Categories for DailyPost

Jul 24

2023

iPost adds board members, elects officers

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Investigative Post has added four members to its board of directors and re-elected its lineup of officers. New board members include Paul Vukelic, president and CEO of Try-It Distributing; Leah Hamilton, associate publisher of  The Challenger Community News; Chris O’Brien, an attorney and law school professor; and Alison Keane, whose history of serving in a fundraising capacity on nonprofit boards includes the Foundation for Jewish Philanthropies.  “Our new directors bring a variety of talents, connections and life experiences that enrich our organization,” said Jim Heaney, Investigative Post’s founder, editor and executive director. Vukelic, Hamilton, O’Brien and Keane join six incumbents[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jul 23

2023

Monday Morning Read

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Subscribe to WeeklyPost and you’ll receive the complete newsletter in you inbox Sunday mornings. In 2017, Charlotte Keith and I reported that New York state and local economic development agencies were doling out $8.6 billion a year in subsidies under then Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Nevertheless, upstate was saddled with one of the worst economies in the nation. If it were a stand-alone state, it would rank fourth from the bottom. Even worse than Mississippi. A new study is out, issued by Citizens Budget Commission, that reports subsidies in New York have grown to nearly $11 billion and headed higher. The report read in part:[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jul 20

2023

GOP lawmakers to sue over OTB reforms

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Dennis Vacco, the state’s former attorney general, has been hired by Niagara County and other Republican-led counties in Western New York to challenge reform measures enacted by the state Legislature in May that affect the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. The changes removed OTB’s existing board and reconstituted its voting powers to shift control from rural to urban counties. Proponents said the changes were necessary to address corruption and cronyism; opponents characterized it as a power play by Democrats at the expense of Republicans.  Kevin Schuler, Niagara County’s public information officer, confirmed this week that the county and “several other[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jul 19

2023

Officials rebuke OTB over 11th hour contract extensions

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Editor’s note: This story is a continuation of Investigative Post’s content sharing arrangement with the Niagara Gazette.  Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick used one word to describe the contract extensions recently granted to 18 executives at the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation: “obscene.” State Assembly Member Monica Wallace, who sponsored OTB reform legislation, termed the contract extensions “highly suspect.”  The objections were triggered by an April 27 vote by the OTB board to give multi-year contract extensions to CEO and President Henry Wojtaszek and 17 members of his management team. The board acted just days before the state Legislature added[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jul 18

2023

Therapy gives family a second chance

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This story is being co-published with The Imprint, a national nonprofit news outlet covering child welfare and youth justice. On a Tuesday evening in February, the parents of three children are seated with a therapist at their kitchen table in Cheektowaga. They’re sorting out ways to help their oldest, a 15-year-old girl. She loves TikTok and weightlifting and wants to be a counselor for young children when she grows up. But for years, the teen has exhibited harmful behaviors. She has attempted suicide, cut herself, lashed out violently and shrieked at members of her family when they tried to help. [...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jul 16

2023

Monday Morning Read

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WeeklyPost, emailed to subscribers every Sunday morning, includes Jim Heaney’s recommended reading, which we republish the following day in Monday Morning Read. You can subscribe here. The decision by The New York Times to do away with its sports staff was a big deal in journalism circles last week. Many were aghast. As a sports fan, and loyal Times reader, I can see their point. Then again, it’s kind of refreshing to see a newspaper opt to focus on real news. Compare that with The Buffalo News, or shall I say, The Buffalo Sporting News. You don’t learn nearly enough about what’s going on[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jul 13

2023

Company seeking subsidies circulates fake study

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A plastics manufacturer seeking tax breaks to build a plant in Lockport has put its application on hold after being called out Thursday for circulating a summary of a study that was fabricated and produced by artificial intelligence. Prior to a public hearing Thursday, the India-based firm SRI CV Plastics, seeking $312,000 in subsidies from the Lockport Industrial Development Agency, provided the agency’s board a one-page summary of a study that touted the safety of PVC pipes, one of the products the company plans to make at the plant. A University at Buffalo professor, Lourdes Vera, called out the company’s[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jul 11

2023

Risks vs. benefits of proposed Lockport plant

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An India-based plastics company is seeking to build its first U.S. plant in the Town of Lockport, despite strong objections from environmental groups who argue such a facility could harm human health and the environment. But the plant’s potential ecological impact isn’t the only issue up for debate: The firm wants tax breaks, and could further benefit from a limited environmental review. SRI CV Plastics Inc. is seeking $500,000 in subsidies, including $311,856 from the Lockport Industrial Development Agency, to build a $2.3 million, 14,000-square foot factory in the Lockport Industrial Park. The firm’s CEO, Varunkumar Velumani, said he plans[...]

Posted 2 years ago
Investigative Post