Categories for Co-produced with WGRZ

Nov 19

2019

New cop cars fall short of need

Published by

 The Brown administration is touting its plan to purchase new police cars to replenish its depleted fleet, but the move leaves the police department short on vehicles. Thirty-five new cars are in the pipeline. But it could be up to a year before they’re all on the road, and their number falls short of the 50 to 60 new vehicles needed annually to keep the fleet in good order. John Evans, president of the Police Benevolent Association, recently sent a letter to the Common Council complaining that officers directing traffic at the events downtown do so without patrol cars[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Nov 13

2019

DA moving, judges lagging on bail reform

Published by

 Erie County is ahead of the curve on bail reform. Changes in the law that take effect January 1 prohibit the imposition of cash bail on defendants charged with misdemeanors and non-violent crimes. But in Erie County, as of November 1, assistant district attorneys cannot ask for bail on those offenses without prior approval from a supervisor. “Come December first, only I can approve it,” said John Flynn, the Erie County District Attorney. “That’s how we’re phasing it in. Then come January, none of us can ask because the judges cannot do it.” He added: “Individuals who are charged[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Nov 6

2019

Toxins at Niagara Falls airbase

Published by

The Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station has landed on an ignoble list. The facility ranks seventh on a list of the 100 U.S. military sites most contaminated with PFAS, or per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances. That’s according to a report issued in early October by the Environmental Working Group, based on data procured from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Defense. PFAS is a family of chemicals linked in animal studies to infertility, birth defects, developmental disorders and cancer. PFAS compounds have been used commercially in a wide variety of products since the 1950s. They include the[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Oct 31

2019

Locked, loaded and stuck in storage

Published by

More than half of the 125 rifles Buffalo police bought two years ago to use in the event of a mass shooting sit unused because the department has yet to train most officers in their use. And police say it’s probably going to be another two years until all the necessary training is completed. “For some reason, unknown to us, the training ceased,” said John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association. As a result, the rifle purchase ”seems like a colossal waste of money.” The police attribute the slow rollout to factors including training requirements and the time[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Oct 10

2019

OTB relents, discloses ticket recipients

Published by

 For months now, the Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp. has refused to release the names of people who attended Bills and Sabres games in luxury suites it leases from the teams. Today, the OTB relented and released 201 documents that purports to identify ticket recipients. OTB acted in the face of a threatened lawsuit from the Niagara Gazette, which, along with Investigative Post, filed Freedom of Information requests this spring that were subsequently denied. OTB officials contended that release of names would represent an invasion of privacy of ticket recipients. Officials from the state Committee on Open Government[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Sep 19

2019

Assessing Buffalo’s property reassessment

Published by

If you’re a homeowner in the City of Buffalo, you received a love letter from City Hall this month: your new property value assessment and an estimate of your new tax bill in 2020. Rarely have residents demonstrated so much interest in their neighbors’ mail: Whose values went up? Whose went down? By how much? How did the value of my house go up but my taxes go down? Who determined these numbers and how? It is the first citywide reevaluation of city properties since 2001, a period in which real estate values in some city neighborhoods have doubled or even[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Sep 16

2019

City Hall stuck on budget bailout

Published by

For the fourth straight year, the City of Buffalo must tap reserves to balance its budget. The question is: What reserves? Where will the money come from this time? The books are just about closed on the financial year that ended June 30. The bottom line: The city finished around $10 million in the red, according to preliminary numbers published at Open Book Buffalo, an online portal that publishes city financial data and is updated weekly. Those numbers are unaudited and likely to shift somewhat over the next month or so. However, sources at the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority and[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Sep 11

2019

Federal grand jury to investigate OTB

Published by

A federal grand jury is investigating possible corruption at the Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp. Sources told Investigative Post and the Niagara Gazette the grand jury is looking into issues previously reported by the two news organizations, including the: Provision of free health insurance to the board’s part-time board members. Awarding of vendor contracts to businesses with political ties to OTB President Henry Wojtaszek and Chairman Richard Bianchi. Possible distribution of tickets purchased by OTB to Sabres and Bills games to friends, family members and political associates of OTB executives and board members. In addition, the state comptroller has[...]

Posted 5 years ago
Investigative Post

Get our newsletters delivered to your inbox * indicates required

Newsletters *