Categories for Co-produced with WGRZ

Jun 25

2020

Ali Ingersoll tells WGRZ about brutality claim

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Ali Ingersoll spoke with Michael Wooten and Maryalice Demler on WGRZ about a May 10 altercation between two white Buffalo police officers and an African American man who filed a notice of claim Thursday alleging brutality. As Investigative Post previously reported, Quentin Suttles, 30, was pulled over by Officers Ronald Ammerman and Michael Scheu as he drove the wrong way down a one-way street by East Eagle and Madison streets. The stop escalated into a tussle between Suttles and the officers, and a witness shot a video that showed Ammerman repeatedly punching Suttles in the face. Suttles, who suffered a broken[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Jun 18

2020

COVID-19: Senecas face economic uncertainty

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As reopenings across the country begin, the impacts of COVID-19 continue to threaten the economies of Native American governments, including the Seneca Nation here in Western New York. Many tribes rely on casinos and other Native-owned businesses to fund services and capital improvements, but how soon those enterprises bounce back is uncertain. Of particular concern are casinos and their related bars, restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues, as those industries across the county are expected to recover slowly from the impacts of COVID-19. That imperils the economic pillars of the Seneca Nation of Indians, three casinos run by the Seneca Nation[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Jun 10

2020

Analysis: Brown’s police reforms are modest

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Updated: 9:36 p.m. The police reforms announced today by Mayor Byron Brown fall well short of demands made by protestors and actions being taken by some of his big-city peers. Brown, after several lengthy meetings over the past week with a coalition of activist groups, outlined at a Wednesday press conference the first steps the city is prepared to take.  Among them: more police training; greater use of de-escalation techniques; replacement of the Emergency Response Team, whose members resigned en masse last week, with a new unit; and establishment of a commission to study further reforms. Other aspects of the[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Jun 9

2020

School contract was failure waiting to happen

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To hear senior staff tell it, the Buffalo school district never should have gone through with a contract awarded to HarpData to provide wi-fi service to students in two low-income neighborhoods. The firm’s finances were suspect, according to the district’s purchasing director, and the district’s unusual decision to waive a performance bond put the school system in a precarious financial position should the project falter.  There were questions about the propriety of meetings between the vendor and district staff, including the chief technology officer, prior to the project being put out to bid. And there were doubts whether the project[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Jun 8

2020

Ali Ingersoll discusses protests on WGRZ

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 Michael Wooten quizzed Ali Ingersoll Monday on her impressions of ongoing protests and the change demonstrators are seeking. She said demonstrations calmed down through the course of the week and that protestors are clear on the change they seek: major reform of the police department. Ingersoll also explained the dynamics of “defunding police,” which is an effort to  recast how public safety services are delivered and reallocate resources accordingly. The New York Times published a good primer on it this evening. Calls to defund police departments are generally seeking spending cuts to police forces that have consumed ever larger[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Jun 2

2020

PBA: Cops not trained or equipped for protests

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Buffalo police need equipment and training to adequately deal with crowds of protestors, John Evans, president of the Police Benevolent Association, has told Investigative Post. Evans is one of several officers who have contacted Ali Ingersoll in recent days to complain about the department’s lack of preparedness. Evans noted grievances and correspondence dating to 2014 in which the union has raised the issue with the department’s leadership. Speaking of this week’s protests against police violence, Evans said: “You want to end the thing without killing anyone or hurting them badly … I would like to see some of the other[...]

Posted 5 years ago

May 21

2020

COVID-19 cited in spike of opioid overdoses

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Update: 3:15 p.m. There’s yet another consequence to the COVID-19 pandemic: More opioid users are dying of overdoses. Health authorities report that opioid use has not increased locally, but because of social isolation, more people are using alone, making it less likely someone is around to help them in the event they overdose.  Eighty-five people died in Erie County from presumed overdoses through the first four months of the year. That’s up from 48 during the same period last year and 64 in 2018. “They’re alone and we’re finding people too late,” said Cheryll Moore, director of the Erie County[...]

Posted 5 years ago

May 16

2020

Lawsuit challenges Cuomo’s COVID-19 orders

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A Buffalo-area attorney has filed a legal challenge to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s use of executive powers to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, terming his actions a “disturbing and gross abuse” of authority. Corey Hogan contends Cuomo has exceeded the powers granted a governor under state law to issue executive orders. His federal lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the Western District Court in Buffalo, further contends that Cuomo’s actions run afoul of both the state and federal constitutions. The lawsuit takes aim at the powers used by governors across the nation to employ core strategies to address COVID-19, including orders to shelter in[...]

Posted 5 years ago
Investigative Post