Categories for Featured

Apr 6

2020

COVID-19 threat not spurring many jail releases

Published by

Although local jails are potential incubators for the spread of COVID-19, authorities are moving slowly, some not at all, to release inmates being held on low-level charges and parole violations, or who are at high risk of contracting the deadly virus. Only 10 of 89 parolees being held in Erie and Niagara county jails for low-level violations had been released as of Friday, a week after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that 1,100 such parolees would be freed statewide. Nor have any of the 225 inmates – 165 in Erie County, 60 in Niagara County – been released who are serving[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Apr 2

2020

Health care providers hemorrhaging money

Published by

Western New York’s hospitals were in dire financial shape coming into 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic  — with the attendant costs in equipment, staffing and, perhaps most damagingly, lost revenue — is going to compound their problems.  “It’s going to be ugly,” Kaleida spokesman Michael Hughes told Investigative Post in an email. It’s not just hospitals that will feel the pain, either. Primary care practices, clinics and other medical service providers, their business greatly diminished by the shutdown, all are facing pay cuts, layoffs and even closure.  The $2.2 trillion federal CARES Act, passed last week by Congress, includes a $100[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Apr 1

2020

Data: Travel reduced only modestly in WNY

Published by

 Western New Yorkers are being implored to stay at home and limit their travel. Data that tracks cell phone movement suggests that many are not heeding the call. On average, Erie County residents have made relatively modest changes to their travel patterns, reducing their average distance traveled by 40 to 55 percent. That works out to a grade of C on a scorecard developed by Unacast, which tracks cell phone movement.  The other seven counties in Western New York are all receiving  a grade of D or D minus.  On balance, they’ve reduced their movement by less than 10[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Mar 30

2020

COVID-19 hitting Kaleida staff hard

Published by

Updated: 5:50 p.m. The workforce at Kaleida hospitals is being hard hit by the coronavirus. A document obtained by Investigative Post indicates that as of Friday, 34 caregivers had tested positive for COVID-19 and 81 awaited test results. Another 166 employees had tested negative.  Kaleida spokesman Michael Hughes, who failed to respond to emails and phone calls from Investigative Post reporters Friday and earlier Monday, confirmed the 34 figure in an email sent today at 4:55 p.m., after this story posted. His email read: “Over 10,000 employees.  34 positive. .03% …… “Hitting Kaleida staff hard” ???!!!!” Other sources say the situation[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Mar 27

2020

Sheriff Howard OK with release of prisoners

Published by

 Updated: 6:02 p.m. While he has no authority to release people held in his jails, Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard said he has no objection to others using their powers to do so. “As sheriff, it is not in my authority to grant the early release or to remove the bail requirements that have been set by the court,” Howard said in a video statement released Friday. “But I will not oppose any measures or directives of the judiciary or other agencies to release any inmates.” In his video statement, Howard said he has encouraged the state Board of[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Mar 25

2020

COVID-19 adds to plight of the homeless

Published by

These are especially difficult days — and nights — for the homeless of Western New York. They share the same fears about COVID-19 as do those comfortably cloistered in their houses and apartments. But they also have fewer options as to where to bed for the night, as some shelters have closed and others have reduced their capacity to comply with state edicts intended to limit crowds and contact between people. The homeless also often lack ready access to other basics, such as medical care. “Being homeless right now, anywhere, is a pretty tough thing,” Jean Bennett, director of Housing[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Mar 25

2020

Lawyers protest dangers at detention center

Published by

 Lawyers defending immigrants in deportation hearings and other legal proceedings in Batavia refused to appear in court Tuesday, saying federal authorities have failed to protect all parties involved from exposure to COVID-19. Attorneys from the Volunteer Lawyers Project and Prisoners Legal Services of New York also  said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has effectively stopped them from representing their clients in court by requiring face masks and other protective equipment that they can’t obtain because of shortages and that ICE won’t provide. The federal immigration court has continued to operate despite a plea last Friday from State[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Mar 24

2020

Safety concerns for ill-equipped Buffalo cops

Published by

Two Buffalo police officers have tested positive for COVID-19, about 10 others are isolating themselves, and yet more are working without protective gear such as face masks to reduce the chances they’ll become infected with the virus, says John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association.  The shortage of working police cars, paired with the department’s coronavirus sick time policy, is putting more officers at risk, he said. Evans and his union are presently the prime source of information on the health of city police officers because the Brown administration is not releasing details, unlike other law enforcement agencies[...]

Posted 5 years ago
Investigative Post