Categories for News

Jan 16

2026

Buffalo mayor to ban city cooperation with ICE, others

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Mayor Sean Ryan addresses community groups Friday. Photo via PPG. Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan announced Friday that his administration is drafting an executive order that will prohibit the Buffalo police and other city departments from working with federal immigration agencies. The order, he said, would ensure “no apparatus of city government interacts in any way with federal immigration.” “And that’s going to be from building inspectors, to garbage collectors to police officers,” he said. “What we don’t want is any chilling effect,” Ryan told civic and advocacy groups assembled at the Buffalo State University Alumni Visitor Center. “We don’t want[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Jan 15

2026

Anger over ICE detention of UB researcher

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Outrage over the ICE detention of a University at Buffalo medical researcher — Shovgi Huseynov — is reverberating around Western New York, with one lawmaker calling for the impeachment of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “This incident is part of a disturbing pattern of lawless and unconstitutional conduct at the Department of Homeland Security, under the leadership of Secretary Noem, and it underscores why she must resign or be impeached immediately,” Rep. Tim Kennedy, D-Buffalo, said in a statement. Huseynov on January 7 made a wrong turn onto the Peace Bridge and crossed into Canada. He was arrested[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Jan 14

2026

Wrong turn lands UB scientist in ICE detention

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  A screenshot of Huseynov’s Facebook page. The Trump administration maintains its mass deportation program is aimed only at “the worst of the worst.” In reality, the crackdown on immigrants is a dragnet, one that’s now ensnared a well-regarded neuroscience researcher from the University at Buffalo. Azerbaijan native Shovgi Huseynov has no criminal record and a visa that allows him to work in the United States through 2029. But on January 7, Huseynov made a wrong turn onto the Peace Bridge and was detained by border agents upon his return to Buffalo. A spokesperson for U.S Customs and Border Protection[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Jan 9

2026

Wegmans surveilling shoppers, collecting data

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The word is out: Wegmans Food Markets is snooping on its customers. The Rochester-based grocery chain isn’t just using facial recognition technology in some of its stores — a practice which has generated controversy following a report by The Gothamist on its use in New York City. Investigative Post has found that Wegmans is tracking and collecting data on customers from the moment they enter the parking lot to the moment they check out. The company won’t say whether it’s using facial recognition technology in any of its stores in Western New York.  As soon as a shopper pulls into the[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Jan 8

2026

Buffalo sued over East Side police training facility

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A notice posted this summer outside the site of a proposed police training facility on Buffalo’s East Side. Photo by Adam Smith-Perez. An activist organization and four East Side residents have sued the city, the Common Council and the police department to stop the conversion of a former community center into a police training facility and shooting range. The organization Liberation For One, Liberation for All, also known as LOLA, filed the lawsuit on Dec. 23, arguing that the rezoning violates several state and local laws. Much of the suit is based on the city’s alleged violation of state environmental[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Dec 24

2025

Tenants again sue judge-turned-landlord

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  APL Property’s apartment building on Elmwood Avenue. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. A Buffalo couple is suing former county judge-turned-developer Anthony LoRusso for alleged rental fraud — the third lawsuit LoRusso and his real estate companies have faced this year. Two of those court actions originated with renters, the other with a contractor. All told, courts this year have levied more than $300,000 in judgments against LoRusso’s companies. The first suit was filed by LaBella Associates D.P.C., an environmental consulting firm, in March, followed by the attorney general’s in May.  In September, Sabrina and Antonéo Page filed a lawsuit against[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Dec 23

2025

Subsidies, nonprofits reduce Buffalo taxes by $20M

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The Delaware North building, recipient of major tax breaks. Photo by J. Dale Shoemaker. The City of Buffalo last fiscal year missed out on $20 million in revenue due to a variety of property tax exemptions and abatements, according to a recently released audit. That’s the biggest loss the city has recorded since it began tabulating the figure in 2017, city financial audits show. For a city facing a current-year deficit that could be as high as $54 million, the uncollected property tax is “obviously a concern,” said Benjamin Swanekamp, who will be Ryan’s deputy mayor overseeing tax and finance[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Dec 19

2025

The case for public financing of nonprofit news media

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This story originally published Dec. 19. It has since been updated and now includes an interview conducted by BronxNet, a public access channel based in New York City, with Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney. Last June, CNN broadcast a live performance of Good Night and Good Luck, the Broadway play about legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow, who called out and stared down the red-baiting Senator Joseph McCarthy. Following the broadcast, Anderson Cooper interviewed Scott Pelley, correspondent for 60 Minutes, who at one point declared: “You cannot have democracy without journalism.” There’s a lot less journalism being practiced these days and[...]

Posted 2 months ago
Investigative Post