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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.

Jun 17

2015

SolarCity update: Progress and problems

Construction of the massive $750 million solar panel manufacturing plant is approaching the half-way point and SolarCity is starting to hire in anticipation of a phase in of operations early next year. Meanwhile, the company is losing record amounts of money, its stock price is languishing and federal investigators continue to look at some of its past dealings out of state. New York officials, for their part, continue to thwart efforts to open the SolarCity project to public scrutiny.

Posted 9 years ago

Jun 12

2015

Heaney interview with Fred Dicker

New York Post political columnist Fred Dicker interviews Jim Heaney on Investigative Post’s ongoing battle to obtain records related to the Buffalo Billion program. Heaney described the foot dragging and stonewalling by several state development corporations. The 8 minute, 45 second interview was broadcast June 9 on Talk 1300 in Albany. Dicker previously interviewed Heaney in December.

Posted 9 years ago

May 19

2015

iPost sues over suppression of records

Investigative Post has sued a state development corporation so intent on withholding records involving the Buffalo Billion program that a leading state official likened efforts to obtain them under the Freedom of Information Law to an act of terrorism. Investigative Post has asked the State Supreme Court to rule on whether the Fort Schuyler Management Corp. is subject to the state FOI Law. WGRZ and the Gannett Company are helping to finance the lawsuit that was filed Monday in Albany. Fort Schuyler is managing the construction of three facilities that will house SolarCity, IBM and Albany Molecular Research Inc., which have been[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Mar 24

2015

Cuomo still stonewalling on Buffalo Billion

The Cuomo administration has redoubled its efforts to suppress the release of documents that disclose how it is selecting developers and spending money on the Buffalo Billion program. The Fort Schuyler Management Corp., charged with managing the program, is still refusing to release information sought by Investigative Post despite a legal opinion recently issued by the State Committee on Open Government that concluded the agency is subject to the Freedom of Information Law. “In my opinion, it is cut and dried,” said Robert Freeman, the committee’s executive director. “It is, in essence, a governmental agency, that it is required to[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Mar 10

2015

Council’s slow motion response to murder crisis

Steve Brown and I reported five weeks ago that Buffalo has a serious murder problem. Our city’s homicide rate is among the highest in the nation — and the solve rate is among the worst. Over the past five years, police have cleared only 39 percent of homicides, and that rate has been steadily dropping, to just 23 percent last year. Gang violence and a resulting lack of cooperation from witnesses, and the community at large, partly explain the low clearance rate. But shortcomings in the city’s homicide squad also come into play. The problems are pronounced enough that Erie[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Feb 8

2015

Why killers are getting away with murder

Authorities in Buffalo cleared only 39 percent of homicides from 2010 to 2014 and that solve rate has been steadily declining. In part two of our report, Jim Heaney of Investigative Post and Steve Brown of WGRZ explain the reasons for the low rate, which include a decline in the police department’s homicide squad and a lack of cooperation from witnesses, and sometime victims. Some also fault prosecutors for not being aggressive enough. Part one of our series can be found here; a concluding report here.

Posted 9 years ago

Feb 5

2015

Getting away with murder in Buffalo

A lot of people are dying in the streets of Buffalo. The body count last year was 62. To put that number in perspective, consider that only five murders were committed in the balance of Erie County last year. Buffalo’s murder rate is high, not just in comparison with the suburbs, but with comparably sized cities with a population between 250,000 and 500,000. Buffalo recorded an average of 18.7 murders per 100,000 residents vs. 11.3 for all mid-sized cities for the five years ending in 2013. That’s the bad news. And it gets worse. Most killers get away with murder[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Jan 20

2015

Heaney radio interview on Buffalo Billion

Jim Heaney’s story on state efforts to suppress documents detailing how the Buffalo Billion is being spent continues to generate interest across the state. He was interviewed Monday by Mark Piersma and Frank Elias on their “Talk of the Town” show on WUTQ 100.7 FM in Utica.

Posted 9 years ago
Investigative Post

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