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Dec 8

2024

Our neighbors to the north are not a problem

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Donald Trump has lumped Canada in with Mexico as a source of drugs and undocumented immigration and threatened to impose tariffs as a consequence.  Jerry Zremski of The Buffalo News debunks the claim. Twenty-four times more drugs have been seized at the southern border than the northern one. Undocumented immigrants: 11 times greater crossing from Mexico than Canada so far this year. Buffalo police want to use artificial intelligence as a crime fighting tool. The ACLU cautions of the potential for abuse when police are given AI tools without proper guardrails. Niagara Falls is starting to smarten up when it[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Dec 6

2024

Braymiller Market closing, but bailouts continue

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Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon, forward, and Braymiller Market owner Stuart Green, to his left. Photo by J. Dale Shoemaker Braymiller Market, the struggling downtown grocery, is closing its doors, but City Hall will continue to financially assist owner Stuart Green. Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon said Friday the city will not require Green to repay the $561,000 it loaned to the store last year, a requirement if he failed to keep the store open through the end of 2025. What’s more, Scanlon said the city will lease the grocery store’s building, paying an unspecified amount to use the 21,600-square-foot space for[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Dec 6

2024

State board doubles down on secrecy

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Union protestors look on at the former Wood & Brooks piano factory in Tonawanda. Photo by Garrett Looker. For more than a year, a state board created to determine whether highly subsidized development projects must pay prevailing wages has operated in secrecy. Since May, Investigative Post has pressed the Public Subsidy Board for records detailing its decisions, including on two Western New York projects. In response, the board has dug in its heels. A hearing officer for the state Department of Labor, under whose umbrella the subsidy board operates, issued a ruling last month upholding the agency’s denial of records[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Dec 5

2024

Report: Jail death “may have been preventable”

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Story updated Dec. 8. Sean Riordan’s death might have been prevented if he was given proper medical care while an inmate at the Erie County Holding Center in 2022, a state oversight commission has concluded. Instead, the holding center staff failed to transfer Riordan to a hospital for alcohol withdrawal treatment, and failed to provide adequate care while he was in the jail, the state Commission of Correction concluded in a newly released report. There were “serious deficiencies” in Riordan’s medical care during his incarceration that might have contributed to his death, according to the report. “Had established medical policy[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Dec 5

2024

The Regulation of Advertising: Protecting Consumers from Misleading Claims

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Advertising is everywhere. On TV, on your phone, on billboards along the highway — it’s almost impossible to escape it. Companies use ads to tell us about their products, but sometimes, they don’t always play fair. Some ads make claims that sound too good to be true, and sadly, they often are. That’s why rules around advertising are so important. They help protect people from being tricked into buying things that don’t work as promised. Misleading advertising can be more than just annoying; it can cost people their hard-earned money or even harm their health. Authorities worldwide are paying closer[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Dec 4

2024

Buffalo’s financial hole gets deeper

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Ray Nosworthy, Buffalo’s new acting finance commissioner, had a rough first day on the job. His first task Tuesday morning was to tell the Common Council’s Finance Committee that, one quarter into its financial year, the city was staring at a nearly $18 million deficit. He also told lawmakers that Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon is demanding 10 percent cuts in expenditures from all city department heads in next year’s budget. Nosworthy said the “unexpected” $18 million deficit was the result of the city’s depleted savings.  The Council in June adopted a spending plan that had a $40 million imbalance between[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Dec 4

2024

Behind the Numbers: Analyzing the Long-Term Economic Impact of New York’s Sportsbook Revenue on the State’s Infrastructure

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The legalization of mobile sports betting has quickly transformed New York’s financial landscape. Since 2022, the state has collected hundreds of millions in tax revenue from sportsbooks, creating a new funding source for public programs. This influx of money has sparked debate—not just about its size, but about its impact. Is this revenue stream being used in ways that benefit communities long-term? Or is it simply filling short-term budget gaps? This article takes a closer look at how the money is generated, how it’s being spent, and whether it’s making a meaningful impact on New York’s infrastructure. The Rise of[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Dec 3

2024

Buffalo’s ‘power structure is the problem’

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Government policies pushed by the region’s traditional power brokers — real estate developers, bankers, law firms and other business interests — have been “a disaster for the people of Buffalo,” a new report concludes.  Tax abatements and subsidies are contributing to “a deepening commercial real estate crisis” downtown, according to the report, released last month by Our City Action Buffalo, a progressive community advocacy group that is a frequent critic of the city’s elected officials.  Opposition to affordable housing projects has exacerbated the city’s poverty problems, according to the report.  What’s more, Buffalo is staring at a fiscal crisis engendered[...]

Posted 5 months ago
Investigative Post