Niagara Reporter-
NIAGARA FALLS BUILT THE MODERN WORLD ON ITS POWER. IT CAN DO IT AGAIN.
The Data Center That Answers Hochul’s Objections There was a time when Niagara Falls did not ask Albany whether it was permitted to prosper. The river was here. That was enough. The town had something Albany couldn’t give it. It used what was here. Water. Power. Work. Jobs. Industry. A future. In 1895, the Adams plant took the river and put it into wire. The current went to Buffalo. It changed the industrial world. Tesla supplied the designs. Westinghouse built the machines. Niagara supplied the falling water. Then industries came. Electrochemical. Electrometallurgical. They came because Niagara offered abundant, inexpensive electricity.
McMurray Urges Governor Hochul to Intervene in Niagara’s Toxic Waste Crisis
Dear Governor Kathy Hochul, I am writing regarding the recent investigations by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) into toxic waste, hazardous contamination, and radioactive materials in Niagara County. Combined with the longstanding legacy of Love Canal, Cayuga Island, and other areas of potential contamination, I believe this is no longer simply a local issue. It is a regional—and perhaps national or even international—challenge that deserves sustained leadership, transparency, and attention. Before writing this letter and recording the accompanying video, I made every effort to reach you through other channels.
Niagara Falls Project Answers the Concerns Behind New York’s Data Center Moratorium
By Frank Parlato A privately funded campus would draw on hydropower four miles away, build its own substation, and return $414 million to a city designated as disadvantaged. NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — A $1.5 billion private investment proposed for 53 acres in the heart of Niagara Falls would deliver 550 permanent jobs, more than $400 million in tax revenue, and a modernized electrical backbone for a city the State of New York has formally designated a Disadvantaged Community — without a dollar of public money for the grid. The Niagara Digital Campus, proposed by Niagara Falls Redevelopment in partnership with
Poloncarz’s $40 Million Lie: The Numbers He Never Corrected
Poloncarz says Erie County spends $40 million on indigent defense. The books say $25.8 million. His plan to replace the Assigned Counsel Program would cost more, deliver worse representation, and saddle taxpayers with pension obligations for decades.
Erie County’s Poor May Lose Their Lawyers
By Frank Parlato Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz wants to replace or drastically reduce the Assigned Counsel Program with either a government-run public defender’s office or an expansion of the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo. He thinks it will save money. Or if he doesn’t really think it, he says it anyway. Perhaps he really doesn’t know, because after all, he has published no studies. The comparison he makes – that of the model of nearby Monroe County – he makes without factual accuracy, along the lines of omitting half the truth or comparing the eating apples to onions and
Mayor Restaino’s $200 Million Arena: A Monument to Himself, a Bill for You
By Frank Parlato Please stop an insane mayor from destroying the city with a hockey arena that the city cannot afford. He’ll do it if he can. He wants a legacy, maybe. It’s hard to even explain. Mayor Robert Restaino of Niagara Falls, in a city that can’t afford it, wants to build a two-hundred-million-dollar-plus hockey arena. He doesn’t have the money to build an arena with no team to play in it. An arena that will cost fifteen million dollars per year in deficit spending. Operating losses because arenas lose money, plus the financing costs. And he wants to
Jailed Whistleblower’s Federal Filing Alleges Hochul Affair, Erie County Retaliation
ERIE COUNTY, N.Y. — A jailed Erie County man has filed papers in federal court alleging that Gov. Kathy Hochul had a sexual relationship with Tonawanda Democratic Chairman John Crangle when both worked in the Erie County Clerk’s Office, and that local political figures later retaliated against him after he accused them of corruption. Hochul is married to former US Attorney for the Western District of NY, William Hochul. An extramarital affair is not a crime. But the allegation, if substantiated, would place Hochul’s early political career inside the same Tonawanda patronage network that Flynn alleges has protected insiders and
Albany Wants to Manage Data Centers. Restaino Is Trying to Kill One
While the state debates how to regulate a booming industry, the mayor of its poorest city is fighting to destroy a $1.5 billion project that fits every criterion Albany now says it wants. A proposed three-year moratorium on data center development in New York State has generated headlines. Senator Liz Krueger and Assemblymember Anna Kelles introduced legislation that would freeze the siting and permitting of new data centers statewide while the state conducts a comprehensive environmental and economic study. It isn’t going to happen. A realistic assessment of Albany dynamics, executive policy, and existing regulatory authority puts the probability of
Roger Stone Helped Take Down NXIVM — He Was Never Part of It
As the journalist who broke the NXIVM branding story and played a role in exposing Keith Raniere’s criminal enterprise, I want to explain the role of Roger Stone and NXIVM. In 2006, NXIVM hired Stone as a political consultant. The group was entirely unknown then. It was led by Keith Raniere and funded by two sisters, Clare and Sara Bronfman, heirs of the Seagram liquor fortune. Raniere said he wanted Stone to lobby in Albany to help his company grow. What he really wanted was for Stone to use his connections to help them harm their enemies—to get Raniere’s ex-girlfriend, Toni
The Flynn Doctrine, Part 8: The Black Journalist Flynn Couldn’t Silence
The only Black reporter trying to cover the exoneration of two Black men wrongfully prosecuted by John Flynn’s uncle was barred at the door. Two months later, Flynn would prosecute her. He would lose in court. And the bar would discipline him for it. But first, he would commit the same ethics violations—nine days apart—against two different targets. One was a 73-year-old journalist and civic leader named Betty Jean Grant. The other was his political enemy, Steve Pigeon. The Buffalo Five and Uncle Cosgrove In 1977, five Black teenagers were implicated in the death of William Crawford in Buffalo. Two
The Flynn Doctrine, Part 7: No Bail for His Accuser, No Charges for the Priests
900 Victims. Zero Prosecutions. The Diocese of Buffalo and the DA Who Protected It Former Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said it at the press conference announcing charges against his political enemy, Steve Pigeon. “I stand with the child.” He said he believed the accuser. He required no corroboration. But when more than 900 people filed abuse claims against priests of the Diocese of Buffalo under New York’s Child Victims Act, Flynn did not stand with them. In seven years as Erie County District Attorney—from January 2017 to March 2024—John Flynn did not prosecute a single priest. Not one.
Ryan Flynn Moved Out of Delta Unit After Coverage; Still Jailed Without Bail
By Frank Parlato Ryan Flynn was moved out of Delta unit. For weeks he had lived without running water in his 5×7 cell. The heat was shut off while the temperature dropped to twelve degrees outside at night. Another inmate threw feces for days. Guards rewarded the man with ramen noodles. The transfer followed publication of detailed reporting by The Frank Report. Only then did county officials act, and even then they did so silently. There was no announcement. No apology. No explanation. The Erie County Holding Center is so outdated that it could not legally be built today, yet it