The Hamister Hotel deal is exactly the sort of fiasco that makes Niagara Falls such a special place. Choose a politically connected “developer” who apparently doesn’t have any money, hand him a parcel of prime real estate for pennies on the dollar, along with tax breaks and other incentives, thenRead More

At the behest of the Niagara Falls City Council, the New York State Legislature created the city Water Board back in 2002. Locally, the primary cheerleader for spinning off the city’s water and wastewater treatment services was Paul Dyster, then a freshman Council member and now mayor of the city.Read More

By Emma Gibbs As another tourist season approaches, the New York State Parks Office is trying to fine tune a sale pitch explaining to some eight million annual visitors why the American side viewing area of the Horseshoe Falls is off limits. Terrapin Point, located at the western end ofRead More

Later this month, and for the second time during his five years in office, Gov. Andrew Cuomo will make a decision that has enormous implications for the future of Western New York’s water resources. The Governor will either deny or support the application of the small city of Waukesha, Wisconsin,Read More

In addition to calling for the termination of Niagara Falls Water Board Executive Director Paul Drof, city Councilman Ken Tompkins has introduced a resolution with Councilman Ezra Scott asking that all five members of the Water Board by approved by the mayor and the Council, so as to regain cityRead More

Please see the following statement from State Senator Rob Ortt (R,C,I – North To-nawanda) regarding the State Senate’s Budget that seeks to prohibit local governments from adopting laws or policies that impede the enforcement of federal homeland secu-rity laws. “New Yorkers are sick and tired of working hard, playing byRead More

Guest View by Leo Zientara II I do not know if this is something your paper is interested in covering, but no one at the water board cares so I thought maybe this would help There is a broken water main under Pierce Ave right near Whirlpool. The leak hasRead More

By Emma Gibbs Nowhere in either his proposed or adopted 2016 Budgets did Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster have the courage to introduce the plan he now wants to ask the City Council to approve sometime in April. You read it here first. Niagara Falls’ Chief Executive has plans toRead More

By Emma Gibbs The drama surrounding the NCAA basketball Final Fours, both Men’s and Women’s, approach what promises to be a frenzied finish. On the Men’s side Oklahoma faces Villanova, while the surprising ‘tainted’’ Orange of Syracuse University meets up with the number one-seeded Tarheels of North Carolina. The Women’sRead More

In perhaps his finest hour in his first year as a Niagara Falls city councilman, Kenneth Tompkins announced Wednesday night there will be a Memorial Day Parade this year only hours after the Veterans Memorial Commission had announced the parade had been suspended due to lack of funding.  And theRead More

Total of grants to medical center in 2016 reaches $6 million mark   The New York State Department of Health has awarded a $450,000 grant to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center to support the continuation of a successful program that ensures better post-hospital care while reducing hospital readmissions and nursingRead More

Program integrates stories of sexual abuse survivors with the perspective of professionals who interface daily with the problem of sexual abuse One in 10 children will be sexually abused by the time they turn 18 with 90 percent of them abused by someone they know.  You can make a differenceRead More

The fraction of a second in which an accident occurs has the power to change your life forever. It can be exceptionally challenging – physically, emotionally and financially – to move forward after a serious personal injury. Today, I am focusing on auto accidents. I have handled hundreds of automobileRead More

The Niagara Falls Republican Leadership is planning to honor their lone elected representative in city government, Councilman Kenny Tompkins, on Thursday, April 7, from 6 p.m. to 8 p. m. at Gagsters, 708 E. Market Street. Tompkins, who campaigned on taking a business approach to running city government, has alreadyRead More

Our friends at Liberty Tax Service have sent us a reminder that the deadline for filing a tax return to get a refund that might be due is April 19th this year as the IRS has extended the filing deadline from April 15 because of Emancipation Day. According to EdwinRead More

Following our publication of the picture of “Peg, the witch,” last week, a purportedly ghostly presence which appeared against the backdrop of a black couch in a North Tonawanda home, we have been haunted by readers who claim they have seen ghostly visitors in their own homes. A few claimRead More

Construction sites are dusty places, but does that make them dangerous? If the dust contains pulverized rock or concrete there is more concern. One study showed silicosis deaths in the construction industry are higher than any other industry in the United States. Construction workers are clearly at risk of developingRead More

  Is the decision by the city’s Underground Railroad Commission to broaden the scope of what was to have been the Underground Railroad interpretive center at the Whirlpool Street train station a tacit admission that Niagara Falls has little if any Underground Railroad history of its own to begin with?Read More

Before the Civil War, the Ohio River meant freedom. Even though it was the primary water route for the still-thriving American slave trade, the river was also the border between the slave states of the South and the free states of the Northwest Territory. This attracted escaping slaves and abolitionistsRead More

The Castellani Freedom Crossing exhibit at the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center and the Underground Railroad interpretive center at the new Whirlpool Street train station won’t just be competing with each other, they’ll be competing with museums all around the country designed to lure tourists interested in former slaves escapingRead More