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.

Jun 9

2025

Another alt-weekly is not in Buffalo’s future

Alternative weekly newspapers are “alive and well,” according to the Columbia Journalism Review. I asked Geoff Kelly, my deputy editor, to read over the story and tell me what he thinks, as he edited Buffalo’s last two alt-weeklies before joining Investigative Post. Here’s what he had to say: We should be so fortunate as those cities where alt-weeklies persist. I’ve been editor of three alt-weeklies, one in Pittsburgh and two in Buffalo. Two are long dead, and the one where I started in this business, Artvoice — which used to be a force in this town — is an online[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Jun 9

2025

Blah-blah-blah on the mayoral campaign trail

Most everyone recognizes that fixing the city’s fiscal problems is job one for whoever is sitting in the mayor’s chair come January 1. There are, however, a lot of other issues that deserve discussion and consideration during the final weeks of the campaign, leading up to the June 24 Democratic primary. Instead, I’m hearing too much blah-blah-blah. You’d expect the daily newspaper to provide the most substantive coverage, but I’m disappointed in much of its issues-related coverage that consists of publishing written statements from the candidates rather than reported analysis. Lazy journalism. Take the issue of police reform. In its[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Jun 2

2025

Incompetency and arrogance in service to cruelty

Below is the complete verion of WeeklyPost, the newsletter we send via email on Sunday mornings. Our Monday Morning Read typically includes a portion of that newsletter; today, we’re publishing it in its entirety. If you don’t already subscribe, you can do so here. ICE did it again. Back in March it deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador in defiance of a court order, an action that generated international attention and condemnation. ICE officials said the deportation was the result of an “administrative error.” Not that they’ve attempted to bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States. Well, ICE[...]

Posted 5 months ago

May 26

2025

The right’s double standard on free speech

Today’s topic: free speech. It’s under siege. The right to protest. The right to publish. The right to speak your mind. Donald Trump is leading the charge, supported by his army of MAGA quislings. Let me put the hypocrisy in context. American Nazis and their ilk have long exercised their First Amendment rights. Remember when the ACLU went to court to defend the rights of neo-Nazis to march in Skokie, Illinois, back in 1977. Or, more recently, the “Unite The Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. You know, the one where marchers chanted “Jews will not replace us!” Few[...]

Posted 5 months ago

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 5 months 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 5 months 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 7 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 7 months ago