Tag: Investigative Post

Jul 27

2020

Impact of Investigative Post reporting

Lawmakers have responded to stories published last year by Investigative Post on the heavy-handed way the state and City of Buffalo enforced traffic laws and punished drivers who failed to pay fines. In February 2019, Marsha McLeod reported that the city, in an effort to generate revenue, was aggressively enforcing traffic laws and had imposed 13 new fees and fines that drove up the cost of paying off their tickets. (Investigative Post readers subsequently selected the report as the best story of 2019.) In it, McLeod wrote: The city’s strategy is costing drivers a lot of money, and, in some[...]

Posted 4 years ago

May 28

2020

My report to readers

Published by Jim Heaney

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know it. That includes Investigative Post. Like most everyone, we began working remotely in the middle of March. It’s gone reasonably well. Suffice to say, I make a lot of phone calls to my reporters. A lot of phone calls, period. Our reporters have had to deal with sources and other news makers remotely, as well, which means lots of phone calls and emails and little to no personal interaction. “My basement is my office now,” Geoff Kelly, my senior reporter, said. “I conduct interviews from there. I watch government meetings on[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Apr 1

2020

Listen to us on WBEN

Published by Investigative Post staff

Investigative Post has added another news outlet to its distribution network. Starting Thursday, Editor Jim Heaney, and on occasion, his reporters, will appear several times a week on the morning news program on NewsRadio 930WBEN. The station will also post links to our stories on its website. Investigative Post and WBEN are developing a partnership on the fly in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Investigative Post, the region’s nonprofit investigative reporting center, is producing stories daily on the pandemic’s impact on Western New York. WBEN’s morning news show, “A New Morning with Susan Rose and Brian Mazurowski,” is the[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Mar 31

2020

Buffalo News downsizing comes quick

Published by Jim Heaney

Well, that didn’t take long. Lee Enterprises took ownership of The Buffalo News just a couple of weeks ago and wham — the paper on Tuesday announced furloughs and layoffs. To be fair, the loss of advertising due to fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic was no doubt the driving force behind the decision, which I’m told was made at corporate headquarters in Davenport, Iowa, rather than here in Buffalo. But let’s face it, The News was going to have to act sooner rather than later due to the loss of advertising revenue, which is just one of many challenges the[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Mar 26

2020

Heaney discusses COVID-19 on WBFO

Published by Jim Heaney

Jim Heaney and Jay Moran, host of WBFO‘s Press Pass, talk about how Investigative Post is covering the COVID-19 pandemic. The nature of the crisis has prompted Investigative Post to switch from producing lengthy, time-consuming stories to short, but in-depth ones produced in a matter of days, sometimes hours, Heaney said.

Posted 5 years ago

Jan 17

2020

iPost hires accomplished fundraiser

Published by Investigative Post staff

Investigative Post has bolstered its fundraising prowess with the hiring of Nancy Webb as director of Development and Administration. Webb, a relative newcomer to Buffalo, has had a distinguished career in Texas. She served as the director of Philanthropic Services at the North Texas Community Foundation from 2014-17. During her tenure, the team she headed increased the Fort Worth foundation’s assets from $208 million to $280 million. From 2001 to 2013 she served as the development director, then vice president of organizational advancement, at Big Thought, which provides education programs for school age children in Dallas. Big Thought’s staff grew[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Jan 7

2020

Readers select iPost’s top story of last year

Published by Investigative Post staff

Investigative Post’s best story of 2019, as voted on by readers, reported on City Hall’s push to generate revenue at the expense of motorists. The story by Marsha McLeod, which published Feb. 27, documented how Buffalo police stepped up enforcement of traffic laws and city lawmakers imposed additional fees and fines. Revenues jumped from $500,000 to $2.8 million. McLeod wrote: “The city’s strategy is costing drivers a lot of money, and, in some cases, their driver’s license. Black and Latino drivers, whose neighborhoods have been targeted for traffic enforcement, appear to be hit the hardest, both in fines and loss[...]

Posted 5 years ago

Dec 7

2019

Vote for Investigative Post’s top story of 2019

Published by Investigative Post staff

Investigative Post has enjoyed a 70 percent growth in website traffic this year. This surge comes in addition to the audiences we garner through our partners at WGRZ, WBFO, The Capitol Pressroom and Buffalo Spree. What’s driving the growth in our online audience? The quality of our reporting. Investigative Post has chalked up another banner year, and now it’s time for you, our readers, to tell us what you think by voting in our online poll for the best story of the year. Here are the choices: City Hall cashing in on traffic tickets Buffalo’s in bad fiscal shape State[...]

Posted 5 years ago