Categories for DailyPost

Sep 11

2025

Buffalo forfeits more than $1 million in federal lead funds

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Signage in a lead abatement training facility. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. The City of Buffalo will return more than half of a $2 million federal grant it received in 2021 for lead hazard remediation. Investigative Post in May reported that the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency had spent only about a quarter of its Lead Hazard Reduction Program grant funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. BURA officials told Investigative Post in a statement that “the program remains in progress” and that $796,050.71 in grant funds have been earmarked or spent on lead remediation. That’s $300,000 more than[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Sep 10

2025

How the investigation on police misconduct was done

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This story is co-published with The New York Times and New York Focus. It’s a followup to yesterday’s story about police officers who drive drunk, crash cars, and escape meaningful consequences. In the immediate aftermath of George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police officers in 2020, New York State repealed a law that for decades kept the disciplinary records of its police officers secret. The New York Times and New York Focus, a nonprofit newsroom, have since gathered more than 10,000 such files from around half of New York State’s nearly 500 law enforcement agencies. The documents, most[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Sep 10

2025

Jemal late in paying millions in bills

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Contractors have filed nearly $3.7 million in liens for unpaid bills against Doug Jemal’s projects in Western New York over the past year and a half. It’s another indicator that high interest rates and the diminished market for office and retail space have put the screws to the developer’s business.  Jemal called those conditions “a pandemic of real estate” that have made cash flow tight for his company and real-estate developers across the country.  “There’s cash flow issues, no doubt,” he told Investigative Post. “But we’re taking care of this. We pay our bills.” The mechanics liens — a legal[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Sep 9

2025

Police who drink, drive and avoid charges

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Ronald W. Wilson, an investigator with the New York State Police, admitted to drinking and driving this vehicle in 2021 but received only a traffic ticket. Photo courtesy of the Orchard Park Police Department. This story is co-published with the New York Times and New York Focus. An Orchard Park police officer found the man on the shoulder of Southwestern Boulevard, standing near his crumpled black BMW, arguing with his girlfriend. It was 11 p.m. on a Saturday in 2021. The BMW had slammed into a Jeep, smashing its left taillight. White high heels were toppled on their sides on[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Sep 8

2025

The Good (Tish James), the Bad (Trump) and the Ugly (Musk’s trillion dollar pay package)

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I’ve long thought Attorney General Letitia James should be doing more to prosecute political corruption in New York. But I’ve got to hand it to her: She’s no slouch when it comes to Donald Trump, as detailed in a profile in the current edition of The Nation. “No attorney general in the country is battling President Donald Trump more proficiently—and drawing more of his fire—than James,” wrote The Nation. “James and her partner AGs have hit the president with a barrage of lawsuits that have temporarily halted some of his worst orders in the past seven months.” “In their quest[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Sep 5

2025

Buffalo landlord hit with hefty penalty for lead contamination

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Farhad Raiszadeh, left, in Buffalo Housing Court in 2024. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. A Buffalo landlord whose lead-contaminated homes poisoned more than dozen children will pay a $515,000 settlement, the state attorney general announced Friday. “For years, Farhad Raiszadeh and the Raiszadeh Group failed to protect tenant families despite receiving repeated warnings and violations. Today, we are ensuring that hundreds of thousands of dollars will be invested directly into making these homes safe,” Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement announcing the settlement. The attorney general in March 2023 sued Raisazdeh, his wife Shohre Zahedi and four of their[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Sep 5

2025

OTB approves sexual harassment lawsuit

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OTB’s Scott Kiedrowski. Photo courtesy of The Niagara Gazette. The board of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. has voted to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit involving Scott Kiedrowski, its No. 2 executive at the time of the alleged incidents, and the agency’s head of security. The settlement, which awaits final court approval, involves payment of $135,000 to three female employees, two of whom contended management withheld tips from them when they worked as bartenders at the Batavia Downs casino and hotel.  The board resolution authorizing the settlement notes that the matter so far has cost OTB nearly $301,876 to litigate,[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Sep 4

2025

Process for police shooting range misses the mark

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Vacant community center sports mural of civil right champion John Lewis. City of Buffalo officials failed to follow state law in their rush to turn a former East Side community center into a shooting range and training facility for police. In July, the city failed to include a required environmental evaluation in a zoning change application for the proposed $5 million facility, in violation of state law.  City officials twice marked the application complete when it wasn’t, then moved it through the planning board, a public hearing, and the Common Council anyway. The missing environmental assessment was only made public[...]

Posted 5 months ago
Investigative Post