Categories for DailyPost

Jul 29

2025

What’s next for Chris Scanlon

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There has been much chatter about Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon’s plans come January, when he will relinquish his job as the city’s interim chief executive to the winner of November’s general election. Will Scanlon serve the two years left in his current term as South District Council member? Will he seek another elected office, perhaps in the state Legislature? Or will he leave elected office behind — at least for now — and take some well-paying job in state government or the private sector? Scanlon on Friday told an Investigative Post reporter he’s “heard the rumors” and insisted there’s nothing[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Jul 28

2025

Reform gives way to greed at OTB

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Before I get to what I’m reading, allow me to expand on a story I edited last week: A pay raise already for Byron Brown. As I wrote in my newsletter yesterday, I’ve written once, maybe twice that Brown has been doing a better job than his predecessor, Henry Wojtaszek, at the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. Admittedly, it’s a very low bar to clear.  Then came last week. Dale Shoemaker reported that Brown got his board of directors to give him a $8,850 raise, bringing his salary to $303,850. Never mind that he’s already the highest paid OTB administrator[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Jul 25

2025

Buffalo lawmaker joins call for police oversight

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Leah Halton-Pope at a Buffalo Common Council meeting. Buffalo Common Council Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope is keeping alive her predecessor’s call for reforms to the Buffalo Police Department, including the creation of a civilian oversight board with the power to investigate claims of officer misconduct and recommend discipline. That makes Halton-Pope the third city lawmaker to express support for civilian oversight of policer, joining the University District’s Rasheed Wyatt and Masten District’s Zeneta Everhart. Halton-Pope, who represents the Ellicott District, submitted a resolution last week that re-ups and refreshes police reforms proposed four years ago by former Common Council President[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Jul 24

2025

A pay raise already for Byron Brown at OTB

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On the job less than a year, Byron Brown has already secured himself a raise at the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. Brown, hired as new president and CEO last fall, won a 3 percent raise Thursday, bringing his total pay to $303,850. That’s ahead of a contractual $10,000 raise scheduled to take effect in January, which will carry Brown’s total pay to nearly $314,000. Five other corporation officials were also granted 3 percent raises by a unanimous vote of OTB’s board. The raise Thursday solidifies Brown as the highest paid OTB leader across New York. The next-highest paid OTB[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Jul 23

2025

More delays in creating Buffalo Housing Court panel

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Plans to reinstate the Buffalo Housing Court Advisory Council — which, despite being written into law, has been inactive for over three decades — seem to have stalled yet again.  The state judicial system says not enough people have shown interest in joining the council, which is intended to monitor Housing Court, make recommendations to the judge, hold quarterly meetings and produce annual reports.  Meanwhile, community members say the courts have done a poor job of advertising the search for applicants. “It shouldn’t be shocking that you don’t get a lot of applicants if you don’t actually make the position[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Jul 22

2025

Migrant crossings on our northern border

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Border patrol surveillance cameras at Fort Niagara State Park. Photo by Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle. By the time four people paddled halfway across the Niagara River in an inflatable raft one night in 2024, a surveillance camera had already picked them out of the winter darkness. The image was gray and pixelated, their raft a single speck of black in the mouth of the river. Several miles away, a U.S. Border Patrol agent sat behind a dozen or more monitors and counted as four people stepped onto land. The camera followed the migrants to the shore in Lewiston, while agents[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Jul 21

2025

Public broadcasting cuts will harm WBFO

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Central to the playbook for dictators dismantling democracies is neutering the press. That’s been at the top of Donald Trump’s to-do list since he retook office in January and that effort gained further traction last week when he strong-armed Congressional Republicans into voting to withdraw $1.1 billion previously appropriated for public broadcasting. National Public Radio (NPR) is comprised of over 1,000 stations. They provide vital news and information, many serving rural communities who have lost their daily or weekly newspaper to closure. A recent study found that the number of journalists nationally has dropped from 40 per 100,000 residents in[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Jul 17

2025

Latinos, roofers are prime ICE targets in WNY

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An ICE raid took place on Crescent Avenue in May. Photo submitted. Rather than targeting the “worst of the worst,” as the Trump administration claims, ICE agents in Western New York are primarily arresting immigrants with no criminal history. Data shows that more than three-quarters of migrants arrested in Western New York since President Trump took office have no criminal record.  To date, most of the 335 detainees are from Latin American counties, a significant percentage of them roofers and others in the construction field. By contrast, ICE arrested a total of 84 in Western New York all of last[...]

Posted 7 months ago
Investigative Post