Categories for Featured

Apr 28

2020

Buffalo facing big budget deficit

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 City Hall is facing the prospect of a COVID-19-induced budget deficit of $20 million to $31 million, with limited reserves to close the gap. A combination of increased expenses and lost revenues will cost city government an estimated $20 million, according to a report filed by Finance Commissioner Donna Estrich.  An additional $11 million in anticipated casino revenues is also at risk, given the closure of casinos during the pandemic and continued legal stalemate between the state and Seneca Nation. Meanwhile, Mayor Byron Brown’s administration is preparing a budget for the new fiscal year that begins July 1, knowing[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Apr 24

2020

Hospital workers cope with virus, furloughs

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Nurses and other employees at local hospitals are facing a double whammy these days: furloughs and increasing COVID-19 infections. An investigative Post survey of a dozen hospitals, including those run by Kaleida Health and Catholic Health, finds that infections among their staffs have doubled in the past two weeks. The count also includes Erie County Medical Center and Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center.  The updated total stands at 356, double that of two weeks ago. About a dozen employees a day are testing positive, a number that hasn’t fluctuated much in recent weeks. The good news: nearly two-thirds of those[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Apr 21

2020

Infections spike among immigrant detainees

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Large numbers of detained immigrants and state inmates in Western New York facilities are starting to test positive for COVID-19. Infections have mushroomed from 13 on Friday to 46 on Tuesday among immigrant detainees at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia. That’s more positive test results than at any of the 25 detention facilities operated nationwide by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Twenty-three inmates have tested positive at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden. Eleven of the 23 people have recovered, according to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Only two other state prisons — Sing Sing[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Apr 19

2020

Delayed Wi-Fi project shortchanges students

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It’s a problem that was meant to have been solved months ago, at least for two impoverished Buffalo neighborhoods. Lack of reliable internet access in low-income households puts thousands of Buffalo public school students at an educational disadvantage. So last summer the school district hired a local IT company with a troubling track record to provide free, fast Wi-Fi to approximately 5,500 students on the city’s East and West Sides. The “Connected Communities” project was scheduled for completion by January. That’s two months before the COVID-19 shutdown made home internet access a critical issue for students and teachers trying to[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Apr 15

2020

More sick detainees; more released inmates

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Updated: 3:08 p.m. A growing, but still small number of people are being released from local jails and the immigration detention center in Batavia in response to concerns about possible infection from COVID-19. Up to 80 people have gotten out in recent weeks as the result of efforts by advocates to release those incarcerated to get them out of harm’s way from the coronavirus. Some were near the tail end of their sentences for misdemeanor crimes. Others were in for parole violations, and still others had their bail eliminated or reduced. While no inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 at[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Apr 10

2020

More than 175 health-care workers have virus

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 Updated at 5:14 p.m. At least 176 doctors, nurses and other health-care workers at the region’s three largest health-care providers have tested positive for COVID-19.  That’s more than 10 percent of the total confirmed cases in Erie and Niagara counties. Kaleida Health, the region’s largest health-care provider, has reported the most infections, 103, as of Wednesday, according to a document obtained by Investigative Post. Eight of those are doctors; the rest are nurses and other staff. Kaleida spokesman Michael Hughes confirmed that number, adding that Kaleida has tested more than 600 employees so far. The total at Kaleida has[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Apr 9

2020

Immigrant detainees describe poor conditions

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Updated: 1:10 p.m. It’s called B-2, one of nine units at the detention center run by ICE in Batavia. These days it’s a terrifying place for those held there. Most of the 50 or so men confined there are coughing and displaying other symptoms of COVID-19. The entire unit has been placed in a 14-day quarantine. Six detainees were removed Wednesday, and today a government attorney told a federal court that four of them had tested positive. Four others from B-2 are awaiting test results. Social distancing? Near impossible in detention settings. Soap and hand sanitizer? Running in short supply.[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Apr 8

2020

COVID-19: Transit, airport use tumbles

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As one might expect, the COVID-19 shutdown has dramatically cut the number of people traveling by air and public transit. Indeed, the numbers are stark. Just a month ago, 6,000 to 7,000 passengers flew in and out of Buffalo Niagara International Airport each day. Now, it’s fewer than 1,000, according to figures provided by the Niagara Frontier Transit Authority.  Ridership on NFTA buses and light-rail trains is also down, by around three-quarters. Train ridership has been especially hard hit, as downtown businesses and government buildings have shut down to all but essential employees and officials have discouraged in-person interactions with[...]

Posted 5 years ago
Investigative Post