Categories for Co-produced with WGRZ

Dec 20

2019

Attorney charges OTB intimidating witness

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The attorney for a senior manager of the Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp. says his client is being punished for cooperating with a federal investigation of the agency. Federal investigators apparently consider the allegation of witness intimidation serious enough that they have subpoenaed records from the OTB to review the matter. “He’s being intimidated because he’s cooperating,” Steven Cohen, the senior manager’s attorney, said. “All my client is doing is not lying to federal investigators.” Not only are OTB Chairman Richard Bianchi and President Henry Wojtaszek retaliating against his client, Cohen contends, but they have falsified OTB records. “Henry[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Dec 10

2019

Buffalo Billion felon: Wired and hired

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 Republicans on the Niagara County Legislature voted Tuesday to hire a felon involved in the Buffalo Billion scandal to serve as the county’s spokesperson. In a partisan 8-5 vote, the Legislature approved the hiring of Kevin Schuler, a politically wired executive at LPCiminelli until he pleaded guilty in May 2018 to two felony charges involving the fixing of a bid to manage the construction of the $750 million Tesla plant in South Buffalo. Schuler will serve as the county’s public information officer and earn $79,003, an increase of nearly $10,000 from the job’s 2019 salary. The job entails handling[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Dec 7

2019

Spotlight reporter’s dismay over clerical abuse

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Matt Carroll has something to say about the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests. And he said it Wednesday here in Buffalo. He was a reporter on The Boston Globe Spotlight team that produced more than 600 stories on the topic in 2002-03. He and his colleagues won a Pulitzer Prize and were later the subject of the Academy Award winning film “Spotlight.” Carroll spoke to an audience of about 140 on Wednesday at an event at 166 Chandler sponsored by Investigative Post. Attendees included many people involved in the effort to reform the Buffalo diocese.  Carroll answered questions[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Dec 6

2019

Buffalo Billion felon candidate for county job

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 A felon who played a central role in the Buffalo Billion scandal is now a finalist to land a job as the public face of Niagara County government. Kevin Schuler is one of two candidates county legislators are scheduled to interview Monday for the job of public information officer, who acts as spokesman for county government and fields media requests. The county’s 2020 budget proposes the PIO job pay $79,003 a year. The new salary amounts to a nearly $10,000 raise. Schuler was the longtime political fixer for Louis Ciminelli, a prominent developer and influential Republican until his fall[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Nov 25

2019

Buffalo’s complacent Control Board

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 The Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority, better known as the control board, costs city and state taxpayers more than $1 million a year. Its job, since it was imposed by the state in 2003, has been to keep an eye on Buffalo’s finances.  But during the past eight years it has done nothing to stop Mayor Byron Brown and the Common Council as they’ve drained the city of more than $100 million in reserves, leaving City Hall with nothing in the bank to close budget gaps.  In six of the last eight budget cycles, the Brown administration has depleted its[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Nov 19

2019

New cop cars fall short of need

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 The Brown administration is touting its plan to purchase new police cars to replenish its depleted fleet, but the move leaves the police department short on vehicles. Thirty-five new cars are in the pipeline. But it could be up to a year before they’re all on the road, and their number falls short of the 50 to 60 new vehicles needed annually to keep the fleet in good order. John Evans, president of the Police Benevolent Association, recently sent a letter to the Common Council complaining that officers directing traffic at the events downtown do so without patrol cars[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Nov 13

2019

DA moving, judges lagging on bail reform

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 Erie County is ahead of the curve on bail reform. Changes in the law that take effect January 1 prohibit the imposition of cash bail on defendants charged with misdemeanors and non-violent crimes. But in Erie County, as of November 1, assistant district attorneys cannot ask for bail on those offenses without prior approval from a supervisor. “Come December first, only I can approve it,” said John Flynn, the Erie County District Attorney. “That’s how we’re phasing it in. Then come January, none of us can ask because the judges cannot do it.” He added: “Individuals who are charged[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Nov 6

2019

Toxins at Niagara Falls airbase

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The Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station has landed on an ignoble list. The facility ranks seventh on a list of the 100 U.S. military sites most contaminated with PFAS, or per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances. That’s according to a report issued in early October by the Environmental Working Group, based on data procured from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Defense. PFAS is a family of chemicals linked in animal studies to infertility, birth defects, developmental disorders and cancer. PFAS compounds have been used commercially in a wide variety of products since the 1950s. They include the[...]

Posted 5 years ago
Investigative Post