Categories for DailyPost

Feb 6

2023

Blizzard looting mostly in white neighborhoods

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More than 100 businesses were looted during the “Blizzard of ’22.” While press and social media accounts focused on theft on the city’s East Side, an Investigative Post analysis found most of the looting took place elsewhere in the city and in the suburbs. Investigative Post identified 108 looted businesses, using posts on social media and reports we obtained  under the Freedom of Information Law from police departments in Buffalo and the first-ring suburbs of Amherst, Cheektowaga and the Town of Tonawanda. About 40 of the 108 businesses targeted were on the East Side. Stores on Broadway, Bailey Avenue and[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 5

2023

The Buffalo News is hemorrhaging journalists

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When Warren Buffett sold The Buffalo News, employees took solace in the fact the new owners could have been worse. I did, too. At least it wasn’t Alden Global Capital, the Darth Vader of newspaper chains. Nearly three years into the new regime, it’s becoming apparent that it might as well have been Alden, as Lee Enterprises is following the same playbook. Cut the staff. Sell off the real estate. Strip the business of what other assets can be liquidated.  Last week, four newsroom employees, with a collective 140 years of experience, “retired.” It was that or see less-tenured colleagues[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 5

2023

Monday Morning Read

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Each Sunday, Jim Heaney summarizes the reporting of Investigative Post from the previous week and recommends other stories to read – along with his commentary. The email newsletter is free. Subscribe here. When officials announced a couple of weeks ago the framework of a community benefits agreement for the new Bills stadium, I asked Geoff Kelly to analyze the deal. He poked around, found nothing had been committed to a public document, and said it was premature to draw any conclusions. That didn’t stop Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz from praising the CBA and for The Buffalo News editorial board from[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 2

2023

A step forward for Investigative Post

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Stephanie Lawson has joined Investigative Post as chief development officer. In this role, she will increase community engagement and grow our base of supporters.  Lawson previously spent six years with Habitat for Humanity Buffalo, where she oversaw fundraising, communications, advocacy, outreach, and the ReStore, a retail outlet. She helped develop signature campaigns, including Women Build Week, Leaders Build, and The House Beer Built. Lawson led state- and nationwide trainings and mentored other development and communications professionals. In 2021, she was recognized as Habitat for Humanity Employee of the Year. Lawson previously worked for seven years with the Food Bank of[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 2

2023

Lawsuit: Aggressive ticketing of Black drivers

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Between 2012 and 2020, one Buffalo police officer, Kelvin Sharpe, wrote nearly 12,000 traffic tickets.  More than two-thirds of those Sharpe ticketed were Black, according to data gathered from Erie County and the City of Buffalo and analyzed by attorneys for the plaintiffs in a federal civil rights lawsuit. Another Buffalo cop, 14-year veteran Michael Acquino, wrote nearly 2,500 tickets for tinted windows in that same time period, 2012-2020.  About 85 percent of the recipients were Black. A third officer, Richard Hy, issued, on average, at least one more ticket per stop to minority drivers compared to white drivers over[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jan 31

2023

Government meetings are secret – and legal

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State law mandates that local legislative bodies conduct their business in public. But a loophole allows elected officials to caucus in private, and a new report finds that many legislative bodies do. The Erie County Legislature is among those that not only caucus, but discuss public matters, according to a new study released by the New York Coalition for Open Government.  These “secret meetings” held behind closed doors throughout the state’s local governments “completely gut” the Open Meetings Law, leaving the public in the dark, according to the report.  “The public meeting becomes just a show or just a sham.[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jan 31

2023

Heaney discusses Tesla on ‘Pressroom

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Jim Heaney spoke this week with David Lombardo on The Capital Pressroom about Investigative Post’s recent reporting on the Tesla plant in South Buffalo and tax subsidies issued to fast-food restaurants in Niagara Falls. Both stories were reported by J. Dale Shoemaker. The Tesla story documented the failure of that $1 billion project to live up to its potential. Dale’s IDA reporting has prompted legislation intended to address what critics say is an abuse of the IDA law. Capitol Pressroom is broadcast weekdays on about 20 NPR stations across upstate. It airs on WBFO at 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jan 29

2023

Monday Morning Read

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You can read Jim Heaney’s recommended reading on Monday morning. Or Sunday morning, along with a wrap-up of Investigative Post’s reporting of the previous week, if you subscribe to WeeklyPost. Common Council President Darius Pridgen is not seeking re-election next year. In my dealing with Pridgen over the years I found him to be smart, charismatic and street savvy. Unfortunately, the Council under his leadership has been a rubber stamp for Byron Brown. His approach has been to go-along to get-along with the mayor. The city needs an independent and vigilant Council. Brown gathered people Friday to express their horror over the beating[...]

Posted 2 years ago
Investigative Post