Sen. Ortt Secures $130K of State Taxpayer Money for Volunteer Fire Company The Olcott Fire Company, a volunteer fire department serving the hamlet of Olcott in the Town of Newfane in Niagara County,  pop. 1,241, will replace its 15-year-old fire truck with a new Heavy Duty Response Truck that will allow membersRead More

A Chronic Disease Self-Management Workshop will be held Tuesday, February 21, 2017 at Town of Niagara (Calvin Richards) Community Center (7000 Lockport Road, Niagara Falls, 14305) from 12:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. There is no charge to attend. The purpose of the workshop is to provide simple steps that helpRead More

By Tony Farina; Laureen Jacobs, the treasurer of former NY State Sen. George Maziarz’s campaign committee, has filed amended spending reports with the State Board of Elections covering three years (2010, 2012, 2013). Legal sources have confirmed the filing was emailed to the board by lawyers for Jacobs on TuesdayRead More

When Richard Nixon left office some 45 years ago, he was spared criminal prosecution thanks to a presidential pardon issued by his successor, Gerald Ford. To the best of our knowledge, John Ceretto has received no such pardon from the outgoing Barack Obama. So why isn’t Ceretto being investigated forRead More

Newly elected NYS Assemblyman Angelo J. ‘Judge’ Morinello (R,C,I,Ref-Niagara Falls) whose district includes Niagara County and Grand Island in Erie County, has been assigned several committees for the 2017-2018 Legislative Session. This session, Morinello will serve as member of the Codes, Higher Education, Housing and Tourism Committees, and will serveRead More

(Editor’s note: The role of the District Attorney is an important one and in Niagara County, residents have a new person in the position. Inasmuch as Niagara County DA Caroline Wojtaszek ran unopposed last year, residents perhaps had less exposure to her plans and ideals than they might have hadRead More

Today, Assemblyman Angelo Morinello (R,C,I,Ref-Niagara Falls) took his oath of office and was sworn in as a member of the New York State Legislature. Morinello was elected on November 8, 2016, defeating the incumbent of six years. Morinello will represent parts of Niagara and Erie counties, including the towns ofRead More

The ornate upstairs courtroom of the Niagara County Courthouse in Lockport was packed to capacity with guests spilling out into the massive building’s rotunda Saturday as Niagara County’s first female district attorney took the oath of office. Caroline A. Wojtaszek—former assistant district attorney, wife to former Niagara County Republican ChairmanRead More

By Ronald Craft;   ; I would like to comment on the recent Lewiston Village Board’s Article in the Lewiston Sentinal regarding the Board favoring ‘ambiance’ over ‘signage safety’ – which includes the same reasoning for a ban on sandwich boards – to be appalling. These same board members continuallyRead More

One majority lawmaker whose star is on the rise is Lewiston’s Rebecca Wydysh. The freshman Republican, who runs jury selection efforts at the county courthouse, has impressed her colleagues and party brass enough that she’s being given a portfolio heading the county’s opioid-addiction panel. That effort, begun by Bradt himselfRead More

Sources close to the Republican caucus tell me that McNall, while the overwhelming choice of his colleagues and Republican Party leaders to continue in his post, was not the only legislator eyeing the job. Entreaties were made on behalf of two other majority members, but party leaders are said toRead More

The unsurprising news broke late Tuesday night: the chairman of the Niagara County Legislature, Keith McNall, R-Lockport, would be keeping his job. In the annals of Niagara County’s political news, this wasn’t exactly an earth-shattering announcement; after all, save for the on-again, off-again sacking of former chairmen Bill Ross, C-Wheatfield,Read More

Virtuoso slams GOP for Peck, Tamburlin raises, as he enjoys pension ala Dyster Some of us here at the Niagara Falls Reporter had to laugh when we saw the story that Dennis Virtuoso was complaining about pay raises for Niagara County Public Information Officer Christian Peck and Niagara County LegislativeRead More

  A last-minute budget amendment giving hefty pay raises to two appointees of the GOP majority of the Niagara County Legislature is coming under heavy fire today from Minority Leader Dennis Virtuoso of Niagara Falls. Virtuoso told the Niagara Falls Reporter that the raises pushed through by the majority inRead More

This newspaper first started reporting on the Niagara River Greenway Commission over ten years ago, in a Feb. 1, 2005 article headlined, “PATAKI GREENWAY PROPOSAL STINKS”. Among the problems identified at the outset: When an activist group of Niagara County environmentalists realized that Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper was selling them downRead More

For the most part, Niagara Falls’ LGBT community isn’t shedding any tears over John Ceretto’s impending departure from public service. Ceretto’s defeat at the hands of retired City Court Judge Angelo Morinello over the hotly contested 145th District New York State Assembly seat became practically a fait accompli after numerousRead More

May Have Helped Other Republican Candidates Locally Donald J. Trump’s victory was historic on a number of levels, not the least of which was that Trump won Niagara County, New York in a landslide. “Mr. Trump won here, and he won ‘bigly,” Niagara County GOP Chairman Scott Kiedrowski said afterRead More

by Matthew Ricchiazzi John Ceretto is the quintessential career politician, first elected to public office in 1995 when he ran for the Lewiston Town Board as a Democrat.  He stood quietly and waited his turn for advancement, and was eventually elected to the Niagara County Legislature’s 12th district in 2005.Read More

Angelo Morinello, candidate for the 145th Assembly District, has received yet another endorsement from a state business group, The Business Council of New York State, Inc. This is the fourth business advocacy endorsement Judge Morinello has received after Unshackle Upstate, the National Federation of Independent Business and the Associated BuildersRead More

State Assembly hopeful outlines heroin & opioid legislative agenda “As a judge, I’ve seen this tragic heroin epidemic rip through our communities, fracture families and take too many young lives. But, I’ve also seen how second chances have given many of our neighbors and their families a new and meaningfulRead More