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.

May 25

2017

Heaney talks ‘Billion abuses on ‘Pressroom

Jim Heaney tells Susan Arbetter of The Capitol Pressroom about the “outrageous” payments made by the Fort Schuyler Management Corp. to LPCiminelli on the SolarCity project. The reimbursements were reported Tuesday by Charlotte Keith of Investigative Post. Heaney and Arbetter conclude their conversation with a brief discussion on another Investigative Post story, this one done by Dan Telvock, about the state stocking a badly polluted creek in Niagara County with fish despite an advisory to not eat fish caught in the creek.

Posted 8 years ago

May 23

2017

Heaney discusses homicides on WGRZ

Jim Heaney tells Kelly Dudzik of WGRZ that Buffalo police have a poor track record of clearing homicides – generally solving a quarter to a third of murders in recent years. Departments nationally clear about 60 percent of homicides. Heaney’s comments were made in the context of plans announced by Common Council President Darius Pridgen to launch a newsletter that will feature murder victims. Pridgen, pastor of True Bethel Baptist Church, hopes the newsletter and a digital companion will help in some way to solve murders. Heaney and Steve Brown of WGRZ did stories in March of this year and[...]

Posted 8 years ago

May 12

2017

Most new jobs in low wage sectors

The good news: Buffalo Niagara is adding jobs at a faster clip than it has in a long time, albeit at a slower pace than the nation as a whole. The bad news: three-quarters of these new jobs are in sectors that generally don’t pay well. The biggest job creator across the region is restaurants and bars. The problems don’t end there: There’s been precious little growth in middle-income jobs and the region is actually losing technology jobs that tend to pay well and spin off a lot of business activity. Experts say the biggest economic challenge facing the region[...]

Posted 8 years ago

May 11

2017

Buffalo Niagara’s middling job gains

To hear Gov. Andrew Cuomo tell it, the Western New York economy is a “national success story.” Indeed, there has been improvement during his six years in office, including the addition of 29,500 jobs and a drop in the unemployment rate. But while Buffalo Niagara is faring well against its sorry history, the region’s recovery is modest by national standards, an Investigative Post analysis found. Its job growth during the Cuomo years is one-half to one-quarter the national average, depending on which statistics you use. And half the drop in the unemployment rate can be attributed to a shrinking workforce,[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Apr 25

2017

Heaney talks mayoral race on ‘Pressroom

Jim Heaney handicaps Buffalo’s upcoming race for mayor with Susan Arbetter on The Capitol Pressroom. Heaney, in an interview taped April 20, said challenger Mark Schroeder, the city comptroller, faces an uphill battle against incumbent Byron Brown. But he cited several factors that could change the dynamics of the election, including a decision by Erie County Legislator Betty Jean Grant to enter the Democratic primary. Grant announced several days after the interview that she, indeed, intended to enter the race.

Posted 8 years ago

Mar 30

2017

Heaney talks subsidy reform in ‘Pressroom

Continuing a discussion that started Tuesday on Capitol Pressroom, Jim Heaney and Susan Arbetter discuss the “State of Subsidies” series published this week by Investigative Post in partnership with ProPublica and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Posted 8 years ago

Mar 30

2017

Heaney discusses subsidies on WBFO

Jay Moran, host of WBFO’s morning edition, interviewed Jim Heaney on the subsidy series published this week by Investigative Post in partnership with ProPublica and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Posted below is the unabridged version of the interview. An edited version aired on WBFO.

Posted 8 years ago

Mar 28

2017

Heaney talks subsidies with ‘Pressroom

Susan Arbetter of The Capitol Pressroom interviews Jim Heaney on the “State of Subsidies” series being published this week by Investigative Post and select newspapers across the state. They were joined partway through the interview by E.J. McMahon, research director of the Empire Center for Public Policy, and Ron Deutsch, executive director of the Fiscal Policy Institute.

Posted 8 years ago