Categories for News

Oct 30

2025

U.S. stepping up surveillance of travelers at border

Published by

  The Department of Homeland Security quietly announced this week plans to step up the surveillance of travelers entering and leaving the United States by foot, car, airplane or boat. Plans include implementing a facial recognition system in the coming months for those entering the country. Participation is mandatory for non-citizens. U.S. citizens may opt out, but the Department of Homeland Security warns doing so could cause delays or other disruptions to a person’s travel. The system has been tested at select border crossings since 2018, including the Peace Bridge. Plans include later expanding the system to those leaving the[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Oct 30

2025

Buffalo to raid “Rainy Day” fund

Published by

The bad news keeps coming for the City of Buffalo’s finances. Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams informed the Common Council this week that the city would need to dip into its Emergency Stabilization Fund — a.k.a. the Rainy Day Fund — in order to balance the books for the fiscal year that ended June 30.  According to the city’s finance commissioner, the shortfall is due to costly settlements to police misconduct lawsuits that hit the city in May.  Lawmakers were told the city will need to use at least $2 million from the fund and perhaps as much as $10 million, according[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Oct 28

2025

Gardner spends big on mayor’s race

Published by

James Gardner, the Republican candidate for Buffalo mayor, has spent close to $400,000 of his own money on his campaign in the past three months. That puts the former prosecutor and judicial clerk on pace to spend at least $500,000 out of pocket before next Tuesday’s election — about the same amount he spent last year in his unsuccessful bid for Erie County District Attorney. Meanwhile, State Sen. Sean Ryan continues to coast toward election day, having spent big to win June’s Democratic primary, and independent candidate Michael Gainer is running a shoe-leather campaign with little money but lots of[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Oct 21

2025

ICE: Unfettered and unaccountable

Published by

Federal agents stand guard outside an ICE detention facility in Newark, N.J. Photo credit: Victor J. Blue/The New York Times/Redux This story is republished from ProPublica, a nonprofit, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom.  When Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers stormed through Santa Ana, California, in June, panicked calls flooded into the city’s emergency response system. Recordings of those calls, obtained by ProPublica, captured some of the terror residents felt as they watched masked men ambush people and force them into unmarked cars. In some cases, the men wore plain clothes and refused to identify themselves. There was no way to confirm[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Oct 10

2025

Watch: IP’s Geoff Kelly on Capital Tonight

Published by

Buffalo’s mayoral election is 25 days away. State Sen. Sean Ryan, the Democratic nominee, is the odds-on favorite to prevail.  Investigative Post’s Geoff Kelly appeared Thursday on Spectrum News’ Capital Tonight with Susan Arbetter to discuss the state of the race, as well as the brewing fight among Ryan’s fellow Democrats over who will fill his Senate seat come January. The scrapping over Ryan’s seat, which has been unfolding in the background for months, burst into the open on Thursday, when Ryan’s longtime political ally, Assembly Member Jonathan Rivera, declared his candidacy for the job. Zellner and Rivera both have[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Oct 8

2025

OTB hires Byron Brown’s brother-in-law

Published by

Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. — headed by president and CEO Byron Brown — has hired the brother-in-law of the former mayor. Michael Lee Austin — brother of Brown’s wife, Michelle Austin Brown — began working last month as a sergeant supervising the security guards at Batavia Downs, the horse track, casino and hotel complex owned by OTB. The position pays $24.33 per hour and is eligible for overtime. Austin disclosed his relationship to Brown in his application for a state gaming license, a copy of which Investigative Post obtained via a Freedom of Information request. The hiring appears to[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Oct 7

2025

Pushing again for lead inspections in Buffalo

Published by

From left: Matthew Parham, Daniel Corbitt, Sarah Wooton, Dawn Wells-Clyburn and Alex Fehrman Updated Monday at 4:49 p.m.  A group of tenants and community organizations on Tuesday appealed the dismissal of a lawsuit that sought more vigorous enforcement of a City of Buffalo program aimed at lead hazards in rental housing. The Partnership for the Public Good along with three other organizations and four tenants filed a lawsuit last July  in State Supreme Court against the city. The lawsuit alleged that the Department of Permits and Inspections was failing to provide a clean and healthful environment for its residents by[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Oct 3

2025

Overcrowding rampant at ICE facility in Batavia

Published by

J. Dale Shoemaker summarizes the story. The ICE detention center in Batavia is bursting at the seams. Data obtained by Investigative Post shows an average of 727 migrants have been held at the 650-bed facility daily since early June. “We’ve heard reports of people sleeping on the floor of the gymnasium of the facility, given only individual workout mats to sleep on, not even mattresses,” said Aaron Krupp, regional coordinator for Justice for Migrant Families, an advocacy group that works with detainees. In mid-August, the number of people held in the detention center peaked at nearly 800. The count dropped[...]

Posted 2 months ago
Investigative Post