Categories for News

Mar 14

2022

A step backwards on police accountability

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Last summer, the state Legislature peeled away exemptions to the state’s Freedom of Information Law that made it difficult for the public to obtain video recorded on officers’ body cameras and related evidence. Awaiting Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature now — during “Sunshine Week” — is a bill making “technical corrections” to that measure.  In fact, transparency advocates say, the bill on Hochul’s desk will eviscerate it.  “This is a disaster for holding police accountable and for New York State’s Freedom of Information Law,” lawyer-journalist James S. Henry of Sag Harbor, one of the backers of the 2021 police accountability law,[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Mar 4

2022

iPost sues over suppressed stadium records

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Investigative Post filed a lawsuit Monday in state Supreme Court seeking the release of an engineering report that assessed the condition of Highmark Stadium. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Pegula Sports and Entertainment have asserted the stadium is in need of replacement. But the county, which commissioned an engineering study completed in 2021, has refused to provide details. The study, conducted by the engineering firm DiDonato Associates, identified problems with the upper deck and water and electrical systems while concluding that the 50-year-old stadium “remains in overall fair to good condition.”  Investigative Post requested a copy of the report[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Mar 4

2022

OTB hires another pricey lobbyist

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Western Regional Off-Tracking Betting Corp. has hired another Albany lobbyist, this time with strong connections to one of New York’s most influential politicians — Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.  OTB board members agreed last month to a four-month contract that would pay up to $15,000 per month to Patrick Jenkins, a longtime friend and former aide to Heastie, a Bronx Democrat.   Jenkins serves as president of the Albany based lobbying firm, Patrick B. Jenkins & Associates. He joins a team of OTB lobbyists that includes former state Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, president of  Upstate Strategic Advisors, and Mercury Public Affairs, based in[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Mar 3

2022

Cash severance pay tops $300,000

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Buffalo schools, and the taxpayers who fund the district, are paying Kriner Cash more than $300,000 to go away. Cash resigned under pressure as superintendent Wednesday night. He’s been criticized of late for his frequent absences from the district, his handling of numerous issues related to the pandemic and a spike in violence in city schools, including a shooting and stabbing at McKinley High School on Feb. 9. Those issues led to increased tensions with a growing number of School Board members and a dare he issued to the board on Feb. 16 to fire him if they were unhappy[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 24

2022

Study links Tonawanda Coke to toxins

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Soil contamination near Tonawanda Coke most likely comes from the now-shuttered plant, a just-released study has found. A previous phase of the study of soil samples taken from the town and city of Tonawanda, Grand Island and Buffalo found elevated levels of toxins. The second phase of the study, released Thursday at a virtual meeting, evaluated 95 soil samples.  An unspecified, but small number of those samples contained elevated levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which are carcinogenic chemical compounds produced as a byproduct of burning coal and other fossil fuels.  Researchers determined with 85 percent confidence that Tonawanda[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 23

2022

Changes afoot at WGRZ

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Big doings this week at WGRZ. Tuesday came the announcement that the station’s parent company, TEGNA, has been sold, pending approval by shareholders and the FCC. The buyer, Standard General, a hedge fund, presently owns just a handful of television stations; TEGNA consists of 64 stations, three of which will be sold as part of the transaction. TEGNA, NextStar and Sinclair, are considered the “Big Three” of television chains.  Standard General is presently TEGNA’s largest shareholder. Ownership of the stations will go private when the transaction is finalized, which is expected in the second half of this year. The Manhattan-based[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 14

2022

OTB reform bills pass first test

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Amid pushback from some county law legisislatures, a series of bills aimed at restructuring operations of the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. have cleared their first legislative hurdle.  The the three bills, sponsored by Buffalo Democratic Sen. Tim Kennedy, moved through the state senate’s Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wager on Monday.  Kennedy introduced the bills last month in a bid to end what he described as “perverse dysfunction” within WROTB. His proposed legislation calls for a restructuring of OTB’s board based on population. It would also limit the take-home use of OTB vehicles by select agency employees and put[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 4

2022

State paid $1B in OT last year

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It cost New York taxpayers nearly a billion dollars to cover the overtime for state employees last year. That’s part of the findings from a review of state salary data posted Thursday to seethroughny.net, a government transparency website operated by the Albany-based think tank, the Empire Center for Public Policy.  In its analysis of the 2021 state government payroll, the Empire Center determined state agencies paid $953.6 million in overtime during the calendar year. That’s $100 million, or about 12 percent, higher than in 2020.  According to the Empire Center, 228 state employees were paid $100,000 or more in overtime[...]

Posted 3 years ago
Investigative Post