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 17

2024

Way too many people can’t read – adults and kids

The numbers are shocking. “Illiteracy has become such a serious problem in our country that 130 million adults are now unable to read a simple story to their children,” reports the National Literacy Institute. That’s half the adult population. That same half has difficulty performing such basic tasks such as reading the labels of their prescription drugs. A little more than half of adults read below a sixth grade reading level. One in five are flat out illiterate. A majority of Americans don’t read a single book through the course of a year. Only one-in-three kids read for pleasure. Etc.[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Nov 12

2024

Time to support Investigative Post

I’ll get right to the point: As a nonprofit newsroom, Investigative Post depends on community support to fund our operation. Not advertisers, not subscribers, but donors. People like you, dear reader. We’re in the midst of our annual drive, during which most of our smaller donors (under $1,000) contribute. This year, we’re again matching donations of up to $1,000 thanks to the generosity of national foundations providing funds under NewsMatch and local companies, including Try-It Distributing. Donors have multiple options. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution. You can do so online or by mailing us a check. (Details[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Nov 10

2024

The numbers behind the vote for president

Let’s unpack the presidential vote. For starters, fewer people voted this year (145 million) than four years ago (158.5 million) despite an estimated growth of 8 million age-eligible citizens. The turnout of registered voters also dropped slightly from four years ago. This helps to explain why Donald Trump won with fewer votes this year (73.6 million) than he garnered in losing (74.2 million) four years ago. He won because Harris received far fewer votes (69.3 million) than Biden (81.3 million) did four years ago. Put another way: Trump did not grow his base. Harris lost a chunk of Biden’s. Closer[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Nov 3

2024

Buffalo’s growing remote workforce

Downtown Buffalo has been hit hard since the pandemic, with a loss of an estimated 20,000 workers. That helps to explain the rise in remote work in our region, as reported last week by Coworking Cafe. The share of people in Buffalo working from home has grown from 4.1% in 2019 to 10.7% in 2023. Our share of the remote workforce is a little below the national average of 13.8 percent. That number in neighboring Rochester is 8.8 percent. Partly as a result of fewer people commuting to work, traffic volume and congestion is down. In Buffalo, the declines were[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 27

2024

Billionaire wants to buy parent company of Buffalo News

A Florida billionaire is making noises about buying Lee Enterprises, and with it, The Buffalo News. The New York Times reported last week that David Hoffmann, worth $1.6 billion, has bought 5.2 percent of Lee’s stock and wants to obtain majority interest. Hoffman told The Times that while he recognizes the newspaper industry’s trend to digital, he believes print still has a future. And he believes in local news. As The Times wrote: “He wants to preserve community news — including more local sports coverage.” The Times provided this background on the 72-year-old investor: Mr. Hoffmann is a relative newcomer to the[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Oct 15

2024

Brown resigns: Addition by subtraction

I wrote a column in December 2022 that posed the question: Is Byron Brown the worst mayor in America? It was prompted by his mishandling of the Christmas blizzard that year. But, as I noted then, it was but the latest example of his ineptitude. Things have only gotten worse since, in particular city finances. Brown, with the cooperation of an ever-compliant Common Council, first burned through $109 million in reserves the mayor inherited from the city’s state-imposed financial control board. Of late, he has used $150 million — and counting — in federal pandemic aid to cover city operating[...]

Posted 8 months ago

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 8 months 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 8 months ago