Investigative Post

 A “staggering” number of motorists across the state, including Western New York, lose their driver’s license every year. The state suspends more than a half-million annually; the count in Erie County approaches 26,000. Drivers can lose their license without violating traffic laws. Failure to pay state taxes or make child support payments are among the […]

In just over two years, New York State issued nearly 1.7 million driver’s license suspensions to more than 620,000 drivers — a disproportionate number of them poor, people of color or both. These suspensions were not the result of reckless or drunken driving, or other dangerous behavior; they were slapped on drivers who failed to […]

 Hundreds of young children living in Buffalo’s inner-city neighborhoods continue to be diagnosed every year with lead poisoning. And City Hall continues to do next to nothing about it. “Buffalo has not made as much progress as other communities have and not as much progress as perhaps they could,” said Andrew McLellan, president of […]

New York is one of at least 41 states that suspend drivers’ licenses if they fail to pay traffic fines. In 2016, the state Department of Motor Vehicles issued 53,648 suspension or revocation orders to drivers in Erie County, according to data obtained Investigative Post. This captures suspensions issued for any reason, but experts said […]

Marsha McLeod reported last month on traffic tickets and related fees in the city of Buffalo. She discussed the story with Jay Moran on WBFO’s Press Pass.

 First, City Hall talked the state into allowing it to keep most of the money from traffic tickets issued by Buffalo police. Police then started handing out tickets in record numbers, jumping from around 32,000 in the year before the Buffalo Traffic Violations Agency was created in 2015 to more than 52,000 the year […]

The father of a man fatally shot by a Buffalo police officer last month has retained two law firms to investigate his son’s death. The firms, Neufeld Scheck & Brustin in New York City and Easton Thompson Kasperek Shiffrin in Rochester, are both well-known for their work on civil rights cases. A representative of the […]

Erie County lawmakers became the first county legislature in New York State to take a legislative position in support of reforms to the bail system, following a unanimous vote Thursday.  Reform efforts in the state Legislature failed earlier this year and advocates are expected to press the issue in the coming session that begins in January. “Resolutions […]