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.

Nov 15

2023

Finally, answers on sheriff’s helicopter use

Since 2018, the Erie County Sheriff’s helicopter has rescued 14 people, according to records released by the sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office has cited rescues to justify buying a new $10 million helicopter. The records don’t indicate if any of the rescues saved people in life-threatening situations, however. Here’s what records released pursuant to a Freedom of Information Law request from Investigative Post show: In 2021, the helicopter picked up two people from atop a grain elevator when one experienced a medical episode related to diabetes after the pair had climbed to the elevator’s roof, according to sheriff’s records and[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Nov 12

2023

Monday Morning Read

Subscribe to WeeklyPost and you’ll receive our latest reporting and Jim Heaney’s commentary in your inbox Sunday mornings. Brian Higgins has confirmed he’s leaving Congress in February to take over the reins at Shea’s Performing Arts Center. The move has been in the works for a while, as our Geoff Kelly reported back in September. Higgins, in an interview with The Buffalo News, said Congress is “in a very, very bad place right now.” Yeah, Congress is a mess, but he’s known that for a long time. If he didn’t want to continue, he shouldn’t have run for another term. Once[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Nov 6

2023

Hochul doubles down on a mistake

Putting a huge industrial park in rural Genesee County was a mistake to begin with. The site was too rural. It lacked infrastructure. Auto dependent. That was the conclusion of a smart-growth analysis mandated by state law. State economic development officials used a loophole to green light the location anyway, and Steve Hyde and his Genesee County Economic Development Center went to work, thanks to some $43 million in state assistance. For nearly a decade, progress was slow. The site, known as STAMP, or Science Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park, remained fields and farmland. No tenants were to be had.[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Nov 5

2023

Monday Morning Read

Get Monday Morning Read delivered to your inbox Sunday mornings by subscribing here. Moog, which shook down the Erie County IDA for its 14th subsidy earlier this year, reported a 35 percent jump in profits for the third quarter. Reported The Buffalo News: “The company said it expects its ongoing pricing and simplification efforts to further improve Moog’s profitability in the coming years.” Ken Kruly has last-minute news regarding this week’s general election. Nick Langworthy was one of 24 House Republicans who voted last week to expel George Santos. The measure failed. Buffalo Rising had an interesting podcast interview with Frits Abell. I find this ironic: politicians complaining we’re[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Oct 22

2023

Monday Morning Read

Subscribe to WeeklyPost and get Jim Heaney’s take a day early. A lot of folks agreed with the decision to allow college athletes to get paid for endorsement deals. But it’s quickly gotten out of hand. Market Watch reports on 10 athletes earning more than $1 million in endorsement deals, led by Bronny James, son of LeBron, who is pocketing an estimated $5.9 million even though he has yet to play a game for UCLA. Perhaps more troubling, as reported by The New York Times, is the practice of boosters ponying up to pay players. Reports The Times: The rapid[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Oct 16

2023

Heaney discusses iPost, journalism and democracy

Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney was the guest Sunday morning on on Sree’s Sunday #NYTReadalong. Guest host Neil Parekh interviewed Heaney on the work of Investigative Post, the rise of nonprofit news sites, the legacy of retired Washington Post Editor Marty Baron and the threat posed to democracy by the decline of daily newspapers. “Government that’s not watched is going to drift towards self-interest, corruption and other malfeasance,” Heaney said. The interview portion of the program begins at 14:50, following Parekh’s overview of the Sunday edition of The New York Times, and picks up again at 1:20:23.

Posted 2 years ago

Oct 15

2023

Monday Morning Read

Subscribe to WeeklyPost and get Jim Heaney’s recommended reading in your inbox Sunday mornings. Let’s start with the menu at concession stands at Sabres games, which kicked off Thursday with a dreadful home loss to the New York Rangers. (They lost again last night.) Beer is up to $17 a can – $17.50 if you want craft. Pizza is $9.25 a slice. I could go on, but you get the picture. Season ticket holders get a discount, but still. Delaware North, which recently lost the concession contract for Bills games once the team moves into its new stadium, has promised[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Oct 11

2023

More misdeeds involving Niagara Falls candidate

Guns gone missing and an order to stay away from a former girlfriend are included in the past of Carlton Cain, GOP candidate for Niagara Falls mayor, who once was a top official in the city’s police department. Cain said he doesn’t recall signing an administrative order of protection issued by Acting Police Superintendent Michael Trane in 2019. “I guess if I signed it, it happened,” he said. The woman in question, who was cooperating with an Internal Affairs investigation of Cain, did not return a phone call from Investigative Post. Trane has not responded to an interview request. In[...]

Posted 2 years ago