Categories for Co-produced with WGRZ

Oct 18

2021

911 calls down 5%; traffic stops up 48%

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You might imagine Buffalo police spend their shifts busting drug dealers, foiling burglaries and taking guns off the street. There’s some of that, certainly.  But an analysis by Investigative Post of five years of 911 calls shows that sort of policing accounts for only a sliver of what cops do. More than anything else, they hand out traffic tickets. A lot fewer people have called Buffalo police about crime in recent years, according to our analysis.  The number of 911 calls for high-priority crimes — such as shots fired, domestic violence and assaults in progress — fell almost 21 percent[...]

Posted 3 years 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 3 years ago

Sep 2

2021

Buffalo schools open with laptop shortage

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Some 31,000 Buffalo students are preparing to go back to school next week, but the district’s IT department isn’t quite ready for them. Fewer than half of the 15,000 laptops the district issued to students last year have been returned to the district to be serviced and made compatible with system updates. As a result, only a fraction of students will be fully equipped to jump into the school year. The rest may have to wait until October for functional devices. At the end of the school year the district asked families to return student devices like iPads, laptops and[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Sep 1

2021

More danger lurking in the water

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A concrete pier juts hundreds of feet into the Niagara River from the northern tip of Unity Island. It’s isolated, quiet and where Antawyn Parker likes to fish. He makes dinner with his catch about once a month, Parker told Investigative Post. But unbeknownst to him the fish are contaminated with a toxin recently linked to a slate of disorders and illnesses, including cancer and immune system concerns. According to a study by the state Department of Health, Western New Yorkers who eat local fish have “substantially elevated” levels of the toxin PFOS in their bodies. Some of the readings[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Sep 1

2021

Leaked plans for proposed Bills stadium

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Details are starting to leak on the proposal by the Buffalo Bills to build an open air stadium in Orchard Park. The team and public officials they are negotiating with are refusing to release the study the proposal is based on, but the Associated Press reports that plans call for a 60,000-seat facility. Our partners at WGRZ reported on the latest development Wednesday; their story included comment from our Mark Scheer, who is covering the stadium for Investigative Post.

Posted 3 years ago

Aug 25

2021

Paladino disavows Brown

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Carl Paladino, stung by Byron Brown’s repudiation of his support, has turned on the mayor, calling him a “mope” and saying voters should stay home on Election Day. In an interview with Investigative Post, Paladino said he was finished backing the four-term incumbent. He said he advised anyone who asked him to stay out of the race. “I got all kinds of people calling me: ‘What should we do?’” Paladino said. “I tell them, ‘Stay home, stay home.’ Let the chips fall where they may.” Paladino claimed many business people shared his opinion and were withholding financial support for Brown’s[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Aug 24

2021

Heaney discusses Cuomo stonewalling

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Andrew Cuomo is out as governor. What was it like to deal with his administration? Jim Heaney, interviewed by WGRZ’s Kate Welshofer and Michael Wooten, described Cuomo’s administration as hostile to the press and the public’s right to know. Heaney in 2014 broke the first of the Cuomo scandals, involving bid rigging for the rights to develop the Tesla plant in South Buffalo. His story triggered a federal investigation that resulted in felony corruption convictions involving the governor’s top economic development official and one of Cuomo’s largest campaign donors from Western New York. Kathy Hochul was sworn in as governor[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Aug 16

2021

OTB whistleblower files lawsuit

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The whistleblower fired by Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. filed a lawsuit last week that claims he was terminated for cooperating with state and federal investigations of his employer. Michael Nolan, OTB’s former chief operating officer, is asking a judge to award him $14.5 million for his treatment over the last two years, and to reinstate his employment, according to the suit.  The filing, submitted to federal court Aug. 12, names CEO Henry Wojtaszek and OTB Board of Directors Chairman Richard Bianchi. It says the pair “swiftly, aggressively, and austerely retaliated against” Nolan for speaking with investigators and testifying before[...]

Posted 3 years ago
Investigative Post

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