Categories for News

Apr 2

2024

Clover Management settles with ex-employee

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Michael Joseph, a major Democratic donor whose development firm specializes in senior housing complexes, has settled a lawsuit brought by a former employee who accused the company of racially discriminatory business practices. An order dismissing the case was filed in federal court on April 1. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed. The plaintiff, Peter Rizzo, claimed in his lawsuit that the Clover Group refused to consider areas with significant Black populations for its senior housing projects. Rizzo recorded Clover Group executives using coded language to describe their reluctance to build in Black neighborhoods, referring to Black people[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

Apr 2

2024

Roundup of Buffalo Bills stadium coverage

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Image courtesy of WGRZ. Now seems like a good time to review our reporting on the Bills’ new $1.7 billion stadium, slated to open in 2026. Most of the following stories were reported by J. Dale Shoemaker and Mark Scheer.  Taxpayer subsidies: Subsidies will top $1 billion between construction and maintenance and go well beyond what New York State typically spends on stadiums and arenas or what taxpayers spend in most other states. The lease will not provide Erie County taxpayers with any relief for maintenance and other ongoing stadium costs.  Economic impact: Stadiums typically generate little new economic activity,[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

Mar 29

2024

OTB considering hotel expansion at Batavia Downs

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The board of directors for Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. agreed on Thursday to hire two companies to help explore the possible expansion of the 84-room hotel at Batavia Downs in Genesee County.  Approval of the agreements came over the objection of one board director — Erie County’s representative Tim Callan,  who said he still has questions about how management arrived at the two vendors chosen to do the work.  “Management did not answer my questions to my satisfaction,” Callan said following Thursday’s meeting.  The board, minus Callan, authorized one contract for $76,000 with Bammel Architects, an Orchard Park firm[...]

Posted 4 weeks ago

Mar 26

2024

Buffalo hostel pushes back against vacate order

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Representatives of Hostel Buffalo-Niagara say they’re planning to fight the city’s order for them to vacate their Main Street building. The hostel has no plans to shut down April 15 — the date it’s been ordered to close shop for construction at an adjacent building. As of now, its long-range plan is to remain open, and to eventually buy the hostel building from the city, Hostel Buffalo-Niagara president Alexander Burgos said Tuesday. “We have an engineer that doesn’t feel that closing our business is necessary and that we can continue to operate while they perform construction,” Burgos told Investigative Post.[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Mar 22

2024

Downtown hostel gets a reprieve

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The Hostel Buffalo-Niagara downtown Buffalo. The city has backed off its insistence that Hostel Buffalo-Niagara vacate its downtown location on Monday, allowing it to host visitors for the April 8 solar eclipse.  Work to stabilize an adjacent structure to the rear is scheduled to start soon and the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency, owner of the two buildings, said it would be unsafe for the hostel to remain open during the work. Hostel managers lobbied for an extension to accommodate the visitors who have booked for the eclipse. “So as to not inconvenience the out-of-town visitors for this historic event, BURA[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Mar 20

2024

Is Tesla using a rival’s solar panels?

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Solar panels on the Tesla factory roof. Video via WGRZ. What’s the big secret? Tesla has installed solar panels on about one-third of the roof of its plant in South Buffalo, with plans to cover the rest by the end of the year. This is not surprising. The plant, after all, was built to manufacture parts for solar panels. But one thing doesn’t add up: The solar panels on the factory roof don’t look like the solar products Tesla sells.  Most notably, Tesla advertises its products as lacking the white grid lines seen on most solar panels.  The panels on[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Mar 18

2024

Pepper spray and f-bombs got a Buffalo cop fired

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Warning: This video contains graphic content. On March 25, 2020, Buffalo police officer Kevin Murphy pepper sprayed and arrested Lakisha Neal. Viewer discretion is advised. The Buffalo police union is asking a judge to overturn an arbitrator’s decision upholding termination of an officer who doused a woman with pepper spray and repeatedly swore at her. It’s rare litigation. Erie County Supreme Court documents dating to 2013 show no other cases of either the city or the police union asking a judge to reverse an arbitrator’s decision on whether an officer should be fired. Lakisha Neal, 42, filed an internal affairs[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Mar 15

2024

Solutions to Buffalo’s lagging mortgage lending to Black residents

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Second in a series on the impact of lending practices on homeownership by Black residents in Erie and Niagara counties. The first story is here. Analysts and community leaders suggest a series of banking reforms aimed at increasing Black homeownership in Erie and Niagara counties. Ideas include expanding outreach efforts to underserved communities and retooling mortgage lending options by lowering interest rates for low-to-moderate income buyers and considering rent and bill payment history in lieu of credit history. “Potentially having those rates lowered and providing more ability for families that may not have higher income streams to have some subsidies[...]

Posted 1 month ago
Investigative Post

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