Categories for In-Depth

Jul 14

2016

Buffalo Billion program at Daemen struggles

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When Sonja Slother enrolled in a fledgling film production program at Daemen College, her enthusiasm was buoyed by the college’s partnership with a company committed to creating more than 100 jobs. The initiative, which was awarded $4.5 million in Buffalo Billion funding, was meant to train a workforce for the visual effects industry Gov. Andrew Cuomo said would take root in Western New York – and, specifically, for the company Daemen had partnered with, Empire Visual Effects. State and college officials touted the training program as a fast track into high-paying jobs. A graphic designer by profession, Slother had recently been[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Jul 5

2016

Radioactive hot spots pepper Niagara County

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The first hint of radioactive waste near John Grace’s home in Lewiston came from his son who carried a radiation meter for his government job. The meter would beep every time his son drove over the gravel driveway. “He said ‘something’s not right here,’ ” said Grace, who lives at 738 Upper Mountain Road. Turns out, he was right. Gravel in the driveway was first tested some 40 years ago by the federal Department of Energy and found to have radiation levels some 70 times greater than what’s found in the local natural environment. The driveway was still hot when[...]

Posted 9 years ago

May 25

2016

Recycling on the rise in Niagara Falls

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A year after getting serious about recycling, Niagara Falls has increased its recycling rate by 50 percent and cut the amount of trash it dumps in landfills by almost 20 percent. The city’s recycling coordinator credits the success and the 17 percent curbside recycling rate over the past year to an effective marketing campaign led by a quirky mascot named Totes McGoats, whose outfit cost $100. “The whole purpose wasn’t to be a man in a mask,” Brook D’Angelo, the recycling coordinator for Niagara Falls, said about the mascot. “The whole purpose was to have another way to educate the[...]

Posted 9 years ago

May 25

2016

iPost recycling report on WBFO

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Dan Telvock of Investigative Post reports on the progress of curbside recycling programs in Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Produced by Jonny Moran.

Posted 9 years ago

May 20

2016

Child abuse investigations still lag

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  The unit charged with investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect in Erie County is still having a hard time clearing cases on time. While there has been improvement since Investigative Post reported on the unit’s performance last summer, about four in 10 investigations are not completed within the timeframe the state requires. And although caseworkers are assigned fewer cases, the average workload is still higher than the state-recommended maximum. “There has been improvement but we’re still not where we should be,” said Erie County legislator Ted Morton, who is vice chairman of the committee that oversees Child and[...]

Posted 9 years ago

May 13

2016

SolarCity slashes Buffalo factory commitment

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SolarCity has sharply reduced its job creation commitment for the solar panel manufacturing plant under construction in Buffalo from 1,460 to 500 jobs, according to state records and filings the company submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission last fall. The company remains committed to a total of 1,460 jobs in Buffalo, but the majority of them will not be employed at the plant. Documents do not specify what kind of jobs they might be. “With new advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment that enables automation, we believe 500 is the minimum number of manufacturing jobs the factory will require,” said Kady Cooper,[...]

Posted 9 years ago

May 10

2016

How to diversify the building trades in Buffalo

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  When Minnesota lawmakers agreed to put millions of dollars toward building a new football stadium for the Minnesota Vikings, contractors were told they had to what some thought impossible: ensure that minorities accounted for a third of the construction workforce. Work on the $1.1 billion stadium is wrapping up, and contractors, despite their initial skepticism, have not only met the 32 percent goal but exceeded it, reaching 36 percent minority participation. This kind of ambitious goal-setting has been absent on major projects in the Buffalo area. The minority workforce goal was just 13.2 percent on the $130 million renovations[...]

Posted 9 years ago

May 3

2016

Lead poisoning worse than previously disclosed

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Buffalo’s lead poisoning problem – already recognized as serious – is much worse than previously reported by state and local health officials. Officials to this point have only released data that shows the number of children with blood levels that exceed the state’s threshold. Those numbers approached 300 last year. But new data obtained by Investigative Post shows that the number of children whose lead levels exceed a stricter federal threshold exceeded an estimated 1,100. Put another way: At least three times more children have harmful blood lead levels than previously disclosed. This in a city already regarded as Ground[...]

Posted 9 years ago
Investigative Post