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May 21

2020

COVID-19 cited in spike of opioid overdoses

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Update: 3:15 p.m. There’s yet another consequence to the COVID-19 pandemic: More opioid users are dying of overdoses. Health authorities report that opioid use has not increased locally, but because of social isolation, more people are using alone, making it less likely someone is around to help them in the event they overdose.  Eighty-five people died in Erie County from presumed overdoses through the first four months of the year. That’s up from 48 during the same period last year and 64 in 2018. “They’re alone and we’re finding people too late,” said Cheryll Moore, director of the Erie County[...]

Posted 5 years ago

May 16

2020

Lawsuit challenges Cuomo’s COVID-19 orders

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A Buffalo-area attorney has filed a legal challenge to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s use of executive powers to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, terming his actions a “disturbing and gross abuse” of authority. Corey Hogan contends Cuomo has exceeded the powers granted a governor under state law to issue executive orders. His federal lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the Western District Court in Buffalo, further contends that Cuomo’s actions run afoul of both the state and federal constitutions. The lawsuit takes aim at the powers used by governors across the nation to employ core strategies to address COVID-19, including orders to shelter in[...]

Posted 5 years ago

May 14

2020

Buffalo comptroller critical of Brown budget

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The COVID-19 crisis has laid bare the city’s fragile finances. But it hasn’t changed the Brown administration’s proclivity for budgets constructed on risky revenue assumptions and optimistic expense projections, according to a report issued Tuesday by the city comptroller’s office. In her report, Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams expressed “substantial concerns” about the 2020-21 budget proposals Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown released May 1. The charter-mandated response to Brown’s budget identified a host of what Miller-Williams characterized as risky assumptions, including more than $80 million in uncertain revenues and nearly $15 million in expense savings that might not materialize. Brown’s budget relies heavily[...]

Posted 5 years ago

May 14

2020

Video triggers investigation of cop conduct

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A video showing a white Buffalo police officer repeatedly punching the face of a black man who was stopped for a traffic violation has gone viral on social media and triggered investigations by the Erie County District Attorney and the Police Department’s Internal Affairs office. The video, which has been shared on Facebook more than 1,300 times, shows the officers wrestling with Quentin Suttles at the side of a car in an attempt to restrain him. The officer tells Suttles he’s “making it worse” on himself. The video shows Ronald J. Ammerman, a third-generation police officer and three-year veteran of[...]

Posted 5 years ago

May 13

2020

$1B to Buffalo under House stimulus bill

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 The disaster relief package House Democrats expect to pass on Friday includes $375 billion in aid for local governments across the country.  About $1 billion of that would be earmarked for the City of Buffalo over two years, according to a breakdown provided to Investigative Post by U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins. If the House bill were adopted as is by the Senate — a nearly insurmountable if, according to Higgins — Buffalo would receive $671.6 million in 2020, within 30 days of the HEROES Act being adopted. The city would receive an additional $335.8 million in 2021. That’s nearly[...]

Posted 5 years ago

May 6

2020

OTB lands $3.2M intended for small business

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The Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp. is not to be mistaken for a small business. It’s a state-created public benefit corporation, owned by 15 counties and two cities, and charged with running legalized betting operations in western and central New York. It shares its profits with those local governments and the State of New York. Its employees, starting with its well compensated CEO, Henry Wojtaszek, are treated as public-sector employees, drawing, for example, a pension from the state.  And OTB reported some $3.1 million in cash reserves in its last audited financial statements. Nevertheless, OTB has managed to obtain[...]

Posted 5 years ago

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 5 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 5 years ago
Investigative Post