Articles for Investigative Post staff

Jul 9

2025

Investigative Post adds a reporter

Adam Smith-Perez has joined the reporting staff of Investigative Post. Smith-Perez, 33, is bilingual and will share reporting duties with I’Jaz Ja’ciel on Investigative Post’s urban affairs team, with a concentration on criminal justice. “I’m impressed with Adam’s energy and keen interest in social justice,” said Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney. Smith-Perez comes to Investigative Post via Report For America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. The program underwrites a portion of reporter salaries and provides training opportunities.  Investigative Post is one of 101 newsrooms participating in the program[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Jun 13

2025

Tickets on sale for our July 31 benefit show

It’s been a long time since we rock ‘n’ rolled, but that changes Thursday, July 31, when Investigative Post reprises its popular benefit concert at Sportsmen’s Tavern. Tom Toles is teaming once again with Junkman’s Choir to entertain. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the music begins at 6:30 p.m. Be prepared for a blend of classic rock and Americana. Admission is $25. Tickets can be purchased online at this link. Proceeds will help fund Investigative Post’s reporting. We’re a nonprofit and the only news outlet in Western New York focused on watchdog journalism. Toles is the Pulitzer Prize winning[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Jan 7

2025

Geoff Kelly named associate editor

Geoff Kelly is the new associate editor at Investigative Post. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel Geoff Kelly has been promoted to associate editor of Investigative Post. Kelly has covered government and politics since joining Investigative Post in April 2019.  “Geoff has an encyclopedic knowledge of government and the community at large,” said Jim Heaney, Investigative Post’s editor and executive director. “He’s also got a wealth of editing experience, which will suit him well as he steps into our No. 2 position.” He succeeds Susan Schulman, who shared management of the newsroom until her retirement last month. Heaney and Kelly will share[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Jan 3

2025

Bauerle story voted tops in 2024

Readers have voted Geoff Kelly’s story on the legal battle involving the family of talk radio host Tom Bauerle as Investigative Post’s top story of 2014. The story, published on May 9, detailed claims by the siblings of the WBEN talk show host that he schemed to defraud them of their share of their late mother’s estate. Kelly wrote: The lawsuit, filed May 3, alleges that Bauerle moved in with his mother, Dorothy, during the last two months of her life. Dorothy Bauerle died March 6.  During that period, his siblings claim, Bauerle convinced their mother — “through duress, undue[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Dec 18

2024

Vote for our top story of 2024

We will publish some 250 stories and other pieces of content in 2024, plus another 50 pieces we co-produced for our television partners.  Likewise, we’ve also enjoyed a 65 percent surge in traffic to our website this year.  We’re asking our readers to vote for their favorite Investigative Post story of 2024.  Twelve stories are up for consideration. Tell us which story you liked the best in the ballot below. Please note that you can only vote once.  You can vote through Thursday, Jan. 2. 

Posted 8 months ago

Nov 19

2024

Investigative Post, Rochester D&C to share stories

The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, owned by Gannett Co. Inc., and Investigative Post, a nonprofit investigative reporting center based in Buffalo, have entered into a content sharing agreement. The two news organizations will share selected stories of interest to their respective readers. The two news organizations at times will publish accountability journalism created by the other. In the case of the D&C, this would include reporting created in Rochester or by the newspaper’s New York State Team. “We’re always looking for ways to give our readers more enterprise stories, and the D&C’s reporting in upstate New York is a good source for that type of[...]

Posted 9 months ago

Nov 5

2024

Infographic: Presidential picks in Erie-Niagara

It’s Election Day. Four years ago, when Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, Erie County voted for the Democratic candidate while Niagara County voted for the Republican. The two counties have been at odds in three of the last five elections. Here’s a look at how Erie and Niagara counties voted in presidential elections going back to 2004: Source: New York State, Erie County, and Niagara County election boards.

Posted 9 months ago

Nov 1

2024

Infographic: Move your car

Over the past year, Buffalo issued more parking summonses, by far, for not following alternate side of the street parking rules than for anything else. Using city parking summons data available through Open Buffalo, Investigative Post found 43 percent of over 142,000 summons issued in a one-year period – ending in late October – went to vehicles parked on the wrong side of the street.  The next most frequently issued tickets went to vehicles in No Parking zones. They represented 12 percent of tickets. As a comparison,  we looked at ticketing data the city released for an almost 18-year period[...]

Posted 10 months ago
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