Articles for J. Dale Shoemaker

Feb 5

2025

OTB still doling out health coverage despite warnings

OTB Chairman Dennis Bassett and then president and CEO Henry Wojtaszek. Photo by Garrett Looker In defiance of the state comptroller, the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. continues to provide gold-plated health insurance to its chairman and his wife, a dozen former board members and the widows of three others. In some cases, the former board members enrolled in the health plan haven’t served on the OTB board in two decades. Over the last three years, OTB spent an average of $149,000 annually providing the current and former board members with the insurance. OTB’s largess doesn’t end with the board. [...]

Posted 2 months ago

Feb 3

2025

Prospect of huge subsidies for data center at STAMP

Around 50 people gathered at the Alabama fire hall for a series of public hearings about a data center locating at STAMP. Photo by J. Dale Shoemaker. TOWN OF ALABAMA — Three data centers vying to build at the STAMP industrial park in rural Genesee County are seeking subsidies worth anywhere from $838,000 to $3.9 million per job. The proposals were the subject of three public hearings Monday at which about two dozen nearby residents voiced their strong opposition. Concerns ran the gamut: Some speakers said data centers — via water runoff and noise — would harm the surrounding environment,[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Jan 30

2025

State investigating claims of ‘Falls wage theft

The Moe’s and A&W owned by Muhammad Shoaib on Rainbow Boulevard. Photos by J. Dale Shoemaker. The New York State Department of Labor is investigating claims that a Niagara Falls fast food restaurateur failed to pay overtime and withheld tips from employees. Two former employees of Muhammad Shoaib’s fast food restaurants have filed a complaints with the labor department and one has since been contacted by an investigator. Other former employees said they are in the process of filing complaints of their own. In a statement, a labor department spokesperson confirmed that it was in receipt of complaints but declined[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Jan 27

2025

Comptroller to audit OTB again

For a third time in recent years, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office will audit the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. In a statement Monday, comptroller spokesperson Mark Johnson said the agency will audit “the financial operations of WROTB.” He said the comptroller’s office informed OTB of the audit last week and that it would begin in February. The review, broader in scope than the comptroller’s past audits, will take several months to complete, Johnson said. In a statement, OTB spokesperson Michael DeGeorge said the audit could include a review of agency finances stretching back three to five years.[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Jan 23

2025

Subsidized ‘Falls restaurateur accused of wage theft

A Niagara Falls business owner who is seeking a second round of tax breaks for his growing portfolio of fast food restaurants cheats workers out of wages and tips, nine current and former employees have told Investigative Post. Muhammad Shoaib, who owns 10 fast food restaurants — including the Moe’s Southwest Grill, A&W Restaurant and Papa Johns Pizza in Niagara Falls — frequently fails to pay hourly employees overtime and managers the weekly minimum salary set in state law, six current and former employees said. Six employees also alleged that Shoaib has withheld thousands of dollars in credit card tips[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Jan 8

2025

Investigator should have never gotten the job

Buffalo City Court building. Photo by Garrett Looker. A man who two years ago admitted to tampering with evidence and lying about it in court was, until last week, employed as a state human rights investigator in Buffalo. As of Friday morning, he was no longer employed by the Division of Human Rights, Investigative Post has learned. The individual, Eliezer Rosario II, was hired last July to investigate claims of discrimination in the agency’s local office. But, when Investigative Post inquired about his employment last week, a spokesperson for the agency said Rosario was “no longer an employee of the[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Dec 31

2024

Using public records to unlock stories

Before he retired to the west coast of Mexico this fall, my Investigative Post colleague Bruce Rushton made a salient observation: New York has a particularly weak open records law because it has no teeth. By teeth, he meant that in New York there are virtually no penalties for bureaucrats if they ignore or delay responding to a records request for information the public has a right to see. In other words, there’s no incentive for the government to be transparent despite our Freedom of Information Law saying it ought to be. That’s a problem I ran into headfirst this[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Dec 23

2024

Scanlon proposes police use of Braymiller

The now-shuttered Braymiller Market. Photo by J. Dale Shoemaker. Acting Mayor Christopher Scanlon wants the city to rent the former Braymiller Market building for use by the Buffalo Police Department, according to documents filed Monday with the Common Council. Scanlon is requesting lawmakers approve a one-year lease between the city and owner Stuart Green, who has defaulted on a loan from Evans Bank used to buy the property in 2021. City records indicate Green purchased the property for $7 million. He still owes approximately $5 million to the bank, according to Fillmore Common Council Member Mitch Nowakowski. The city’s proposed[...]

Posted 4 months ago