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May 8

2019

OTB slow-walking information requests

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 The obfuscation of the Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp. was on full display Tuesday night when its president, Henry Wojtaszek, spoke at a meeting of the Niagara County Legislature. Wojtaszek had been asked by lawmakers to address several issues, including his refusal to release the names of those provided tickets and Sabres and Bills tickets purchased by the OTB. Former State Senator George Maziarz has charged that OTB employees and board members are improperly helping themselves to tickets. Wojtaszek insisted that the tickets are given out to high rollers at the OTB’s casino at Batavia Downs, but he has refused[...]

Posted 7 years ago

May 7

2019

iPost announces three summer events

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Investigative Post has scheduled three events for this summer, capped by its popular benefit concert at Sportsmen’s Tavern featuring Tom Toles and The Outlyers. The Aug. 16 show will cap a summer that also includes two speaker panels at Big Ditch Brewing.  On Tuesday, June 4, Geoff Kelly, former editor of The Public and Artvoice, will discuss the past, present and future of the alternative press in Buffalo.  On Wednesday, July 17, two Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonists, Toles and Adam Zyglis of the Buffalo News, will discuss their craft and current affairs at Big Ditch. Toles, editorial cartoonist with The[...]

Posted 7 years ago

May 6

2019

Heaney wins investigative reporting award

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Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney, whose reporting exposed corruption in the Buffalo Billion program, has been selected as this year’s recipient of the Nellie Bly Award for Investigative Reporting. The award, named in honor of the pioneering investigative reporter from the late 19th century, is granted by the Albany-based Museum of Political Corruption. “The judges found much about Heaney’s passion for justice and determination to uncover the truth that mimics Bly’s celebrated career,” according to the museum’s press release announcing the award. Heaney in 2014 exposed irregularities in the state’s awarding of a contract to LPCiminelli to develop a $750[...]

Posted 7 years ago

May 2

2019

Heaney discusses OTB probe on ‘Pressroom

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Investigative Post reported last week that the FBI is investigating the Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp. Editor Jim Heaney discussed the investigation, and related issues, Thursday with Susan Arbetter of The Capitol Pressroom. Heaney also discussed a recent Investigative Post story on Buffalo’s failure to enact recommendations made more than a year ago to address the city’s serious lead poisoning problem.  

Posted 7 years ago

May 1

2019

Buffalo lags on addressing lead poisoning

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 Hundreds of young children living in Buffalo’s inner-city neighborhoods continue to be diagnosed every year with lead poisoning. And City Hall continues to do next to nothing about it. “Buffalo has not made as much progress as other communities have and not as much progress as perhaps they could,” said Andrew McLellan, president of Environmental Education Associates, which trains contractors and others to recognize and remediate lead hazards. Thirteen months ago, the Center for Governmental Research, a consulting firm in Rochester, developed an action plan with 19 recommendations for the city, county and state to adopt. The county has[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Apr 30

2019

A bad week for female candidates in Buffalo

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State Supreme Court Judge Tracey Bannister on Monday expressed “some regret” in upholding the disqualification of three candidates for Buffalo Common Council, based on what she called a “material” and “substantive” defect in the form of their nominating petitions.   Indeed, there is much to regret in this imbroglio, from its beginning to its conclusion. The case now moves to the 4th Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court. “I’ve done what you’ve done and I know it’s hard,” Bannister told the three women — Melanie McMahan, Bernice Radle and Antoinette Craig — who were knocked from the June 25[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Apr 26

2019

FBI investigating Buffalo-area OTB

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The FBI is investigating the awarding of lucrative contracts by the Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp. to politically wired companies. The investigation, confirmed by multiple sources, is looking into contracts involving firms with ties to OTB Chairman Richard Bianchi, a member of the Monroe County Conservative Party’s executive committee, and CEO Henry Wojtaszek, former chairman of the Niagara County Republican Committee. The full scope of the probe is unclear and an FBI spokesperson would neither confirm nor deny the investigation. But sources told Investigative Post that it includes, at a minimum, contracts the OTB has awarded to at least[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Apr 25

2019

Tesla reports big losses

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Tesla reported first quarter losses Wednesday of $702 million. What’s worse, Tesla reported a big drop in its solar business. Solar panel installations dropped by more than one third during the first quarter. Installations are down five-fold since peaking in 2015. Its market share has tumbled in recent years from 33 to 9 percent. All this is bad news for Tesla’s plant in South Buffalo, which was built and equipped at taxpayer expense. A slump in solar sales lessens demand for the products produced at the plant. That, in turn, could make it tough for Tesla to create all the jobs[...]

Posted 7 years ago
Investigative Post