May 19
2014
May 19
2014
May 17
2014
May 16
2014
Chris Johnston, chairman of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency, has dug in his heels in the face of questions regarding his suspension and resignation from his private sector job. Johnston rejected a request from John Mills, chairman of the Erie County Legislature, to appear Wednesday before the Government Affairs Committee to answer questions about his departure last month from the World Trade Center of Buffalo Niagara. Johnston was suspended in late March in the midst of an internal review of trade center finances. He resigned in early April. Johnston told Mills in a letter that he would only answer[...]
May 14
2014
The bottom line is there won’t be any swimming this summer at Gallagher Beach off Route 5 in South Buffalo. Instead, state officials announced Monday that testing will continue through the spring and summer. Last fall, Investigative Post reported about potential water contamination at Gallagher Beach, where U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Byron Brown had hoped to open for swimming this summer. Three weeks after the story aired, the state agreed to test the water, soil and harbor floor. The testing, which was conducted over just a few days in late October, found a couple of potential concerns.[...]
May 14
2014
May 12
2014
Do state lawmakers pocket campaign contributions for personal use? The Moreland Commission, charged with investigating corruption in state government, was asking that question before Gov. Andrew Cuomo disbanded the panel in March. A couple dozen state legislators were on the commission’s radar screen because their campaign finance disclosure reports didn’t document some expenses or failed to itemize their spending to detail precisely what they spend their money on. Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, topped the commission’s list, with about $140,000 in unitemized spending over a six-year period, according to a report published today by City & State, a magazine and website that[...]
May 6
2014
The federal Environmental Protection Agency confirmed Tuesday that it’s investigating Battaglia Demolition for potential environmental violations. The EPA investigation comes less than a month after Investigative Post reported how residents on Peabody Street and elsewhere in the Seneca Babcock community have complained for a decade about quality of life problems they blame on the construction and demolition debris business owned by Peter Battaglia. Our report also revealed how the business continues to operate without one, and possibly two, state permits. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has cited Battaglia for operating a concrete crusher without an air permit and at[...]
May 5
2014
Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard has purchased equipment capable of snooping on citizens, but won’t discuss his surveillance program. An explosive report by Michael Wooten of WGRZ.