Last year, I broke a story about a Greek Orthodox priest who was accused of stealing hundreds of thousands from Annunciation Church in #Buffalo. Now the feds have charged him with bank fraud. From the complaint: "The family of six took regular extravagant first-class vacations to London, Greece and Paris annually. In or around 2019, the family took a six-week vacation to Europe." substack.com/home/post/p-197…

This week, a reporting project I worked on with @SeanMickey7 at WGRZ received two national journalism awards for investigative reporting. The investigation won a national award from @IRE_NICAR as well as First Place in the National Headliner Awards for continuing coverage of a single news event. substacktools.com/sharex/zOJ…

Congratulations to #BonasJSchool grads @Charlie_Reports and @SeanMickey7 for earning a National Headliner Award for their investigative reporting @WGRZ! headlinerawards.org/2026-tv-…

In today’s update: -My appearance on BTPM NPR with @ryanzradio. -An update on my post from last week about intimidation and harassment. -Some solid watchdog work from Investigative Post about government secrecy. substack.com/home/post/p-195…

Some good news & bad news: GOOD: @SeanMickey7 and I found out we won a national award for our "Shielded From Accountability" investigation of the Granville hit-run coverup. One of the judges told me they appreciated "the persistence you showed in the face of some personal threats." BAD: I am getting harassed/stalked again by someone who is probably a cop with Buffalo or Erie County. Phone calls were made spreading lies about me on the same day as Granville's retirement party, which I wrote about. They probably hatched the plan there. I'm assessing my options but will probably have to hire a lawyer again to handle this. Just a sad reality of being an investigative reporter in 2026. I don't have money for this and the only means I have of raising it is asking people to subscribe to my Substack, which is not a lot but it helps. Going to have more updates on this but make them available only to paid subscribers, because whoever is doing this clearly is reading my free Substack posts based on some of the information they gave. There is a link below, and again, I appreciate it. charliereports.substack.com/…

State Sen. Jeremy Zellner is criticizing Sheriff John Garcia, saying the recent oath of office controversy is "the latest in a series of failures that raise significant concerns about him.” But as Erie County Democratic chair, Zellner failed to field a candidate to challenge Garcia. Shortly after that decision was announced, he accepted a $5,000 campaign contribution from the sheriff. Read more: charliereports.substack.com/…

State Sen. Jeremy Zellner is criticizing Sheriff John Garcia, saying the recent oath of office controversy is "the latest in a series of failures that raise significant concerns about him.” But as Erie County Democratic chair, Zellner failed to field a candidate to challenge Garcia. Shortly after that decision was announced, he accepted a $5,000 campaign contribution from the sheriff. My latest story: charliereports.substack.com/…

Great journalism and a heartbreaking story by @JDale_Shoemaker.

This is wild. Excellent scoop by @ghkelly1969. investigativepost.org/2026/0…

Forty employees of Erie County made over $200,000 last year, according to some initial research I have been doing. 40. Seems like a lot. What do you think? Is this something you would like to know more about? Just trying to see what people are interested in.

Some feedback from last week's investigation of Demone Smith / Leah Halton-Pope. Also discussed with @TheJoeBeamer on Hardline on Sunday. Here's a link: charliereports.substack.com/…

Hearing people are pretty shocked at what these guys were (allegedly) able to get away with while running the Buffalo Employment Training Center. Asking women about sex. Suggesting sexual favors. Flaunting connections to Mayor Brown. A link to my story: charliereports.substack.com/…

There is still nothing like getting people on the phone. I'm thankful that my first few years at @TheBuffaloNews were spent learning how to do this by watching all these great reporters seated around me wrangle info out of people on old-school beige landline phones. x.com/davidsirota/status/204…

My investigation of #Buffalo City Hall aide Demone Smith (and the Assembly front-runner, Leah Halton-Pope, who employs him) is live. Features allegations of misconduct by Smith and another public employee as outlined in a secret government report. charliereports.substack.com/…

Thanks to everyone who subscribed on Local News Day. Journalism is in crisis but I’m not going to stop fighting to bring truth to our community. Please consider a small investment in investigative journalism. charliereports.substack.com/…

Once elected, I will absolutely introduce legislation to overhaul many parts of our outdated Election Law - starting with this one.

Excellent reporting and perspective by @ghkelly1969. Nobody knows elections & NY’s political process like Geoff. The key here is that voters are denied a choice and as Geoff says, NY election laws are tilted heavily in favor of incumbents. Any state pols looking to change that?