With its affluent waterfront along Chautauqua Lake, the Bemus Point Central School District rarely qualifies for federal financial assistance. So when an opportunity arose to apply for a rebate from the Environmental Protection Agency to help finance new electric school buses, district administrators jumped at the chance. In May, the EPA awarded Bemus Point $400,000 for two electric buses.

Two years ago, New York passed a law mandating that all new school bus purchases must be electric starting in 2027. The district reasoned that the rebate could provide a head start, while easing the financial burden on local taxpayers.

“We never get this,” said District Superintendent Joseph Reyda. “This was a rare, rare occurrence.”

Including bus chargers and upgrades to the bus garage, the full project would cost about a million dollars. The rebate and additional state incentives meant the district would be responsible for less than a quarter of that. To cover the local share, the school board asked the community to approve a proposition to take out a temporary loan for $236,000.

The district campaigned hard this summer, publishing several articles in the local newspaper, posting regularly on social media, holding three public meetings, and even bringing in an electric school bus for the community to tour.

On September 5, the community voted — and rejected the proposition by just 11 votes, effectively turning down about $800,000 in financial incentives, as well as the chance to get ahead of the state mandate.

Of the state’s 30 districts that tried to pass propositions this year specifically to purchase an electric bus, 10 had their measures rejected by voters, according to data compiled by the New York State School Boards Association.

An influential charity that has raised millions of dollars for social causes in the Bronx is facing a torrent of criticism from community groups and former board members alleging that the nonprofit has betrayed its core mission.

When brothers Desmon and Derrick Lewis founded the Bronx Community Foundation in 2017, they were copying a model that has worked across the country for more than a century: Attract major philanthropists and distribute their donations as grants to local nonprofits.

But the foundation has given out less than a quarter of the more than $12.6 million in donations it has received from 2019 to 2023 (the most recent year financial documents are available) to support charitable organizations in the borough. For three years in a row, it spent more on consultants and overhead than on charitable giving. And it declined to account for how millions in pledged government grants have been allocated.

New York’s warehouse workers face higher injury rates than employees in any other sector.

In recent years, they’ve been hurt more often and more severely than before. And they reported more than one injury per nine workers in 2023 — more than double the rate of warehouse workers nationally.

As e-commerce has driven rapid growth in the industry — which added tens of thousands of jobs around the state in recent years — labor advocates are pressing Governor Kathy Hochul to sign a bill that would require warehouses to develop plans to keep workers safe.