Categories for In-Depth

Mar 30

2020

COVID-19 hitting Kaleida staff hard

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Updated: 5:50 p.m. The workforce at Kaleida hospitals is being hard hit by the coronavirus. A document obtained by Investigative Post indicates that as of Friday, 34 caregivers had tested positive for COVID-19 and 81 awaited test results. Another 166 employees had tested negative.  Kaleida spokesman Michael Hughes, who failed to respond to emails and phone calls from Investigative Post reporters Friday and earlier Monday, confirmed the 34 figure in an email sent today at 4:55 p.m., after this story posted. His email read: “Over 10,000 employees.  34 positive. .03% …… “Hitting Kaleida staff hard” ???!!!!” Other sources say the situation[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Mar 27

2020

Sheriff Howard OK with release of prisoners

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 Updated: 6:02 p.m. While he has no authority to release people held in his jails, Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard said he has no objection to others using their powers to do so. “As sheriff, it is not in my authority to grant the early release or to remove the bail requirements that have been set by the court,” Howard said in a video statement released Friday. “But I will not oppose any measures or directives of the judiciary or other agencies to release any inmates.” In his video statement, Howard said he has encouraged the state Board of[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Mar 25

2020

COVID-19 adds to plight of the homeless

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These are especially difficult days — and nights — for the homeless of Western New York. They share the same fears about COVID-19 as do those comfortably cloistered in their houses and apartments. But they also have fewer options as to where to bed for the night, as some shelters have closed and others have reduced their capacity to comply with state edicts intended to limit crowds and contact between people. The homeless also often lack ready access to other basics, such as medical care. “Being homeless right now, anywhere, is a pretty tough thing,” Jean Bennett, director of Housing[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Mar 25

2020

Lawyers protest dangers at detention center

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 Lawyers defending immigrants in deportation hearings and other legal proceedings in Batavia refused to appear in court Tuesday, saying federal authorities have failed to protect all parties involved from exposure to COVID-19. Attorneys from the Volunteer Lawyers Project and Prisoners Legal Services of New York also  said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has effectively stopped them from representing their clients in court by requiring face masks and other protective equipment that they can’t obtain because of shortages and that ICE won’t provide. The federal immigration court has continued to operate despite a plea last Friday from State[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Mar 19

2020

COVID-19 expected to worsen Buffalo finances

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The coronavirus, and the attendant slowdown of the local economy, could not arrive at a worse time for the City of Buffalo’s finances. The likely decline in county sales tax — Buffalo’s share of which is a critical portion of the city’s budget — could contribute to a deficit when the fiscal year ends June 30. Early spring is the worst period of the year for the City of Buffalo’s cash flow, as Investigative Post reported last year.  The city comptroller’s office projected the city would run a positive cash flow balance of $3.5 million for February, and that number is[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Feb 26

2020

State stonewalling on IBM project

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Several years ago, the Cuomo administration spent $55 million of state taxpayer money to buy, renovate and equip seven floors of a downtown Buffalo office building to bring IBM to town. The payoff, we were told, would be 500 good-paying software engineering jobs and the start of a technology hub with all sorts of spin-off development. Now, four of those floors at Fountain Plaza are available for lease, raising all sorts of questions about IBM’s commitment to Buffalo. Has it pulled out? Working on a Plan B? None of the above? IBM isn’t saying. Neither is the Cuomo administration. In[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Feb 19

2020

Lead poisoning plan missing key elements

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In January, the City of Buffalo launched its long-awaited pilot program to combat lead poisoning. The pilot program is small — much smaller than the problem in Buffalo, which has one of the highest rates of children afflicted with lead poisoning in the nation.  And, as it stands now, the program lacks funding mechanisms to make it bigger.  Furthermore, a key element is still missing: a new local law that will allow city inspectors access to the interiors of the city’s abundant rental singles and doubles in poor neighborhoods. Those dwellings comprise 80 percent of the city’s highest-risk properties. Still,[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Feb 5

2020

Child pornography prosecutions on the rise

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Prosecution of child pornography cases spiked last year in Western New York. Between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Erie County District Attorney, 80 cases were prosecuted last year. That’s almost double the number of cases prosecuted in 2017. “There are times where we’re finding child pornography involving children who are 10 or 12 months old. That’s very shocking, seeing those images and videos and trying to figure out why someone would have interest in that stuff,” said said Michael Hockwater, a detective on the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force. Cases the FBI task force handle range from a man who photographed[...]

Posted 4 years ago
Investigative Post

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