Tom Dinki News Today

BUFFALO — The image spoke for itself.

While election denial may be most visible in swing states, it’s also here in heavily Democratic New York, where President Biden won by 23 percentage points.

A recent report found at least 13 book bans across four New York school districts last year. Although none of those were in Western New York, the issue has been playing out locally in school board meetings and social media pages.

Following a coordinated series of one-day strikes earlier this summer, workers at seven Western New York nursing homes have secured new contracts, but workers at two others are now set to go on even longer strikes.

Exactly one week after President Joe Biden warned that Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans represent an extremist threat to the U.S., New York Democrats on Thursday sounded the alarm about who they say represents an extremist threat to the state: GOP gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin.

The racist mass shooting at the Tops Market in Buffalo May 14 renewed the spotlight on extremism across the country. So what does extremism look like here in Western New York? WBFO tries to answer that question via a four-part series, "Extremism in WNY," as well as continuing coverage of the issue.

An extremist style, in theory, should have worked in a district that Donald Trump won by double-digits. So political analysts and insiders aren’t convinced Paladino’s defeat can be considered an outright rejection of extremism.

The ReAwaken American Tour that recently visited a Batavia church features Christian nationalist ideology in several ways: the proclamation that America is a Christian nation, the idea that Donald Trump’s presidency was God’s will, and even anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

The separation between church and state means the state doesn't try to intimidate churches.

The rules surrounding tax-exempt churches and politics leave plenty of gray area, and even when there are violations, the rules are rarely enforced.