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Apr 7

2014

Scajaquada Creek revisited

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I was compelled to return to the scene to prove a point: the portion of Scajaquada Creek that runs through Delaware Park is disgusting. One person criticized the post “Scajaquada Creek: a Buffalo toilet” because the photograph I used is from last summer. I felt comfortable using the photograph because I know it is a common sight. I run three times a week and Hoyt Lake is a part of the path I take for my 10ks. I’ve become too familiar with the problems of this section of Delaware Park. I’ve also become accustomed to smelling sewer wafting from underneath[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Mar 21

2014

Scajaquada Creek: a Buffalo toilet

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Scajaquada Creek meanders through Buffalo’s most-prized park and yet it reeks of sewage and chemicals. This creek is literally a toilet, especially after heavy rainfall. Don’t believe me? Have a look for yourself: I snapped this photograph last summer while riding my bike through Delaware Park near Hoyt Lake. I smelled something putrid and this was the source. The chemical trails made rainbows in the water. Fish, some several feet long, ate the decay and whatever else was in this mess. I came back 30 minutes later and a group of immigrants  had dropped their fishing lines near here. Raw sewage overflows[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Jan 27

2025

Trump sets the table for lawlessness

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I expected Trump’s first week in office to be terrible. It was worse than terrible, in so many ways.  I want to focus on Trump’s use of pardons. It wasn’t just those given to the January 6 insurrectionists.  Consider: Trump also pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who was serving a life sentence for running a website used to sell drugs in what the FBI called “the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the internet.” Trump called the prosecutors who put Ulbricht in jail “scum.” The president also gave pardons to two white Washington, D.C., cops responsible for the death of a[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Nov 28

2023

Spending more on settlements than services

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The City of Buffalo will borrow $43 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a woman rendered a quadriplegic after a police officer hit her with his patrol car more than three years ago. It is the largest payout for a personal injury lawsuit in the city’s history. The city’s top attorney called it “unprecedented.” A city lawmaker called it “catastrophic.” With interest, the total cost of the settlement could approach $50 million, based on current lending rates for municipal bonds, adding nearly $10 million to the city’s annual debt service over each of the next five years.  That’s an[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Aug 14

2023

City authority hires Mayor Brown’s son

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The Buffalo Sewer Authority hired a new press information officer in April, but neither the agency nor the mayor’s office will talk to reporters about who he is or how much he’s paid. But payroll records and authority meeting minutes tell the story: It’s Mayor Byron Brown’s son. The minutes of the May meeting of authority’s board directors indicate Byron Brown II was hired in April at an annual salary of $62,665. His home address is listed as 14 Blaine, which is the mayor’s house. The authority’s payroll records show Brown II earning $2,161 as his biweekly base pay when[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 21

2022

Celebrating a decade of muckraking

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A billionaire is pouring money — $15 million the first year of operation alone — to launch a nonprofit news organization in Baltimore.  Five foundations are putting up $20 million to start a similar venture in Houston. Me? I started Investigative Post with my credit card and an understanding wife. It was the fall of 2011. I had just taken a buyout from The Buffalo News, where I had worked for 25 years. I’d had enough. The paper was in the early stages of a downward spiral that continues to this day. I figured I had 10 years left in[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 7

2022

DailyPost

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Welcome to Daily Post, which we’ll produce Monday through Friday, featuring short enterprise pieces and summaries of full-length stories. Thursday, March 3, 2022 Cash calls it quits Kriner Cash has officially cashed out as Buffalo schools’ superintendent. He’s resigned after leading the district for five and a half years. The district’s Board of Education unanimously accepted his resignation at a special work session tonight. “Both the Board and the superintendent came to an agreement that we were going to part ways,” Board of Education President Louis Petrucci said. The full terms of the agreement aren’t clear — “You can FOIL[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jan 11

2022

Top iPost story of the year

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Readers voted Phil Gambini’s report on high levels of E. coli bacteria in local waterways at our top story of 2021. Blame it on the discharge of untreated sewage which is spewed into waterways after heavy rains.. Gambini reported: There’s a particular problem with the Black Rock Canal, popular with fishermen, the occasional swimmer and, most notably, the West Side Rowing Club and high school and college crew teams. E. coli readings consistently exceed safe limits — by up to 14 times — established by the federal government. “There are people coming in contact with water with E. coli from[...]

Posted 3 years ago