Is the decision by the city’s Underground Railroad Commission to broaden the scope of what was to have been the Underground Railroad interpretive center at the Whirlpool Street train station a tacit admission that Niagara Falls has little if any Underground Railroad history of its own to begin with?Read More

Before the Civil War, the Ohio River meant freedom. Even though it was the primary water route for the still-thriving American slave trade, the river was also the border between the slave states of the South and the free states of the Northwest Territory. This attracted escaping slaves and abolitionistsRead More

The Castellani Freedom Crossing exhibit at the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center and the Underground Railroad interpretive center at the new Whirlpool Street train station won’t just be competing with each other, they’ll be competing with museums all around the country designed to lure tourists interested in former slaves escapingRead More

For Bill Bradberry, history is both an avocation and a passion. A decade ago, he became deeply involved when the Castellani Art Museum at Niagara University undertook its Freedom Crossing exhibit, and when Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster announced the formation of an Underground Railroad Commission to mount an exhibitionRead More

Two years ago this month, Reporter publisher Frank Parlato exposed in these pages what appeared to be a blatant case of bid-rigging perpetrated by the Saratoga Springs, NY-based LA Group, a landscape architecture firm chosen by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to implement portionsRead More

It may be bloody and highly controversial, but mixed martial arts will be coming to New York in the not too distant future, and the popular sport will then face the challenge of lining up promoters to meet the re-quirements contained in the bill passed by the Assembly this weekRead More

It could be more than an office scandal and financial pressures that drove State Sen. Marc Panepinto’s decision two weeks ago not to seek a second-term in the 60th District only days after the Erie County Democratic Committee endorsed him for re-election. Political sources tell this newspaper that his unionRead More

By Emma Gibbs It did not take long after the recent resignation of Niagara County District Attorney Michael Violante to bring out the “wanabees” to become the County’s next top prosecutor. The first to announce, from what could well be a long list of candidates, was North Tonawanda Democrat CarolineRead More

Does the city of Niagara Falls, which already pays an outside agency around $2 million a year to promote tourism, need to create a new governmental position to promote tourism? And does it need the Tourism Advisory Board, a group of well-meaning and politically connected amateurs put together by MayorRead More

The state audit released on Wednesday that found that the Niagara Falls Water Board and Water Authority had millions of dollars in excess funds sitting around as the city was looking for help to repair water lines on 72nd Street caught Council President Andrew Touma by complete surprise. “I wasRead More

Niagara Falls –  According to City Hall sources, a handful of civil service city hall employees who work at the controller’s office and/or billings and collections have written letters of complaints against City Controller Maria Brown saying she has been abusive and created a hostile workplace. Sources say Brown mayRead More

The governmental affairs director of the region’s largest business advocacy group, the Niagara USA Chamber, said there is little that can be done legally to prevent the Seneca Nation of Indians from building a tax-free gas station and smoke shop on their downtown Niagara Falls reservation. Kory Schuler told theRead More

  The sad truth behind the state development agencies that helped push through the proposed Hamister Hotel project in Niagara Falls four years ago is that silence is indeed golden, because despite all the talk about the city capitalizing on an opportunity too good to pass up, nothing has happenedRead More

You read it here first, folks. Back in 2013, when Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster and Buffalo developer Mark Hamister announced that a resort style luxury hotel would be built on city owned Rainbow Boulevard property, the Niagara Falls Reporter smelled a rat. The plan was vague, Hamister was evasiveRead More

Senator Rob Ortt (R,C,I – North Tonawanda) issued the following statement regarding the New York State Board of Regents proposal to issue professional licenses to illegal immigrants. “I’m strongly opposed to the Board of Regents outrageous proposal to grant teaching or medical licenses to illegal immigrants. This shows the completelyRead More

Flamboyant and entrepreneurial Rick Snowden, who owned a nightclub and the historic Miller Mansion on Nottingham Terrace in Buffalo where he hosted several spectacular parties between 2004 and 2010 – many of them to benefit local charities – has now become one of Donald Trump’s most ardent and visible supporters.Read More

Niagara Falls –  According to City Hall sources, a handful of civil service city hall employees who work at the controller’s office and/or billings and collections have written letters of complaints against City Controller Maria Brown saying she has been abusive and created a hostile workplace. Sources say Brown mayRead More

  Niagara Falls – Last week, former Niagara Falls Mayor Vince Anello came before the council at their regularly scheduled meeting to speak at the podium during the public comment period known as “for the good of the city.” As he was speaking, in earnest tones, he was interrupted, oddly,Read More

    For Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, it’s not about the destination but the journey. Which is why, since taking office in January 2008, the city has been subjected to numerous and lengthy forays into the unknowable unknown, for the most part without any measurable result aside from moneyRead More

Just in case you are a newcomer to these parts, we’d like to remind you that St. Patrick’s Day next Thursday (March17) is more than a celebration of Irish and Irish American culture, it is the starting point of the political season and that’s particularly true this year with DARead More