Categories for Broadcast on WBFO

Dec 2

2022

Cop accused of racist rant is suspended

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A Buffalo police captain accused of delivering a racist rant at police headquarters in May has been suspended without pay. Two Buffalo police officers and a mental health specialist filed a lawsuit in federal court on Nov. 21, alleging Captain Amber Beyer — head of the department’s Behavioral Health Team — made a series of offensive remarks in the team’s offices at police headquarters. Among the things she is alleged to have said: Black officers are more likely to be unfaithful to their spouses than white officers. All the male Black officers she knew cheated on their wives. White police[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Oct 11

2022

Kelly discusses police contract on WBFO

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In July, Buffalo’s police union won a big victory in its three-year-old (and counting) negotiations with Mayor Byron Brown’s administration for a new contract. A state arbitration panel granted police — whose contract expired in 2019 — raises and back pay worth as much as $15 million. The city got nothing in return: none of the reforms protestors and elected officials clamored for in the summer of 2020, no new managerial rights, not even a reinstatement of a residency requirement that expired with the old contract. Geoff Kelly reported the story two weeks ago, before the Brown administration had even[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Oct 12

2021

Buffalo remains an impoverished city

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Buffalo ranked as the nation’s second-poorest city when Byron Brown took office in 2006.  The following year, the mayor declared that his administration was working hard to “bring people into the mainstream of Buffalo’s economy” while “taking steps” to reverse the “alarming numbers.”  Fifteen years later, the numbers haven’t changed. Buffalo’s poverty rate in 2006 was 29.9 percent.  In 2019, the last year for which figures are available, it stood at 28.8 percent. Put another way: Buffalo is no longer the nation’s second poorest city. It’s now the third poorest. Even more disconcerting: Buffalo’s childhood poverty rate stands at 43.4[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Sep 22

2021

Brown’s tepid support of Buffalo schools

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Editor’s note: This is a second in a series of stories assessing the state of the city, 15 years after Bryon Brown took office. Our first story dealt with City Hall’s enforcement of its fair housing laws. Today; Buffalo public schools. Buffalo schools were plagued by poor attendance and low student achievement when Byron Brown took office 15 years ago. Not much has changed since then. The mayor is not directly responsible for the school district. That falls on the nine members of its elected Board of Education and the superintendent they supervise. But many big-city mayors have used the[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Aug 11

2021

Buffalo’s absent schools superintendent

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Updated: 4:52 p.m. Where does the superintendent of Buffalo schools live? Kriner Cash’s employment contract requires him to live in the city. But he’s told the state of Massachusetts that his primary domicile is his million-dollar home on Martha’s Vineyard. That’s where he votes, holds his driver’s license and registers his cars.  Investigative Post looked into his residence in the face of persistent rumors Cash spends a good deal of time away from Buffalo in Martha’s Vineyard, including long stretches during the pandemic. Cash, through the district’s spokesperson, refused interview requests from Investigative Post. His only comment, when asked about his[...]

Posted 2 years ago

May 12

2021

Dowdall talks school hack on WBFO, WBEN

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Layne Dowdall reported Tuesday on the underplayed hacking of the Buffalo school district in March. Her story documented how the ransomeware attack has crippled district operations and the leadership’s failure to communicate with parents, teachers and other staff has left many frustrated. A companion story aired on WGRZ and posted to our YouTube channel, and Layne followed up Wednesday with radio interviews with WBFO and WBEN. Both are posted below. Interview with WBFO   Interview with WBEN  

Posted 2 years ago

Mar 4

2021

Gambini discusses West Valley on WBFO

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Phil Gambini reported earlier this week about $20.3 million in settlements paid by the federal government to 59 former employees at the West Valley Demonstration Project. The workers had documented cases of cancer or other serious illnesses related to their work at the facility. Other claims are pending and many former employees apparently are unaware of the compensation program. Phil discussed his story Wednesday with Jay Moran on WBFO.  

Posted 2 years ago

Jul 28

2020

City Hall inertia on one-sided police contract

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Reforming the Buffalo Police Department will require changes in the labor contract between the city and its police union. Major changes. An analysis by Investigative Post found the contract — a behemoth of a document comprising nearly 400 pages of agreements, amendments, arbitration awards and memoranda — is decidedly one-sided in favor of the union. It makes it tough to discipline officers accused of misconduct and deprives the police commissioner of management rights that are a given in many other departments. Investigative Post also determined that the administration of Mayor Byron Brown, who has lambasted the union contract, has never[...]

Posted 3 years ago