Categories for Investigations

Mar 21

2019

String of violations at Buffalo plant

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 The former American Brass plant on Military Road in North Buffalo keeps getting cited for federal and state environmental and safety violations. The plant, now owned by the German company Aurubis AG, is over a million square feet and home to 650 workers. It produces about 160,000 tons of metal each year for use in cars, batteries, ammunition and zippers.  Last year, state regulators fined the company $35,500 for 15 violations involving the  mishandling of hazardous waste. The violations resulted in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declaring Aurubis a “significant non-complier” between 2016 and 2018. Three times since 2011,[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Mar 6

2019

OTB protecting its perks

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The regional Off Track Betting Corporation has a story – two stories, actually – and they’re sticking to them. Officials there continue to insist that the OTB is authorized to provide health, dental and vision insurance free of charge to its board of directors. Gold-plated insurance, described to me by one health insurance expert as “literally the richest plan available.” I reported in December that the state Attorney General issued an opinion in 2008 that appears to conclude that OTBs are not permitted to provide health insurance coverage to board members. President Henry Wojtaszek responded by pledging to ask the[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Feb 27

2019

City Hall cashing in on traffic tickets

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 First, City Hall talked the state into allowing it to keep most of the money from traffic tickets issued by Buffalo police. Police then started handing out tickets in record numbers, jumping from around 32,000 in the year before the Buffalo Traffic Violations Agency was created in 2015 to more than 52,000 the year after. Since then, police have written far more tickets for tinted windows than for speeding or running red lights and stop signs. Revenues soared accordingly—up from around $500,000 in the year before the traffic agency was created, to more than $2.8 million in the fiscal[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Dec 19

2018

Battle rages over proposed landfill expansion

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There’s been a tug of war for 15 years between CWM Chemical Services, which has proposed expanding its hazardous waste landfill in Porter, and opponents of the project. Since Investigative Post last reported on the proposed expansion, opponents have filed paperwork with the state that aim to show the community is a bad fit for a hazardous waste landfill. As part of these filings, opponents challenged claims by CWM that the new landfill would generate nearly $1.2 billion in economic benefits for the community. Opponents also filed an engineering report that found that at one point, as many as two out[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Dec 13

2018

VA limits benefits for Gold Star families

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Nearly 7,000 American soldiers have died fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere following 9/11. The federal government subsequently established programs for their children, but has befuddled and frustrated many families with confusing, and sometimes contradictory, eligibility guidelines. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs changed eligibility rules for these programs again this week, to the detriment of these “Gold Star” children of soldiers who died. The changes could save the federal government tens of millions of dollars, while costing individual Gold Star children who attend university up to an estimated $25,600 in benefits. The handling of these programs, some of it[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Dec 4

2018

OTB’s part-time board enjoys gold-plated perks

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The workload is modest, as is the pay. But, oh, the benefits. The public service corporation that manages off-track betting operations in western and central New York provides free health insurance to its board members in exchange for showing up for meetings two days a month. And the perks aren’t limited to health coverage. Board members are eligible for dental and vision insurance, too. The coverage was described by one health insurance expert as “literally the richest plan available.” Indeed, board members have access to plans that feature a $5 copay for generic prescription drugs, a $15 copay for routine[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Sep 12

2018

A looming threat to the Niagara River

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Researchers are concerned that climate change could be helping to lay the groundwork for an eventual collapse of the Niagara River’s ecosystem. Populations of the Emerald Shiner, a minnow that serves as the foundation of the river’s food chain, have been cut drastically this summer. Researchers worry that as the region heats up, this could become the new norm. The Emerald Shiner is the primary source of food for many of the larger sporting fish in the Niagara River, such as bass, trout and walleye. Birds also feast on both the minnows and the larger fish that eat them. Because[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Jul 5

2018

Vet a victim of discrimination – and inaction

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The red brick apartment building on Crescent Avenue is two blocks from Delaware Park. Online listings show pictures of light-filled rooms with hardwood floors and decorative fireplaces. Reginald Holloway never got to see inside. In 2008, Holloway, a disabled Marine Corps veteran, was looking for a one-bedroom apartment in a peaceful neighborhood. He still struggled with flashbacks and nightmares from his military service and wanted to live somewhere quiet; doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs had diagnosed him with chronic post traumatic stress disorder. Holloway had a Section 8 voucher that would help him pay the rent and, in[...]

Posted 7 years ago
Investigative Post