Categories for Produced for WGRZ

Nov 11

2020

Record low employment in Buffalo Niagara

Published by

The coronavirus pandemic has stripped Buffalo-Niagara of so many jobs that the region employs fewer people in the private sector than it has in at least 30 years. The metro area was down 46,000 private sector jobs in September, compared with a year earlier. That amounts to a 9.6 percent drop. That leaves the labor market with 431,300 full- and part-time jobs. “It’s the smallest private-sector workforce in 30 years, by a good deal,” said E.J. McMahon, senior fellow at the Empire Center for Public Policy, who conducted the jobs analysis for Investigative Post. Heaney discusses his story on WBEN[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Nov 2

2020

Problem cop still on Buffalo police force

Published by

There is exactly one Buffalo cop whose past conduct has so damaged his credibility that the Erie County District Attorney’s office refuses to put him on the witness stand. His name is Joseph R. Hassett.  In an April 2019 letter to Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood, DA John Flynn wrote that Hassett, 34, suffered from “irremediable problems of credibility.” As a result, Flynn wrote, he would “no longer call Officer Hassett as a witness in any pending or future criminal action.”  In an arbitration proceeding that began two months later, Hassett’s employer, the City of Buffalo, sought to fire him.[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Oct 28

2020

M.T. Pockets gets liquor license renewed

Published by

Two months after an ugly altercation between bar patrons and Black Lives Matter demonstrators, M.T. Pockets remains open for business. In fact, the State Liquor Authority has just renewed the North Buffalo establishment’s liquor license for the next two years.  At the same time, the authority has charged M.T. Pockets with two violations: “operating disorderly premises” and “failure to supervise.” The charges are a result of the Sept. 1 confrontation, according to Bill Crowley, an authority spokesman. The SLA opened an investigation shortly after the incident, Crowley told Investigative Post last month. At the time, Crowley said, the SLA was[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Oct 18

2020

Notorious lieutenant wants a new assignment

Published by

 Lieutenant Michael DeLong, suspended for calling a woman a vile name outside of a West Side convenience store this summer, wants a transfer from his command position in the city’s downtown police precinct. One of his two preferences is an assignment to a command position with the unit that investigates sex crimes, where the victims are predominantly women.  In addition to his suspension this summer — for calling the woman a “fucking cunt” — the department suspended DeLong in 2018 for an incident described on his disciplinary card as “conduct-off duty domestic.” DeLong has also put in for a[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Sep 30

2020

M.T. Pockets is open – and under investigation

Published by

M.T. Pockets, the North Buffalo bar that closed earlier his month after its patrons shouted racist slurs at demonstrators rallying for police reform, has quietly reopened. The Erie County Health Department cleared the Hertel Avenue bar to reopen Monday, after it submitted a plan to ensure the safety of patrons during the COVID-19 pandemic. Plywood that had covered its door and front windows has been removed and a limited number of patrons are being admitted. Meanwhile, the State Liquor Authority told Investigative Post it opened an investigation into the bar earlier this month. Apparent violations of COVID-19 health and safety[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Sep 17

2020

Working for $1 a day

Published by

The company that oversees people held at the immigration detention center in Batavia exploits detainees by paying them $1 a day to perform menial labor, according to a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court.  The lawsuit, filed Sept. 3, stops short of saying the detainees are forced into doing the work, but suggests that there’s an implicit threat of consequences if they refuse. The practice of assigning work to detainees, a longstanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement initiative known as the “Voluntary Work Program,” violates the state constitution and labor law, the suit contends. The company, Akima Global Services, or AGS,[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Aug 9

2020

Buffalo schools struggled with distance learning

Published by

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 system. Their response: hysterics and stonewalling.  We then turned to teachers, who, in often heartfelt terms, described their experiences working with students since schools shut their doors the middle of March because of the pandemic. Their experiences varied, but on balance they said distance learning[...]

Posted 4 years ago
Investigative Post

Get our newsletters delivered to your inbox * indicates required

Newsletters *