CCS Oncology, the region’s second largest oncology group with offices throughout Western New York, including Niagara Falls, will be going to State Supreme Court in a matter of days in an attempt to stop Independent Health from dropping insurance coverage for more than 500 of its cancer patients, effective Jan.Read More

“I’m happy it is settled, it has been quite a stretch,” said Matteo Anello on Wednesday, the day after the Niagara Falls City Council voted unanimously to settle his federal free-speech lawsuit dating back nine years for $156,414.25 with $40,469 going to Anello and the rest to his attorneys inRead More

While Mayor Paul Dyster’s proposed 2017 budget includes a $172,000 payment from Amtrak as a tenant at the currently empty $43 million train station, there is still no agreement on a lease although in a statement to the Niagara Falls Reporter on Wednesday, Amtrak said work on an agreement isRead More

Perhaps the great Will Rogers said it best:  “If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” All of us who know and love dogs understand what the great man was saying because I’m sure most of us feel exactly theRead More

Is  former State Senator George Maziarz out of the woods nearly two years after he left office under the cloud of a federal investigation?  While Maziarz left office denying he was being chased out, it appears the investigation into Maziarz’s campaign account is now in the hands of the StateRead More

When William Hochul Jr. announced earlier this month that he was resigning as U. S. Attorney for the Western District of New York effective Oct. 28 after serving as the top federal prosecutor in the 17-county area since 2010, it caught many local attorneys and others by surprise. The announcementRead More

  The Echo Club at 341 Portage Road in Niagara Falls, a five-story stone building steeped in history and allegedly the home of spirits from long ago, will reopen its doors this week, beginning Friday (Oct. 14), just in time for the Halloween season with a full plate of entertainmentRead More

  “It may be the start of something very positive,” according to Niagara Falls Council Chairman Andrew Touma Wednesday night after a public forum attracted an enthusiastic crowd of at least 100 people about the possibility of bringing in a discount grocery store to the Highland Avenue neighborhood. Sponsored byRead More

As we reported last week, Niagara Falls city lawmakers were surprised by the hefty city hall pay raises for administrators contained in Mayor Paul Dyster’s proposed 2017 spending plan, and as Council Chairman Andrew Touma said on Wednesday, “it is not the right time for substantial pay raises,” given theRead More

Mayor Paul Dyster’s $91 million proposed budget for 2017 includes some hefty raises for several staffers, including his own secretary, and is coming under fire from from a former city economic development chief who called the proposed salary hikes “a slap in the face” to the taxpayers of the cityRead More

So what’s up with the state acquisition of the historic Hotel Niagara, the legendary Niagara Falls hotel at 210 Rainbow Blvd. in Niagara Falls? USA Niagara, one of the state’s development agencies under Empire State Development, which played a big role in the state-backed Hamister Hotel project, acquired the once-grandRead More

The Northpointe Council’s methadone clinic in Niagara Falls, which only a few short months ago was on track to move to a Sixth Street site that some residents were resisting, will remain at its current location at the Trott Access Center on 11th Street thanks to bipartisan efforts of severalRead More

Promising transparency and a new path that provides hope, faith and trust in government, businessman JC Seneca of the Cattaraugus Territory announced today that he is running for president of the Seneca Nation of Indians in the election scheduled for Nov. 1. Seneca, 56, chairman of the One Nation Organization,Read More

It appears the planned citywide property reassessment in Niagara Falls, the first in 14 years, is not necessarily a done deal just yet after many taxpayers voiced strong opposition to the plan at last Tuesday’s public hearing in council chambers. “People were obviously concerned,” said Council President Andrew Touma onRead More

  by Tony Farina Residents of Niagara Falls who want to learn more about the planned citywide property reassessment should make a point to attend next Tuesday’s (Sept. 6) council meeting at City Hall when officials including Assessor James Bird will brief lawmakers on the reassessment process. Joining Bird inRead More

    Well, the Buffalo Bills have opened camp to prepare for their second season under head coach Rex Ryan.  Could this be the year the Bills end the longest playoff drought in major sports? Of course we won’t really know the answer to that question for some time, probablyRead More

Political operative and former Erie County Democratic Chairman Steve Pigeon faces nine felony counts in a state prosecution involving former State Supreme Court Justice John Michalek who has already pleaded guilty to two felony counts, including taking bribe, and who is expected to be a key witness against Pigeon ifRead More

  The first citywide property reassessment in 14 years is likely to begin in November, says Niagara Falls Assessor James Bird, with the new rates for taxpayers likely to be included with the school tax bill of August, 2018, if all goes according to plan. “A lot of people believeRead More

The big political news this week, of course, was the nomination of New York billionaire Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for president at the GOP convention in Cleveland. Prominent among the Trump supporters is Buffalo developer Carl Paladino, front and center in front of the podium at the headRead More

Carrie Cohen was a big-time prosecutor with corruption-fighting U. S. Attorney Preet Bharara in the Southern District of New York and before that, with the State Attorney General’s office.  But she left it all behind a few months ago to return to possibly greener financial pastures in private practice withRead More