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 8
2018
Judith Enck offers her blunt assessment of the Trump administration’s assault on the EPA, the Cuomo administration’s failure to pick up the slack at the state level, the danger posed by plastics to the environment and the need for people to vote during an interview June 6 at at the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site.
May 29
2018
Crews are in the homestretch of a seven year project to restore the stretch of Scajaquada Creek that flows through Forest Lawn Cemetery. That work got a boost Tuesday with an announcement that the state, with the support of Senator Chris Jacobs and Assembly Member Sean Ryan, has committed $600,000 to restore nearly four acres of wetlands in the cemetery adjacent to the S curves on Delaware Avenue. Work on the entire $6.8 million project is scheduled to wrap up by the end of the year, provided the final $700,000 in necessary funding is secured. The work will modestly help[...]
May 23
2018
Susan Arbetter quizzes Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney on The Capitol Pressroom about a recent iPost story on gold-plated health insurance benefits provided by the Buffalo school district. Heaney also touched on the recent guilty plea involving the awarding of the contract to develop the SolarCity factory.
May 18
2018
One of three LPCiminelli executives indicted on corruption charges related to the Buffalo Billion program pleaded guilty to felony charges Friday. Kevin Schuler, a company vice president deeply involved in its political operations, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. A bribery charge was dismissed. Schuler made his plea before U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan. Under the plea, as reported by The Buffalo News, Schuler agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. He faces up to three years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. Two other company officials, President Louis Ciminelli and Michael Laipple, are[...]
May 10
2018
Susan Arbetter of The Capitol Pressroom interviews Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney on his recent story about the repeated regulatory violations of JKLM Energy, a hydrofracking company in Pennsylvania founded by Buffalo Bills and Sabres owner Terry Pegula.
May 8
2018
COUDERSPORT – Terry Pegula cashed in when he sold the bulk of his hydrofracking business in 2010 for $4.7 billion. He used a chunk of the change to buy Buffalo’s two major league teams, and made it clear when he purchased the Sabres that he was in it for the sports, not the money. “If I want to make some money, I’ll go drill another well,” he quipped at a press conference. Pegula is, in fact, drilling other wells. He started another fracking company – JKLM Energy, drawing on the first letters of his children’s names – and has been[...]
Apr 7
2018
A hydrofracking company owned by Terry Pegula walked away Friday from a controversial project in Coudersport, PA, that has generated a lot of community opposition. A company called Epiphany Water Solutions has proposed building a plant to treat fracking wastewater, a portion of which would be released into the Allegheny River. Pegula’s fracking company, JKLM Energy, was going to be a major customer of the treatment plant. Pegula owns the Buffalo Sabres and Bills. Opponents argued that the plant’s treatment process is not proven and that the project ran the risk of releasing effluent into the Allegheny with unacceptably high[...]
Apr 2
2018
A State Supreme Court judge has at least temporarily shut down Battaglia Demolition, long a plague on the Seneca Babcock neighborhood. The plant, located about one mile south of downtown, crushes and otherwise processes concrete, bricks, asphalt and other construction and demolition debris. Residents have long complained that the plant and trucks that service it are the source of dust, noise – even rats. Two years ago the state filed suit against the plant owner, Peter Battaglia, contending the facility was a “public nuisance” and lacked necessary permits. On Monday, Judge Deborah Chimes issued an injunction that ordered the plant closed until[...]