Categories for In-Depth

Jan 31

2016

Heaney talks media with Capitol Pressroom

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Jim Heaney and Susan Arbetter of The Capitol Pressroom discuss the declining fortunes of legacy media, in particular newspapers, and the rise of nonprofit newsrooms. Heaney expressed solidarity with the style of adversarial journalism practiced by Glenn Greenwald and his colleagues at The Intercept and said the upstate press could and should have been more aggressive over the past several decades in reporting on New York’s troubled economy and corrupt state government. The interview runs from 21:39 to 36:02 at this link.

Posted 9 years ago

Jan 29

2016

Quick Hit: Diversity in construction

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A new report from the Partnership for the Public Good shows racial disparities in hiring are worse in Erie County than nationally. The state does make efforts to address these by including diversity goals on publicly funded construction projects — but these fall short for a number of reasons. Charlotte Keith explains more in The Public.

Posted 9 years ago

Jan 20

2016

Quick Hit: Greenleaf update

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Buffalo State’s college newspaper, The Record, provided the owner of Greenleaf and Co. a forum to criticize Dan Telvock’s investigation of his business operations. The newspaper also gave Buffalo State officials an opportunity to explain why they support Greenleaf’s off-campus student housing project. But not everything they said passed the fact checker. Read Telvock’s “Quick Hit” in the Public.

Posted 9 years ago

Jan 18

2016

Quick Hit: Urban League update

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Pressure is mounting on the Buffalo Urban League as Erie County legislators prepare to discuss an audit which bore out whistleblowers’ allegations of fraudulent billing. Read Charlotte Keith’s “Quick Hit” in The Public.

Posted 9 years ago

Jan 18

2016

Quick Hit: Funding for Scajaquada cleanup

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State funds to restore the badly polluted Scajaquada Creek are beginning to trickle in. Will federal funds follow? Read Dan Telvock’s “Quick Hit” in The Public.

Posted 9 years ago

Dec 23

2015

Was dead mother failed by social services?

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The story of the four-year-old boy who spent days alone with his mother’s dead body, surviving on milk and maple syrup, has prompted a public outpouring of sympathy and the donation of gifts that piled up at police headquarters. Former employees of the Buffalo Urban League say there’s another side to the story. The boy’s mother, Shaleena Hamilton, had been receiving preventive services under the $1 million contract recently audited by the county comptroller, according to six current and former Urban League caseworkers. The audit, released two weeks ago, found extensive problems in the agency’s handling of the contract, including overbilling, a[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Dec 9

2015

Audit: Urban League bilked taxpayers

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An audit by the Erie County Comptroller has confirmed allegations leveled a year ago by social workers at the Buffalo Urban League that their employer charged the county tens of thousands of dollars for work never performed. Among the abuses: bills claiming some employees worked as many as 170 hours in a single day. The audit also found the Urban League tried to stonewall investigators and retaliated against the whistleblowers who brought the problems to the comptroller’s attention. All eight have now left the agency – either fired or effectively forced out of their jobs. The Department of Social Services,[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Dec 9

2015

Our Battaglia Demolition report on WBFO

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Dan Telvock reports on how state and city officials have failed to follow through on promises made over a year ago to clean up operations of a construction and demolition debris facility that’s the subject of a decade-long dustup with residents of the Seneca-Babcock neighborhood.

Posted 10 years ago
Investigative Post