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May 5

2020

Gillibrand, Higgins call out ICE

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U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins want federal scrutiny of the way Immigrations and Customs Enforcement treats immigrants held at its detention center in Batavia. Investigative Post reported last week that ICE routinely released detainees without regard for their well-being, dropping them off at a local gas station and bus stop without sufficient notice to family or lawyers or means to reach safe quarters. Investigative Post previously reported on what detainees described as unhealthy conditions inside the facility that have contributed to the infection of 49 detainees with COVID-19. “I’m deeply concerned by the reports of ICE’s[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Apr 28

2020

ICE’s ill treatment of released detainees

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Updated: 8:10 p.m. The Citgo off the Batavia exit of the Thruway is a typical gas station: a convenience store with 10 gas pumps. It doubles as a Greyhound bus stop. It’s also the drop-off point for people just released from the nearby detention center managed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Matt Thompson has seen it happen over and over since he started working at the station four months ago. “The way they treat them, I don’t agree with,” the 20-year Army veteran told Investigative Post. “They drop them off and they treat them like animals. They kick[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Apr 28

2020

Buffalo facing big budget deficit

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 City Hall is facing the prospect of a COVID-19-induced budget deficit of $20 million to $31 million, with limited reserves to close the gap. A combination of increased expenses and lost revenues will cost city government an estimated $20 million, according to a report filed by Finance Commissioner Donna Estrich.  An additional $11 million in anticipated casino revenues is also at risk, given the closure of casinos during the pandemic and continued legal stalemate between the state and Seneca Nation. Meanwhile, Mayor Byron Brown’s administration is preparing a budget for the new fiscal year that begins July 1, knowing[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Apr 24

2020

Hospital workers cope with virus, furloughs

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Nurses and other employees at local hospitals are facing a double whammy these days: furloughs and increasing COVID-19 infections. An investigative Post survey of a dozen hospitals, including those run by Kaleida Health and Catholic Health, finds that infections among their staffs have doubled in the past two weeks. The count also includes Erie County Medical Center and Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center.  The updated total stands at 356, double that of two weeks ago. About a dozen employees a day are testing positive, a number that hasn’t fluctuated much in recent weeks. The good news: nearly two-thirds of those[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Apr 22

2020

Kaleida, losing big money, seeks furloughs

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Kaleida Health, the region’s largest health-care system, is asking hundreds of employees to take voluntary, month-long furloughs beginning April 26. Exempt are doctors, nurses and other employees who are treating patients infected with COVID-19. Kaleida, like other hospital and health-care providers, has been hammered by the material costs of fighting the COVID-19 epidemic. And it has been deprived of its most lucrative revenue streams while doing so. Three weeks ago, Kaleida spokesman Michael Hughes told Investigative Post that the impact of the coronavirus on the system’s finances was “going to be ugly.” In a press release announcing the furlough program,[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Apr 21

2020

Infections spike among immigrant detainees

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Large numbers of detained immigrants and state inmates in Western New York facilities are starting to test positive for COVID-19. Infections have mushroomed from 13 on Friday to 46 on Tuesday among immigrant detainees at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia. That’s more positive test results than at any of the 25 detention facilities operated nationwide by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Twenty-three inmates have tested positive at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden. Eleven of the 23 people have recovered, according to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Only two other state prisons — Sing Sing[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Apr 19

2020

Delayed Wi-Fi project shortchanges students

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It’s a problem that was meant to have been solved months ago, at least for two impoverished Buffalo neighborhoods. Lack of reliable internet access in low-income households puts thousands of Buffalo public school students at an educational disadvantage. So last summer the school district hired a local IT company with a troubling track record to provide free, fast Wi-Fi to approximately 5,500 students on the city’s East and West Sides. The “Connected Communities” project was scheduled for completion by January. That’s two months before the COVID-19 shutdown made home internet access a critical issue for students and teachers trying to[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Apr 15

2020

More sick detainees; more released inmates

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Updated: 3:08 p.m. A growing, but still small number of people are being released from local jails and the immigration detention center in Batavia in response to concerns about possible infection from COVID-19. Up to 80 people have gotten out in recent weeks as the result of efforts by advocates to release those incarcerated to get them out of harm’s way from the coronavirus. Some were near the tail end of their sentences for misdemeanor crimes. Others were in for parole violations, and still others had their bail eliminated or reduced. While no inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 at[...]

Posted 4 years ago
Investigative Post

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