Categories for Outrages & Insights

Nov 9

2015

Impressions of new superintendent

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Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney told Steve Brown that Kriner Cash made a favorable first impression during their interview last week. “He’s no-nonsense, he’s knowledgeable, he’s taking on the job with a sense of urgency and I think he made it very clear that he’s here to get a job done and he’s not going to put up with a lot of guff,” Heaney told Brown on Sunday’s installment of Outrages & Insights. Brown asked Heaney if Cash can succeed. It depends, Heaney said, on whether recent changes made in state education law are interpreted to grant the superintendent the[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Nov 1

2015

Dino Fudoli’s tax defiance

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Dino Fudoli contends the federal and state government effectively seized 12 acres he owns off Transit Road by declaring it wetlands in 2009. Not that he’s gone to court to press his case. Rather, he’s simply stopped paying his property taxes. For the second time. His delinquency was the topic of my coverage three years ago, and again last week, as I reported the Lancaster town supervisor owes nearly $19,000 on two properties he owns in Cheektowaga. Whether Fudoli pays a price politically will be determined Tuesday, when he stands for re-election. Steve Brown and I discuss Fudoli’s transgressions on[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Oct 30

2015

SolarCity: Mayday! Mayday!

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I have called Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s investment in SolarCity a high-risk, high-reward undertaking. The project took on an added air of risk Thursday, in light of not one, not two, but three pieces of bad news. For starters, the company disclosed it posted a net loss of $234 million in the third quarter. That’s the biggest quarterly loss in the history of the company and brings the year-to-date losses to a staggering $537 million. That puts SolarCity on track to lose more than $700 million for 2015, compared with net losses of $375 million in 2014, $152 million in 2013[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Oct 26

2015

Child abuse unit an election issue

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The performance of the department charged with investigating claims of child abuse has become an election issue in the race for Erie County executive – and for good reason – Jim Heaney says in the latest video edition of Outrages & Insights. Charlotte Keith of Investigative Post broke a story in July that resulted in the performance of Child Protective Services becoming an election issue. She documented heavy workloads and delays in completing investigations. Heaney told Steve Brown that CPS was troubled prior to the election of Mark Poloncarz as county executive four years ago and the department has shown[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Oct 19

2015

Peace Bridge expansion talk premature

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Talk of a renewed effort to begin planning for a second span at the Peace Bridge is overblown, Jim Heaney told Steve Brown on Sunday’s weekly installment of Outrages & Insights. Heaney said his sources tell him the Peace Bridge Authority is focused on its $185 million capital improvement plan that will take another four years to complete. Any serious consideration of a second span would likely be put off until the bulk of that work is done, he said. Heaney noted that bridge traffic has steadily dropped since the 9-11 terror attacks. Increased wait times are not the result[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Oct 11

2015

Scajaquada and other pollution problems

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Jim Heaney and Steve Brown discuss the painfully slow progress being made in cleaning up polluted creeks and streams throughout Western New York on the second weekly installment of “Outrages & Insights” broadcast on WGRZ. The problem is rooted in antiquated sewage systems that are often overwhelmed by an influx of water during rain storms and snowmelts, Heaney told Brown. Systems, unable to handle the water, dump untreated sewage and runoff into nearby creeks and streams. The solution requires costly repairs to sewer lines and upgrades to treatment systems. Politicians at the local, state and federal levels have been unwilling[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Oct 8

2015

The pending protest r.e. hiring at SolarCity site

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It’s not all that often that the city’s black community rallies in great numbers to protest a perceived wrong, but Friday may prove to be one of those exceptions. Erie County Legislator Betty Jean Grant is among the organizers of a rally scheduled for 10:30 a.m. outside the gates of the SolarCity plant at Riverbend calling for the project’s 25 percent minority workforce goal to be reinstated. In a Facebook post earlier this month, citing last week’s story by Investigative Post, she wrote: “This is a disgrace for the city of Buffalo and a case of theft of jobs and[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Oct 5

2015

Outrages & Insights podcast

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Jim Heaney of Investigative Post and Steve Brown of WGRZ discuss the latest developments involving the Buffalo Billion on a TV edition of Outrages & Insights that broadcast Sunday on WGRZ.

Posted 9 years ago
Investigative Post