Apr 24

2022

Monday Morning Read

This week's recommended reading includes stories on bad cops, dubious leadership and a snowy football game 59 years ago

Pulled from WeeklyPost, our Sunday newsletter, with additions from stories published yesterday. Want to subscribe? It’s free. 


It appears police forces around Western New York have more than a few bad apples. Charlie Specht of The Buffalo News reported Sunday that more than 225 police officers have been disciplined for misconduct since 2017. That amounts to 12 percent of officers in the police departments surveyed. Given what we’ve culled from reviewing disciplinary records of Buffalo police, it’s very likely that 12 percent is an undercount. (Let’s just say Internal Affairs in Buffalo isn’t very thorough or aggressive.)

Also in yesterday’s News, a story by Steve Watson that documents how the leadership of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute folded in the face of a right-wing assault on one of their executives. CEO Candace Johnson doesn’t exactly come across as a profile in courage. Then again, as Investigative Post reported last week, Roswell under Johnson’s leadership has exercised poor judgment in doing business with sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

Did Mark Poloncarz really not know about the county-commissioned study that assessed the condition of the Bills stadium in 2016? Either he’s lying or guilty of dereliction of duty. A report from The Athletic.

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Rod Watson sounds the alarm about the crazies that might be coming to a school board near you. The News followed up with a story with added details. An op-ed in The New York Times adds a national perspective.

The Times did a nice pictorial treatment of Frederick Law Olmsted’s legacy. There are a handful of nods to his work in Western New York.

ProPublica documents how wage earners get shafted under federal tax law.

How is Daryle Lamonica not in the football Hall of Fame? (My first memory of attending a pro sports event was the 1963 playoff game in the Rockpile my Dad took me to between the Bills and Boston Patriots, as they were known at the time. We lost 26-8, the only real highlight being Elbert Dubenion returning the second half kickoff for a touchdown. Also memorable was the response of the fans to the drubbing: chants of  “We Want Lamonica!” punctuated by the occasional snowball. The fans got their wish, but the rookie was as ineffective as starter Jack Kemp. It didn’t help that Cookie Gilchrist gained only 8 years on 7 carries. Suffice to say, both Kemp and Lamonica went on to win championships in later years.)

Investigative Post

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