by Tony Farina It was nearly three years ago that Gov.  Andrew Cuomo and Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster rammed the controversial Hamister Hotel project down the throats of a hesitant city council, telling anyone who would listen as an election approached that the Hamister deal was pretty much do-or-dieRead More

Dear Judge Bayger: I had a difficult delivery when my son was born.  When he was 3 years old, he started having seizures.  He’s now 12 years old and the seizures are getting worse.  I’ve consulted with pediatricians and they have indicated that something may have occurred during the childRead More

by Joseph Kissel Four years ago, the idea to build a Seneca tax-free gas station at the casino caused state and local leaders to question the legality of such a move. Four years later, the site is now fenced off and an excavator stands ready to break ground. Reports haveRead More

by Mike Hudson Inquiring minds want to know: What’s the big hurry to get City Controller Maria Brown out of office next week when Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster is letting City Administrator Donna Owens hang around until July 8? Both women were canned by the mayor in the sameRead More

by Mike Hudson Back in 2010, for Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, it was all about high speed rail. President Barack Obama had committed to funding the concept, with New York State alone to receive $151 million to promote the concept. Dyster used the publicity to justify spending $44 million onRead More

by Mike Hudson & Frank Parlato Since no lease agreement exists between Amtrak and the city for space in the Whirlpool Street “Intermodal Transportation Center,” there is no guarantee that Amtrak will move into the $44 million facility at all, much less any sort of agreement as to how muchRead More

The Niagara Falls International Railway Station & Intermodal Transportation Center – a name which is, by the way, a mouthful of grammatically contorted & ponderously laughable exaggeratedly glorified windy pretentiousness and with its nine word name it is an example of name sprawl. Of the 51 railroad stations in AmericaRead More

by Jim Ostrowski This may come as a shock but I have a slightly different take on the corruption scandal that led to the indictment and conviction of former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former New York State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.  I like to startRead More

by Matt Ricchiazzi If we could ever put the interests of institutional advancement over the prissy sensibilities of cynics, we may be able to make something spectacular of the The Albright–Knox Art Gallery which barely earns 200,000 attendees annually at its Delaware Park location. To put that in perspective, theRead More

by Joseph Kissel Straight from the pockets of commuters and tourists, the Grand Island tolls bring in $18 million a year for the NYS Thruway Authority. And they also create pollution and rush-hour traffic jams virtually any time of the year but especially during the region’s critical tourist season. “It’sRead More

by Joseph Kissel It’s certainly one of the nicest, best-maintained houses on 18th Street. Inside, the meticulously clean house has been thoroughly updated while retaining the original architectural details that make this middle-class Niagara Falls home unique. Part of what makes that home unique is the owner, an Airbnb “superhost”Read More

by Mike Hudson Six years ago, Dick Palladino ran to become business manager of Laborers Local 91 here based on a single premise – to clean up the once troubled union, and rid it of the last vestiges of the corrupt element that once controlled it for as long asRead More

by Tony Farina Thanks to the tireless efforts of Niagara Falls Councilmen Kenny Tompkins and Ezra Scott Jr., the Niagara Falls Memorial Day Parade will launch the holiday weekend on Saturday starting at 10 a.m. at City Market and continue down Pine Avenue, eventually concluding at the Niagara Falls VeteransRead More

by Frank Parlato Erie County Sheriff Timothy B. Howard, once again, is reminding motorists that the nanny state ‘Click It or Ticket’ revenue generator will be in effect between May 23 to June 5, just ahead of one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. The county sheriff’s departmentRead More

by Mike Hudson Results of an audit released this week by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development were sharply critical of the city’s much vaunted and insanely expensive relationship with the Isaiah 61 organization, backing up much of the Niagara Falls Reporter’s coverage of the situation during theRead More

by Mike Hudson Last week, the Niagara Falls Reporter predicted that City Administrator Donna Owens was going to be given the axe by Mayor Paul Dyster. This week, Dyster showed up at City Hall, axe in hand and let her have it. He also announced that, if the council approves,Read More

by Mike Hudson High-priced hotel rooms are what John Percy’s all about. The globe-trotting Percy, CEO of the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp., typically spends your money — sent to him by Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster — on five-star accommodations when he visits London, Delhi, Mumbai, Prague, Berlin, Geneva, MilanRead More

Arby’s has introduced a new sandwich dubbed The Loaded Italian.  The subtle mafia implication aside, is this use of a peoplehood to describe food appropriate? Or is it a misappropriation of a culture motivated by commercial gain?  Sure, reasonable minds can disagree. But substitute the word Italian with Jew, Black,Read More