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Sep 5

2024

Byron Brown is leaving City Hall. What happens now?

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Mayor in waiting: Common Council President Chris Scanlon. Photo by Garrett Looker. Byron Brown soon will step down as mayor of Buffalo after 18 years and eight months in the office.  The five-term mayor has been offered the job as president and CEO of Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp., a possibility Investigative Post first reported in February. He is expected to accept the position, pending completion of negotiations for an employment contract and obtaining a license from the state Gaming Commission. The precise date of his exit from City Hall is uncertain; later this month or October is most[...]

Posted 9 months ago

Sep 5

2024

Byron Brown chosen to lead Western OTB

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Mayor Byron Brown, incoming OTB chief. Photo by Garrett Looker. Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown today was selected to head the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.  Brown, 65, was one of two finalists interviewed by OTB’s governing board, which unanimously selected the mayor after five hours of closed-door interviews and deliberations. Elliott Winter, who represents Niagara County on the OTB board and served on the search committee, told reporters Brown is a good fit given his experience running a city government. “He oversees 3,000 employees with a budget of over $600 million. He’s worked in the same capacity for the last[...]

Posted 9 months ago

Sep 5

2024

Buffalo City Hall vandal explains himself

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Today, we’re sharing a portion of  political reporter Geoff Kelly’s weekly newsletter, PoliticalPost. To receive his free report in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up in the subscription box at the end of this article. The man arrested Sunday for breaking windows at City Hall and making threats against Mayor Byron Brown is the uncle of a woman who was killed when she fell out of a moving car on the Kensington Expressway in February. On Facebook Antonio Nunes, 40, posted links to stories about his arrest and described his actions as “a warning.” His family, he wrote, was “being disrespected by nobody being[...]

Posted 9 months ago

Sep 4

2024

Carney retiring as Buffalo’s Housing Court judge

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Judge Patrick Carney’s sign hangs outside of Housing Court. Photo by Garrett Looker. Judge Patrick Carney — Buffalo’s longest tenured Housing Court judge — will not seek reelection and plans to retire at the end of the year, Investigative Post has learned. Carney, 68, has served as a City Court Judge since 1994. He was last reelected to his third 10-year term in City Court in 2014,  and has presided over Housing Court for almost 14 years.  Eighth Judicial Administrative Judge Kevin Carter confirmed that Carney is leaving.  “Next year, I’m going to have a new Housing Court judge,” he[...]

Posted 9 months ago

Sep 3

2024

Take our online survey – please

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Investigative Post wants to know what you think of us. We’d appreciate you taking a few minutes to respond. The deadline is this Friday. We’ve already surveyed our donors and newsletter subscribers, who therefore should not respond to this survey. Everyone else, join in! Loading… Donate to support our nonprofit newsroom  

Posted 9 months ago

Sep 2

2024

NFL move could help – or hurt – the Bills

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The National Football League last week voted to lift its ban on private equity firms owning a piece of franchises. That’s good news for Terry Pegula, who is looking to unload a minority share of the Bills, presumably to help cover stadium cost overruns.  The Buffalo News published a good analysis of the NFL vote last week. The league’s move is partly in response to the escalating price of franchises and the dwindling pool of people able to afford buying a team. Looking down the road, the lifting of the ban could further come into play if Pegula decides to[...]

Posted 9 months ago

Aug 29

2024

Judges have ignored housing law for 30 years

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For the past 30 years, state court officials have ignored a law mandating independent oversight of Buffalo’s oft-criticized Housing Court. After the state Legislature in 1978 passed a law establishing an advisory council to monitor the court and recommend changes, the panel met for more than a decade. But it’s been inactive since the early to mid 1990s. Since then, at least three different administrative judges in the Buffalo-based Eighth Judicial District failed to appoint members to the advisory council.  Meanwhile, criticism of the Housing Court has grown, particularly under the current judge, Patrick Carney, who has served since 2011.[...]

Posted 9 months ago

Aug 28

2024

OTB holds off hiring Wojtaszek successor — for now

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As the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.’s board nears a decision on who the agency’s next president and CEO will be, there’s plenty of speculation about the finalists for the job – one of whom is said to be Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. Our J. Dale Shoemaker discussed the latest with Michael Wooten on WKBW’s “Voices” newscast Tuesday evening. The OTB board of directors was scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss its search for a new CEO to succeed Henry Wojtaszek, but the agency canceled the meeting Tuesday morning. No explanation was given.  Several board members told Investigative Post the[...]

Posted 9 months ago
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