May 27
2012
Brian Higgins interview
Congressman weighs in on waterfront development and community leadership.
Posted 13 years ago
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 27
2012
Congressman weighs in on waterfront development and community leadership.
May 27
2012
Investigative Post editor Jim Heaney interviewed Congressman Brian Higgins about a series of issues. Higgins in the interview, which aired on WGRZ’s Daybreak Sunday: Explains his advocacy of developing the Outer Harbor into a park, but in a departure from previous comments, sounds receptive to some commercial development. “There clearly is an opportunity for mixed-use development,” he said. Maintains the construction of a new Peace Bridge plaza will help reduce exhaust that is causing respiratory health problems on the lower West Side and that a scientific study to determine the impacts, if not done already, should be conducted. “There clearly[...]
May 23
2012
The Outer Harbor represents Buffalo’s opportunity to get something big right. And what an opportunity it presents. Lake Erie out front. Downtown out back. Just a few miles from a busy international crossing. Is there another city in the nation that has such a prime piece of undeveloped real estate? There’s a push on to redevelop 120 acres of the Outer Harbor into a park. What’s not to love about a park? Well, in this case, several things, if all that’s developed is a park. Consider: Our winters pretty much assure that a stand-alone waterfront park would go largely unused[...]
May 20
2012
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[...]
May 17
2012
Investigative Post and WGRZ 2 On Your Side team up to document Demone Smith’s history of not filing campaign disclosure reports on time and failure to pay more than $4,000 in fines.
May 17
2012
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[...]
May 13
2012
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.
May 13
2012
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[...]