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.

Mar 12

2023

Monday Morning Read

Subscribe to WeeklyPost and receive our weekly newsletter in your inbox Sunday mornings. Tim Howard’s management of the county’s two jails was a nightmare; more than 30 prisoner deaths during his tenure attests to that. There’s a new sheriff in town, in the person of John Garcia, but it appears it’s business as usual. The Buffalo News had to go to court to obtain video footage of Correctional Officer Daniel Piwowarczyka kicking a handcuffed prisoner in the head. Garcia tried to block release claiming – get this – he wanted to protect the privacy of the prisoner. The story pointed out that no[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Mar 5

2023

Monday Morning Read

WeeklyPost is a free newsletter emailed to subscribers Sunday mornings. It includes a recap of Investigative Post’s reporting from the previous week and a sampling of stories from other news outlets that caught Jim Heaney’s eye. (See below.) Subscribe here. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s push to increase the state’s already generous tax credits for film and television production has generated a lot of controversy. The City, a nonprofit based in NYC, takes a look at the issue in a good piece of reporting. A second Hochul-supported subsidy, this one for horse racing at Belmont Park, is the subject of a New York Post story.[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Mar 2

2023

The latest Buffalo News woes

Lee Enterprises, the parent company of The Buffalo News, has filed its overdue annual financial report with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its failure to meet a filing deadline, due to what Lee said was its failure to “maintain effective internal control over financial reporting,” prompted a threat in December from the Nasdaq Stock Market to delist the company. That would mean no more stock sales for the publicly traded company. So it’s good news that Lee has finally complied. There’s not a lot of good news in its 10-K report, however, certainly not enough to allay fears about what’s[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 26

2023

Monday Morning Read

Subscribe to WeeklyPost, if you don’t already. There’s more heat being applied to industrial development agencies. We’ve already reported on reform legislation being championed by Sen. Sean Ryan. Last week, the Albany Times Union reported that the chairman of the Senate Committee on Investigations and Government Operations is launching an investigation into how IDA’s dole out tax breaks. Sen. James Skoufis is hot and bothered by a deal in Orange County. He’s likely to blow a gasket if he looks into the deals approved of late by the Niagara County IDA, subsidies for everything from fast food restaurants to market rate housing to a warehouse for Amazon, which[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 20

2023

Worse news yet at The Buffalo News

I’m writing this in a state of shock at the announcement The Buffalo News will no longer be printed in Buffalo. Lee Enterprises, the paper’s parent company, reported Monday that it is outsourcing its printing and distribution operations to the Cleveland Plain Dealer in October. Some 160 employees will lose their jobs. This is a punch to the gut. The News is hardly alone in shuttering its printing plant. Down the Thruway in Rochester, the Democrat and Chronicle recently announced that it’s closing its print operation. The paper will be printed in New Jersey. New Jersey! The Syracuse Post-Standard is[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 19

2023

Monday Morning Read

This Monday Morning Read, and a whole lot more, is available as a Sunday morning read by subscribing to our email newsletter. Erie County Comptroller Mickey Kearns improperly spent over $100,000 of taxpayer funds to promote his re-election campaign last year, according to a report by Michael Wooten of WGRZ. He faces mega-fines for his transgressions. Kearns’ defense: ignorance of the law. This from a guy who is apparently preparing to run for county executive. The toxic Tonawanda Coke site is being cleaned up in preparation of redevelopment. And what a mess there is to clean up. The escalating price of NFL franchises: The Bills sold[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 14

2023

More bad news regarding The Buffalo News

The downward spiral at The Buffalo News appears to be gaining speed. Last week I reported the departure of four veteran reporters and editors and the pending outsourcing of work performed by the newsroom’s five-person design team. That reduces the newsroom staff to some 65 journalists, down from more than 200 back in the day. The News has since asked the remaining staff to accept a two-week, unpaid furlough. The paper’s managers and other nonunion employees have no choice. The company must negotiate the furloughs with its unions, including the Buffalo Newspaper Guild, which represents what’s left of the newsroom[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 12

2023

Monday Morning Read

Get Jim Heaney’s recommended readings, and a recap of Investigative Post’s reporting for the previous week, via email on Sunday mornings by subscribing here. WGRZ anchor, and in this case, muckraker, Maryalice Demler reported on dirty dealings behind closed doors by the North Tonawanda City Council. Sweetheart waterfront leases, negotiated on the q.t., to benefit political insiders. By now you’ve probably read about Kim Pegula’s health issues. Her daughter Jessica wrote a moving first-hand account for The Players’ Tribune. It’s becoming apparent Kim will not be able to carry on once her much-older husband is no longer in the picture and, as I previously[...]

Posted 2 years ago