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.

Oct 13

2024

WNY pols carrying Trump’s water

Erie County Sheriff John Garcia is regurgitating Donald Trump’s talking points on immigrants, essentially saying too many of them are lawless. Credit to Sandy Tan of The Buffalo News, who reported: “An overwhelming body of research indicates that immigrants, including immigrants who enter the country illegally, commit violent crimes at a much lower rate than the rest of the American population.” Perhaps the sheriff should focus his efforts on keeping prisoners in his jails alive. As we reported last month, the rate of deaths is higher under Garcia than his predecessor, Tim Howard, whose management of the jails was roundly[...]

Posted 1 day ago

Oct 8

2024

More upheaval at The Buffalo News

This has been a tough week for The Buffalo News with word that Editor Sheila Rayam has been ousted and former Publisher Warren Colville has died. Margaret Kenny Giancola, the paper’s managing editor, succeeds Rayam. The News story announcing her appointment by Lee Enterprises, the paper’s chain owner, didn’t explain the move. I’m told Lee hasn’t explained its decision to the newsroom staff, either. Rayam’s departure comes in the wake of Lee’s decision to eliminate 10 of the newsroom’s approximately 55 positions. That suggests her departure is in part a cost-cutting move. Insiders tell me Rayam, the paper’s first Black[...]

Posted 6 days ago

Oct 6

2024

They’re not knocking down their Frank Lloyd Wright

We knocked down our Frank Lloyd Wright office building nearly three-quarters of a century ago. Oklahoma still has one, although it’s not doing well, lacking an anchor tenant and up for sale after several failed revitalization efforts. An architect, writing in 1949, has this to say about the demolition of our Wright masterpiece: The Larkin Building set a precedent for many an office building we admire today and should be regarded not as an outmoded utilitarian structure but as a monument, if not to Mr. Wright’s creative imagination, to the inventiveness of American design. The destruction of all but one pillar[...]

Posted 1 week ago

Sep 30

2024

Apparently, crazy politics sells

The crazier Donald Trump gets, the more Americans lean toward the GOP. The Daily Beast just reported that an analysis of Gallop poll results found 48 percent lean Republican, vs. 45 Democratic. For perspective, back in 1992, Dems held a 52 to 40 percent edge, narrowed to 48-43 percent in 2000. Meanwhile, the Pew Research Center reported in April a dead heat among registered voters, with 49 percent leaning Democratic compared with 48 percent Republican. Pew’s benchmark year of 1994 found Republicans held a 51-47 percent edge. Pew last week reported polling results that included 88 percent of Republicans favoring[...]

Posted 2 weeks ago

Sep 30

2024

Unpacking Byron Brown’s move to OTB

Byron Brown is as good as gone from City Hall. It’s good for the city, given his nearly 19-year reign of error. Mayor-in waiting Chris Scanlon is an unproven commodity, but he’s got to be an improvement. But Brown getting a raise to take command of the troubled OTB certainly doesn’t represent good government. Here’s my take: Brown is making the move, as reported by J. Dale Shoemaker, for a couple of reasons, starting with money. The mayor is getting a huge bump in salary, from $178,518 to $295,000 next year and the possibility of still more in 2026 and[...]

Posted 2 weeks ago

Sep 27

2024

More newsroom cuts at The Buffalo News

Lee Enterprises is taking another bite out of the newsroom of The Buffalo News. A big bite. Sources tell me Lee has mandated that 10 jobs be cut from a newsroom that has an estimated 55 positions. Five of the cuts will come via either buyouts or layoffs. In addition, five vacant positions will be eliminated altogether. We’re talking downsizing approaching 20 percent, in one fell swoop. And it’s not just a loss of bodies, which translates into less coverage of our communities, but the loss of institutional knowledge when veterans walk out the door. Keep in mind that peak[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

Sep 15

2024

Arena/stadium planning done right

They’re thinking big in Carolina. The hockey Hurricanes just unveiled an ambitious $1 billion plan to develop 80 acres into a mixed use campus. That’s on top of a $300 million renovation to its PNC Arena, which sits adjacent to the North Carolina State’s football stadium. It’s funny what you can do when you put sports facilities next to each other – located in the city proper, no less. Buffalo News hockey writer Mike Harrington noted the lack of progress around KeyBank Center, aside from LECOM Harborcenter and a couple of hotels. Alumni Plaza has been untouched for more than[...]

Posted 4 weeks ago

Sep 8

2024

So much for reforming OTB

The Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. stayed true to form last week in hiring Byron Brown as its new president and CEO. OTB, perhaps the sleaziest government operation in Western New York, conducted what appears to be a sham recruitment process leading up to the mayor’s hiring. Officials have been largely silent about how they went about advertising the job, aside from Chairman Dennis Bassett telling The Buffalo News the agency posted the job on LinkedIn. LinkedIn? No ads in trade journals? No outreach through recruiters? If OTB did anything beyond LinkedIn, officials aren’t saying. OTB officials said 133 people[...]

Posted 1 month ago