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.

Sep 5

2018

Heaney discusses Tonawanda Coke

Jim Heaney tells Scott Levin of WGRZ that Tonawanda Coke has been a rouge operation for years. The foundry coke plant off River Road was back in the news Monday, when federal prosecutors hauled the company into court and public officials questioned the firm’s conduct after they temporarily blocked firefighters from dealing with a blaze at the facility. Heaney gave Levin a rundown on the plant’s troubled history, including violations of the Clean Air Act and worker safety violations.

Posted 6 years ago

Aug 31

2018

Heaney discusses anti-corruption bill

Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney discusses the effort by Assembly Member Crystal Peoples-Stokes to stymie an anti-corruption bill that has languished in a committee she chairs. Heaney spoke with WBFO’s Jay Moran on Press Pass.

Posted 6 years ago

Aug 22

2018

Buffalo’s roadblock to reform

A lot of issues scream for reform in Albany: ethics, campaign finance, cash bail. But nothing rivals state contracting practices, not in the wake of the corruption convictions of Alain Kaloyeros and three developers who contributed heavily to Andrew Cuomo’s gubernatorial campaign, including Lou Ciminelli of Buffalo. Yet here we are, 21 months after the indictments, two months after the convictions, with no reform. Yes, Cuomo has proposed a handful of changes, but they satisfy practically no one. Meanwhile, a trio of bills sit stalled in the Assembly, a victim of Speaker Carl Heastie’s willingness to appease the governor by[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Aug 1

2018

Job deadlines set for Tesla solar plant

The Buffalo News is reporting that the state and Tesla have agreed on deadlines for the company to create jobs related to its solar panel manufacturing plant in South Buffalo. Tesla has two years to create 1,460 jobs in the Buffalo area, including 500 at the factory at Riverbend. Tesla faces fines of up to $41 million a year if it fails to meet the job goals. The state spent $750 million of taxpayer money to build and equip the facility, the centerpiece of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion initiative. Alain Kaloyeros, a top state economic development official, and Louis[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Jul 29

2018

Heaney talks media on WBEN

Kevin Hardwick and Bill Conrad interview Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney on the media, the rise of Investigative Post and its coverage of the Buffalo Billion on their Sunday morning interview program.

Posted 6 years ago

Jul 27

2018

Heaney talks ‘Billion on ‘Pressroom

Editor Jim Heaney discusses a recent story by Charlotte Keith on the failure of the AMRI project to spin off the jobs promised by state officials. During his interview with Susan Arbetter of The Capitol Pressroom he also touches on the guilty verdicts in the corruption trial involving the Buffalo Billon and reforms in the state’s economic development programs.

Posted 6 years ago

Jul 14

2018

Heaney talks City Hall on ‘Pressroom

Susan Arbetter, host of The Capitol Pressroom, told Editor Jim Heaney a recent story by Charlotte Keith produced by Investigative Post made her “angry.” The story documented the failure by the administration of Mayor Byron Brown to enforce the city’s fair housing law. Arbetter’s angst was rooted in the mayor’s indifference to the plight of the city’s poor, who are often discriminated against when they attempt to rent apartments with the help of government assistance such as Section 8. Heaney told her inaction by the city is just the latest example of the mayor turning a blind eye to injustices[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Jul 12

2018

Buffalo Billion verdicts warrant further action

Alain Kaloyeros has been known as many things during his career. Dr. K. Near genius. Nanotech guru. And as of Thursday, convicted criminal. Ditto for Lou Ciminelli. Civic leader. Power broker. Philanthropist. And yes, convicted felon. Down the list of defendants we go. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. And, at the risk of repeating myself, guilty. It was a good day for clean contracting, for good government. But the job is far from done. Testimony during the trial established that the governor’s office installed Todd Howe, a longtime Cuomo associate, as the administration’s “eyes and ears” inside the operation that Kaloyeros headed[...]

Posted 6 years ago