Articles for J. Dale Shoemaker

May 6

2025

ICE detainee in legal limbo

Saul Valverde-Venegas and his wife, Paula Diaz, on the Maid of the Mist tour in Niagara Falls. Photo provided. Saul Valverde-Venegas, the Buffalo man arrested two weeks ago by federal immigration officers, is stuck — legally and literally. “I’m trying to have a strong mindset,” he told Investigative Post in a phone interview from the Buffalo Federal Detention Center in Batavia, where he’s been held since his April 23 arrest on the city’s West Side. He said the arrest caught him by surprise. “We went out to go to work and they just caught us,” he said. “Of course I[...]

Posted 5 months ago

May 3

2025

Scanlon considers “privatization” of Kleinhans

The Scanlon administration has been talking about unloading city-owned cultural institutions as part of its efforts to shore up Buffalo’s short- and long-term finances. Since taking office, Acting Mayor Christopher Scanlon and his aides have discussed selling Kleinhans Music Hall, perhaps to the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, which is the venue’s principal user. They also have discussed shifting the maintenance costs of city-owned cultural venues — including Kleinhans, Shea’s Buffalo Theater, Sahlen Field, the Buffalo History Museum, the Buffalo Museum of Science and the Buffalo Zoo — to Erie County. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz threw cold water on that idea,[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Apr 30

2025

ICE seeks to deport Buffalo man over traffic tickets

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking to deport a Buffalo man whose only offense appears to be traffic citations. And in a second case, ICE appears to be attempting to deport someone arrested for a crime they committed prior to entering the United States. ICE officers last week arrested West Side resident Saul Valverde-Venegas, a roofing contractor, while he was loading a work truck. For days, ICE refused to explain why. In a statement Monday evening, an ICE spokesperson described him as “unlawfully” entering the United States more than a decade ago and said he had “since acquired several vehicle[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Apr 25

2025

ICE arrests two Buffalo men

Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents detain man on Buffalo’s West Side. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on Wednesday morning arrested two Buffalo men on the city’s West Side, Investigative Post has learned. ICE has so far refused to acknowledge the arrests but bystanders and family members confirmed that two men were arrested around 9 a.m. Wednesday. Witnesses said four unmarked law enforcement vehicles pulled up to the corner of Rhode Island and 14th streets. Photographs provided to Investigative Post show ICE officers arresting two men who were loading a blue Chevrolet Silverado work truck. A witness told Investigative Post[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Apr 17

2025

IDAs responsible for millions in tax breaks, fees

Meetings of the Erie and Niagara county IDAs (top) and the Genesee County IDA industrial park (bottom). Across Western New York last year, some 639 companies were allowed to skip out on $91 million in tax payments. In exchange, those companies kept nearly 18,000 people employed. The story doesn’t end there. The companies also paid fees to the industrial development agencies that issued those tax breaks — nearly $22 million in 2024. For nine of the 13 IDAs in the region, those fees covered 75 percent or more of their annual budgets. Those figures are spelled out in the annual[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Apr 16

2025

Wojtaszek back on the public payroll

Wojtaszek at one of his final Western OTB meetings. Photo by Garrett Looker. Months after leaving his six-figure job as president and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., Henry Wojtaszek has landed a new position as a “relicensing attorney” for the Town of Lewiston. Town board members agreed during a work session on Monday to hire Wojtaszek at a rate of $300 per hour to assist in an upcoming review of part of a 50-year federal relicensing agreement that provided the town with an allocation of low-cost power from the New York Power Authority. Wojtaszek’s hiring came at the[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Apr 8

2025

Tesla spends taxpayer ‘slush fund’ on new cafeteria

When Tesla employees show up to work nowadays in South Buffalo, a cafeteria serving breakfast, lunch and dinner — along with snacks and coffee — awaits. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch: Tesla employees must pay for the meals, which include salads, pasta, pizza and sandwiches. The other catch? New York State taxpayers have footed the bill for the eatery, which cost $1.6 million to build. Records obtained by Investigative Post show the electric vehicle maker continues to spend taxpayer dollars each year on the factory, which the state spent $959 million to build and equip. The[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Apr 3

2025

Lawmakers demand answers on border detentions

Federal, state and local lawmakers across Western New York are denouncing a Trump administration practice of detaining individuals and families in cells at the U.S.-Canada border for as long as two weeks. The region’s federal lawmakers are demanding answers on the new practice. “Our office is looking into these disturbing allegations,” a spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Schumer said in a statement to Investigative Post, noting his office is also seeking answers on ICE’s recent arrest of a mother and children in Sackets Harbor. “There is no excuse for the cruel or inhumane treatment of children & families. [U.S. Customs and[...]

Posted 6 months ago