Still That Bitch! Why Buffalo’s ‘Top Model’ All-Star Won’t Quit on Her Dream

by Charlotte Hsu 5 Comments

BUFFALO, N.Y. — “I know how to conduct myself. Bitch, I worked at a bank. I worked at a bank. You think I would talk like this at a bank?” That was Buffalo native Angelea Preston’s pointed defense of why she did not show more attitude during a conversation with a celebrity interviewer earlier this… Continue reading

St. Matthew’s History: Q & A With the Buffalo Diocese

by Charlotte Hsu 6 Comments

BUFFALO, N.Y. — St. Matthew’s Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1908, is one of 14 churches the eight-county Catholic Diocese of Buffalo closed in the 1990s. Like business, factories and other landmarks across the city, the house of worship fell victim to the region’s declining population.

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Closing a Cold Case: Police Solve the Murder of Joseph Thomas Jr.

by Charlotte Hsu 6 Comments

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The phone call that Joseph Thomas Sr. had been waiting for since August 2003 finally came this March. After more than seven years, police had finally solved his son’s murder. Joseph Thomas Jr.—Joe Joe, to his family—had been shot at close range on the night of Aug. 23, 2003 while hanging out… Continue reading

Murder on May Street: Who Killed Joseph Thomas Jr.?

by Charlotte Hsu 8 Comments

BUFFALO, N.Y. — There was nothing extraordinary about the murder of Joseph Thomas Jr. He was 19, black and a resident of one of Buffalo’s poorer neighborhoods. Police found his body on the floor of a home at 302 May St., just south of Genesee Street on the city’s East Side. Joe Joe, as his… Continue reading