Jim Heaney

Jim Heaney is editor and executive director of Investigative Post. He was an investigative reporter with The Buffalo News from 1986 to 2011 and a reporter and editor with The Orlando Sentinel from 1980-86. His coverage over the years has focused on economic development, local and state government, politics, education, housing and transportation, and he was an early practitioner of computer-assisted reporting. Heaney has won more than 20 journalism awards and was a finalist for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.

Jan 20

2025

Welcome to 1933

Donald Trump is sworn in as president today. Welcome to 1933. That’s the year Adolf Hitler came to power. I’m not saying Trump will be another Hitler, but there are eerie parallels to their respective routes to power that should not be ignored. Trump’s more contemporary prototype is Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, termed “the ultimate twenty-first-century dictator.” An op-ed in last week’s New York Times described Orbán’s playbook: In a second term, Mr. Trump’s actions may be even more dangerous because he is now following the playbook created by Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, who after losing and then[...]

Posted 2 days ago

Jan 13

2025

What is The Buffalo News thinking?

The vacant Buffalo News building, sold to developer Douglas Jemal. Lee Enterprises bought The Buffalo News nearly five years ago and has vandalized it since. That was never more evident than last week. Let’s start with the extensive use of New York Times obituaries. It’s a pet peeve of mine. A week ago Sunday, the paper’s local section included no fewer than five such obits, totaling some two pages, almost as much space as as what was devoted to local news in the section. As is usually the case, the deceased had no connection to Buffalo. In fact, most were[...]

Posted 1 week ago

Jan 6

2025

Awaiting an avalanche of activity

The ICE detention center in Batavia could become a very busy place when Donald Trump acts on his campaign pledge to begin mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. Dan Herbeck of The Buffalo News recently spent time at the facility and produced an inside look at life inside for its 530 detainees and what the future holds. The story notes that there are serious logistical and procedural issues that will likely preclude Trump from deporting immigrants en masse as quickly as he wants. Herbeck’s account includes statements from ICE officials about how well detainees are treated, a claim that’s been disputed[...]

Posted 2 weeks ago

Jan 2

2025

Building off a strong year in 2024

Investigative Post heads into the new year with a head of steam. Traffic to many news websites has flatlined or even dropped the past several years. That’s not the case with Investigative Post. Our pageviews in 2024 jumped by 62 percent and our traffic is more than double what it was in 2021. There’s a variety of reasons for our growth. We produced more content last year than ever, some 250 pieces for our website and another 50 we co-produced with our television partners. We also worked with AlignSimple and the Google News Initiative to develop and implement strategies to[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

Dec 29

2024

April Baskin’s results fall short of her rhetoric

The Buffalo News sure is fond of April Baskin, the outgoing chair of the Erie County Legislature and incoming state senator. In a profile and subsequent editorial, The News portrayed her as an effective champion of social justice. I beg to differ. The Legislature under her leadership has been a rubber stamp for County Executive Mark Poloncarz. She seems joined at the hip with Democratic Party HQ, which saw to it that she ascended to Tim Kennedy’s vacant Senate seat without serious opposition. Baskin and her colleagues somehow decided construction of the new Bills stadium didn’t require an environmental impact[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

Dec 26

2024

My tenure at Investigative Post

After more than a year helping out at Investigative Post, I’m headed back into retirement. I’m certainly happy about that. After more than 40 years in the news business, I truly enjoy my time out of it. But I have to say, working as an editor at Investigative Post this past year-and-a-half has been inspiring. If I was closer to 50 years old than 70 (when did that happen?), I can’t think of a place I’d rather work. I’ve been in a handful of newsrooms over my career. This one defines journalism – expose injustice, hold the powerful accountable, give[...]

Posted 4 weeks ago

Dec 23

2024

The smart way to build a stadium

I get a chuckle out of stories that raise the prospect of major spinoff development near the new Buffalo Bills stadium. The Buffalo News published another story to that effect last week. It’s not gonna happen. Terry Pegula has insisted on an open-air stadium surrounded by parking lots, located in the outer-ring suburb of Orchard Park. His approach runs counter to best practices employed by most other NFL owners who have built stadiums over the past decade. The Conversation, which fancies itself for “academic rigor, journalistic flair,” outlined how stadiums can be done right. Key points include: “It’s smarter to[...]

Posted 4 weeks ago

Dec 8

2024

Our neighbors to the north are not a problem

Donald Trump has lumped Canada in with Mexico as a source of drugs and undocumented immigration and threatened to impose tariffs as a consequence. Jerry Zremski of The Buffalo News debunks the claim. Twenty-four times more drugs have been seized at the southern border than the northern one. Undocumented immigrants: 11 times greater crossing from Mexico than Canada so far this year. Buffalo police want to use artificial intelligence as a crime fighting tool. The ACLU cautions of the potential for abuse when police are given AI tools without proper guardrails. Niagara Falls is starting to smarten up when it[...]

Posted 1 month ago