Categories for In-Depth

Nov 13

2019

DA moving, judges lagging on bail reform

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 Erie County is ahead of the curve on bail reform. Changes in the law that take effect January 1 prohibit the imposition of cash bail on defendants charged with misdemeanors and non-violent crimes. But in Erie County, as of November 1, assistant district attorneys cannot ask for bail on those offenses without prior approval from a supervisor. “Come December first, only I can approve it,” said John Flynn, the Erie County District Attorney. “That’s how we’re phasing it in. Then come January, none of us can ask because the judges cannot do it.” He added: “Individuals who are charged[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Oct 31

2019

Locked, loaded and stuck in storage

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More than half of the 125 rifles Buffalo police bought two years ago to use in the event of a mass shooting sit unused because the department has yet to train most officers in their use. And police say it’s probably going to be another two years until all the necessary training is completed. “For some reason, unknown to us, the training ceased,” said John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association. As a result, the rifle purchase ”seems like a colossal waste of money.” The police attribute the slow rollout to factors including training requirements and the time[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Oct 23

2019

Questionable data center assumptions

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An alliance of environmental, community organizations and local governments support a plan to build massive data centers in two upstate towns, including Somerset in Niagara County.  Project backers contend the data centers would help the environment, provide jobs to displaced workers and replenish the tax coffers of local governments.  “It really is a win-win-win for the community, the environment and for workers,” Lisa Dix, senior New York campaign manager for Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, told Investigative Post. There is reason to question those assumptions, however. The project calls for new steel structures to be built on the near-defunct coal[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Oct 22

2019

Data centers: Big subsidies, few jobs

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Subsidized data centers can be expensive propositions for taxpayers. They typically require hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer assistance for every job created — and the price tag is sometimes much steeper. The cost of subsidizing data centers built over the past decade in Lockport, for example, worked out to $1.9 million per job. That’s far higher than the typical cost per job for a government-subsidized project. What’s more, there are few indications that data centers inspire other new businesses to enter a locale, said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a subsidy watchdog organization that has[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Aug 22

2019

Cop car shortage sidelines new officers

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Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and the Common Council have shortchanged the Buffalo Police Department’s police fleet in recent years. They’ve replaced cars at less than half the rate the police department has lobbied for, and which is considered best practice by experts in fleet maintenance. Last week, Investigative Post reported on the sorry state of affairs. The police department has too few patrol cars, we found, and many of the cars that are in service are in poor repair. The situation, said John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, is “dire.” “There aren’t enough cars for the patrol[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Aug 15

2019

Buffalo police handcuffed by ramshackle fleet

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On any given shift, Buffalo police have just half the patrol cars they need to do the job. “I would describe [the situation] as dire,” John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, told Investigative Post. “There aren’t enough cars for the patrol officers to patrol the streets and get to the calls.” The cause: The Brown administration has not replaced police vehicles as frequently as the police department would like and national standards advise. As a result, the police fleet is aging and in disrepair. The cars that do work are driven into the ground, while those in[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Aug 7

2019

Progress on fair housing front

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Editor’s note: This is the last story Charlotte Keith wrote for Investigative Post. She joined The Philadelphia Inquirer in July. A recent change in state law offers new protections for thousands of Western New York residents who receive federal housing vouchers, offering a way to pursue discrimination complaints without relying on the City of Buffalo’s flawed system. The new measure — included in the state budget that passed in March — means landlords can no longer refuse to rent to someone because they rely on government assistance to help pay rent. Buffalo already had a local law in place prohibiting[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Jul 31

2019

Free ride over for OTB boss

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 The pay and perks are aplenty for the head of the Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp. There’s Henry Wojtaszek’s annual salary of $179,462. A state pension. Forty-seven days a year of paid time off, including vacation, holidays, personal time and sick time. Access to gold-plated health, dental and vision insurance, which he has opted out of in favor of an annual cash payment of at least $6,000. And, until April, a cell phone and automobile paid for by OTB. Wojtaszsek abruptly surrendered the car and phone after Investigative Post and the Niagara Gazette requested records under the state[...]

Posted 5 years ago
Investigative Post

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