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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.

May 20

2012

Interview: Robert Bennett

Jim Heaney of Investigative Post interviews Robert Bennett, state Regent for Western New York, on a range of education issues. Bennett in the interview: Takes issue with Phil Rumore’s characterization of the dispute between the Buffalo Teachers Federation and the state Department of Education over teacher evaluations. Bennett said the evaluations are mandated by state law and there is no room for negotiation. He also said union concerns about the impact of low-performing students with high absentee rates on teacher evaluations are overblown and that standardized test scores account for only 2 out of 100 points on the evaluations. Contended[...]

Posted 13 years ago

May 17

2012

Smith continues to flout election law

The New York Board of Elections has slapped a campaign committee controlled by Common Council Majority Leader Demone Smith with another fine for failing to file  financial disclosure reports. The most recent fine of $1,121 is at least the seventh assessed against Smith campaign committees.  The fines total $4,084 and the committees have yet to pay any of them, including one that dates to March 2008. Smith, in an interview Tuesday, said he is working with the Board of Elections in an effort to reduce the fines. “We’re trying to get them lowered,” he said. However, John Conklin, a spokesman[...]

Posted 13 years ago

May 13

2012

BTF President Phil Rumore interview

Rumore fielded questions on a wide range of issues, ranging from teacher evaluations to contract negotiations to his future plans in the face of a call for his resignation from at least one state education official.

Posted 13 years ago

May 13

2012

Interview: Phil Rumore

Investigate Post launched an interview program Sunday with WGRZ 2 On Your Side featuring an interview with Phil Rumore, president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation. In the interview, Rumore said reaching an agreement on teacher evaluations will require more than consensus on how to account for student absenteeism. The quality of standardized tests and the English language proficiency of students also need to be considered, Rumore said, as well as how to evaluate teachers on the academic performance of special education students. He disagreed with those who say the school district is failing students. “I don’t think the schools are[...]

Posted 13 years ago

May 11

2012

Investigative Post launching interview segment with WGRZ

In addition to co-producing investigative stories, Investigative Post and WGRZ 2 On Your Side will broadcast weekly interviews with newsmakers that will air on Daybreak Sunday. Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney will conduct the interviews. This Sunday he puts questions to Phil Rumore, president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation. Rumore has lead the BTF since 1981. He and the union are currently embroiled in a dispute with state education officials over proposed teacher evaluations. In their interview, Heaney quizzes Rumore about the quarrel over evaluations and a number of other topics, including whether the BTF president intends to seek another[...]

Posted 13 years ago

May 9

2012

Coppola elected Investigative Post board president

Lee Coppola, whose career has included stints as an investigative reporter, journalism school dean and federal prosecutor, has been elected president of the board of Investigative Post. “Lee has been a practitioner and champion of investigative reporting his entire career. I’m very excited to have someone with his depth and breadth of experience leading our board,” said Jim Heaney, editor and executive director of Investigative Post, a non-profit investigative reporting center focused on issues of concern to Buffalo and Western New York. “Being elected president of the board of directors is an honor I will try to uphold by helping[...]

Posted 13 years ago

May 7

2012

Byron Brown’s bridge over troubled water

Momentum is building to do something with the Outer Harbor and just days after a group of  community activists called for developing its 120 acres into a park Mayor Byron Brown make a pitch for City Hall to play a role, perhaps a big one. The Outer Harbor is state land, controlled by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. The NFTA wants to get out of the real estate business, which has begged the question, who would assume responsibility for developing the property? Some think the task should fall to the Erie Harbor Canal Development Corp., a subsidiary of Empire State[...]

Posted 13 years ago
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