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.

Mar 6

2019

OTB protecting its perks

The regional Off Track Betting Corporation has a story – two stories, actually – and they’re sticking to them. Officials there continue to insist that the OTB is authorized to provide health, dental and vision insurance free of charge to its board of directors. Gold-plated insurance, described to me by one health insurance expert as “literally the richest plan available.” I reported in December that the state Attorney General issued an opinion in 2008 that appears to conclude that OTBs are not permitted to provide health insurance coverage to board members. President Henry Wojtaszek responded by pledging to ask the[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Feb 28

2019

Heaney talks OTB on ‘Pressroom

Jim Heaney walks Susan Arbetter through his recent story on the Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp. OTB officials, he said on The Capitol Pressroom, are resisting calls to stop providing health insurance to board members and to disclose who is using tickets purchased to attend concerts and sporting events.

Posted 6 years ago

Dec 11

2018

Buffalo Billion criminals get off easy

Hold up a gas station and you’re looking at a minimum of five years in prison. Get napped with an ounce of crack and the mandatory minimum is five to ten years. Engage in bid rigging, and in the process violate the public’s trust and cost taxpayers potentially million of dollars? If you’re Louis Ciminelli, the sentence is 2 years and 4 months. For Alain Kaloyeros, 3½ years. Minus time off for good behavior, of course. And don’t worry about starting your sentence anytime soon. You’re a free man until you and your high-priced lawyers have exhausted the appeals process.[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Dec 4

2018

OTB’s part-time board enjoys gold-plated perks

The workload is modest, as is the pay. But, oh, the benefits. The public service corporation that manages off-track betting operations in western and central New York provides free health insurance to its board members in exchange for showing up for meetings two days a month. And the perks aren’t limited to health coverage. Board members are eligible for dental and vision insurance, too. The coverage was described by one health insurance expert as “literally the richest plan available.” Indeed, board members have access to plans that feature a $5 copay for generic prescription drugs, a $15 copay for routine[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Dec 3

2018

Ciminelli sentenced for corruption conviction

Buffalo developer Louis Ciminelli was sentenced to 28 months in prison and fined $500,000 by a federal judge in Manhattan Monday. Ciminelli was convicted in July for his role in a bid rigging scheme that landed his company, LPCiminelli, a contract worth $26.25 million to build a 1.2 million square foot factory for SolarCity, now Tesla. Alain Kaloyeros, the state official who oversaw the project, was also convicted, along with two developers from Syracuse. Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney, whose reporting in 2014 first exposed the scheme, told WGRZ’s Steve Brown on Monday that he considered the sentence “a[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Nov 28

2018

Double your money with iPost donation

To quote Ringo Star, “It don’t come easy.” To which we’ll add, “Or cheap.” Investigative reporting, that is. Investigative Post does the costly, time-consuming reporting that most local news outlets shy away from because, well, it’s difficult and expensive. The payoff is when we first break major stories and later see change come as a result. The power of our reporting was on full display this summer when a Manhattan jury convicted Alain Kaloyeros, Louis Ciminelli and two Syracuse-based developers on corruption charges. The federal probe that lead to the filing of charges was triggered by reporting done by Investigative[...]

Posted 6 years ago

Nov 17

2018

Tesla opens the door – a crack

The building was completed two years ago and Tesla and its partners at Panasonic have been producing solar roofing materials since last year, but only this week did the company allow the press in for a peek. And only a bit of one. Jim Heaney told Scott Levin of WGRZ that the blatant attempt to spin is the way Tesla has dealt with the press and public since Gov. Andrew Cuomo invested $750 million in state tax dollars to build and equip the plant. Left unanswered by the dog-and-pony show: the quality of jobs being created, how much space is[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Nov 9

2018

Heaney talks “big lie” strategy on ‘Pressroom

What to make President Donald Trump’s banishment of CNN reporter Jim Acosta? Jim Heaney tells Susan Arbetter of The Capitol Pressroom that Trump’s continued assault on journalists is part of a “big lie” strategy intended in part to destabilize democratic institutions. Heaney also discusses a recent Investigative Post story on two economic development programs in Western New York that go begging for takers. Arbetter will discuss state and national politics this coming Tuesday at an Investigative Post event at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. Details and tickets can be found here.

Posted 7 years ago