Categories for News

Feb 1

2022

OTB striking back: Officials to fight reform effort

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Officials from the Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp. plan to fight one state senator’s efforts to reform their operation. Following OTB’s monthly meeting on Jan. 21, agency President Henry Wojtaszek told the Daily News in Batavia that he was directed by the agency’s board to explore options for challenging three pieces of legislation introduced by state Sen. Tim Kennedy. Wotjaszek hinted that one option could be litigation. Another could involve encouraging local lawmakers representing Western New York communities served by OTB to approve resolutions opposing Kennedy’s reforms. “You heard today that the board certainly doesn’t support a measure to[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jan 13

2022

Kennedy proposes OTB reforms

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A series of legislative proposals announced Thursday by State Sen. Tim Kennedy are an effort to correct what he called “perverse dysfunction” at Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. Kennedy proposes three bills in response to an audit by the Office of the State Comptroller, he said. The audit criticized OTB leadership for a bevy of issues, including managers and board members improperly taking tickets to luxury suites at sporting and music events at Highmark Stadium and Keybank Center.  “There has been perverse dysfunction happening at the OTB and it needs to be addressed,” Kennedy told Investigative Post. The government-run, Western[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Dec 30

2021

One inspection of grain elevator in 28 years

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Since it bought the Great Northern grain elevator in 1993, ADM Milling Co. has told city officials at least three times the iconic Ganson Street structure needs to come down.  Each time, to justify its request for a demolition permit, the company has commissioned and filed with the city — and most recently with the state Supreme Court — engineering reports and affidavits outlining the building’s alleged structural deficiencies and the danger it poses to the public. And yet, city inspectors have never in those 28 years demanded the company repair the problems those reports detail. The city has never[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Dec 28

2021

Tesla reaches its jobs target

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Tesla has finally met its job creation goals at the company’s plant in South Buffalo, according to a state spokesperson. The state required Tesla to employ 1,460 at the plant in exchange for subsidies worth $950 million. Meeting that mandate has proven difficult for a variety of reasons, including Covid-19.  Employment stood at 1,058 on May 31, the original deadline to meet the job goals. The state extended Tesla’s deadline to Dec. 31. In response to questions from Investigative Post, a spokesperson for the Empire State Development Corp. said Tuesday that, as of Nov. 10, Tesla had reported  employment of[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Dec 23

2021

iPost suit prompts release of stadium reports

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Since August, Investigative Post has been pressing Kathy Hochul’s administration to release two studies related to a proposed new stadium for the Buffalo Bills.  The state’s response: We couldn’t possibly. The governor’s people told us the documents, “if disclosed, would impair present or imminent contract awards.” Our response: We filed a lawsuit seeking their release under the state Freedom of Information Law. In the face of that litigation, the Hochul administration Thursday released what appears to be one of the two studies, along with two other documents that may be a portion of the other report we’re suing to obtain.[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Dec 1

2021

iPost sues to obtain Bills stadium studies

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Investigative Post filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court today seeking the release of two studies that are central to negotiations involving a proposed new stadium for the Buffalo Bills. Both studies were commissioned by Pegula Sports and Entertainment, which is affiliated with the Bills, and shared with Empire State Development, the state’s primary economic development agency.  One study considered the feasibility of building a new stadium or renovating Highmark Stadium, the cost of doing so, and the possible location of a new venue. The other study evaluated the economic impact of the Bills and other sports and entertainment holdings[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Nov 24

2021

Downtown Bills stadium could displace 3,000

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Building a football stadium on the edge of downtown could displace up to 3,000 residents, as well as schools, churches and other neighborhood “institutions,” according to a report published by The Athletic.  A downtown facility would impact more residents in and around the Old First Ward than previously reported because the stadium would require more land to comply with a “mandatory Department of Homeland security perimeter,” event staging and game day requirements. In short, a stadium located along South Park Avenue near Louisiana and Hamburg streets would require a much larger footprint than previously believed. The site would need to[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Nov 23

2021

Surprise winner of Samsung plant

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At the beginning of the year, it looked like Austin, Texas, was the frontrunner to land a $17 billion Samsung microchip plant that Western New York officials were hoping to lure to rural Genesee County.  In recent months, a new leader emerged – the City of Taylor, just outside Austin – that agreed to a slew of city, county and school district incentives that would reportedly reduce Samsung’s tax burden by 90 percent during the first 10 years of the plant’s operation.  “I thought this was Austin’s to lose,” said Nate Jensen, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin who[...]

Posted 2 years ago
Investigative Post

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