Categories for DailyPost

Aug 30

2023

Contracts for OTB executives a first

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Six days before being ousted this spring by the state legislature, Western Regional Off-Track Betting’s board of directors voted to give multi-year contracts to 18 of the agency’s top executives. News outlets, including Investigative Post, first reported that the contracts for CEO Henry Wojtaszek and his lieutenants were “extensions” of existing agreements. But they were not extensions, according to OTB’s response to a Freedom of Information request filed by Investigative Post in July, seeking copies of the executives’ previous contracts.  OTB said it had no previous contracts to provide. And a former OTB chief operating officer — who is suing[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Aug 27

2023

Monday Morning Read

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Subscribe to WeeklyPost and you’ll get Jim Heaney’s recommended reading – below – in your inbox Sunday mornings. Our day will come, The New York Times says. That is, climate change is going to make Buffalo a destination for people fleeing the ravages of a warming and otherwise chaotic planet. “Detroit, Cincinnati and Buffalo … are in regions with more climate-friendly geography,” The Times noted. We have access to water, affordable housing and the infrastructure to handle a larger population. If only we could get out of our own way. City of Good Neighbors? Not according to Buffalo News columnist Rod[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Aug 23

2023

Former OTB employee alleges discrimination

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Click “unmute” to listen. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is investigating discrimination claims made against the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. after a former employee said she was the victim of “racism and humiliation and discrimination.” Tonya Stewart-Gray, who worked as a security officer at the Batavia Downs Gaming & Hotel from January through April, has alleged her former coworkers and supervisors routinely harassed her, belittled her and denied her request for accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, causing her to develop sciatic nerve damage. Stewart-Gray said that when she brought her concerns to CEO Henry Wojtaszek, he[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Aug 22

2023

Making the case for a library in a book desert

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Concern over a book desert in the Broadway-Fillmore district has prompted a push for a new library branch in the neighborhood. The Central Terminal Neighborhood Association has two possible sites in mind: the vacant Plewacki American Legion Post building at 385 Paderewski Drive, or the Central Terminal at 495 Paderewski Drive.  “A lot of residents feel we were robbed when the library was closed,” said Chris Hawley, the neighborhood association’s president. “At the moment, it seems like there is an opportunity for a library to be established.”  The association is reviving its push for a library branch following an Investigative[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Aug 21

2023

New York lax on wage theft collections

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ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Documented reports on  special interests in politics. Saprina James was hopeful when she received a letter in 2019 about her wage theft claim against her former employer. The letter said the New York State Department of Labor had substantiated her claim and ordered Mugisha F. Sahini and his company, Riverside Line, to pay her more than $70,000 in back wages. “I was feeling good that the government was on my side, and that I would soon get[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Aug 15

2023

iPost reporter assumes leadership role

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I’Jaz Ja’ciel, a reporter with Investigative Post, has taken the reins of the Buffalo chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists. Ja’ciel was elected president of the chapter in April and has been working to return the 30-member organization to active status after a period of inactivity. That accomplished, she is looking to the future. “It was extremely important to me that our chapter didn’t dissolve because we reflect and represent Buffalo’s diverse communities,” Ja’ciel said. “Our chapter has accomplished great things over the years and I’m confident that our resurgence will take us to even greater heights.” The[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Aug 14

2023

City authority hires Mayor Brown’s son

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The Buffalo Sewer Authority hired a new press information officer in April, but neither the agency nor the mayor’s office will talk to reporters about who he is or how much he’s paid. But payroll records and authority meeting minutes tell the story: It’s Mayor Byron Brown’s son. The minutes of the May meeting of authority’s board directors indicate Byron Brown II was hired in April at an annual salary of $62,665. His home address is listed as 14 Blaine, which is the mayor’s house. The authority’s payroll records show Brown II earning $2,161 as his biweekly base pay when[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Aug 13

2023

Monday Morning Read

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You could have read this yesterday if you subscribed to WeeklyPost. Sign up here, it’s free. Most police departments in New York State are not reporting crime data to the FBI, according to the Marshall Project. Only “41 out of 583 law enforcement agencies in New York successfully submitted data to the FBI through the National Incident-Based Reporting System in 2022. The agencies that reported any crime stats represent roughly 1 in 5 people in the state,” the Marshall Project reported. “Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia had higher reporting rates than New York.” I checked out the site’s searchable[...]

Posted 1 year ago
Investigative Post