Mar 12
2018
Jim Heaney and Susan Arbetter talk about the troubled IBM project in Buffalo on The Capitol Pressroom. Investigative Post in recent months has published two stories, found here and here, on the project, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo said would create hundreds of good-paying, high-tech jobs but instead has resulted in a dysfunctional call center employing low-wage workers who say they are poorly trained.
Feb 28
2018
CWM Chemical Services, the only commercial hazardous waste landfill in the northeast, wants to expand its operations in the Niagara County Town of Porter. The new landfill would be large enough to fill 1,200 Olympic sized pools with toxic materials contaminated with PCBs, lead and asbestos and other hazardous waste. If a state panel approves the application, as many as 220 trucks a day would rumble past homes and the Lewiston-Porter Schools for up to three more decades. The application process is moving forward despite public dissent and CWM’s history of spills and environmental violations, an Investigative Post analysis of state and[...]
Feb 28
2018
The University at Buffalo Foundation spent almost $40,000 on questionable entertainment expenses, operated for three years under an expired contract with the campus, and lacks policies to ensure contracts are competitively bid, according to an audit released yesterday by the state comptroller’s office. The foundation also paid the salaries of two retired university staff members who returned to state employment, while they were also collecting state pensions – allowing them to circumvent state caps on “double-dipping,” the report found. The private UB Foundation is technically separate from the public university, but has long faced pressure to be more transparent[...]
Feb 19
2018
Among a string of investments in untested companies, the $55 million grant to bring IBM to town seemed like one of the safest bets of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion program. IBM’s new Buffalo location was an obvious choice, too, when the state was looking for a company capable of handling a multi-million dollar contract to provide customer support for state agencies’ IT needs. But, so far, IBM’s Buffalo office has been mired in dysfunction and disappointment. Far from bringing “cutting-edge software development jobs” to Buffalo, as the governor promised, most of the employees here work call center jobs as[...]
Feb 13
2018
The rapid-moving and debris-filled water of the Niagara River was unfamiliar territory to Officer Craig Lehner. His previous dives were in relatively calm and contained waters like the Buffalo River and the clear, warm Caribbean where he got his scuba certification. Last October, Lehner was training with the Buffalo Police’s Underwater Recovery Team in the Niagara River, the first time the team had trained there in over a year. While the team’s commander, Detective Leo McGrath, has more than thirty years of diving experience, he is not certified to teach public safety diving. Underwater, Lehner lacked the equipment to verbally[...]
Feb 12
2018
Investigative Post is in the market for a development director with a track record of building a strong donor and membership base. We are in an aggressive growth mode and looking for an energetic and accomplished fundraiser to expand our already substantial donor base. Investigative Post is an award-winning news organization focused on exposing corruption, malfeasance, injustice and environmental degradation. We distribute our work widely through our website and network of television, radio and newspaper partners. Job duties include: Prospecting, cultivating and stewarding of major donors. Selling sponsorships to corporate and labor underwriters. Building relationships with and writing grant proposals[...]
Feb 9
2018
The Buffalo Police Department is disbanding a special unit that ostensibly targets gang, guns and drug activity in the face of criticism over what some regard as its heavy-handed tactics. Police officials confirmed the 19 officers and supervisors in the unit, known as Strike Force, will be reassigned effective March 12. The fate of a related operation known as the Housing Unit, which operates in and around the city’s public housing projects, is not known. Investigative Post in September published a report that documented misconduct on the part of Strike Force and Housing Unit officers. Its reporting turned up ten[...]
Feb 7
2018
Buffalo’s lead poisoning crisis – some 1,000 children are diagnosed every year with dangerous levels of lead in their blood – could be worse than reported, Investigative Post has determined. School officials can verify that only about half the children enrolled in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten have been tested at least once for lead poisoning. It’s uncertain how many got tested twice by the age of 3, as required by state law. In light of this, the schools have proposed to provide free lead screenings for incoming students and younger siblings at community schools and two mobile health clinics. But[...]