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“Baby Shawn” Kennedy is a happy 5-year-old boy with a big problem. He is full of life and always smiling, but has been diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer, Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a very aggressive cancer located on his brain stem.

Businessman Dave Bieksza, who owns a commercial property at 259 24th Street, has been battling the Niagara Falls Water Board for five years over what the board refers to as an “availability fee,” $20 a month charged to property owners in the city who have no water service.

Although the Dyster administration has had more than five years to come to an agreement with Amtrak and the Underground Railroad Interpretive Center for use of the new, $44 million train station on Whirlpool Street, market the facility to other prospective tenants and come up with a budget to run the place, it has done none of those things.

Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster hasn’t said a word about the $44 million train station he built on Whirlpool Street in weeks, leaving public pronouncements about the project to his associate, City Planner Thomas DeSantis.

When the Niagara Falls Reporter broke the story of city Councilwoman Kristen Grandinetti’s draconian anti-cat legislation here a couple of weeks ago, we had no idea that she would become the target of harassment and threats from cat lovers across the country.

The ways in which the Niagara Frontier, and the city of Niagara Falls in particular, has been ripped off for decades by Albany has been a recurring theme for the Niagara Falls Reporter since the paper was founded 16 years ago.

By the time the Niagara Falls State Park Landscape Improvements plan and south Robert Moses Parkway upgrade are finished sometime next year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo will have spent $70 million derived from Niagara Greenway, “Buffalo Billion” and “NY Works” economic development programs. That’s more than $140 for every man, woman and child living in the city of Niagara Falls.

Since The Reporter broke a story about illegal dumping at a city-operated composting facility last week, the State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has launched an investigation into the illegal dumping. On the same day, last Thursday, Department of Public Works supervisors instructed employees to put sweeper dirt in dumpsters rather than atop mounds already at the composting site.

Acclaimed singer/songwriter/pianist Christina Custode will perform acoustic arrangements of her original music and will be shooting a live video on Saturday (April 30) at Niagara Community College, 3111 Saunders Settlement Rd. in Sanborn. Custode, a Niagara Falls artist who has won many local and national honors, invites her fans toRead More

The Judges and Police Executive Conference of Niagara County honored the group’s law enforcement officers of the year last Saturday night at Antonio’s Banquet and Conference Center in Niagara Falls.

Dave Trane has announced he is seeking both the Lewiston Town Board’s appointment as town Highway Superintendent and will be running for the office in the November elections.   The position has been vacant since February with the death of Douglas Janese who was re-elected last November in a narrowRead More

You’ve seen his ad in this newspaper and elsewhere, and now retired State Supreme Court Justice Frank Bayger is inviting you to submit legal questions pertaining to personal injury or wrongful death cases to him for a published response.  Just email your questions to Judge Bayger, a Hall of FameRead More

As each academic year nears its end, the Board of Education and District staff celebrate the more than 100 business and not-for-profit partners, as well as parents, grandparents, and other volunteers, who take an active role in students’ education year after year.

The most recent project I’ve been involved with was helping select a new operator for Sal Maglie Stadium. Needless to say, I think the City of Niagara Falls has hit a home run with the new group currently making major aesthetic improvements to the ball park – including plans to erect a new scoreboard and playing host to major youth baseball tournaments.

by Nicholas A. Pelosino, Jr., Esq. We all know that grandparents do many things for their grandchildren and these meaningful relationships are as varied as the people in them and the families of which they are a part. Grandparents may become caretakers when needed; grandparents can have special teaching roles;Read More

by Jim Ostrowski The older I get, the more I think that politics is a battle of the dictionaries.  Whoever has the best words, wins. The political movement I have been active in for 35 years is the contemporary revival of the movement that is responsible for most of whatRead More

by J. Gary DiLaura In order to get America back on its feet we need to create jobs for the American people and do it fast. We are in an energy and economic crisis. We must become energy independent if we are to survive as a Nation. Right now theRead More

Aries: (March 21 – April 19): Attractive, but wall-eyed Libra seems to be staring at you. Neptune in 8th house prompts sudden job–related travel to exotic locale with plenty of money. Avoid extradition. “I can’t wait any longer!” is something you will shout through a random keyhole at 3 a.m.Read More

In reading about Council member Kristen Grandinetti’s boneheaded idea about fining or jailing people who are taking humane steps to manage the area’s feral cat population, I couldn’t help but think that it’s too bad we can’t trap, spay and release Grandinetti somewhere other than Niagara Falls.