Here at the Niagara Falls Reporter, we’ve often said things stink at City Hall, speaking metaphorically and meaning the wholesale waste of taxpayer money, the sweetheart deals given to developers, consultants, law firms and construction companies which are unethical, if not illegal. But Councilman Kenny Tompkins is a literal guy.    Read More

Michael DiCienzo’s proposed $20 million indoor water park in downtown Niagara Falls got a big boost this week from the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency, which granted a $6.6 million tax break package to the project. Mr. DiCienzo first announced the project in May with a larger scope that wouldRead More

New York State will fine the Niagara Falls Water Board a measly $50,000 for discharging thousands of gallons of black, fetid and stinking water near the falls during a busy tourist weekend, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday. The agency will be required to make changes at its aging wastewater plantRead More

 Kristen Grandinetti. Who among us can figure out the sorceress-like spell she’s cast upon the Niagara Falls voter? Garnering some 1,457 votes in the Democratic primary Tuesday, finishing third after incumbent Andrew Touma (1,784) and newcomer Bill Kennedy, she still clinched a spot on November’s general election ballot. Her recordRead More

The main difference between the primary election and the general election coming up this November is that, in the primary, voters are bound to vote only for candidates running on the party lines they are registered in. Democrats can only vote for Democrats and Republicans only for members of theRead More

Because the race for Niagara City Court Judge allows any registered voter to vote for any candidate, Tuesday’s primary may well be more important than the general election in deciding who will be the next to don the black robe and preside over a north Main Street courtroom. Three candidatesRead More

To: Gretchen Leffler, Colleen Larkin, Renae Kimble, Nick Forster and Dan O’Callaghan, Niagara Falls is being waterboarded. In general parlance, waterboarding is a form of water torture in which water is poured over a cloth covering the face and breathing passages of an immobilized captive, causing the individual to experience theRead More

New study finds high levels of drugs, antidepressants in Niagara River fish Everyone knows Niagara Falls has a serious drug problem. But a new study shows that the problem isn’t confined to humans. Even the fish in the Niagara River are swimming around high. In the study, researchers detected highRead More

By Mike Hudson If you take the view of Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster – that everything in the city is good and getting better under his leadership, you should get out and vote next Tuesday, Primary Day. Incumbents Kristen Grandinetti and Andrew Touma both agreed that their record, tiedRead More

Bid Rigging at Niagara Falls State Park Will Granite Gate be ignored? [see our earlier story for more info on how to blow $50 million paving over a state park] By Frank Parlato A case of apparent bid rigging at the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and HistoricRead More

By Darryl McPherson It was announced on Tuesday that the financial outlook for the City of Niagara Falls was changed from “stable” to “negative” by Standard & Poor’s (S&P), one of the Wall Street credit rating agencies.  Sometimes a government has to sell bonds on the market in order toRead More

Somewhere, somebody, dropped the ball.  Big time. That ball contained the hopes and dreams of local politicians, who believed it held a financial windfall in the form of revenue from casino gaming in New York.  Starting in 2002, that shining orb would bounce in every year, and the community wouldRead More

It’s impossible not to notice that during the 23 and 1/2 hours a day when the four score or so daily Amtrak passengers at the new Niagara Falls International Railway Station and Intermodal Transportation Center are not in the process of arriving or departing, the station takes on this empty,Read More

By Nate McMurray Town Supervisor of Grand Island I was in a public park in San Francisco once and I saw a young woman pray to a tree. Yes, a tree. And it wasn’t even a particularly nice tree. She was covered in crystals, she spoke loudly, and made grandRead More

As Niagara County’s Republican-dominated Legislature met Thursday night to pass a series of resolutions seeking multiple criminal probes of the Niagara Falls Water Board in the wake of the sludge-dumping scandal—and with one local law enforcement official confirming that such probes are already underway—one unidentified lawmaker couldn’t resist the urgeRead More

By Candra Thomason As the September 12th Niagara Falls City Council Primary draws near, I would like to remind those that saw my announcement earlier this year and inform those that missed it, that I Candra Thomason am running for Niagara Falls City Council. Now More than ever before theRead More