Categories for Co-produced with WGRZ

Dec 21

2020

Fired OTB whistleblower claims retaliation

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The Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. has fired its second-in-command, a whistleblower assisting federal and state agencies investigating the organization. Michael Nolan, OTB’s chief operating officer, was notified of his termination Dec. 18 when he showed up to work, according to his attorney, Steve Cohen. His dismissal is the culmination of two years of harassment Nolan suffered for cooperating with investigators, Cohen said.  “Michael was in favor with everybody, and then, when he began answering questions honestly, as he is required to do, he was stepped on, he was squashed,” Cohen told Investigative Post. Daniel Oliverio, an attorney who is[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Dec 15

2020

Sliver of companies got half of pandemic aid

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A lot of businesses received forgivable loans from the federal government to help them through the pandemic. To be exact, 18,768 in the eight counties of Western New York. The loans were worth $2.2 billion, altogether. But a fraction of the companies — some 5 percent — received about half that sum.  Two businesses got the maximum $10 million loan allowed under the Paycheck Protection Program: Ferguson Electric and the Buffalo Medical Group. New Era Cap, widely criticized by public officials earlier this year for taking PPP money then laying off 117 employees, received the third-largest loan, $8.4 million. Other[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Oct 27

2020

Heaney discusses WNY campaign donations

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Michael Wooten of WGRZ interviewed Editor Jim Heaney about Investigative Post’s reporting that identified the largest donors from Western New York to the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Joseph Biden. Trump’s donors were featured in a ‘Money In Politics’ post Monday. Biden’s were published Tuesday. The posts are accompanied by a podcast featuring Heaney and Ken Kruly, who produces Money In Politics.

Posted 4 years ago

Oct 16

2020

He shoved a cop and got away with it – maybe

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Back in June, acting New York State Supreme Court Justice Mark Grisanti shoved a Buffalo cop as police attempted to sort out an altercation between the judge and his wife, Maria Grisanti, and some neighbors. Police body-camera video, obtained and published earlier this week by Law360.com, has drawn considerable media attention. In the video, Maria Grisanti stomps about screaming obscenities at her neighbors and the cops. An officer tackles and cuffs her, prompting the judge — his t-shirt torn and hanging around his waist — to run across the street and try to wrestle the officer away from his wife.[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Sep 14

2020

Saturday’s shooting wasn’t Buffalo cop’s first

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Karl Schultz, identified in press reports as the police officer who shot Willie Henley Saturday afternoon, has pulled the trigger on a civilian at least once before. In 2012, Schultz fired multiple shots at 17-year-old Wilson Morales on the city’s East Side. One of the bullets he fired left Morales paralyzed for life.  The City of Buffalo settled a lawsuit with Morales in February for $4.5 million, the largest settlement of its kind in the city’s history. Schultz’s disciplinary history landed him on a list of officers, provided to Investigative Post by the Buffalo Police Department, investigated by Internal Affairs frequently[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Sep 10

2020

Few arrested protesters being prosecuted

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Authorities are prosecuting fewer than a quarter of the 54 protesters arrested in racial justice demonstrations staged in and around Buffalo since late May. Most of the charges initially brought against protesters were for nonviolent incidents like violating a curfew, disorderly conduct and harassment in the second degree. More serious charges included arson, aggravated assault of a police officer and criminal possession of a weapon. Most who were arrested have had their charges dismissed. Here’s the breakdown:  32 protesters had their charges dismissed by a judge. 11 received adjournments in contemplation of dismissal, or ACDs. 10 are headed toward prosecution.[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Aug 18

2020

Study: Buffalo finances among worst in US

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Only one city in the country is suffering more than Buffalo from the financial devastation of the COVID crisis. And that’s Rochester, just an hour down the Thruway. A forthcoming study, the source of a New York Times analysis published Monday, projects Buffalo’s government is staring at a 15 to 20 percent shortfall in revenue in the current fiscal year — more than twice the average in the survey of 150 cities nationwide. Upstate New York’s largest cities — Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse — were ranked the most fiscally distressed municipalities in the nation. New York City ranked fifth, right[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Jul 28

2020

City Hall inertia on one-sided police contract

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Reforming the Buffalo Police Department will require changes in the labor contract between the city and its police union. Major changes. An analysis by Investigative Post found the contract — a behemoth of a document comprising nearly 400 pages of agreements, amendments, arbitration awards and memoranda — is decidedly one-sided in favor of the union. It makes it tough to discipline officers accused of misconduct and deprives the police commissioner of management rights that are a given in many other departments. Investigative Post also determined that the administration of Mayor Byron Brown, who has lambasted the union contract, has never[...]

Posted 4 years ago
Investigative Post