Categories for Analysis

Nov 14

2024

How Erie County voted for president

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The Democratic presidential ticket’s margin of victory in Erie County was provided by voters in the City of Buffalo. Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz won the county by 42,243 votes, according to the current count. She won Buffalo by 46,765, snagging more than three-quarters of the ballots cast by city voters. The Democrats also won by lesser but still substantial margins in the towns of Amherst, Tonawanda and Aurora, and squeaked out victories in Cheektowaga and Lackawanna. The rest of the county registered various shades of red, ranging from pinkish communities like Orchard Park, Hamburg and[...]

Posted 12 months ago

Nov 12

2024

Low-income tenants for high-income towns

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Section 8 rent allowances to vary by neighborhood. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel With rents increasing throughout Erie County, a trio of Buffalo-based housing agencies hope to see more low-income rentals in some of the region’s most affluent communities. These housing agencies, which administer federally funded rental vouchers, say they are looking for more private-sector landlords in East Amherst, Clarence Center, Orchard Park and similar communities to participate in the government’s Section 8 subsidized rent program. Attempts to increase Section 8 housing in suburban and other higher-income areas have occurred in the past, according to representatives of the housing agencies —[...]

Posted 12 months ago

Nov 7

2024

Harris’ underwhelming victory in New York State

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Kamala Harris won New York State on Tuesday. Or, more accurately, she won New York City, whose voters provided her margin of victory. She also won in counties with urban centers — Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany — while losing Long Island and most of rural upstate. Harris this year drew 900,000 fewer votes in New York State than Joe Biden did in 2020. Biden beat Trump that year by 23 percentage points, as did Hillary Clinton in 2016. Harris’s margin of victory was just shy of 12 percent.  Trump, meanwhile, has gained support with each appearance on the ballot[...]

Posted 12 months ago

Oct 16

2024

KeyBank approving more mortgages for Black borrowers

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Story was updated Oct. 18 to reflect the current relationship between KeyBank and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. After years of criticism over its lending record to Black homebuyers, KeyBank is reporting a sharp increase in the number of mortgages granted to African-American applicants in the Erie-Niagara region. The latest data obtained through the federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act shows that in 2023 KeyBank made 48 loans in the two counties, compared to 12 the year before. “All the progress that we have made over time is the result of just being able to listen to the community,” said Chiwuike[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Oct 8

2024

Buffalo cops rarely disciplined

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The officers “pulled up in a black Taurus” and started “beating and whipping people,” according to one of several witnesses to a May 2011 altercation between Buffalo cops and a crowd of people outside an East Ferry corner store. The cops used homophobic slurs, were “beating the shit out of people” and “kicking this boy in the face,” another witness said. A third witness said “a white male who works for housing” — later identified as Buffalo Police Officer Michael Acquino — “took his [phone] and deleted personal pictures and a video that he had recorded of the officers beating[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Sep 30

2024

Brown announces he’s leaving City Hall

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Mayor Byron Brown at Monday’s press conference. Photo by Garrett Looker. With Byron Brown officially announcing he’s leaving City Hall within the next few weeks, additional information is starting to emerge about his new job. To begin with, a $295,000 salary as president and CEO of the Western Region Off-Track Betting is only part of Brown’s compensation package. He’ll also be getting an $800 monthly car allowance to use as he pleases, according to two sources familiar with Brown’s contract. That’s enough to rent a high-end car. Or, since Brown’s had a driver during his almost 19 years as mayor,[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Sep 19

2024

Developer Doug Jemal, back in the news

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An advertisement featuring Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen hangs on the side of the Statler Hotel. Photo by Garrett Looker. Developer Doug Jemal is in the news this week over his company’s installation of a huge ad posted on the side of the Statler Hotel in the heart of downtown Buffalo. Jemal’s company didn’t obtain the necessary permit for the 11-story ad, featuring the likeness of Bills quarterback Josh Allen. Jemal is unapologetic, telling The Buffalo News that installing the ad was the “right thing to do.” Jemal, known for sometimes playing by his own rules, was the subject of[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Sep 17

2024

New York’s toothless FOI Law

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Criminal justice reporter Bruce Rushton. Photo by Garrett Looker. I’ve been a reporter for a half dozen daily and alternative news organizations, including Investigative Post, in five states since 1987. New York has been the worst one I’ve worked in when it comes to public records. In Illinois, government turns over documents because the law matters. That’s why Rahm Emanuel is ambassador to Japan instead of mayor of Chicago, where autopsy reports, unlike here, are public records. While mainstream media slept, an independent journalist 10 years ago exposed a Windy City murder by requesting the autopsy report on Laquan McDonald,[...]

Posted 1 year ago
Investigative Post