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 7

2018

Pegula abandons controversial fracking project

A hydrofracking company owned by Terry Pegula walked away Friday from a controversial project in Coudersport, PA, that has generated a lot of community opposition. A company called Epiphany Water Solutions has proposed building a plant to treat fracking wastewater, a portion of which would be released into the Allegheny River. Pegula’s fracking company, JKLM Energy, was going to be a major customer of the treatment plant. Pegula owns the Buffalo Sabres and Bills. Opponents argued that the plant’s treatment process is not proven and that the project ran the risk of releasing effluent into the Allegheny with unacceptably high[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Apr 2

2018

Judge shutters a neighborhood nuisance

A State Supreme Court judge has at least temporarily shut down Battaglia Demolition, long a plague on the Seneca Babcock neighborhood. The plant, located about one mile south of downtown, crushes and otherwise processes concrete, bricks, asphalt and other construction and demolition debris. Residents have long complained that the plant and trucks that service it are the source of dust, noise – even rats. Two years ago the state filed suit against the plant owner, Peter Battaglia, contending the facility was a “public nuisance” and lacked necessary permits. On Monday, Judge Deborah Chimes issued an injunction that ordered the plant closed until[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Mar 27

2018

Blueprint issued for combatting lead poisoning

The City of Buffalo needs to empower inspectors to get inside houses to determine whether they are contaminated with chipped or flaking lead paint, a report issued Tuesday said. While noting steps the city and Erie County have taken in recent years, the 102-page report by CGR Inc., a Rochester-based consulting firm, declared that defeating “lead poisoning will require much more from local government and the entire community.” The report included 17 recommendations, the most important ones addressing the need for stepped-up inspections of residential properties. As it now stands, inspectors are not guaranteed entry to test interiors for[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Mar 26

2018

Heaney talks corruption on ‘Pressroom

Susan Arbetter, host of The Capitol Pressroom, quizzes Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney on the Joe Percoco verdict, the candidacy of Cynthia Nixon and the curious manner in which Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown selected his new police commissioner.

Posted 7 years ago

Mar 15

2018

Cuomo is guilty at some level

Andrew Cuomo is all worked up over the suggestion that the conviction of Joseph Percoco, his former right-hand man, reflects poorly on the governor and his administration. Cuomo dismissed the linkage as “political garbage” and maintained “there was absolutely no suggestion ever made (during the trial) that I had anything to do with anything.’’ That’s a pretty amazing statement coming from someone with a reputation as a hands-on control freak. Yes, the governor has been neither charged with nor convicted of any wrongdoing. But he is ultimately responsible for the scandals involving state economic development programs and the general sleaze[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Mar 12

2018

Heaney discusses IBM on ‘Pressroom

Jim Heaney and Susan Arbetter talk about the troubled IBM project in Buffalo on The Capitol Pressroom. Investigative Post in recent months has published two stories, found here and here, on the project, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo said would create hundreds of good-paying, high-tech jobs but instead has resulted in a dysfunctional call center employing low-wage workers who say they are poorly trained.

Posted 7 years ago

Jan 17

2018

Derenda leaves behind a mess at police HQ

Yesterday, Daniel Derenda was Buffalo police commissioner. Today, out of the blue, he’s retired. The lack of public notice has some people, including me, wondering if there’s more than what meets the eye. I mean, who announces their retirement the day they walk out the door, especially the guy in charge? This much is certain: He leaves behind a police department that is, well, kind of a mess. Some he inherited, others cropped up on his watch. Most telling, perhaps, are the cases of Wardel Davis, Jose Hernandez-Rossy and Craig Lehner. Davis and Hernandez-Rossy died last year during encounters with[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Dec 21

2017

A Buffalo Billion bust in Syracuse

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s original plan to redevelop the former Republic Steel site in South Buffalo included Soraa, a California based company that manufactures high efficiency lights. Soraa and Silevo, a solar panel manufacturer, were going to occupy a factory at Riverbend, built at taxpayer expense under the Buffalo Billion program. SolarCity, owned by Elon Musk, bought out Silevo and the state and Soraa decided to locate the lighting plant in Syracuse. Some $90 million in state funds were spent to build the factory in exchange for a promise of 420 jobs. Like the SolarCity project, the Syracuse plant was ensnared[...]

Posted 7 years ago