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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.

Dec 20

2012

Job claims inflated for Billion To Buffalo project

Governor Andrew Cuomo summoned hundreds of muckety-mucks to the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center two weeks ago to make the kind of announcement that politicians live for: government aid to bring jobs to an economically struggling region. In this instance, Cuomo told the assembled that the first $50 million of his $1 billion in promised state economic development funds had leveraged a commitment from Albany Molecular Research Inc. to bring 250 jobs and up to $250 million in private investment to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Reads the headline on the governor’s press release: “Governor and (Western New York Regional Economic[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Dec 17

2012

The HSBC plea bargain

Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi, founder of the Buffalo Beast, talks about the federal government’s deal with the banking giant that allows executives to avoid prosecution for laundering billions for terrorists and drug cartels. A report from Democracy Now!

Posted 12 years ago

Dec 16

2012

Q&A: Howard Zemsky

Howard Zemsky is one of the most influential people in Western New York. And certainly one of its busiest. He’s perhaps best known for his revitalization of the Larkin Building and the surrounding area into one of the hottest – and coolest –  commercial, residential and retail districts in the region. It’s only one of several of his business ventures, including Taurus Capital Partners. Zemsky, 53, has emerged as a key community leader and political player in recent years. Most significantly, he is co-chairman of the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council, which is guiding Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s initiative to spend $1[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Dec 12

2012

Zemsky defends use of state economic aid

The co-chairman of the WNY Regional Economic Development Council said that while Albany Molecular Research is losing money, it remains a sound company worthy of state support. Highlights of Jim Heaney’s interview with Zemsky will air Saturday on WGRZ’s Daybreak; the full interview and transcript will be posted on this website over the weekend.

Posted 12 years ago

Dec 11

2012

Heaney on Thompson on WBEN

iPost Editor Jim Heaney discusses Mayor Byron Brown’s much-criticized appointment of Antoine Thompson as executive director of Buffalo Employment Training Center.

Posted 12 years ago

Dec 10

2012

Antoine Thompson? Really?

Antoine Thompson couldn’t find a job when voters fired him from his state Senate job two years ago. So, of course, Mayor Byron Brown has now hired Thompson to help the county’s 37,900 unemployed find jobs. Yeah, right. This is about as blatant – and shameless – as patronage hiring gets. First consider that Thompson and Brown have been joined at the hip, politically speaking, for most of their careers, dating back to their days together in Grassroots, the political club that helped spawn both of their careers. Thompson worked as a legislative aide to Brown when he served on[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Dec 6

2012

First $1B beneficiary awash in red ink

The biotech company the state plans to spend $50 million on to lure to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus has lost $112 million the past three years and hasn’t posted an annual profit since 2008. And that’s just the beginning of the financial difficulties confronting Albany Molecular Research, according to a probe by Investigative Post. The company has laid off at least 80 employees since 2010 and shuttered one of its foreign facilities, with plans to close a second operation near Seattle. The Albany-based company’s stock price, meanwhile, sunk from  $61.66 in 2001 to $2.26 in December 2011, although the stock[...]

Posted 12 years ago
Investigative Post