Articles for J. Dale Shoemaker

Sep 23

2025

Resistance mounts to Wojtaszek’s OTB return

Henry Wojtaszek, former OTB president and CEO. Photo by Dale Shoemaker. Henry Wojtaszek’s first meeting as a director of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. isn’t even in the books yet, but his return to the agency he once ran is already facing resistance. The latest salvo is a Sept. 18 letter from Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Assembly Member Jonathan Rivera to the New York State Gaming Commission, urging that body to withhold a gaming license from Wojtaszek. His tenure at OTB, the lawmakers wrote, was “marred by labor violations, harassment settlements, fiscal mismanagement, and investigations,” meaning Wojtaszek “is,[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Sep 17

2025

Niagara County appoints Wojtaszek to OTB board

Henry Wojtaszek addresses the Niagara County Legislature. Photo by J. Dale Shoemaker. Republicans in the Niagara County Legislature made it official on Tuesday, returning former Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. President and CEO Henry Wojtaszek to the organization, this time as a member of its board of directors. In a vote largely along party lines, 10 of the legislature’s Republican lawmakers endorsed Wojtaszek’s appointment as a director representing Niagara County on the OTB board. Wojtaszek replaces Elliott Winter, who resigned last month citing personal reasons. Three of the legislature’s Democratic lawmakers and two Republicans objected to the move, suggesting Wojtaszek[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Sep 17

2025

Inside the human smuggling racket along U.S.-Canadian border

A smuggler waits for a reporter posing as a client in a Toronto parking lot. Photo via IJB. This story is published in partnership with the Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB) at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, a collaborative investigative newsroom supported by Postmedia that partners with academics, researchers and journalists while training the next generation of investigative reporters. A silver Toyota minivan pulls into a bank parking lot in Toronto’s west end. Two young Punjabi men step out and start looking around for their client, a woman they’ve been communicating with over the previous days through[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Sep 12

2025

A potential boost to ICE deportation efforts

U.S. Rep. Tim Kennedy. Amid the backdrop of the Trump administration’s mass deportation program, Congressman Tim Kennedy, a Democrat, has sponsored a bill that would mandate the hiring of thousands of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. Kennedy’s staff says the new hires would be used to facilitate people and goods crossing the borders. But data shows the Trump administration is using the class of officers covered by Kennedy’s bill to arrest and deport immigrants. The bill — dubbed the “Securing America’s Ports of Entry Act of 2025” — would require the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection to hire[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Sep 5

2025

OTB approves sexual harassment lawsuit

OTB’s Scott Kiedrowski. Photo courtesy of The Niagara Gazette. The board of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. has voted to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit involving Scott Kiedrowski, its No. 2 executive at the time of the alleged incidents, and the agency’s head of security. The settlement, which awaits final court approval, involves payment of $135,000 to three female employees, two of whom contended management withheld tips from them when they worked as bartenders at the Batavia Downs casino and hotel. The board resolution authorizing the settlement notes that the matter so far has cost OTB nearly $301,876 to litigate,[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Aug 31

2025

Wojtaszek eyes return to OTB

Henry Wojtaszek, the former president and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., is planning to rejoin the organization he left last year, this time as member of the board of directors. Elliott Winter, who previously represented Niagara County on the OTB board, resigned from that position last week, creating an opening for Wojtaszek, who lives in North Tonawanda. Wojtaszek’s appointment as Niagara County’s new representative on the board, by law, must be approved by that county’s legislature. But in text messages to OTB board members, Wojtaszek expressed confidence the county lawmakers will vote to approve his appointment in the[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Aug 26

2025

ICE deports West Side restaurant owner, family

Katherine Gomez stands outside of Sabores De Mi Tierra, which she purchased from her deported client. Photo by J. Dale Shoemaker. During the four years William Murcia Henao owned Sabores De Mi Tierra — literally, “flavors of my land” — his West Side Colombian restaurant was celebrated. Opened in 2021, the Niagara Street eatery quickly earned local media attention, praise from a local blogger and a nomination for a state Business Council award from Assemblymember Jonathan Rivera. The restaurant won particular acclaim for its traditional Colombian dishes, which Rivera and others said was missing from Buffalo. But then, in May,[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Aug 19

2025

Judge overturns immigration court arrest

This story was produced in partnership with The Intercept, an award-winning investigative news outlet. Akela Lacy is a staff reporter with The Intercept. In a rare win against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month, a judge ordered that a detained 19-year-old asylum seeker be released back to his family. Oliver Mata Velasquez’s arrest May 21 outside a immigration court in downtown Buffalo following his hearing on his asylum case was unlawful, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo wrote. “Mata Velasquez followed all the rules,” Vilardo wrote. “On the other hand, the government changed the rules by fiat, applied them retroactively,[...]

Posted 3 months ago