Investigative Post

A proposed bill by Common Council Majority Leader Demone Smith would prohibit employers from requiring job seekers to disclose any criminal convictions on their application. Buffalo would stand alone among cities, towns or villages statewide in limiting the ability of private employers to make the inquiry. Employers would, however, be able to obtain the information […]

Brian Davis’s plea to federal corruption charges Tuesday comes as no surprise. Neither does the Common Council’s appointment of a bartender to fill Mickey Kearn’s vacant seat. Such is the state of the Common Council. Jimmy Griffin used to call them the “Comical Council” back in the day and yes, they used to bicker a […]

Momentum is building to do something with the Outer Harbor and just days after a group of  community activists called for developing its 120 acres into a park Mayor Byron Brown make a pitch for City Hall to play a role, perhaps a big one. The Outer Harbor is state land, controlled by the Niagara […]

Buffalo is not Austin, Texas, and never will be. They bake. We freeze. They have Lance Armstrong. We had OJ. They don’t pay state income taxes. We do. Oh boy, do we. But I’ve come away from two visits to Austin since last summer thinking there are lessons to be learned. The Texas capital is […]

I’m not sure when the high water mark was regarding the public’s right to know about what’s being done in its name and with its tax dollars, but surely that time has passed. A lot gets written this time every year as the press “celebrates” Sunshine Week. The focus is often on government’s failure to […]

I couldn’t help but be reminded of Joel Giambra’s relationship with Jim Spano when I got through reading the profile of Adam Perry and his law firm’s dealings with Bryon Brown’s administration in Sunday’s Buffalo News. Spano, if you recall, was Giambra’s chief campaign fund-raiser when the Democrat turned Republican ran successfully for county executive […]