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.
May 17
2012
Investigative Post and WGRZ 2 On Your Side team up to document Demone Smith’s history of not filing campaign disclosure reports on time and failure to pay more than $4,000 in fines.
May 17
2012
The New York Board of Elections has slapped a campaign committee controlled by Common Council Majority Leader Demone Smith with another fine for failing to file financial disclosure reports. The most recent fine of $1,121 is at least the seventh assessed against Smith campaign committees. The fines total $4,084 and the committees have yet to pay any of them, including one that dates to March 2008. Smith, in an interview Tuesday, said he is working with the Board of Elections in an effort to reduce the fines. “We’re trying to get them lowered,” he said. However, John Conklin, a spokesman[...]
May 13
2012
Rumore fielded questions on a wide range of issues, ranging from teacher evaluations to contract negotiations to his future plans in the face of a call for his resignation from at least one state education official.
May 13
2012
Investigate Post launched an interview program Sunday with WGRZ 2 On Your Side featuring an interview with Phil Rumore, president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation. In the interview, Rumore said reaching an agreement on teacher evaluations will require more than consensus on how to account for student absenteeism. The quality of standardized tests and the English language proficiency of students also need to be considered, Rumore said, as well as how to evaluate teachers on the academic performance of special education students. He disagreed with those who say the school district is failing students. “I don’t think the schools are[...]
May 11
2012
In addition to co-producing investigative stories, Investigative Post and WGRZ 2 On Your Side will broadcast weekly interviews with newsmakers that will air on Daybreak Sunday. Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney will conduct the interviews. This Sunday he puts questions to Phil Rumore, president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation. Rumore has lead the BTF since 1981. He and the union are currently embroiled in a dispute with state education officials over proposed teacher evaluations. In their interview, Heaney quizzes Rumore about the quarrel over evaluations and a number of other topics, including whether the BTF president intends to seek another[...]
May 9
2012
Lee Coppola, whose career has included stints as an investigative reporter, journalism school dean and federal prosecutor, has been elected president of the board of Investigative Post. “Lee has been a practitioner and champion of investigative reporting his entire career. I’m very excited to have someone with his depth and breadth of experience leading our board,” said Jim Heaney, editor and executive director of Investigative Post, a non-profit investigative reporting center focused on issues of concern to Buffalo and Western New York. “Being elected president of the board of directors is an honor I will try to uphold by helping[...]
May 7
2012
Momentum is building to do something with the Outer Harbor and just days after a group of community activists called for developing its 120 acres into a park Mayor Byron Brown make a pitch for City Hall to play a role, perhaps a big one. The Outer Harbor is state land, controlled by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. The NFTA wants to get out of the real estate business, which has begged the question, who would assume responsibility for developing the property? Some think the task should fall to the Erie Harbor Canal Development Corp., a subsidiary of Empire State[...]
May 5
2012
Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney discusses a proposal to redevelop the outer harbor as a park, without significant development, and how much the public should pay to finance improvements to Ralph Wilson Stadium to retain the Buffalo Bills.