Categories for DailyPost

Oct 9

2024

A literal power struggle at STAMP

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Gov. Kathy Hochul, center, flings dirt into the air at Plug Power’s groundbreaking. Photo via governor’s office. The financial strife of Plug Power is causing headaches for a Western New York industrial park, leading economic development officials in Genesee County to seek state assistance and even court data centers in an effort to “save the day.” As it’s run dangerously low on cash, Plug Power has stopped construction of its hydrogen production plant at Genesee County’s Science Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park, located halfway between Buffalo and Rochester. The company’s building has been paused since January. That has meant construction[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 8

2024

More upheaval at The Buffalo News

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This has been a tough week for The Buffalo News with word that Editor Sheila Rayam has been ousted and former Publisher Warren Colville has died. Margaret Kenny Giancola, the paper’s managing editor, succeeds Rayam. The News story announcing her appointment by Lee Enterprises, the paper’s chain owner, didn’t explain the move. I’m told Lee hasn’t explained its decision to the newsroom staff, either.  Rayam’s departure comes in the wake of Lee’s decision to eliminate 10 of the newsroom’s approximately 55 positions. That suggests her departure is in part a cost-cutting move.  Insiders tell me Rayam, the paper’s first Black[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 8

2024

Buffalo cops rarely disciplined

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The officers “pulled up in a black Taurus” and started “beating and whipping people,” according to one of several witnesses to a May 2011 altercation between Buffalo cops and a crowd of people outside an East Ferry corner store. The cops used homophobic slurs, were “beating the shit out of people” and “kicking this boy in the face,” another witness said. A third witness said “a white male who works for housing” — later identified as Buffalo Police Officer Michael Acquino — “took his [phone] and deleted personal pictures and a video that he had recorded of the officers beating[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 6

2024

They’re not knocking down their Frank Lloyd Wright

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We knocked down our Frank Lloyd Wright office building nearly three-quarters of a century ago. Oklahoma still has one, although it’s not doing well, lacking an anchor tenant and up for sale after several failed revitalization efforts.  An architect, writing in 1949, has this to say about the demolition of our Wright masterpiece:  The Larkin Building set a precedent for many an office building we admire today and should be regarded not as an outmoded utilitarian structure but as a monument, if not to Mr. Wright’s creative imagination, to the inventiveness of American design. The destruction of all but one pillar[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 3

2024

Lifetime health insurance for OTB’s departing Wojtaszek

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When Henry Wojtaszek, the president and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., steps down at the end of the year, he’ll take a gold-plated health insurance plan with him. The plan features no deductibles, a $25 copay for doctor, specialist and testing visits and drug copays between $5 and $40. Wojtaszek, according to the buyout agreement obtained by Investigative Post, can participate in one of two plans beginning Jan. 1. Wojtaszek’s employment contract states both he and his family can participate in the insurance plan. The buyout agreement lists no date for when Wojtaszek’s ability to use the health[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 2

2024

Nepotism involving OTB boss Wojtaszek

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OTB President and CEO Henry Wojtaszek, left, Chairman Dennis Bassett, center, and Wojtaszek’s son, Jack, right, during a golf outing last month. Facebook photo.  Henry Wojtaszek’s Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. has hired his 23-year old son for a job paying $52,000 annually. The hiring of Jack Wojtaszek comes as the elder Wojtaszek plans to step down as OTB’s president and CEO on Dec. 31. A copy of Jack Wojtaszek’s application for a state gaming license, which he submitted in June, shows the North Tonawanda native works as customer relations specialist at Batavia Downs. Employees in that position are “responsible[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 2

2024

$10 million plan to tackle Buffalo’s lead crisis

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Erie County is expected to play a larger role in battling Buffalo’s lead poisoning crisis under a new state program that is pouring millions of dollars into health departments across much of New York State. While the state program won’t be fully operational until late next year, Erie County has already been told it can expect an additional $1.9 million in each of the next five years. The Erie County Department of Health plans to use the money to beef up its lead inspections unit, bringing on eight more inspectors as well as clerical staff to supplement its 18 existing[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Sep 30

2024

Brown announces he’s leaving City Hall

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Mayor Byron Brown at Monday’s press conference. Photo by Garrett Looker. With Byron Brown officially announcing he’s leaving City Hall within the next few weeks, additional information is starting to emerge about his new job. To begin with, a $295,000 salary as president and CEO of the Western Region Off-Track Betting is only part of Brown’s compensation package. He’ll also be getting an $800 monthly car allowance to use as he pleases, according to two sources familiar with Brown’s contract. That’s enough to rent a high-end car. Or, since Brown’s had a driver during his almost 19 years as mayor,[...]

Posted 7 months ago
Investigative Post