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Another Look at SoleTurn Before Concert Saturday Night

Another Look at SoleTurn Before Concert Saturday Night

Community News, Featured March 16, 2024 at 5:56 pm

By Tony Farina If you remember songs like Always Something to Remind Me and Crazy for You, you are sure to enjoy the music offerings, featuring something new and something old, from the rock band SoleTurn on Saturday night, March 23, at the famous Sportsmen’s Tavern, 326 Amherst St., Buffalo,Read More

Turtle Aftermath: Giving “Buffalo Niagara” the Boot

Turtle Aftermath: Giving “Buffalo Niagara” the Boot

TURTLE RECAP: CENSORING THOSE WITH A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION Last week’s debacle surrounding the Turtle building should be a major wake up call for the people of Niagara Falls. A Buffalo-based group of Erie County “preservationists” failed miserably in its attempt to landmark the Turtle building which most observers believedRead More

Rock Burger Going Back Home to Player’s Club To Offer One of the Best Burgers in the State, Starting Thursday

Rock Burger Going Back Home to Player’s Club To Offer One of the Best Burgers in the State, Starting Thursday

Community News, Featured March 11, 2024 at 8:13 pm

  By Tony Farina If you are looking for one of the best burgers in the state, you can find Rock Burger in its new location at Players Sports Bar and Grill, 328 Niagara St., beginning Thursday, March 14. Rock Burger, voted as serving the second best burger in theRead More

SoleTurn Will Have Great Musical Show at Sportsmen’s Tavern on March 23

SoleTurn Will Have Great Musical Show at Sportsmen’s Tavern on March 23

Community News, Featured, Local News March 10, 2024 at 2:16 pm

By Tony Farina If you are of sound mind and can put your cell phone aside for a few hours, you may be able to reach a very special place in time by listening to reimagined oldies and some new music to excite your senses courtesy of the rock groupRead More

Shell Shocked: Niagara’s Not-So-Historic Turtle Taken Off Table

Shell Shocked: Niagara’s Not-So-Historic Turtle Taken Off Table

Community News, Featured, Local News, Niagara Falls March 8, 2024 at 9:57 pm

Cultural Appropriation Fails in Falls Council rejects faulty proposal to force faded Turtle building to remain ‘preserved’ Niagara Falls, NY—Common sense prevailed as the City Council rejected Buffalo’s woke quest to designate the 42-year-old fading Turtle building as a historic landmark. At the council meeting, the Buffalo group, known locallyRead More

Turtle Farce: Misleading People for a Land Grab

Turtle Farce: Misleading People for a Land Grab

“Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!”  Earlier this week, Niagara Falls City Council voted against granting the Turtle building a historic landmark designation. The defeat was devastating to the Buffalo outliers behind the “preservation” movement, led by Carl Skompinski and Bernice Radle. SupportersRead More

Another Record-Breaking Return at Batavia Downs

Another Record-Breaking Return at Batavia Downs

Community News, Featured February 27, 2024 at 6:48 pm

By Tony Farina Chairman and CEO Henry Wojtaszek announced on Tuesday that it was another record week and weekend at Batavia Downs Gaming, fueled by a suite-stakes promotion where hockey and concert tickets were given away, gift card drawings on Saturday night, and the Legends and Stars Sports Collectors ExpoRead More

Batavia Downs Continues to Score Big Numbers

Batavia Downs Continues to Score Big Numbers

Featured, Local News, Niagara Falls February 7, 2024 at 5:27 pm

By Tony Farina Spectacular numbers posted once again at Batavia Downs Gaming for the weekend of Feb. 2-4 with a record-setting $14 million in credits played at the gaming facility, nearly 5 percent more than the $13.379 million taken in during the 2023 New Year’s Eve weekend. The announcement ofRead More

Beatles Tribute Friday at Batavia Downs

Beatles Tribute Friday at Batavia Downs

Community News, Featured February 2, 2024 at 4:08 pm

By Tony Farina Beatlemania Magic at Batavia Downs Gaming Beatlemania Magic will be front at center at Batavia Downs Gaming on Friday, Feb. 9, beginning at 7:30 p.m., with general admission tickets at $15 that include a $10 in free play. For all of us who remember and were excitedRead More

Will AI Boom Bypass Niagara, While It Ignites Elsewhere?

Will AI Boom Bypass Niagara, While It Ignites Elsewhere?

Data Campus, Featured, Niagara Falls January 24, 2024 at 9:57 am

While the City of Niagara Falls has stalled a proposed Data Center with a $1.5 billion investment by Urbacon, one of the world’s largest data center developers, and NFR, the city’s largest landowner, other areas in the country, are seeing the need and taking advantage of the AI boom. AnotherRead More

Understanding Gross Income: Expert Advice from Michael S. Gawel, CPA, JD

Understanding Gross Income: Expert Advice from Michael S. Gawel, CPA, JD

Featured, Gawel January 18, 2024 at 10:19 pm

By Michael S. Gawel, CPA, JD I was at Wilbur’s Friday night enjoying a cold PBR and someone asked me, “Mike, what Income do I have to report on my Tax Return?” My simple answer was ALL. Gross income for Federal Income Tax purposes means all income from whatever source,Read More

Will Niagara Falls Mayor Reject NFR’s Data Center as AI Demand Soars?

Will Niagara Falls Mayor Reject NFR’s Data Center as AI Demand Soars?

Data Campus, Featured January 15, 2024 at 8:31 pm

Niagara Falls Redevelopment Reveals $1.5 Billion Data Center Plan Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR) recently revealed a site plan for the first phase of its ambitious $1.5 billion data center project, coined the Niagara Digital Campus. Despite this unveiling, Mayor Robert Restaino has opposed the proposal despite a global surge inRead More

Deciphering Tax Dependents: Expert Advice from Michael S. Gawel, CPA, JD

Deciphering Tax Dependents: Expert Advice from Michael S. Gawel, CPA, JD

Featured, Gawel December 27, 2023 at 1:20 pm

By Michael S. Gawel, CPA, JD Dependency? Who can be claimed as a dependent? Who can claim that person as a dependent? A dependent must be a person, not your dog cat or 56 Chevy. A dependent is an individual who is the taxpayer’s qualifying child or qualifying relative forRead More

How Niagara Falls Can Benefit From The Remarkable Demand For Data Centers

How Niagara Falls Can Benefit From The Remarkable Demand For Data Centers

Data Campus, Featured, Local News December 21, 2023 at 10:42 pm

The Niagara Digital Campus is an innovative, $1.48 billion technology and data center hub that will bring thousands of jobs and cutting-edge technological infrastructure to the City of Niagara Falls. The joint project between Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR) and Urbacon—a Toronto-based developer of state-of-the-art data centers—is privately funded and willRead More

WROTB’s Batavia Downs Sponsors Riviera Theatre Holiday Event

WROTB’s Batavia Downs Sponsors Riviera Theatre Holiday Event

Community News, Featured, Local News December 8, 2023 at 12:39 pm

WROTB Revenue Helps Support Local Communities By Tony Farina The Christmas spirit has arrived and there will be a very special holiday event at the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda on Wednesday night, Dec. 13, at 7 when Batavia Downs sponsors a screening of the 1947 Christmas Classic “Miracle onRead More

Events Center Belongs West of Casino; Still Time for Two-Project Solution

Events Center Belongs West of Casino; Still Time for Two-Project Solution

Data Campus, Featured, Local News December 8, 2023 at 12:30 pm

By Tony Farina While Mayor Robert Restaino narrowly won re-election with a 3.5 to 1 vote advantage, he still appears committed publicly to building his events center arena on 10 acres of land the city will have to purchase from NFR on John Daly Blvd. if the city wins theRead More

Uncovering Tax Benefits and Avoiding Pitfalls: Expert Advice from Michael S. Gawel

Uncovering Tax Benefits and Avoiding Pitfalls: Expert Advice from Michael S. Gawel

Featured, Gawel, Local News November 27, 2023 at 4:45 pm

MICHAEL S. GAWEL, CPA, JD My name is Michael S. Gawel and I have been a Certified Public Accountant since 1980. I have a BBA in Accounting and a JD from SUNY @ Buffalo School of Law. I am going to write a weekly tax advice column for the NiagaraRead More

Echoes of Injustice: Steve Pigeon’s Case Mirrors Sebold’s Wrongful Accusation

Echoes of Injustice: Steve Pigeon’s Case Mirrors Sebold’s Wrongful Accusation

A Miscarriage of Justice, Featured November 20, 2023 at 10:15 pm

By Marie White Sebold’s Apology Too Late In 2021, Alice Sebold, the best-selling author of the memoir “Lucky” and the novel “The Lovely Bones,” issued an apology to Anthony J. Broadwater, a man she had wrongly accused of raping her in 1981 – 39 years after the fact.  Broadwater spentRead More

Former Attorney General Sues State for Wrongful Action In Dismantling WROTB and ‘Neutering’ Outlying Counties

Former Attorney General Sues State for Wrongful Action In Dismantling WROTB and ‘Neutering’ Outlying Counties

Community News, Featured, Local News, News November 13, 2023 at 8:35 pm

By Tony Farina Former State Attorney General Dennis Vacco of the Buffalo law firm of Lippes Mathias, is still awaiting responses from the state on the lawsuit he filed in September on behalf of several member counties challenging the language in the state budget in May that, in Vacco’s words,Read More

Falls Comedian “Black Ernie” Lights Up the Stage in Vegas

Falls Comedian “Black Ernie” Lights Up the Stage in Vegas

Community News, Featured, Ken Cosentino, Local News, Niagara Falls November 12, 2023 at 11:18 pm

Comedian Ernie Bivins, AKA “Black Ernie,” is making a name for himself in Las Vegas. “I’m 49, but I feel like I’m 29!” Jokes the Niagara Falls Native, whose career began here in his hometown in 2008. “I was doing shows for a few years and then I met MikeRead More

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