Categories for DailyPost

Apr 25

2024

Reading scores lag across WNY

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Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series. Our second story is here.  It’s not just Buffalo where students are struggling to read and write. Only 39 percent of third through fifth graders in Western New York’s 99 school districts scored at grade level on recent English Language Arts tests. What’s more, 31 percent of students lack even basic reading and writing skills. In some districts, including Buffalo and Niagara Falls, that figure approaches or exceeds 50 percent. The problems extend from the city to the countryside, urban neighborhoods to suburban cul de sacs, according to an Investigative[...]

Posted 11 months ago

Apr 24

2024

Erie County jail advisory board stalled

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Between inmate deaths, lawsuits and plans for a new jail, there is plenty for the Erie County Corrections Specialist Advisory Board to consider. But the body tasked with overseeing the county’s two jails and making recommendations for programs and operations hasn’t been able to do anything for want of members at meetings. The board’s monthly meeting held Tuesday via Zoom was the third in a row where no action could be taken due to lack of quorum. No one was present from the sheriff’s office, which usually assigns someone to report on such matters as body cameras for guards and[...]

Posted 11 months ago

Apr 23

2024

Bed bug infestation in Buffalo public housing

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Bed bugs are out of control at the Buffalo’s Municipal Housing Authority’s Lyndon B. Johnson Apartments, according to tenants who say the infestation is just one of many problems at the 10-story building at Main Street and Humboldt Parkway. “Everyone in this building has bed bugs,” said Erma Ecford, a tenant representative in the 206-unit building who has lived at LBJ the past 10 years.  Many tenants are struggling financially because of the cost of replacing furniture and buying pest control products, she said. The median income of tenants in the LBJ Apartments is $16,531, according to a demographics report[...]

Posted 11 months ago

Apr 22

2024

State finds fault in Erie County jail death

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The Erie County Holding Center. Photo by Garrett Looker. The New York Commission of Correction has faulted medical care in the Erie County Holding Center and ordered the county Legislature to review the 2021 death of an inmate whose cancer went undiagnosed.  James Ellis, 58 and locked up for a parole violation, may have died no matter what, the commission found in a March 27 report. But someone should have called a doctor before he was found unresponsive and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead on Nov. 30, 2021. Ellis lost 15 pounds while incarcerated for nine[...]

Posted 12 months ago

Apr 18

2024

Stefan Mychajliw, beat reporter

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Editor’s Note: Today, we’re sharing Geoff Kelly’s weekly Political Post for everyone to read. If you’d like to receive it every week, sign up at the bottom of this newsletter. Last week I reported that Stefan Mychajliw is part of a slate of Republican committee candidates looking to take control of the party apparatus in Elma, where the former county comptroller moved a year-and-a-half ago. Mychajliw has been making his living as a political operative since leaving office at the end of 2021, including a stint as a flack for Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s now-defunct presidential campaign. The former TV news reporter’s new career[...]

Posted 12 months ago

Apr 15

2024

Taxes are for us, not them

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Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant, took in more than $27 billion in revenue last year. It didn’t pay a dime in federal taxes.  It’s not alone. As reported by Jacobin: “More than one hundred of the country’s most profitable corporations paid zero federal income taxes in at least one year since the Trump tax cuts were enacted.” The story was based on a report generated by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. You’ve got to read the tables that names names. Many a president and Congress have passed tax laws that have enabled corporations to pay a much lower effective[...]

Posted 12 months ago

Apr 12

2024

Challengers target party committee seats

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Stefan Mychajliw is running for a GOP committee seat in Elma. June’s primary elections look to be pretty subdued in Erie County, at least at the top of the ballot, where candidates vie for the more familiar offices — primarily state legislature seats this year.  Instead the action this year is down ballot, deep in the trenches, where battles are brewing among Democrats and Republicans seeking party committee seats.  Committee members — two representing each election district for two-year terms — choose their party’s leadership, from the chair to the treasurer. They also have a say in their party’s endorsement[...]

Posted 12 months ago

Apr 10

2024

Lights out at Buffalo hostel

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Updated at 3:06 p.m. Wednesday The city shut down Hostel Buffalo-Niagara Wednesday following an inspection that resulted in condemnation of the downtown building. City inspectors cited unsafe electrical service to the hostel as well as structural hazards at an attached rear building. The fire department then condemned the city-owned hostel building, citing the electrical issues.  The building and fire safety inspectors arrived shortly before noon to inspect 667 Main St., the hostel’s building, according to a hostel employee. The inspectors unscrewed a door in the back to gain access to the adjacent building at 664 Washington St., which is vacant[...]

Posted 12 months ago
Investigative Post