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.

May 18

2025

Sheriff John Garcia’s disdain for the law

Erie County Sheriff John Garcia has gotten himself sued by The New York Times for stonewalling a Freedom of Information request from the newspaper. The Times filed an FOI request last August 12 seeking assorted police disciplinary records. For example, the Times asked for what are called “Brady-Giglio” lists, named for court decisions that require prosecutors to provide defense attorneys with information about officers that might impugn their credibility with judges and jurors. By law, the sheriff’s office had five business days to acknowledge receipt of the request. It failed to do so until Jan. 23 of this year, when[...]

Posted 2 days ago

May 13

2025

Assessing the New York state budget

Gov. Kathy Hochul. Three prominent think tanks of varying political stripes agree that the state budget just adopted by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature leaves a lot to be desired. The Citizen Budget Commission labeled the spending plan “a short sighted budget.” “The extremely late $254 billion State budget virtually ignores the double-whammy threat posed by looming massive federal budget cuts and a possible recession. Instead of holding funds aside, lawmakers skyrocketed spending, slashed recession reserves, and sabotaged the State’s fiscal foundation. The budget simply is unaffordable.” The Empire Center concluded the $146 billion spending plan calls for “an[...]

Posted 7 days ago

Mar 24

2025

Sheriff John Garcia goes Sergeant Schultz

Erie County Sheriff John Garcia pulled a Sergeant Schultz the other day, saying, with a straight face that he knows nothing about the hit-and-run antics of Daniel “D.J.” Granville that Geoff Kelly reported on two weeks ago. And, get this, he proclaimed he will “do the right thing” if ongoing investigations turn up evidence of wrongdoing on Granville’s part. What a bunch of, ah, hooey. Granville is a ranking member of Gracia’s command staff and it’s inconceivable that he was not aware of his narcotics chief’s conduct last April when he smashed into seven parked cars. Sorry, but the time[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Mar 18

2025

Pegula ranked the worst owner in the NHL

The Buffalo Sabres are in fourth-to-last place in the National Hockey League standings. They’re doing better than their owner. The Athletic, the sports arm of The New York Times, just released its ranking of NHL owners. Led by the Tampa Bay Lightning, seven earned a grade of A, based on a combination of factors, including their team’s on-ice performance and a survey of fans. Scientific, no. But telling. Fifteen owners graded out at B, including Jeremy Jacobs’s Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs, eight more at C and one at D, the Vancouver Canucks. Terry Pegula ranked dead last[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Mar 17

2025

The coming MAGA assault on voting rights

House Republicans have introduced a bill that would upend voting rights. Among those at risk for disenfranchisement are 69 million married women who have taken their husband’s last name. Reports the Center for American Progress: “Leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives has declared that passing the legislation is one of their top priorities for the 119th Congress.” Specifically, the legislation would require the vast majority of Americans to rely on a passport or birth certificate to prove their citizenship. While this may sound easy for many Americans, the reality is that more than 140 million American citizens do not[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Mar 10

2025

The scoop on the hacking of The Buffalo News

Editor’s note: Circulation numbers near the conclusion of this column have been revised from an earlier version. The Buffalo News is among some 75 newspapers owned by Lee Enterprises that got hacked a month ago. The News has informed its readers in general terms, but press reports and Lee’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission reveal very serious and ongoing problems which have crippled operations. Lee was attacked Feb. 3 by Russian hackers known as Qilin. They made off with 350 gigabytes of data, encrypted other files and demanded a ransom. The purloined data includes “investor records, financial arrangements[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Mar 3

2025

Talk about riding a dead horse

Here’s a strange – and indefensible – subsidy. Government handouts to keep the failing horse racing industry afloat in New York. “The state is using one particularly corrosive form of gambling to keep another marginalized form alive,” reports The New York Times. The story is behind a paywall, but fear not, you can read it at this gift link, which provides access even if you’re not a subscriber. Going forward, this newsletter will provide gift links to stories in publications that include The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Atlantic. While we’re on the topic of state government, the[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Feb 24

2025

Subsides amounting to billions of dollars

Politicians can’t throw enough money at Micron Technology to entice the company to build a microchip factory north of Syracuse. Ken Girardin of the Empire Center for Public Policy took a close look at the deal, and yikes, it is rich enough to make the Buffalo Billion deal that brought Tesla to South Buffalo look like a steal — which it wasn’t unless you’re Elon Musk. Micron is in line for subsidies worth more than $11 billion. That’s billion, not million. Among the goodies: Up to $5.5 billion in state tax credits. Tax abatements, sales and otherwise, of $4.9 billion. Property tax abatements that[...]

Posted 3 months ago