Investigative Post

Tesla CEO Elon Musk was bullish about Buffalo on a call with investors last month. “We made that commitment to the state of New York,” he said, describing the company’s plan to hire thousands at a huge factory opening in Buffalo that was built at taxpayer expense. “We are going to keep that commitment.” In […]

Jim Heaney discusses two recent stories done by Investigative Post on the proposed extension of Metro Rail and Buffalo’s continuing lead poisoning crisis. Heaney explained to Susan Arbetter of The Capitol Pressroom why he thinks the rail extension is a bad idea and chastises city and county officials for their failure to address lead poisoning with a […]

An extension of Buffalo’s light rail system to Amherst is as close as it’s ever been – which still isn’t very close. The plan gained momentum when Gov. Cuomo threw his support behind it in his State of the State earlier this year, as part of the second phase of the Buffalo Billion initiative. Still, […]

The second of two reports issued by Bart Schwartz, hired by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to look into the management of state development projects, including the Buffalo Billion, found a “sloppy process” and “systemic problems.” Jim Heaney, speaking to WGRZ’s Michael Wooten, said the reports lack details and “raise as many questions as they answer.” He […]

Investigative Post reporter Charlotte Keith discusses her recent story on the unusual perks of LPCiminelli’s contract to build the vast factory for SolarCity in Buffalo, the centerpiece of Gov. Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion initiative. Keith found that the company was reimbursed for thousands of dollars in lavish meal and entertainment expenses that went far beyond what state […]

Jim Heaney tells Susan Arbetter of The Capitol Pressroom about the “outrageous” payments made by the Fort Schuyler Management Corp. to LPCiminelli on the SolarCity project. The reimbursements were reported Tuesday by Charlotte Keith of Investigative Post. Heaney and Arbetter conclude their conversation with a brief discussion on another Investigative Post story, this one done […]

It was an expensive dinner after a long day of meetings on the SolarCity project. A senior executive at LPCiminelli, the company building the factory, ate at an upscale Italian restaurant in Albany, joined by two architects working on the project. The cost of the meal topped $120 each. That night, LPCiminelli picked up the […]

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 […]