Categories for News

Jun 28

2018

Lehner family to file wrongful death lawsuit

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The family of Officer Craig Lehner intends to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the Buffalo Police Department and the City of Buffalo in the coming weeks, an attorney for the family confirmed to Investigative Post. The family had previously signaled its intention to do so with the filing of a notice of claim. Lehner drowned during a training exercise in the Niagara River last October with the police Underwater Recovery Team. Investigative Post subsequently reported that inadequate training and equipment contributed to his death. Dangerously fast currents typical of the Niagara River were also a factor. On the day Lehner drowned,[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Jun 26

2018

Buffalo Billion project kept hush-hush

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Executives at LPCiminelli kept the state-affiliated nonprofit overseeing Buffalo Billion projects in the dark about a second project the company was awarded under a no-bid contract, a key witness testified Monday in the ongoing corruption trial. The company was chosen – quietly – to build a lab and office for biotech company Albany Molecular Research Inc. before LPCiminelli had even submitted their response to the Request for Proposals to build a factory for SolarCity that prosecutors said was rigged in their favor by Alain Kaloyeros and lobbyist Todd Howe. Kevin Schuler, a former LPCiminelli executive who has pled guilty to[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Jun 15

2018

What to watch for in Buffalo Billion trial

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 On Monday, Buffalo businessman Louis Ciminelli, will face trial in federal court in Manhattan, accused of taking part in a scheme to rig the bids for the construction work on the huge factory for SolarCity. Federal prosecutors say Ciminelli and other executives at his company worked with Alain Kaloyeros, the state official in charge of Gov. Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion initiative, to secretly tailor the bid specifications so their company would get the contract. Kaloyeros, who is also facing corruption charges, presided over a system of non-profit organizations that were exempt from the usual state oversight, even as they handed[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Jun 11

2018

Buffalo police didn’t participate in dive training

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Eight months after Buffalo Police Officer Craig Lehner drowned in the Niagara River’s fast currents, divers from several local law enforcement agencies participated in a three-day swift water dive training in Amherst and Tonawanda. Officers from the Buffalo Police Underwater Recovery Team did not participate, however. A department spokesperson did not respond to calls and a text from Investigative Post inquiring as to why the department didn’t participate. Over the past several months, Investigative Post has exposed the failure of the Buffalo police dive team to adequately train and equip Lehner for that fatal dive in the Niagara River last October.[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Jun 8

2018

Heaney interviews Judith Enck

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Judith Enck offers her blunt assessment of the Trump administration’s assault on the EPA, the Cuomo administration’s failure to pick up the slack at the state level, the danger posed by plastics to the environment and the need for people to vote during an interview June 6 at at the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site.

Posted 6 years ago

May 29

2018

Scajaquada project gets $600,000 boost

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Crews are in the homestretch of a seven year project to restore the stretch of Scajaquada Creek that flows through Forest Lawn Cemetery. That work got a boost Tuesday with an announcement that the state, with the support of Senator Chris Jacobs and Assembly Member Sean Ryan, has committed $600,000 to restore nearly four acres of wetlands in the cemetery adjacent to the S curves on Delaware Avenue. Work on the entire $6.8 million project is scheduled to wrap up by the end of the year, provided the final $700,000 in necessary funding is secured. The work will modestly help[...]

Posted 6 years ago

May 23

2018

Decline in cross border traffic “very significant”

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It might not seem like it if you’re stuck waiting to cross the border to or from Canada this summer, but over the past two decades, the number of people making the trip has plummeted.  Car traffic at the Peace Bridge, which connects Buffalo and Fort Erie, dropped 40 percent between 2000 and 2017. Ron Rienas, general manager of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, which oversees the Peace Bridge, called the decline “very significant,” adding, “it’s very unusual to have that degree of decline on a transportation network.” It’s not just the Peace Bridge. The Rainbow, Whirlpool[...]

Posted 6 years ago

May 18

2018

Ciminelli executive pleas in corruption case

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One of three LPCiminelli executives indicted on corruption charges related to the Buffalo Billion program pleaded guilty to felony charges Friday. Kevin Schuler, a company vice president deeply involved in its political operations, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. A bribery charge was dismissed. Schuler made his plea before U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan. Under the plea, as reported by The Buffalo News, Schuler agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. He faces up to three years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. Two other company officials, President Louis Ciminelli and Michael Laipple, are[...]

Posted 6 years ago
Investigative Post

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