Mar 28
2017
Susan Arbetter of The Capitol Pressroom interviews Jim Heaney on the “State of Subsidies” series being published this week by Investigative Post and select newspapers across the state. They were joined partway through the interview by E.J. McMahon, research director of the Empire Center for Public Policy, and Ron Deutsch, executive director of the Fiscal Policy Institute.
Mar 27
2017
This is the second part of a series that runs through Thursday. The full lineup of stories, columns and radio interviews can be found here » Rita McCarthy could finally relax. After months of speculation and negotiation, strategy sessions and late night phone calls, Corning Inc. announced in the spring of 2013 that it would expand its factory in Erwin, New York, where McCarthy serves as town supervisor. Corning is the largest employer in Steuben County, within the economically struggling region of western New York that stretches along the Pennsylvania border, known as the Southern Tier. Assuaging McCarthy’s fears that it would[...]
Mar 26
2017
This is the first part of a series that runs through Thursday. The full lineup of stories, columns and radio interviews can be found here » Gov. Andrew Cuomo has sunk a lot of taxpayer money – $25 billion by his estimate – into recharging upstate’s moribund economy. The governor has increased spending on subsidy programs to record levels, launched bold policy initiatives and crisscrossed upstate to announced projects he has frequently described as “game-changers.” “Economic success is shared all across the state. It’s not just New York City that’s doing well, it’s the entire state,” the governor declared in his[...]
Sep 19
2016
Editor’s note: A version of this story published Sunday in the Times Union of Albany. Two state-affiliated development corporations at the center of a federal corruption probe operated for years without rules commonly used by government agencies to promote competition, discourage favoritism and get the best deal for taxpayers when choosing companies to do business with. As a result, they’ve used unusually loose procurement policies to select developers for multimillion dollar projects, an Investigative Post analysis shows. Some of their contract awards – often to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s major campaign donors – are now being investigated by state and federal[...]
Jun 22
2016
Fort Schuyler Management Corp., the state-controlled development agency that is overseeing a number of major state-funded construction projects, including SolarCity, barred reporters from covering its board meeting Tuesday. Jim Heaney of Investigative Post tells Scott Levin about his experiences trying to obtain public records from Fort Schuyler. The nonprofit development corporation subsequently voted to adhere to the state Open Meetings Law and its board chairman suggested it will adhere to the Freedom of Information Laws, as well, although no vote was apparently taken. The New York Committee on Open Government had previously said it was obliged to honor the FOI[...]
Feb 29
2016
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced over the weekend that his office is “investing” $346,825 in the Buffalo Green and Healthy Homes Initiative. This is the attorney general’s first financial commitment earmarked for lead programs in Buffalo since the initiative launched in 2009. About 40 low-income, owner-occupied homes will benefit from the attorney general’s funding. That’s in addition to the 882 homes already made lead-safe since the program’s inception. While those numbers represent a degree of progress, consider there are 85,000 housing units in Buffalo at risk for lead hazards. In other words, about 1 percent of the homes were[...]
Feb 10
2016
Varsha Kraus and her family fled their neighborhood in Love Canal in 1981 only to learn two years ago that its toxic waste had been dug up and buried in a landfill behind their subdivision in North Tonawanda. After insisting for 25 years that the closed landfill posed no significant health threat, state officials changed their minds in December and declared it a Superfund site. But warning signs were evident all along: rusted chemical drums, battery casings stacked waist high and children getting burns from splashes of orange pond water. The Love Canal waste – enough to fill 80 dump[...]
Nov 22
2015
Jim Heaney and Steve Brown discuss the hot topic of the week, refugees, in the wake of the Paris terror attacks in the latest installment of Outrages & Insights. Heaney told Brown that Erie County accepts more refugees than any county in the state, more than 1,400 last year. Surprisingly, relatively few settle in New York City, despite its historic role as an entry point for immigrants. Heaney explained that, despite rhetoric to the contrary, refugees undergo more vigorous screening than others coming to America, a process that typically takes up to two years. Heaney also discussed the local refugee[...]