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Dec 17

2020

Firms left behind in quest for pandemic aid

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Nearly 19,000 businesses in Western New York received a federal loan to help them through the pandemic. Laythanette Shine’s firm wasn’t one of them. Shine’s business, USA Occupational Services on Jefferson Avenue, provides drug and DNA testing services and background checks for employers. There’s a memorial in the front window to the man who helped her set up the office, one the earliest victims of COVID-19 in Buffalo.  Shine couldn’t access the Paycheck Protection Program because her business is a sole proprietorship with insufficient profitability. Those factors are common for new small businesses, but disqualified her from getting aid. She[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Dec 16

2020

Popular nonprofits obtained pandemic aid

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Some 1,100 local nonprofits received federal aid to soften the pandemic’s economic blow, and the list of recipients reads like a who’s who of prominent cultural, medical, religious and educational institutions.  The Chautauqua Institution and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Mercy Flight and the Erie County Medical Center. The Diocese of Buffalo and The Chapel at Crosspoint. Nichols School and Nardin Academy. Even a sovereign state, the Seneca Nation of Indians, received a $1.5 million loan under the federal Paycheck Protection Program. Nonprofits with religious affiliations received the most number of loans, 406. That’s more than one-third of the 1,080 loans extended[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Dec 15

2020

Sliver of companies got half of pandemic aid

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A lot of businesses received forgivable loans from the federal government to help them through the pandemic. To be exact, 18,768 in the eight counties of Western New York. The loans were worth $2.2 billion, altogether. But a fraction of the companies — some 5 percent — received about half that sum.  Two businesses got the maximum $10 million loan allowed under the Paycheck Protection Program: Ferguson Electric and the Buffalo Medical Group. New Era Cap, widely criticized by public officials earlier this year for taking PPP money then laying off 117 employees, received the third-largest loan, $8.4 million. Other[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Dec 14

2020

Doctors and lawyers cash in on pandemic aid

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The final numbers are in: the federal government poured more than $2 billion into the local economy this spring and summer in an effort to blunt the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. About 19,850 for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations in the region’s eight counties received $2.4 billion in loans under the Paycheck Protection Program. The loans, convertible to grants, ranged from $10 million to less than $1,000. As a group, no one secured more money than doctors. Other top recipients include restaurants, lawyers, car dealers, skilled nursing facilities and construction contractors. Three recipients received $10 million, the maximum allowed[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Dec 12

2020

Vote for our top story of the year

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Investigative Post has produced 220 stories and other pieces of content in 2020. Our work has ranged from in-depth investigations, follow-up stories and blog posts to podcasts and radio interviews.  Our reporting this year covered topics ranging from misconduct by Buffalo police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, to assorted shenanigans at City Hall and the Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp.  Those stories reached a large audience through our website and partners, starting with WGRZ and including WBFO, WBEN, The Capitol Pressroom and Buffalo Spree. This distribution network can reach[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Dec 11

2020

Kelly discusses HarpData on WBEN

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Since the spring, Geoff Kelly has been reporting on HarpData, the troubled tech firm awarded a contract to provide wi-fi access to thousands of Buffalo school students. On Thursday, he reported the company is going out of business, the wi-fi project unfinished. He discussed the saga Friday on NewsRadio 930WBEN.  

Posted 4 years ago

Dec 10

2020

Tech firm leaves Buffalo students in a lurch

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After nearly two years of doubts and delays, Buffalo Public Schools is canceling a contract to provide free wireless internet to some of the district’s neediest students.  The reason: HarpData, the company the district hired to do the job, is going out of business. An attorney for HarpData, Joseph Makowski, confirmed that CEO Ivory Robinson Jr. is “winding down” the company’s operations. Staff has been laid off. The company’s offices on Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo remain under lease, Makowski said, but are closed for business. As a result, the beleaguered Connected Communities initiative — a $1.3 million project meant[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Dec 4

2020

Kelly discusses police spending on WBEN

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Geoff Kelley reported earlier this week that Buffalo’s spending on police has skyrocketed under Byron Brown while funding for most other city services has shrunk when inflation is factored in. He discussed the story Friday with Brian Mazurowski on NewsRadio 930WBEN. Give a listen.  

Posted 4 years ago
Investigative Post