Investigative Post

Editor’s note: This column originally published in Buffalo Spree. Chris Jacobs used to be a moderate Republican who Democrats could think about voting for. No more. Not if you go by his words. The moderate Chris Jacobs made a deal with the devil in accepting the endorsement of Donald Trump during his successful special election […]

These are tough times, as tough times go. And they’re not going away anytime soon.  The COVID-19 pandemic remains a dual threat, to both public health and economic well being of the county, Buffalo and Western New York included.  While the coronavirus is under control locally, at least compared with much of the rest of […]

The audit released Friday by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli told us a lot of things we already knew or strongly suspected: the Cuomo administration failed to assess the value of high-tech projects like the Tesla plant in South Buffalo both before and after the investment of tax dollars, and largely kept the public and press […]

This story began in April with a handful of simple questions: How many Buffalo school students are participating in distance learning? How many hours a day are they engaged in learning? And how much are they really learning? They were obvious and reasonable questions. So we posed them to the folks who run the school […]

Note: This column originally appeared in Buffalo Spree. Our nation has a lot of work ahead of it if it is to address the structural racism laid bare by COVID-19, the killing of George Floyd and the protests that followed. Buffalo and Western New York have an even heavier lift. Much of the initial focus […]

The state of local news media in Western New York was in a precarious position before anyone heard of COVID-19. Now that the virus has wreaked its havoc on both public health and the economy, the situation is that much more concerning. The problems of The Buffalo News have been well documented previously in this […]

The focus of protests in Buffalo the past week has sharpened: reform the Buffalo Police Department. A coalition of activists have put 13 demands in front of Mayor Byron Brown, some more achievable than others. Protestors have also raised the issue of Sheriff Tim Howard’s deadly management of county jails, where 30 inmates have died […]

Allow me to provide some perspective in light of what transpired Saturday night in Niagara Square. The issue isn’t “outside agitators,” the unsubstantiated claim made by Mayor Bryon Brown and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. And it’s really not vandalism and looting, as unfortunate as that was. No, the real issue is how city government […]