Articles for Charlotte Keith

May 23

2018

Decline in cross border traffic “very significant”

It might not seem like it if you’re stuck waiting to cross the border to or from Canada this summer, but over the past two decades, the number of people making the trip has plummeted.  Car traffic at the Peace Bridge, which connects Buffalo and Fort Erie, dropped 40 percent between 2000 and 2017. Ron Rienas, general manager of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, which oversees the Peace Bridge, called the decline “very significant,” adding, “it’s very unusual to have that degree of decline on a transportation network.” It’s not just the Peace Bridge. The Rainbow, Whirlpool[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Apr 24

2018

Keith discusses IBM Buffalo Billion deal on WBFO

Charlotte Keith of Investigative Post discusses her recent reporting on the struggles of IBM’s Buffalo Billion-funded office, including a recent shakeup in staffing, with Jay Moran.  

Posted 6 years ago

Apr 13

2018

IBM subcontractor stiffs employees on pay

Former employees of Career Connection Inc., until recently the largest employer at IBM’s Buffalo office, were told Thursday that the company cannot afford to pay them for their final week of work. In response to our report on WGRZ, IBM said the company has “promptly taken action making sure the employees receive all the money they are owed for their work on the IBM account.” The affected employees will be paid by IBM. “My goal is to accumulate sufficient cash to fund the payroll for the week ended March 30, 2018,” Career Connection Inc.’s CEO, Jessica Killgore, wrote in an[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Apr 6

2018

Staffing shakeup at IBM Buffalo Billion project

Until recently, staffing agency Career Connection Inc. was the largest employer at IBM’s Buffalo office. But, last week, CEO Jessica Killgore told employees – including roughly 85 in Buffalo – they would be abruptly transferred to other companies, also IBM subcontractors. The move followed “a series of painful business challenges and unfavorable events encountered during the last two years,” Killgore wrote in an email to staff last Monday. “We feel it is imperative to take extreme action.” Gov. Cuomo lured IBM to town with $55 million from the Buffalo Billion. In exchange, state officials promised, the company would create 500[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Mar 30

2018

UB students rally to demand divestment

Dozens of University at Buffalo students rallied Thursday, calling for the university’s foundation to divest from fossil fuels. UB has positioned itself as a leader on green initiatives, even as the private and technically separate UB foundation has invested in funds that back fracking companies, according to documents leaked as part of the Paradise Papers, Investigative Post reported last year.  The Fossil Free UB campaign, which organized the protest, has earned support from the representative bodies for both both the faculty and professional staff, as well as student government. In response to the divestment campaign, the foundation has said it is “actively looking”[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Feb 28

2018

State audit challenges UB Foundation spending

The University at Buffalo Foundation spent almost $40,000 on questionable entertainment expenses, operated for three years under an expired contract with the campus, and lacks policies to ensure contracts are competitively bid, according to an audit released yesterday by the state comptroller’s office. The foundation also paid the salaries of two retired university staff members who returned to state employment, while they were also collecting state pensions – allowing them to circumvent state caps on “double-dipping,” the report found.   The private UB Foundation is technically separate from the public university, but has long faced pressure to be more transparent[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Feb 19

2018

IBM Buffalo Billion project fails to deliver

Among a string of investments in untested companies, the $55 million grant to bring IBM to town seemed like one of the safest bets of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion program. IBM’s new Buffalo location was an obvious choice, too, when the state was looking for a company capable of handling a multi-million dollar contract to provide customer support for state agencies’ IT needs. But, so far, IBM’s Buffalo office has been mired in dysfunction and disappointment. Far from bringing “cutting-edge software development jobs” to Buffalo, as the governor promised, most of the employees here work call center jobs as[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Jan 8

2018

Buffalo Billion emails highlight political giving

A list of hundreds of emails from a key figure in the Buffalo corruption case underscores the role of campaign contributions in the scandal. Lobbyist Todd Howe repeatedly emailed his clients – including executives at LPCiminelli who are facing charges of bid-rigging – about giving money to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his then running mate, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul. The index of emails, submitted into evidence by defense lawyers at the end of December but withdrawn just days later, includes only their subject lines, not the full text of the messages or the dates they were sent. Still, it offers[...]

Posted 6 years ago
Investigative Post

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