Categories for Outrages & Insights

Jan 9

2017

Heaney weighs in on Buffalo Billion II

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WGRZ News Anchor Maryalice Demler interviewed Editor Jim Heaney hours after Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled a broad outline of a $500 million extension of his Buffalo Billion program. You can catch Heaney’s comments in the video below or in the slightly revised text that follows. Heaney also provided analysis to WBFO. What do you find striking in the governor’s proposal? It’s very short on spending details. There’s no talk of reforms to avoid the corruption we’ve seen so far in the programs. But more than that, a lot of the spending has little or nothing to do with economic development. I[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Dec 29

2016

Paladino’s despicable, but protected speech

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I’ll be among the first to tell you how loathsome Carl Paladino is. In fact, I have been among the first. When I reported for The Buffalo News I wrote stories that revealed Paladino for what he is: A self-described outsider who contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to politicians over the years, including those in a position to reward him with tax breaks and government contracts. A critic of government spending who has gotten rich off being one of the government’s biggest landlords in Western New York. A so-called champion of minority children who has steadfastly opposed African Americans[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Dec 24

2016

Carl Paladino should be shunned

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There’s been the racist, pornographic emails – women having sex with barnyard animals, anyone? The threat to take out newspaper columnist Fred Dicker. The mocking of African American colleagues on the School Board and, most recently, “damn Asian” students. So when I say Carl Paladino has reached a new low, you know I’m talking low. Really low. Even the Trump transition team took exception, calling the remarks “absolutely reprehensible.” Paladino, in his latest cry for attention, responded to an Artvoice survey about his hopes and desires, said he wanted President Barack Obama to die of mad cow disease and for First[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Nov 22

2016

Erie County Water Authority blows a gasket

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It’s been awhile since I saw a bunch of government types become as unhinged as the gang at the Erie County Water Authority. Dan Telvock reported on Nov. 7 that the authority cut corners in its program to test the drinking water it supplies to some 550,000 customers in Western New York, primarily those in Buffalo’s immediate suburbs. In a nutshell, the authority didn’t always heed a federal requirement that they test water in the houses deemed most at risk because of the presence of a lead service line or lead solder in interior plumbing, and used the houses of[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Sep 23

2016

Double talk from Cuomo on ‘Billion indictments

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo obviously believes the best defense is a good offense. The governor came to town Friday, fresh off the indictment of three of his close associates and two of his major campaign contributors and attempted to claim victory. He told a gathering at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery that Buffalo is booming and announced a second phase of the Buffalo Billion program is coming as soon as Howard Zemsky figures out what it should involve. In short, Cuomo tried to change the topic. Only after his remarks before a sympathetic audience at the art gallery did he address the[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Sep 22

2016

An indictment of Cuomo’s MO

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I did a slew of interviews Thursday after news broke that U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara indicted three Cuomo insiders and five development company officials on a variety of corruption charges. One question came up time and time again: “Was I surprised?” The answer, in a word, is “No.” I spelled out my reasoning in a blog post back in May. As I wrote then: The Cuomo crowd is obsessed with secrecy and operates with the mistaken notion that the rules don’t apply to them. The governor may or may not have knowledge of the supposed misdeeds of some of his[...]

Posted 9 years ago

May 16

2016

Lies, spin and SolarCity

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SolarCity has some ‘splaining’ to do, to quote Ricky Ricardo. For starters, company executives – and state officials, for that matter – can ‘splain’ why the $750 million solar panel manufacturing plant taxpayers are building for them is going to employ only 500, not the 1,460 originally promised. This scaled-back commitment, reported Friday by Investigative Post and WGRZ, came as news to a lot of people. Mayor Byron Brown told Dave McKinley of WGRZ on Friday that the reduced goal was news to him. Assemblyman Sean Ryan went one better, telling the station’s Michael Wooten that SolarCity officials assured him[...]

Posted 9 years ago

May 10

2016

Yet more bad news on SolarCity

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I’ll dispense with the MayDay! declarations of past and get to the latest double-barrel dose of bad news regarding SolarCity. The company released its first quarter earnings report Monday afternoon and it was drenched with more red ink than usual. SolarCity lost a record $283.1 million. That was double the $149.9 million it lost for the same period in 2015. The stock market reacted as you’d expect, with the trading price dropping by 21 percent from the close of trading Monday to Tuesday. SolarCity is now going for $17.54 a share, down from $57.26 as recently as mid-December. Yet another crisis in[...]

Posted 9 years ago
Investigative Post