApp accounts can be accessed on multiple linked devices, and you'll need to make sure that you've booted the hacker out. You can remove any unauthorized devices by opening the app and going to Settings, where you'll see a list of Linked Devices. If there are any that you don't recognize, you can log them out of your account simply by tapping on them. Step 4: Tell Your Friends Your WhatsApp contact may well have been receiving messages purporting to be from you, but in fact sent by the hacker. These messages may ask for personal data, contain fraudulent links, or even ask them for their own WhatsApp verification codes under some or other pretext. You should alert anybody on your contacts list to what's happened, and tell them to ignore any such messages they may have received. Step 5: Secure Your Account For The Future If you haven't already set up two-step verification then this is the time to do it. It's a very speedy process — simply go to Settings, then Account, then Two step verification. You'll be asked to set a PIN; and then you're done. You may also choose to protect your data by only allowing your contacts to see your profile. To do this, go to Settings, Account, Privacy, Profile Photo and then select My contacts. How Can You Recover Your WhatsApp Account? Recovering a WhatsApp account is a very straightforward process. You simply need to sign into WhatsApp with your phone number and re-register — to do this, you'll be sent a six-digit code via SMS or a phone call. Once you've done this, because WhatsApp can only be registered with one phone number at a time, anybody using your account will automatically be logged out. You may also be asked to enter a two-step verification PIN. If you don't know it, this means that the hacker may have enabled two-step verification themselves. In that case, there will be a short delay in getting your account back, as there's a seven-day wait before you can sign in without the two-step verification PIN. Bottom Line Recovering a hacked WhatsApp account is a simpler process than is the case with many other apps. You'll also need to alert your contact that they too may be vulnerable and take steps to avoid being hacked again, but this too is fairly straightforward.
Bus crash in eastern Brazil leaves 23 dead
Washington Commanders kicker Austin Seibert has had better days at the ballpark than he did on Sunday. Seibert made only 2-of-3 field goal attempts and missed both extra point tries, including one that would have tied the game at 27 following Jayden Daniels' improbable 87-yard touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin with 21 seconds remaining. Instead, Seibert was wide left, and Dallas Cowboys defensive back Juanyeh Thomas sealed a 34-26 win by returning the ensuing onside kick for a touchdown. After the game, Seibert, who had missed the last two weeks with a hip injury, took full responsibility for the misses, even after a reporter said it seemed like the snap on the fateful missed extra point seemed low. "Didn't make a difference at all. It's on me," Seibert said . Asked what was going through his mind following the loss, Seibert said he felt bad for not holding up his end of the bargain. Greg Fiume/Getty Images "I just want to play better for my teammates," he said. "Definitely don't want to do that. Just wasn't striking it well, but it means a lot to me to be here with these guys, so just want to put my best foot moving forward." Seibert also told reporters he "felt fine" coming into the game and made the decision to play after his two-game absence. Veteran Zane Gonzalez took Seibert's place while he was sidelined. The two missed extra points were Seibert's first misfires on one-pointers all season. He's still 27-of-30 on field goals as well, so it's not like there was much concern about the 28-year-old special teamer coming into today. Earlier this year, Seibert went 7-for-7 on field goals, accounting for all of Washington's points in a Week 2 win over the New York Giants. He also connected on four field goals apiece in wins over the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears. Seibert will aim to bounce back next Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. Related: Commanders Announce Injury Diagnosis For RB Austin EkelerOpenAI's legal battle with Elon Musk reveals internal turmoil over avoiding AI 'dictatorship'
Get into the holiday spirit(s) with these festive pop-ups and menus at Vancouver barsA planned expansion of the Batavia Downs hotel is on hold, possibly for as much as a year, officials with Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. announced Thursday. Outgoing CEO Henry Wojtaszek said the agency put the 48-room addition on pause after two estimates solicited from Buffalo-based developers came in above expectations. The pause could last six months to a year, he said. According to Wojtaszek, both The Krog Group and Ciminelli Real Estate estimated the project would cost around $16 million. Both offers were far above what the agency had hoped to spend on the project, he said. The announcement of the pause came alongside incoming CEO Byron Brown telling board members he and other leaders had designed a “conservative” budget for 2025. Next year’s spending plan, he said, is focused on keeping costs down and managing a reduction in horse-race betting, a decades-long trend. At the same time, leaders hope to send additional money to the 15 counties and two cities that own the corporation. “Our goal is to increase disbursements,” Brown said. “The plan has been prepared in a very conservative way to give us the opportunity to do that.” The hotel expansion pause follows a March vote by the board to spend $106,000 on architectural plans and a market analysis in preparation for the project. The board voted then to pay Orchard Park-based Bammel Architects $76,000 to design the expansion and $30,000 to Spectrum Gaming Group to evaluate the expansion’s pros and cons. Donated to support the investigative post Double Your Money! Donations of up to $1,000 made by Dec. 31 will be matched. For months, OTB leadership has said the hotel is regularly between 94 and 96 percent occupied, leading them to believe an expansion was necessary. Not expanding the hotel means “we’re limited in our growth,” Chautauqua County board member Vincent Horrigan said. Brown agreed. “That’s one of the reasons why the board was looking at the expansion of the hotel, because the hotel has provided opportunities for additional financial growth of the corporation,” Brown said. The hotel at Batavia Downs has been controversial for nearly a decade. In the spring of 2015, OTB, then under Republican control, voted to sell approximately an acre of land adjacent to the Batavia Downs casino to a group of investors who had joined together as ADK Hospitality, LLC. Among the investors were Kent Frey of Frey Electric Construction and David McNamara, a partner at the Phillips Lytle law firm — both significant Republican donors. Additional investors included Anthony J. Baynes, a former chair of the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority, and James and John Basil, who own car dealerships. ADK Hospitality spent $5.5 million to build the 84-room hotel, buoyed by $600,000 in tax breaks from the Genesee County Industrial Development Agency. The hotel turned a profit each year until the pandemic. In 2021, OTB bought the hotel for $7.5 million.That purchase, done through a bond, raised concerns with Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick, who has questioned the project for the past two years. Hardwick in July 2022 sent a letter to OTB management indicating he had “serious questions” about the hotel’s development and management, as well as OTB’s eventual purchase of the property. Among Hardwick’s questions: Why would OTB engage a group of investors — many of them big political donors to Republicans — who had never developed a hotel before? Who approached whom? How was the sale price for the land determined? Who initiated OTB’s purchase of the hotel? And who set the price? Wojtaszek, the OTB president and CEO, instructed his staff not to respond to the comptroller’s inquiries, writing in an email that Hardwick’s questions were “designed to harass & intimidate our organization” and the comptroller’s office “can FOIL the documents.” Hardwick’s deputy, Timothy Callan, now represents Erie County on the OTB board and controls the greatest number of votes following last year’s Democratic takeover. Callan, in the spring, voted against plans to study the hotel’s expansion. Investigative Post reporter Geoff Kelly contributed to this story.
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