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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.

Apr 1

2021

The worst governments, agencies in WNY

Western New York is saddled with a lot of bad governmental bodies and departments in need of reform. Some cost a lot of money in the form of high taxes, others are simply ineffective, and still more are outright corrupt. There are some 105 units of local government in Erie and Niagara counties — that is, cities, towns, villages and school districts. And countless other departments, authorities, taxing districts and the like. With apologies to David Letterman’s late, great Top Ten list, here’s my take on the worst of the worst, with the list getting progressively worse as you read[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Mar 24

2021

Heaney discusses subsidies on ‘Pressroom

Investigative Post reported last week that the subsidy package offered Plug Power to build a plant in Genesee County amounts to $4 million a job. That story follows previous reporting by Mark Scheer, found here and here, on efforts to recruit companies to locate to the Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park in the Town of Alabama. Jim Heaney discussed Investigative Post’s coverage with David Lombardo of The Capitol Pressroom.  

Posted 4 years ago

Feb 4

2021

iPost adds YouTube, Instagram and Reddit

Investigative Post has expanded our online presence to include a YouTube channel and two additional social media platforms to complement our presence on Facebook and Twitter. Our YouTube channel includes 42 videos, most of them stories produced since the spring for our partners at WGRZ. The channel includes a feature story, which typically will be our latest piece, and playlists organized by topics, including coverage of Buffalo police, City Hall and politics. Fresh videos will be posted shortly after they air on WGRZ.  (Our videos are also available on our website, embedded in stories.) We’ve also started posting to Instagram[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Jan 27

2021

Progress, at last, addressing lead poisoning

For years, City Hall dallied in the face of  a lead poisoning epidemic among children in Buffalo’s poorest neighborhoods. City officials have finally put in place a plan being praised as a “huge step forward.” Most importantly, ordinance updates approved by the Common Council in November give inspectors, for the first time, the right to test the interiors of apartments for lead paint. It also prohibits landlords from renting contaminated units. Another improvement: loan and grant programs are being established to help landlords pay for the cost of remediating contaminated units. Shortcomings remain in the city’s approach, however. Owner-occupied rental[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Jan 19

2021

State slow to release jailed parolees

Despite a push from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Erie County is releasing only a quarter of parolees being held in its county jails because of technical violations of their release. The number lags behind the statewide average and other upstate urban counties. While Erie County has released 28 percent of detained parolees, Monroe County, including Rochester,  Onondaga County (Syracuse) and Albany County have released about half of theirs. That holds true for neighboring Niagara County, as well. County Parolees jailed Released % released Schenectady 39 23 59 Monroe 137 80 58 Onondaga 62 31 50 Niagara 19 9 47 Albany 53[...]

Posted 4 years ago
Investigative Post