Categories for Outrages & Insights

Oct 19

2015

Peace Bridge expansion talk premature

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Talk of a renewed effort to begin planning for a second span at the Peace Bridge is overblown, Jim Heaney told Steve Brown on Sunday’s weekly installment of Outrages & Insights. Heaney said his sources tell him the Peace Bridge Authority is focused on its $185 million capital improvement plan that will take another four years to complete. Any serious consideration of a second span would likely be put off until the bulk of that work is done, he said. Heaney noted that bridge traffic has steadily dropped since the 9-11 terror attacks. Increased wait times are not the result[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Oct 11

2015

Scajaquada and other pollution problems

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Jim Heaney and Steve Brown discuss the painfully slow progress being made in cleaning up polluted creeks and streams throughout Western New York on the second weekly installment of “Outrages & Insights” broadcast on WGRZ. The problem is rooted in antiquated sewage systems that are often overwhelmed by an influx of water during rain storms and snowmelts, Heaney told Brown. Systems, unable to handle the water, dump untreated sewage and runoff into nearby creeks and streams. The solution requires costly repairs to sewer lines and upgrades to treatment systems. Politicians at the local, state and federal levels have been unwilling[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Oct 8

2015

The pending protest r.e. hiring at SolarCity site

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It’s not all that often that the city’s black community rallies in great numbers to protest a perceived wrong, but Friday may prove to be one of those exceptions. Erie County Legislator Betty Jean Grant is among the organizers of a rally scheduled for 10:30 a.m. outside the gates of the SolarCity plant at Riverbend calling for the project’s 25 percent minority workforce goal to be reinstated. In a Facebook post earlier this month, citing last week’s story by Investigative Post, she wrote: “This is a disgrace for the city of Buffalo and a case of theft of jobs and[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Oct 5

2015

Outrages & Insights podcast

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Jim Heaney of Investigative Post and Steve Brown of WGRZ discuss the latest developments involving the Buffalo Billion on a TV edition of Outrages & Insights that broadcast Sunday on WGRZ.

Posted 10 years ago

Oct 5

2015

Outrages & Insights on WGRZ

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Investigative Post and WGRZ on Sunday launched a television companion to my muckraking blog. The format involves a three-minute conversation between me and Steve Brown, investigative reporter with WGRZ. The discussion will touch on a recent news development or one of my blog posts or story reported by Investigative Post. The program, entitled “Outrages & Insights,” will broadcast Sunday mornings on Daybreak. I’ll post the video to our website later in the day, along with a podcast of the discussion. Readers most likely won’t venture to our website Sunday, but the segment will be waiting for them first thing Monday.[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Oct 1

2015

Cuomo stonewalling goes from bad to worse

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I’ve documented – more than once – efforts by the Cuomo administration to obstruct our reporting of the Buffalo Billion. But the tactics employed by the Cuomo crowd during the course of Charlotte Keith’s reporting of her story on the lack of diversity at the SolarCity construction site represent a new low. Once again, state officials refused to grant interviews, but this time they came up with a novel reason. Peter Cutler, the temperamental spokesman for the Buffalo office of the Empire State Development Corp., objected to who Charlotte was interviewing for her story. She had the audacity to talk[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Sep 21

2015

New York’s sleeping watchdogs

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U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara took on the role of investigating the Buffalo Billion after none of the watchdogs in state government would. I did a story last December that detailed the questionable circumstances surrounding the awarding of development contracts to LPCiminelli and McGuire Development and the lack of transparency involving the Buffalo Billion program. I made inquiries in January with the offices of both Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to ask if either of them intended to follow up. I found no takers. Bharara’s office, meanwhile, took note and began issuing subpoenas over the summer, as detailed Friday[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Sep 18

2015

Feds probing Buffalo Billion contracts

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(Updated Saturday at 3:05 p.m.) This is big. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who has tackled corruption in state government, is investigating the awarding of contracts under the Buffalo Billion program, The New York Post reports. “It’s a comprehensive look at the bidding process,” said one source, who also told The Post that several companies have been issued subpoenas. Meanwhile, The New York Daily News is reporting that the feds have subpoened records of the SUNY Polytechnic Institute, headed by Alain Kaloyeros, who is managing the Buffalo Billion program. The Daily News also reported SUNY has hired a criminal defense lawyer to represent[...]

Posted 10 years ago
Investigative Post