Categories for Featured

Mar 19

2020

Hospitals curtail non-emergency surgeries

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All major hospitals in the Buffalo area have canceled elective surgeries to conserve dwindling supplies of blood and protective gear, such as face masks, that are needed to treat victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. Surgeons at Catholic Health and the Erie County Medical Center began canceling elective surgeries earlier in the week. Kaleida Health followed suit with a decision Thursday to cancel non-emergency surgeries effective today. Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center announced it would take the same measure, effective Friday evening. The embargo on all non-essential procedures comes as hospitals seek to limit staff and patient exposure to coronavirus and[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Mar 18

2020

US, Canada banning most cross-border travel

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Updated Wednesday at 6:58 p.m. Canada and the United State have agreed to ban most cross-border traffic to counter the COVID-19 virus. Customs officials on both sides of the border are expected to implement the ban at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Peace Bridge General Manager Ron Rienas told Investigative Post.  Truck traffic will still be permitted as to not disrupt trade, but car crossings will be limited to essential travel, he said. Travelers returning to their home country will be permitted entry, he said. Other details are still being worked out. Canada’s national newspaper, the Globe & Mail, reported that[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Mar 17

2020

Virus prompts changes in court proceedings

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County and state court proceedings entered unchartered territory Tuesday, consolidating operations in downtown Buffalo and handling only arraignments of jailed defendants via video conference. The changes were implemented after a statewide memorandum ordered the cessation of non-essential functions, effective 5 p.m. Monday.  “It is hectic,” Andrew Isenberg, the Eighth Judicial District Executive, who oversees all regional court matters, told Investigative Post in an email.  “Our entire society has been turned upside down and that now includes our criminal justice system and, frankly, our entire court system,” said Erie County District Attorney John Flynn.  In Erie County, all arraignments are happening[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Feb 26

2020

State stonewalling on IBM project

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Several years ago, the Cuomo administration spent $55 million of state taxpayer money to buy, renovate and equip seven floors of a downtown Buffalo office building to bring IBM to town. The payoff, we were told, would be 500 good-paying software engineering jobs and the start of a technology hub with all sorts of spin-off development. Now, four of those floors at Fountain Plaza are available for lease, raising all sorts of questions about IBM’s commitment to Buffalo. Has it pulled out? Working on a Plan B? None of the above? IBM isn’t saying. Neither is the Cuomo administration. In[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Feb 19

2020

Lead poisoning plan missing key elements

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In January, the City of Buffalo launched its long-awaited pilot program to combat lead poisoning. The pilot program is small — much smaller than the problem in Buffalo, which has one of the highest rates of children afflicted with lead poisoning in the nation.  And, as it stands now, the program lacks funding mechanisms to make it bigger.  Furthermore, a key element is still missing: a new local law that will allow city inspectors access to the interiors of the city’s abundant rental singles and doubles in poor neighborhoods. Those dwellings comprise 80 percent of the city’s highest-risk properties. Still,[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Feb 18

2020

More Buffalo cop cars on the way

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The Buffalo Common Council today approved two measures that will bring 51 new patrol cars to the city’s decrepit fleet. The Council, without comment or debate, approved a contract to lease 31 new police cars from Enterprise Fleet Management for roughly the cost of purchasing 13 cars outright. The Council also approved borrowing $1 million to purchase 20 new police cars. The cost to the city in the first year of the three-year lease period is $675,000 — about what the city appropriated for the purchase of police cars in the current budget.  In the second and third years, the cost[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Feb 7

2020

$40 for a six pack of beer? OTB parties on.

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 The Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp. is spending more than $300,000 a year on suites to Sabres and Bills games and concerts and running up large tabs for food and drinks, including copious amounts of alcohol. Officials claim they’re rewarding high rollers at its casino, but records show they’re also helping themselves to the free tickets and concessions. OTB, along with other Sabres suite holders, chose from a menu last season that charged up to $130 for a bottle of liquor, $40 for a six-pack of beer and $53 for a pizza. OTB, spending public money, dropped $85,690[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Feb 5

2020

Child pornography prosecutions on the rise

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Prosecution of child pornography cases spiked last year in Western New York. Between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Erie County District Attorney, 80 cases were prosecuted last year. That’s almost double the number of cases prosecuted in 2017. “There are times where we’re finding child pornography involving children who are 10 or 12 months old. That’s very shocking, seeing those images and videos and trying to figure out why someone would have interest in that stuff,” said said Michael Hockwater, a detective on the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force. Cases the FBI task force handle range from a man who photographed[...]

Posted 5 years ago
Investigative Post