Categories for Investigations

Apr 13

2016

Council ignores warning on lead test kits

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The Common Council’s chief response to the city’s lead poisoning problem involves a commitment to distribute lead test kits to residents that one expert has termed a “very dangerous idea” with the potential for “extremely hazardous” results. No fewer than three experts challenged the wisdom of the Council’s plan in interviews with Investigative Post, including one who shared her concerns in writing last month with the office of Masten Council Member Ulysees Wingo. Those warnings have not been shared with other members, even when the test kits were discussed during Tuesday’s Council meeting. “Overall, I think there is a strong national[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Mar 10

2016

State behind curve on lead poisoning

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New York State is failing to keep up with at least two federal initiatives aimed at combating lead poisoning in children, a particular problem in Buffalo. The state has failed to adopt federal standards that would improve lead abatement practices, resulting in a near absence of enforcement actions to discourage shoddy workmanship. New York officials have also failed to adopt a more stringent federal standard for what constitutes a concerning level of lead in blood tests that would trigger medical intervention. While New York as a whole lags in dealing with its lead problem, the effort in Buffalo is especially[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Feb 24

2016

iPost diversity report on WBFO

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Charlotte Keith of Investigative Post reports on a lack of diversity in the construction trade unions in Buffalo and Western New York. This story broadcast Wednesday on WBFO and is a companion to a story published Tuesday by Investigative Post. Produced by Jeffrey Mayne.

Posted 8 years ago

Feb 23

2016

Buffalo trade unions lagging in diversity

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  Construction in Buffalo is booming. SolarCity. Children’s Hospital. The University at Buffalo Medical School. Taxpayer-funded projects like these are employing thousands of union construction workers. But the boom has resurrected concerns that the unions have made little progress over the past decade in diversifying their membership. While minorities make up 17 percent of Erie County’s workforce and more than half of the city’s population, they account for only 11 percent of unionized construction workers, according to the most recent figures available. What’s more, there’s been virtually no change in the racial makeup of the building trades over the past[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Feb 22

2016

Action to fence off toxic Wheatfield landfill

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A state senator lashed out Monday at the Department of Environmental Conservation for its failure to protect residents living by a landfill in Wheatfield that was recently declared a Superfund site. In responding to a Feb. 10 story by Investigative Post, Sen. Robert Ortt questioned how the state DEC could insist for 25 years that the landfill off Nash Road did not pose a significant risk to unsuspecting adults and children who have been using the property for recreation. The senator said it made little sense when the DEC in December 2015 reversed itself by declaring the landfill a Superfund site, even[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Feb 10

2016

Landfill with Love Canal legacy still poses danger

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Varsha Kraus and her family fled their neighborhood in Love Canal in 1981 only to learn two years ago that its toxic waste had been dug up and buried in a landfill behind their subdivision in North Tonawanda. After insisting for 25 years that the closed landfill posed no significant health threat, state officials changed their minds in December and declared it a Superfund site. But warning signs were evident all along: rusted chemical drums, battery casings stacked waist high and children getting burns from splashes of orange pond water. The Love Canal waste – enough to fill 80 dump[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Feb 9

2016

Unlike mayor, Council poised to act on lead

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Three Buffalo Common Council members, responding to an Investigative Post story that aired Monday on WGRZ, said Tuesday they are willing to collaborate with Erie County health officials to address the city’s serious lead problem. Council President Darius Pridgen is among those who vowed action. Passing legislation and certifying city inspectors to detect hazards inside homes were mentioned as possible steps. The response of Council members contrasts with Mayor Mayor Brown, who said Monday he was satisfied with leaving the task of lead detection to the county. Although the mayor expressed a willingness last summer to discuss how the city[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Feb 8

2016

Mayor backtracks on lead pledge

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You don’t have to go as far as Flint, Michigan, to find a serious lead poisoning problem. There’s one right here in Buffalo, one that City Hall continues to downplay. New data obtained by Investigative Post shows there’s an increase, for the first time in four years, in the number of children in Erie County who tested positive for lead in their blood. In 2015, Erie County reported 295 children who tested positive for lead in their blood. That’s a 14 percent increase from the prior year. The real problem is in Buffalo, however, where 273 children – 93 percent[...]

Posted 8 years ago
Investigative Post

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