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Dec 6

2019

Buffalo Billion felon candidate for county job

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 A felon who played a central role in the Buffalo Billion scandal is now a finalist to land a job as the public face of Niagara County government. Kevin Schuler is one of two candidates county legislators are scheduled to interview Monday for the job of public information officer, who acts as spokesman for county government and fields media requests. The county’s 2020 budget proposes the PIO job pay $79,003 a year. The new salary amounts to a nearly $10,000 raise. Schuler was the longtime political fixer for Louis Ciminelli, a prominent developer and influential Republican until his fall[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Dec 5

2019

Heaney talks Control Board on ‘Pressroom

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Jim Heaney discusses Buffalo’s timid Control Board with David Lombardo, the new host of The Capitol Pressroom. The discussion follows a story by Investigative Post’s Geoff Kelly that documented the board’s inaction in the face of bad budgeting practices by Mayor Byron Brown and the Common Council.    

Posted 6 years ago

Nov 25

2019

Buffalo’s complacent Control Board

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 The Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority, better known as the control board, costs city and state taxpayers more than $1 million a year. Its job, since it was imposed by the state in 2003, has been to keep an eye on Buffalo’s finances.  But during the past eight years it has done nothing to stop Mayor Byron Brown and the Common Council as they’ve drained the city of more than $100 million in reserves, leaving City Hall with nothing in the bank to close budget gaps.  In six of the last eight budget cycles, the Brown administration has depleted its[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Nov 21

2019

Buffalo’s No. 2 cop is moonlighting

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Joseph Gramaglia is the number two guy at the Buffalo Police Department, second only to the department’s titular head, Commissioner Byron C. Lockwood. That’s no 40-hour-per-week job. With more than 800 employees, Buffalo’s is the second-largest police department in the state. It’s a department that is making do with equipment shortages, introducing new taser and body camera programs, coping with overtime costs, and dealing with a series of police shootings that have strained community relations, especially with communities of color where police presence is felt most acutely. And yet Gramaglia — who, on behalf of Lockwood, manages day-to-day operations, strategic[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Nov 19

2019

New cop cars fall short of need

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 The Brown administration is touting its plan to purchase new police cars to replenish its depleted fleet, but the move leaves the police department short on vehicles. Thirty-five new cars are in the pipeline. But it could be up to a year before they’re all on the road, and their number falls short of the 50 to 60 new vehicles needed annually to keep the fleet in good order. John Evans, president of the Police Benevolent Association, recently sent a letter to the Common Council complaining that officers directing traffic at the events downtown do so without patrol cars[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Nov 13

2019

DA moving, judges lagging on bail reform

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 Erie County is ahead of the curve on bail reform. Changes in the law that take effect January 1 prohibit the imposition of cash bail on defendants charged with misdemeanors and non-violent crimes. But in Erie County, as of November 1, assistant district attorneys cannot ask for bail on those offenses without prior approval from a supervisor. “Come December first, only I can approve it,” said John Flynn, the Erie County District Attorney. “That’s how we’re phasing it in. Then come January, none of us can ask because the judges cannot do it.” He added: “Individuals who are charged[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Nov 6

2019

Toxins at Niagara Falls airbase

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The Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station has landed on an ignoble list. The facility ranks seventh on a list of the 100 U.S. military sites most contaminated with PFAS, or per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances. That’s according to a report issued in early October by the Environmental Working Group, based on data procured from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Defense. PFAS is a family of chemicals linked in animal studies to infertility, birth defects, developmental disorders and cancer. PFAS compounds have been used commercially in a wide variety of products since the 1950s. They include the[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Nov 6

2019

iPost annual fundraising drive underway

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Investigative Post has launched its annual fundraising drive, which is critical to underwriting our reporting efforts in the coming year. Once again, donations of up to $1,000 made by Dec. 31 will be matched by NewsMatch, funded by seven national foundations and media organizations. During last year’s annual drive, Investigative Post raised $43,883 in matchable donations from 359 contributors. “Our goal is to top those numbers, which would enable us to expand our coverage and hopefully hire a fourth full-time reporter,” said Jim Heaney, Investigative Post’s editor and executive director. The annual drive culminates another successful year of journalism for[...]

Posted 6 years ago
Investigative Post