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.

Aug 4

2025

Gaza: The most dangerous place in the world for kids

A Washington Post story last week focused on children killed during the war. The current body count is 18,500, a number The Post found to be credible and perhaps an undercount. A Palestinian child has been killed an average of one an hour since the onset of the war, prompting UNICEF to declare Gaza as the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Wrote The Post: “Some were killed in their beds. Others while playing. Many were buried before they learned to walk.” Elsewhere, the Guardian reports that Israel has done the math and calculated what it[...]

Posted 2 weeks ago

Jul 28

2025

Reform gives way to greed at OTB

Before I get to what I’m reading, allow me to expand on a story I edited last week: A pay raise already for Byron Brown. As I wrote in my newsletter yesterday, I’ve written once, maybe twice that Brown has been doing a better job than his predecessor, Henry Wojtaszek, at the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. Admittedly, it’s a very low bar to clear. Then came last week. Dale Shoemaker reported that Brown got his board of directors to give him a $8,850 raise, bringing his salary to $303,850. Never mind that he’s already the highest paid OTB administrator[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

Jul 21

2025

Public broadcasting cuts will harm WBFO

Central to the playbook for dictators dismantling democracies is neutering the press. That’s been at the top of Donald Trump’s to-do list since he retook office in January and that effort gained further traction last week when he strong-armed Congressional Republicans into voting to withdraw $1.1 billion previously appropriated for public broadcasting. National Public Radio (NPR) is comprised of over 1,000 stations. They provide vital news and information, many serving rural communities who have lost their daily or weekly newspaper to closure. A recent study found that the number of journalists nationally has dropped from 40 per 100,000 residents in[...]

Posted 4 weeks ago

Jul 15

2025

Another Buffalo cop cited for misconduct

The state attorney general’s office has determined another Buffalo police officer abused his authority through his use of excessive force and other misdeeds. The AG’s office reviewed 14 complaints made against Officer Justin Ayala between October 2021 and August of last year. The findings were based on five incidents, including his punching of a man while held down by other officers, pepper-spraying a handcuffed suspect, and use of vile language on a teen-age girl and her mother. The office of Letitia James also took issue with the department’s investigations into Ayala’s conduct, arguing the department erred in exonerating him in[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Jul 14

2025

Zyglis cartoon: Much ado about nothing

Adam Zyglis has exhibited his work at the Buffalo History Museum since the spring. Early on I attended and found most interesting a display of the hate mail he’s received over the years. Pretty vile stuff from assorted wing-nuts, although nothing that compares to what came out of the woodwork last week when The Buffalo News published a Zyglis cartoon on the flooding in Texas. I’m talking death threats against Zyglis and his wife and children. Over a cartoon. Michael Kracker, chairman of the Erie County Republican Committee, kicked things off with a tweet that characterized the cartoon as “filth[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Jul 7

2025

Killing more innocents than the Holocaust

This is what Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader of Congressional Democrats, said the other day on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives regarding the impact of Donald Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill on the nation’s health: “People will die. Tens of thousands, perhaps year after year after year, as a result of the Republican assault on the healthcare of the American people. I’m sad. I never thought I would be on the House floor saying this is a crime scene.” Tens of thousands of deaths are just the tip of the iceberg. Huge cuts in foreign humanitarian aid made[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Jun 30

2025

Much ado about the mayoral primary in NYC

Nationally, Zohran Mamdani’s upset victory in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor was the electoral story of the week. Five takes: The City covers the election results. Politico shares the thoughts of eight political types about what it all means. New York Focus explores whether state government is likely to go for Mamdani’s agenda. The New York Times and The Intercept weigh in on what lessons the Democratic establishment should take from Mamdani’s victory. Writing for The Times, Rebecca Kirszner Katz, a political consultant who worked on Mamdani’s campaign, lamented “the party establishment’s impulse to stifle and ignore[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Jun 27

2025

Scanlon ends his campaign for Buffalo mayor

Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon during a press conference in his office earlier in his term. Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon, who lost decisively in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, withdrew his candidacy for the November general election Friday afternoon. Scanlon submitted paperwork to the Erie County Board of Elections to decline the nomination of the Good Neighbors Party, which he created in May. His withdrawal all but assures that state Sen. Sean Ryan, who won Tuesday’s primary in convincing fashion, will prevail in November. Two candidates remain on the ballot in addition to Ryan, age 60, who will be running as the[...]

Posted 2 months ago