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 14

2018

Attorney: Video shows “bad shoot” by police

Rafael “Pito” Rivera was running from police and posed no threat to officers when one of them shot him several times in the back, the attorney representing Rivera’s family has told Investigative Post. Steve Cohen made his claim of a “bad shoot” based on a video taken from a surveillance camera that captured the shooting at 454 Plymouth Ave., on the city’s lower West Side. Cohen said he viewed the video early Friday evening with the family. “There could be no interpretation of that video that [concludes] Mr. Rivera was pointing a gun at the police when he was shot,”[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Sep 13

2018

Attorney senses a police coverup is afoot

Steve Cohen – a civil rights attorney retained by the family of Rafael “Pito” Rivera, who was shot dead by police Wednesday – told Investigative Post he suspects Buffalo police are engaging in a coverup. Cohen, in an exclusive interview with Investigative Post, said police have been uncooperative, to the point of refusing to allow the Rivera family to view the body or provide basic information about the fatal encounter. Police, he said, are typically quick to share information in the case of justifiable shootings. “When the police refuse to interact with the family, refuse to interact with the family’s[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Sep 7

2018

Heaney talks primary on ‘Pressroom

Jim Heaney tells Susan Arbetter of WCNY’s The Capitol Pressroom that few candidates for statewide office have campaigned aggressively in Western New York during this primary season. He also said the next state attorney general needs to focus on dealing with state corruption. Give a listen.

Posted 7 years ago

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 7 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 7 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 7 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 7 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 7 years ago