Categories for Investigations

Apr 4

2013

Asian carp invasion of Great Lakes looms

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By Justin Sondel Two boys stood at the end of a dock off the shore of Grand Island on a hot day last July casting fishing lines into the shallow water, time after time pulling up small rock bass from the edges of the Niagara River. The boys are Parker and Connor Cinelli, two of Chris Cinelli’s sons. They are waiting for their dad to finish preparing his 2025 Lund Pro V, which Chris describes as the Cadillac of fishing boats, before they head out onto the largest freshwater system in the world for an afternoon of angling. Chris, a[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Feb 27

2013

Stonewalling at the Peace Bridge

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Editor’s note: The story below provides the full details, but to get the full effect, readers should view the television version posted above and, especially, the video of the complete unedited interview with Peace Bridge General Manager Ron Rienas posted below. New York’s labyrinth of authorities are widely decried as shadow governments that shield their activities from public scrutiny. But they are a model of transparency compared to the Public Bridge Authority that operates the Peace Bridge connecting Buffalo and Fort Erie, Investigative Post has found. Authorities and other governmental bodies on both sides of the border are obligated to[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Feb 26

2013

Recycling excuses

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Editor’s note: Investigative Post reported last November on Buffalo’s anemic recycling program. The story prompted a pledge by Mayor Byron Brown to take steps to bolster the recycling rate. Investigative Post follows up to see what the city has done. Coming soon: An update on recycling efforts in Buffalo public schools. Mayor Byron Brown’s administration has yet to meet its goal of doubling Buffalo’s curbside recycling rate in the year since green totes were distributed to residents. The city’s curbside recycling rate – based on what residents place in green totes – rose from 8 percent to 12.2 percent in[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Jan 31

2013

Is traffic—or money—driving Peace Bridge plan?

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Public Bridge Authority officials say they’re focused on expanding the Peace Bridge Plaza on the American side because it will improve traffic flow. But a look at the authority’s books reveals another possible motive: Money. While passenger vehicles account for almost 80 percent of bridge traffic, car tolls account for only 21 percent of authority revenue. Truck tolls, on the other hand, generate 48 percent of the authority’s revenues, almost $16 million a year. Duty Free stores at the base of the bridge in Buffalo and Fort Erie account for another 22 percent, or $7.2 million projected for this fiscal[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Dec 20

2012

Job claims inflated for Billion To Buffalo project

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Governor Andrew Cuomo summoned hundreds of muckety-mucks to the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center two weeks ago to make the kind of announcement that politicians live for: government aid to bring jobs to an economically struggling region. In this instance, Cuomo told the assembled that the first $50 million of his $1 billion in promised state economic development funds had leveraged a commitment from Albany Molecular Research Inc. to bring 250 jobs and up to $250 million in private investment to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Reads the headline on the governor’s press release: “Governor and (Western New York Regional Economic[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Dec 6

2012

First $1B beneficiary awash in red ink

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The biotech company the state plans to spend $50 million on to lure to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus has lost $112 million the past three years and hasn’t posted an annual profit since 2008. And that’s just the beginning of the financial difficulties confronting Albany Molecular Research, according to a probe by Investigative Post. The company has laid off at least 80 employees since 2010 and shuttered one of its foreign facilities, with plans to close a second operation near Seattle. The Albany-based company’s stock price, meanwhile, sunk from  $61.66 in 2001 to $2.26 in December 2011, although the stock[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Nov 15

2012

DEC idling on enforcement

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Diesel fumes permeate the air near the gate to the Peace Bridge Duty Free store as nearby trucks idle in traffic and parking lots. The idling trucks are a sore spot for residents of the West Side that borders the bridge and its plaza on the American side. Diesel fumes contribute to air pollution believed to be partly responsible for health problems – including asthma rates nearly four times higher than the national average – among residents on the city’s lower West Side, according to Dr. Jamson S. Lwebuga-Mukasa, a leading researcher of air quality in the neighborhood. The World Health[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Nov 8

2012

Trash is worth something

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The New York Times Green blog has an interesting story about what a market in Mexico City does to increase recycling efforts. Here’s a snippet of the blog post: Part bottle depot, part farmers’ market, part family outing, the Mercado de Trueque, or barter market, promotes recycling in a region with serious waste management and water issues. Problems range from a lack of landfill space to litter that plugs storm sewers and results in flooding. The barter market’s coordinator, Paola de María y Campos, describes it as an educational project. “We’re trying to show people that trash is worth something,” he[...]

Posted 11 years ago
Investigative Post

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