Categories for News

Jul 28

2015

State relents on Buffalo Billion records

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I interrupt the state’s incessant stonewalling of my efforts to use public records to track the Buffalo Billion program to report some progress. Cuomo administration officials, for more than a year, refused to release documents related to the selection of LPCiminelli to develop SolarCity’s sprawling plant in South Buffalo. The SUNY Research Foundation and the Fort Schuyler Management Corp. went to great lengths to thwart my efforts to obtain records under the state Freedom of Information Law, as I documented in December. Alain Kaloyeros and his associates at Fort Schuyler wouldn’t budge when the state Committee on Open Government issued[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Jul 16

2015

Water woes at Gallagher Beach

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  Gallagher Beach has a serious bacteria problem. The bacteria counts at the unofficial beach on Buffalo’s Outer Harbor – which local, state and federal officials want to open for public swimming – exceeded safe levels more than two-thirds of the time in tests conducted last summer. The test results are included in a 181-page study Investigative Post recently obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request. The state has not officially released the report to the public. “The results are that this is not a safe place to swim,” said John Finster, a retired public health engineer who used[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Jun 17

2015

SolarCity update: Progress and problems

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Construction of the massive $750 million solar panel manufacturing plant is approaching the half-way point and SolarCity is starting to hire in anticipation of a phase in of operations early next year. Meanwhile, the company is losing record amounts of money, its stock price is languishing and federal investigators continue to look at some of its past dealings out of state. New York officials, for their part, continue to thwart efforts to open the SolarCity project to public scrutiny.

Posted 9 years ago

May 27

2015

Heaney discusses transparency with WGRZ

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Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney talks about transparency, and the lack thereof in the Cuomo administration, in an interview last Friday with WGRZ’s Michael Wooten. The interview was precipitated by a “transparency summit” sponsored by the governor and the announcement that his administration was revising a policy that had lead to many state emails being deleted after 90 days. Heaney also discusses the events that prompted Investigative Post to file a lawsuit last week seeking the release of Buffalo Billion documents that program managers have refused to disclose.

Posted 9 years ago

May 19

2015

iPost sues over suppression of records

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Investigative Post has sued a state development corporation so intent on withholding records involving the Buffalo Billion program that a leading state official likened efforts to obtain them under the Freedom of Information Law to an act of terrorism. Investigative Post has asked the State Supreme Court to rule on whether the Fort Schuyler Management Corp. is subject to the state FOI Law. WGRZ and the Gannett Company are helping to finance the lawsuit that was filed Monday in Albany. Fort Schuyler is managing the construction of three facilities that will house SolarCity, IBM and Albany Molecular Research Inc., which have been[...]

Posted 9 years ago

May 15

2015

Speakers want more autonomy for city schools

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A longer school day. More freedom for schools to make their own decisions. Redefining success through alternative paths to graduation. Those were among the issues panelists discussed at a happy hour event Wednesday sponsored by Investigative Post. Asked what one thing they would change about the city’s schools, all three speakers  mentioned more autonomy for schools in how they hire, budget and use testing standards. Strong centralization might have been necessary in the past to create accountability, said William Kresse, principal of City Honors School. “Now it’s on us: let us do the work,” he said. David Rust, executive director of Say[...]

Posted 9 years ago

May 12

2015

Tonawanda Coke settles civil case for $12M

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Federal prosecutors and environmental regulators hailed Monday’s $12 million civil settlement with Tonawanda Coke as a “tremendous environmental victory.” The company will spend $8 million on pollution control upgrades at its century-old plant on River Road. Tonawanda Coke also will hire a third party environmental expert to audit its operations for additional safety and environmental improvements. In addition, the state and federal governments collect $2.75 million in penalties. Another $1.3 million is earmarked for environmental projects to benefit residents of Tonawanda. The only project formally announced Monday was $357,000 to the nonprofit Ducks Unlimited to acquire and preserve a wetland within[...]

Posted 9 years ago

May 8

2015

Progress to report on Scajaquada Creek

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There is limited, but noteworthy progress to report some 10 month after Investigative Post and WGRZ reported on the sorry state of Scajaquada Creek. The Town of Cheektowaga is poised to sell more than $12 million in bonds to finance the first phase of work to line sewer pipes to seal cracks and update infrastructure in the Winston-Vegola neighborhoods which have the most sewer overflow problems in the town. Another $41 million in planned work will be spread out over a decade. The Buffalo Sewer Authority, meanwhile, continues to study the feasibility of treating more of Cheektowaga’s sewage to reduce overflows into the[...]

Posted 9 years ago
Investigative Post

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