Categories for News

Dec 7

2017

Many localities not reporting sewer overflows

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Many local governments across the state fail to report sewer overflows discharged into water bodies, an environmental group reported Thursday. In addition, about one-third of the reported sewer overflows since 2013 did not include the volume, which the group said could be in violation of state law. An Investigative Post analysis shows the Village of Kenmore is this year’s worst offender in Western New York of failing to report the volume of sewage and stormwater overflows. The state passed the Sewage Pollution Right to Know law in 2013. It requires cities, towns and villages to publicly report information about all[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Dec 6

2017

LPCiminelli scaling back operations

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LPCiminelli, the embattled construction firm reeling from the indictment of three of its executives, is shuttering half its business. The company is selling off its heavy construction equipment at an auction next week in anticipation of closing its general contracting arm. Rather than building facilities, LPCiminelli will focus on development and construction management. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter delivered Sundays to your inbox. The company has been under siege for three years, since Investigative Post exposed what federal investigators later determined was corruption in the state’s awarding of a contract to LPCiminelli to develop the Tesla solar panel manufacturing plant[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Nov 20

2017

UB Foundation invests in fracking

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The University at Buffalo Foundation quietly invested in an offshore fund that finances fracking and oil companies, even as the university declares itself a leader on combating climate change, leaked documents reveal. The private foundation, whose assets top $1.1 billion, is technically separate from the public university and does not disclose information about specific investments – despite mounting pressure from a student-led campaign for divestment from fossil fuel companies. But, in data made public Friday through the so-called “Paradise Papers,” a massive leak of documents from an offshore law firm, the foundation is named as a shareholder in a fund[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Nov 13

2017

Zemsky pressed on Buffalo Billion projects

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Howard Zemsky, the state’s economic development czar, told state Assembly members Monday that state officials are pushing IBM to create more high-tech jobs in Buffalo. “The kinds of jobs that we’re going to see at the IBM center are not going to continue to be call center jobs,” Zemsky said. The state pledged $55 million to renovate and equipment the six floors of Key Center’s south tower to lure IBM here on the promise of creating good-paying, high-tech jobs. But, as Investigative Post reported last week, many of the employees at the company’s office downtown work call center jobs for[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Nov 7

2017

Testing to get the lead out

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The crisis in Flint, Mich., put a spotlight on the risks of lead in drinking water. The public water supplies in Buffalo and surrounding areas are not facing the same problems as Flint. Nonetheless, lead still poses a risk here because of our old infrastructure and housing stock. In fact, experts say there is always a risk of lead leaching into your tap water if you have a lead service line. Days after my story “Looking for lead (in all the wrong places)” in August 2016, I got calls from concerned Buffalo residents who wanted to know how they could[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Oct 18

2017

Land owners sue over radioactive waste

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Twenty property owners in Niagara Falls, Lewiston and Grand Island have filed a lawsuit charging that three companies acted with gross recklessness by directly or indirectly disposing of radioactive wastes that they knew posed a danger to human health and the environment. The lawsuit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York on behalf of 28 plaintiffs who own or share homes, businesses and vacant land in the affected communities. Investigative Post reported in July 2016 that government documents show the federal Department of Energy and state health and environmental officials have known for[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Sep 5

2017

Lawsuit alleges Buffalo police misconduct

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A coalition of community activists and attorneys filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Buffalo on Tuesday and sent a letter to State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman urging his civil rights division to investigative what they allege is a pattern of unconstitutional practices by the Buffalo Police Department against minority residents. Anjana Malhotra, co-author of the report and complaint, said her research uncovered a “pattern and practice of discriminatory and unconstitutional police practices.” “The fourth amendment guarantees to everyone equally that one has a right to be free of unreasonable seizures,” she said at a press conference Tuesday[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Aug 9

2017

Town to fence landfill with Love Canal legacy

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The Town of Wheatfield has finally picked a contractor to build a fence around a dangerous landfill that once held Love Canal waste and has long been used by residents for recreation. The process took over year and a half since town officials pledged to fence in the landfill.  New York State Fence will construct the fence for $106,800. Senator Robert Ortt secured the town $75,000 to offset some of the cost, in response to a Feb. 10, 2016, Investigative Post story. “It’s been a long haul,” Wheatfield Supervisor Robert Cliffe told the Niagara Gazette after the vote at Monday night’s town[...]

Posted 7 years ago
Investigative Post

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