Alderman: ‘Accomplished What I Set Out to Do’ NORTH TONAWANDA—Alderman Phillip R. “Russ” Rizzo will retire from public service next month, and released the following statement: “Serving my neighbors in North Tonawanda has been the greatest privilege of my life. I have always strived to deliver effective representation for theRead More

NORTH TONAWANDA—The decision by longtime political fixture Philip R. “Russ” Rizzo to retire from public life marks the end of a great career in civic service, and is a bittersweet occasion for local Republicans and the North Tonawanda community, the head of the Lumber City’s Republican Party said tonight. “RussRead More

The ink on North Tonawanda 1st Ward Alderman Phillip “Russ” Rizzo’s resignation letter had barely dried Wednesday afternoon at NT City Hall before the rumor mill there began to churn out possible successors. One of the names rapidly rising to the top of some local oddsmakers, though, is a nameRead More

Following in the footsteps of his predecessor George Maziarz, Senator Robert Ortt was named last week to the state senate’s powerful Standing Committee on Energy and Telecommunications, or Energy Committee, for short. “The (Energy Committee) oversees the development of legislation and policy related to energy and communications sectors. Committee membersRead More

Neil Patterson, Sr., a member of the Tuscarora Council, will present “Little Known Facts in Tuscarora History” at the Lutheran Church at 915 Oneida St., Lewiston on Thursday, January 26 at 7pm. Much of local Tuscarora history has been written by white people, with little or no input from the Tuscaroras. Council memberRead More

Informant Ignasiak, like Bruce, was the true criminal in the case This week we continue our series on former Assistant US Attorney Anthony M. Bruce, who was with Department of Justice for 38 years before retiring in 2016. In one of Bruce’s more famous cases, against 20 members of theRead More

Food-stamp recipients can use their taxpayer-funded benefit to order online from retailers like Amazon under a new Obama administration initiative that aims to facilitate the shopping experience for rural and urban residents. It marks the latest of many costly experiments by the administration to expand the fraud-infested program, which hasRead More

Oblivious to the fact that most have “had it up to here” with his failed policies, and as a dress rehearsal for his run for the White House in a couple of years, Gov. Andrew Cuomo hit the road this week carrying his “Happy Days are here again, the skyRead More

North Tonawanda Alderwoman-at-Large Catherine Schwandt will be resigning from her elected position with the city of North Tonawanda to pursue a full-time position with the New York Power Authority (NYPA), she announced this week. NYPA is the behemoth, quasi-governmental authority that the late Robert Moses headed and which, since 1957,Read More

By Frank Parlato; Firing him on the last day before his job became protected by civil service law, Mayor Paul Dyster has fired Johnny Destino, the director of purchasing for Niagara Falls. Destino was hired in May 2015, shortly after Dyster announced he was running for reelection as mayor ofRead More

This just in: Since publishing our article on “Are Democrats Scrambling to Find a Job for Ceretto”, we have been informed that former Assemblyman John Ceretto (Democrat  -> Republican -> Democrat) has landed a job with NY State Parks and will be stationed at the Niagara Falls State Park. His “title”Read More

 2016—year in review,  2017—continuing the path By Nate McMurray Supervisor Grand Island Roundabout: I spent the first month in office working to keep a campaign promise by literally sitting in the waiting room until the DOT agreed to commit to a new landscaping plan for the roundabout (adding rock and 14Read More

It seems fitting that the last post to appear on the Facebook page of former Assemblyman John D. Ceretto was one memorializing the attack on Pearl Harbor. For Ceretto, it is not Dec. 7th that will be a date that lives in infamy, but rather, Nov. 8th. That was theRead More

Buffalo – Niagara, one of the last Uber holdouts in the progressive nation; By Jim Ostrowski; You might think that the Western New York political class is embarrassed about being one of the few places on earth to make Uber-driving a crime.  You would be wrong.  These folks have noRead More

A few weeks ago this publication began seeking people wrongly accused of crimes by former Assistant US Attorney Anthony M. Bruce, who retired last year after 38 years with the US Attorney’s office. Public service announcements appeared in Artvoice, the Niagara Falls Reporter, the South Buffalo News and the FrontRead More

Before it was known as Delaware North, the global Buffalo-based concessioner called itself Emprise. A reporter at the time who relentlessly investigated the company and its business practices, Don Bolles, was murdered in a car bombing in 1976. In 1972, the House Select Committee on Crime held hearings concerning Emprise’s connections withRead More

Earlier this year the Niagara Gazette announced that a group of locals organized something called “Reclaim Niagara” – formed to “get Albany out of our pockets.” To combat the “exploitation of our resources by public authorities and state entities” is its stated goal. It is described as “a growing movementRead More

By Mark Laurrie, Supt. of Schools for the Niagara Falls School District Niagara Falls, NY. Back in June when I became Superintendent, I identified objectives I wanted to achieve to move the District forward. Aligned with the Board of Education’s Strategic Goals, these objectives are specific and designed to support students andRead More

BY MATT RICCHIAZZI When acting District Attorney Mike Flaherty levied five felony charges against conservative activist Rus Thompson – in the heat of a contested Democrat primary – it was so wrought with intrigue that it is hard to believe the charges were not politically motivated. After all a staunchRead More

Mayor Paul Dyster’s 2017 final budget for the city of Niagara Falls, approved by the city council last week, is a document based more on political calculation than fiscal responsibility. After the vote, councilmembers nearly sustained injuries patting themselves on the back for cutting a comparatively miniscule $550,000 from theRead More