Earlier this year Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster assured taxpayers in this highly taxed city that his $44 million, 20,000 square foot, International Railway and Intermodal Transportation Center and Underground Railroad Interpretive Center would open in June. Unlike the old train 800 square foot station – which was funded entirelyRead More

Ask anyone who’s been there. The Custer Battlefield National Monument is a haunting and sacred place. The breezes blows through the long prairie grass as visitors wander among the scattered small markers placed following the June 25, 1876 fight, each marking the spot where a trooper fell and was buried.Read More

  It all seems so long ago that the state and the administration of Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster announced with great fanfare that the Hamister Group based in Buffalo had been selected for a $25.3 million downtown development project at 310 Rainbow Blvd. that would include an upscale hotel,Read More

There was a crooked mayor, And he had a crooked town. It had a crooked chimney and….   Oh, sorry. Just thinking to myself. They moved the Old Stone Chimney from its spot at Porter Park downtown out to LaSalle off the former Robert Moses Parkway, much closer to whereRead More

By Jim Ostrowski What better topic to introduce my new column in this paper than Trump’s visit to Buffalo Monday night?  So there I was, in the press pen, literally walled off from the event with no food, no booze, no nothing.  What a glamorous life the media lead.  MostRead More

In our business, people frequently come to us as whistleblowers troubled by what they perceive as official misconduct and yet afraid that if they blow the whistle at work they will be retaliated against. It is necessary for us to protect their identities. This week two such people came toRead More

While most people consider New York to be a progressive state, many of the rules and regulations imposed by Albany’s notoriously big government seem downright archaic by 21st Century standards. Take the state’s byzantine laws regarding taxicabs. Passed back when John Montana’s taxi monopoly in Buffalo made him look more likeRead More

By Matt Ricchiazzi There are two seats up for election on the City of Niagara Falls’ school board, which will be held on May 17th. The full slate of candidates is still in flux, with a crucial filing deadline of April 27. As a body, the school board has immenseRead More

By Gia Arnold The Niagara Falls City School District election will be held on Tuesday, May 17, 2016. Not only will the annual budget be voted on that day, but there are also two [out of a total of nine seats] for the School Board up for re-election. Incumbents Robert RestainoRead More

While some media outlets still cling to the fantasy that do nothing Buffalo developer Mark Hamister will one day build a boxy, truck stop style hotel on one of the choicest pieces of property in the Niagara Falls tourist district, more are coming to the realization the Reporter reached onRead More

According to informed sources in the Buffalo development community, Mark Hamister is about $6 million short of the mark in financing for his much-hyped $35.7 million Niagara Falls hotel project on Rainbow Blvd. that was trumpeted by state and local officials more than three years ago as the city’s bestRead More

You’ve got to hand it to Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster. He chose a city engineer, Ali Marzban, who was unlicensed to practice engineering anywhere in The United States. And he picked as his preferred hotel developer Mark Hamister, who not only had never built a hotel before but lackedRead More

As you read this, work on the state’s $50 million upgrade of Niagara Falls State Park, expanding parking, food service and gift shop facilities, is being rushed to completion in anticipation of the estimated eight million tourists who will come to visit Niagara Falls this summer. Meanwhile, the city ofRead More

Former Councilman Michael Gawel says it is time for new leadership at the helm of the Niagara Falls City Republican Executive Committee and he will be challenging current GOP Chairman Vince Sandonato for the top job at the reorganization meeting in September. Gawel, who has been a highly visible figureRead More

  It was nearly four years ago that people flocked to Niagara Falls and watched from around the world as aerial daredevil Nik Wallenda made his historic wire walk over the roaring waters of the Niagara River and put the cataract city on the world stage for a brief moment. Read More

This week the Niagara Falls City Council tabled legislation introduced by Council member Kristen Grandinetti that would have tightened regulations for cat owners in the city, and made feeding a stray cat a criminal offense. Grandinetti’s bill seeks to amend Chapter 701 of the Codified City Ordinances, which governs ownershipRead More

Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster is a man of many unique abilities. Just this past Monday, for example, he spoke before the city Council for an hour and a half without saying anything at all. “It really was astounding,” said one awestruck witness. “He just went on and on!” Ostensibly, theRead More

  Although the city, state and various charitable organizations have thrown over $1 million at the Isaiah 61 Project since its’ inception in 2012, little has been accomplished to date. Isaiah 61 is a not for profit which receives local and state funding to rebuild rather than tear down vacantRead More

Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster suggested last week that employees might perform better with a veritable sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. Despite running on a platform that touted his leadership skills in assembling a team of the “best and the brightest” during last year’s election, once he wasRead More

In our effort to see Niagara Falls as others see it, we’ve examined both the statistical rankings that regularly appear on internet websites devoted to such things and the views of community leaders whose livelihoods largely depend on making people think things are good or at least getting better (SeeRead More