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.

Nov 15

2012

Transparency is the best policy

Note: This post was written in November 2012 and has been amended to reflect a change in the presidency of Investigative Post. Dan Telvock, our environmental reporter, has a new report about the failure of the Department of Environmental Conservation to aggressively act on requests to enforce state law at the Peace Bridge that prohibits trucks from idling. It is the first in a series of stories that Dan intends to produce regarding the Peace Bridge. In many ways, covering the Peace Bridge makes perfect sense for Investigative Post, although it is not without complications, for reasons I’ll explain in[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Nov 11

2012

Q&A: Political reporter Bob McCarthy

Robert J. McCarthy is a 30-year veteran of The Buffalo News, the last 20 as political reporter. He’s covered a wide array of elections and candidates, including those for president, Congress, governor, the state legislature, mayor and county executive. In addition to his reporting, McCarthy writes a Sunday column and contributes to the Politics Now blog. He also covers the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney interviewed McCarthy on Nov. 7, the day after the election. A 3 minute, 54 second video clip including interview highlights is posted above. The full 15 minute, 29 second interview is[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Nov 6

2012

Election night analysis

Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney and WGRZ reporter Aaron Saykin will provide election night results and analysis starting at 8:30 p.m. via a live webcast on WGRZ.com. We’ll focus on local races, including the Congressional race pitting Kathy Hochul and Chris Collins, and the state Senate contest involving Mark Grisanti, Mike Amodeo and Chuck Swanick.

Posted 12 years ago

Nov 2

2012

iPost talks recycling with WBFO

Dan Telvock, environmental reporter for Investigative Post, discusses his story on the city’s underachieving recycling program with Eileen Buckley.

Posted 12 years ago

Nov 1

2012

Stay tuned

Investigative Post will launch a three-part series today (Thursday) on recycling in Buffalo that starts with WGRZ’s evening newscast. Part 1 deals with the city’s struggling recycling program. Coverage, in addition to a story on Ch.2, will include an in-depth piece published on investigativepost.org and an excerpt in Artvoice. Part 2, which will air and publish Friday evening, focuses on an even more anemic recycling effort in Buffalo public schools. Part 3, which will publish Monday on investigativepost.org, looks at the successful program in San Francisco, where more than three-quarters of waste is recycled. The series is based on the[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Oct 28

2012

Your tax dollar at ‘work’

Posted 12 years ago

Oct 28

2012

Nearly $4M spent on 7,800 commercials

Kathy Hochul and Chris Collins will spend more than $4 million on television advertising this campaign season to win a job that pays $174,000 a year. But it’s not really about the pay, it’s about control of Congress, which Democrats are trying to wrestle back from the Republicans after losing it two years ago. An Investigative Post analysis of spending in TV ads for the 27th District race, based on contracts on file with major network affiliates in Buffalo and Rochester, found that Collins has outspent Hochul $2.2 million vs. $1.7 million, thanks in large part to the[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Oct 28

2012

Q&A: Muckraker David Cay Johnston

While the term is little used these days, David Cay Johnston might be best described as a muckraker for his work as an investigative reporter producing both award-winning newspaper stories and best-selling books. Salon in 2004 said Johnston “has cultivated a reputation for being the kind of reporter unafraid to speak truth to power. He is diligent, persistent, and has a network of sources deep in government and in the corporate world.” Johnston got his first reporting job at age 19 with the San Jose Mercury News. He went on to report for the Detroit Free Press, Los Angeles Times,[...]

Posted 12 years ago