Categories for News

Feb 9

2018

Buffalo police disbanding troubled Strike Force

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The Buffalo Police Department is disbanding a special unit that ostensibly targets gang, guns and drug activity in the face of criticism over what some regard as its heavy-handed tactics. Police officials confirmed the 19 officers and supervisors in the unit, known as Strike Force, will be reassigned effective March 12. The fate of a related operation known as the Housing Unit, which operates in and around the city’s public housing projects, is not known. Investigative Post in September published a report that documented misconduct on the part of Strike Force and Housing Unit officers. Its reporting turned up ten[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Jan 22

2018

State: Toxins in Wheatfield landfill contained

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 State environmental regulators concluded Monday that tests show a landfill in Wheatfield that once held Love Canal waste is not contaminating neighboring properties. The findings run counter to claims made by plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the Town of Wheatfield, which owns the landfill, and seven companies believed to have dumped there. The state Department of Environmental Conservation declared the landfill a Superfund site three years ago after the removal of  80 dump-truck loads of Love Canal waste buried there in 1968. The DEC had said the landfill remained contaminated from other dumping that occurred from 1955 to[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Jan 8

2018

Buffalo Billion emails highlight political giving

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A list of hundreds of emails from a key figure in the Buffalo corruption case underscores the role of campaign contributions in the scandal. Lobbyist Todd Howe repeatedly emailed his clients – including executives at LPCiminelli who are facing charges of bid-rigging – about giving money to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his then running mate, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul. The index of emails, submitted into evidence by defense lawyers at the end of December but withdrawn just days later, includes only their subject lines, not the full text of the messages or the dates they were sent. Still, it offers[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Dec 21

2017

A Buffalo Billion bust in Syracuse

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 Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s original plan to redevelop the former Republic Steel site in South Buffalo included Soraa, a California based company that manufactures high efficiency lights. Soraa and Silevo, a solar panel manufacturer, were going to occupy a factory at Riverbend, built at taxpayer expense under the Buffalo Billion program. SolarCity, owned by Elon Musk, bought out Silevo and the state and Soraa decided to locate the lighting plant in Syracuse. Some $90 million in state funds were spent to build the factory in exchange for a promise of 420 jobs. Like the SolarCity project, the Syracuse plant was ensnared[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Dec 14

2017

Police refused to cooperate in death probe

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A review of internal Buffalo police records and state law raises questions over the refusal of two officers to cooperate with the attorney general’s office as it investigated the death of Wardel Davis during an encounter with the police in February. The two officers involved, Nicholas Parisi and Todd McAlister, refused to be interviewed by the attorney general’s office about the incident unless they were interviewed together. That’s despite a police department policy that states all employees have a “duty” to “extend their fullest cooperation” to outside agencies investigating possible officer misconduct. A spokesperson for the attorney general declined to comment on[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Dec 14

2017

More progress for Scajaquada Creek

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Two Western New York communities will get almost $6 million from the state for projects that will reduce the amount of untreated sewage spewing into Scajaquada Creek. The Western New York Regional Economic Development Council awarded the Town of Cheektowaga $5 million. The town will use the funding to repair damaged sewer pipes that get inundated with stormwater, which causes untreated sewage to be discharged into the creek. In addition, the Village of Depew received a total of $780,000 for two sewer-related projects. One of the projects will reduce untreated sewage from entering Scajaquada Creek by repairing damaged sewer lines and storage[...]

Posted 8 years ago

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 8 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 8 years ago
Investigative Post