Categories for DailyPost

Nov 13

2022

Monday Morning Read

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Get Jim Heaney’s recommended reading Sunday mornings by subscribing here. The national political press once more dropped the ball this election season. Too much focus on the horse race, not enough on the issues. I mostly stopped reading the converge after Labor Day. This essay in Popular Information, a new website I’ve come across, summed it up nicely: More and more political coverage treats elections like a horse race, even though this approach has repeatedly proven useless. Prediction-based coverage comes at a high cost because it crowds out the coverage that voters actually need. To make an informed decision, voters need[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Nov 10

2022

Podcast: Reporting on evictions

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On Thursday, Investigative Post reported on the number of eviction warrants issued in Buffalo City Court, more than 3,700 this year alone. Across Erie County, primarily in Buffalo, landlords have moved to evict tenants in numbers greater than anywhere else in the state, save for Kings County, which encompasses Brooklyn. Reporter I’Jaz Ja’ciel sat down with Garrett Looker, host of our podcast series, to discuss her reporting. You can watch the interview via our YouTube channel or listen to it as a podcast.  

Posted 2 years ago

Nov 9

2022

Buffalo’s eviction numbers are thru the roof

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Buffalo landlords are acting to evict tenants in greater numbers than any portion of the state aside from Brooklyn, according to data from the New York State Unified Court System. Judges have issued more than 3,700 eviction warrants this year in Erie County, primarily in Buffalo. That’s not just more than other upstate cities such as Rochester and Syracuse, but more than New York City’s other boroughs, including Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx, all of which have much larger populations. More than 1,000 involved tenants living in just two Zip Codes, 14215 and 14211, which comprise much of the Masten[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Nov 9

2022

There was no “red wave”

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Last month, Assemblyman Pat Burke thought his reelection campaign was in trouble.  The campaign’s polling showed his Republican opponent, Sandy Magnano of West Seneca, running surprisingly strong for a first-time candidate who embraced extreme right-wing positions, ranging from 2020 election denial to Q Anon-style conspiracy theories.  A tracking poll showed fewer than 50 percent of those who responded were committed to voting for Burke, following a barrage of negative campaign ads paid for, in large part, by the state Republican party. The GOP targeted Burke — a left-leaning Democrat originally from South Buffalo, now an Orchard Park resident — as[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Nov 3

2022

Blame the cops and DA, not bail reform

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The murder of Keaira Bennefield has become a rallying cry for opponents of bail reform.  Had her husband, Adam Bennefield, not been released after being charged with misdemeanor assault, she’d still be alive, they assert. But a half-dozen attorneys told Investigative Post the fault lies not with bail reform but Cheektowaga police and Erie County District Attorney John Flynn. Police and prosecutors could have charged Adam Bennefield with more serious crimes that would have made him bail eligible, befitting the assault on his wife a week before authorities say he shot her to death.  According to Judith Olin, director of[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Nov 1

2022

Activists seek renter protections

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Responding to a spike in rents, Buffalo housing activists Tuesday called on City Hall to take steps to provide more affordable housing and protect tenants from bad landlords. Citing a 16 percent increase in rents since 2020, housing advocates and tenants hand-delivered documents to Common Council members asking for action on four fronts: Limiting evictions for just cause, such as nonpayment of rent or lease violations.  Requiring landlords to make repairs in a timely fashion. Mandating targeted rent controls to ensure a supply of affordable rental housing.  Establishing a $1 million revolving loan program to help low-income renters and homeowners.[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Oct 31

2022

Monday Morning Read

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ProPublica produced two stories on the former OxyChem plant in Niagara Falls that exposed workers and residents to asbestos – with dire health consequences. Our partners at WGRZ interviewed one of the ProPublica reporters who produced the stories. Hang onto your wallets, Sabres fans, the Pegulas have retained the sports consulting firm owned by Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys and the SteinbreNners/New York Yankees to advise the team. For right now, it only involves advertising on jerseys, but you know it won’t stop there. The Cowboys and Yankees aren’t any good at winning championships anymore, but they have mastered the art of jacking up prices for fans.[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Oct 25

2022

City holding millions in other people’s money

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The City of Buffalo took in $4.3 million from its annual auction of tax-delinquent properties in 2019, the year the Brown administration changed how it handles the money those foreclosure sales generate. Out of that $4.3 million, the city paid itself $700,000 to account for the back taxes and fees that led the properties to the auction block.  That left $3.6 million is surplus, much of which rightfully belongs to the individuals who lost their properties to foreclosure. For them, the money represents their remaining equity after all their creditors — the city, the banks, the utility companies — are[...]

Posted 2 years ago
Investigative Post