What’s happening this week in Buffalo Niagara business?

ACV Auctions will report its fourth quarter and full-year results on Wednesday.

The Exchange at Beverly Gray center will host a small business loan clinic on the third Wednesday in February, March and April from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Crystal Morgan from Pursuit Lending will talk about what kinds of small business loans are available. The exchange is located at 334 East Utica St. For more information, call 716-328-7294 or email cmorgan@pursuitlending.com.

Empower 716 is seeking nominations for its Young Entrepreneurs of Color awards, which is given to entrepreneurs age 25 and younger who live in Western New York and have made a significant impact on the community. The deadline for nominations is Feb. 29, and can be made at Empower716.com. Self-nominations are not accepted.

A discussion on racism and how it affects private lives and public spaces will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the M&T Auditorium at the University at Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The event is part of UB’s 2024 ‘Beyond the Knife’ series established by the UB Department of Surgery after the 2020 murder of George Floyd to engage the Jacobs School in difficult conversations surrounding racism and health care in the U.S.

Deadric T. Williams, associate professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will present on “Structural Racism and Persistent Inequality,” followed by a panel featuring Rita Hubbard-Robinson, CEO of NeuWater Associates; LaVonne Ansari, CEO and director, Community Health Center of Buffalo; Chandra Redfern, CEO of Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Centers; and Ron Stewart, professor and chair of the Buffalo State University Department of Sociology. Registration is encouraged here.

UB Jacobs will unveil a mural titled “Celebration of Diversity,” at 9 a.m. Thursday in the medical school’s second-floor atrium, 955 Main St. The massive, 50-by-16-foot floor-to-ceiling mural was created by artist Julia Bottoms and features 10 current Jacobs School students, fellows, residents and alumni. 

Niagara University will host the son of Buffalo massacre shooting victim Geraldine Talley for a presentation at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the Gallagher Center’s Multipurpose Room. Mark Talley will speak on how the hate crime motivated him to launch his non-profit organization, Agents for Advocacy. The free event is presented by Niagara University’s Vincentian Center for Justice, in coordination with the Niagara University Black Student Union, the Intercultural Engagement Center and the Peace & Justice Studies Association. It will also be shared on Zoom at https://niagara-edu.zoom.us/j/87296967087#success.

Schumer pitches UB for a federal artificial intelligence program.

Trucking companies have snapped up Yellow Corp. facilities.

Big Ditch wants tax breaks for its Lockport expansion.

A home care firm is expanding in Niagara Falls.

The Highmark office building downtown could be in line for a big investment.

Can Orchard Park woo Trader Joe’s?

What’s behind the Seneca Nation’s crackdown on its gasoline suppliers?

How the downtown office market is changing.

How the Buffalo Niagara housing market cooled last year.

Panepinto plans to build a fourth warehouse on Dingens.

One local craft brewer is buying a bigger competitor.

The Seneca Nation is threatening to bar three companies that supply fuel to its gas stations.

A deteriorating underground vault is causing a sidewalk in the City of Tonawanda to be closed.

A former Pizza Hut is set to be demolished. Here’s what’s coming in its place.

More allegations in lawsuit over potential purchasing fraud at National Fuel Gas. Co.

Local building trades officials say a developer isn’t paying the prevailing wages it’s required to after getting tax breaks.

The developer of a waterfront cannabis facility is struggling to meet some of its minority hiring targets.

Why prices are changing on many menus.

Labor and union leaders push for higher Medicaid reimbursements.

There’s a new push to help entrepreneurs and startups on the East Side.

It’s time for the Super Bowl and a new William Mattar ad.

Work on the McCarley Gardens is complete, but an expansion is still up in the air.

Douglas Jemal is buying another downtown building.

A big Wyoming County employer is cutting 945 jobs.

Low natural gas prices are hitting National Fuel Gas.

An NLRB judge ruled that Starbucks illegally dismissed 10 Buffalo workers over union activities.

An Allentown church could have a new owner, who wants to turn it into apartments

Local Ford workers are getting big bonuses.

Plans for a South Buffalo film studio are on hold.

A wave of state grants are flowing to Western New York.

Five reads from Buffalo Next:

1.Take a closer look inside The Caz music venue.

2. What Top Seedz’s big expansion will mean for the artisan cracker maker.

3. The state’s slow rollout of its legal cannabis market is moving even slower.

4. How Buffalo Niagara’s startup ecosystem has changed – for the better.

5. What does the future of health care look like? A new report offers a glimpse.

The Buffalo Next team gives you the big picture on the region’s economic revitalization. Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com or reach Buffalo Next Editor David Robinson at 716-849-4435.