Current News

The following activity occurred Monday, Dec. 31, to Sunday, Jan. 6, as reported by the Lewiston Police Department. LPD logged a total of 90 response calls during his period.

Lewiston just can't quench its thirst for history.

The first Lewiston Cocktail Festival will take place on Saturday, March 2.

You can say one thing about Steve Reiter and the Lewiston Town Board: They certainly operate quickly.

George Osborne, president of Artpark & Company and former chairman of the Niagara River Region Chamber of Commerce, handed over the meeting gavel to the new board chairman, Richard J. Haight PE, vice president of engineering at Advanced Design Group of Lewiston.

New York's Department of Environmental Conservation announced this week it has extended the public comment period for a draft permit renewal application on file from CWM Chemical Services LLC to 60 days, and will now close comments on March 29.

CWM, a Waste Management company, currently owns and operates a commercial facility for the treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous and industrial non-hazardous wastes on an approximately 710-acre site on Balmer Road in the Town of Porter.

The Village Inn and Serene Gardens were winners Sunday at the third annual Buffalo Soup Fest, held at the Hearthstone Manor in Depew. Village Inn owner Mike Carr and Sarah Mallare took home the Best Chili award at the event for their Mayan Chocolate Chili, while Satomi and Dr. Joshua Smith of Serene Gardens took home an award for Best Kept Secret.

It was sweets for a cause as The Lewiston Village Pub and Restaurant presented "Cupcakes for a Crown" last Sunday. Featured was a student cupcake competition fundraiser, with proceeds going to assist Lewiston-Porter freshman Grace Breen as she prepares to enter as a representative in the Miss Teen USA Contest.

Rehearsals are ongoing for the Grand Island High School Music Department presentation of the Cole Porter musical "Anything Goes" in the auditorium of Grand Island High School.

Cassie Oursler scored the 1,000th point of her Grand Island Vikings basketball career Jan. 4 in Niagara Falls.

Students from Grand Island High School had a record-setting weekend in Lockport. A team of 101 students in the DECA program traveled to Lockport High School for the Region 12 DECA competition. Fifty-seven returned with awards, the most Grand Island has ever had in the program's history.

Starting at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 15, and every week after that, bingo is back on Grand Island.

The following incidents occurred from Dec. 31, to Jan. 6, as reported by the Grand Island Fire Co. A total of 34 calls were answered by the department during this period. The GIFC has responded to 28 calls so far this year. In 2012, the GIFC responded to 1,439 calls.

The Erie County Sheriff's Office responded to 166 calls from Dec. 29, 2012, to Jan. 4, 2013. Below is a sampling of the noteworthy incidents on Grand Island.

In an unexpected addition to Monday evening's Board of Education meeting agenda, board President David Goris announced his resignation from the board, stating he no longer has sufficient time to devote to the position.

Funeral services will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church for John Joseph Wesolek of Grand Island, who passed away Jan. 9, 2013.

The Buffalo Sabres have announced the team will open its week of training camp practices at First Niagara Center to the public, beginning with a night practice and scrimmage on Monday, Jan. 14, at 5:30 p.m. For the remainder of the week, from Tuesday to Friday, practices will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Niagara County Community College hosted more than 800 students from 22 Western New York school districts at Tech Wars 2013 on Wednesday. Competitions ranged from RC Heavyweight Sumo Robotics to 3D Modeling and CO2 Car Races.

The Center for the Arts, University at Buffalo, will present Dance Theatre of Harlem on Wednesday, Feb. 6, at 7:30 p.m. in the Mainstage Theatre, located at the Center for the Arts, North Campus. There will be a pre-performance talk at 6:45 p.m. The performance is sponsored by M&T Bank.

The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra has announced the return of the tablescapes fundraiser, an innovative showcase of imaginative table settings.

Oscar Sunday is the entertainment industry's biggest event, and award-winning talk show "LIVE with Kelly and Michael" is making sure that the glitz, glamor and excitement carry over to Monday morning with "LIVE's After Oscar Show." "LIVE" is returning to Hollywood for its second post-Oscars broadcast, airing live on Monday, Feb. 25, at 9 a.m.

ABC Family's award-winning original series, "Switched at Birth," will produce an episode told entirely in American Sign Language, a first for a scripted series on mainstream television, which will premiere Monday, March 4, at 8 p.m.

State Sen. George Maziarz, R-C-Newfane announced he was recently chosen to serve on a bipartisan committee of regional lawmakers that will lead state legislative efforts to protect and restore the Great Lakes.

CBS has announced the 20 castaways who will compete against each other on "Survivor: Caramoan - Fans vs. Favorites," when the Emmy-winning series returns for its 26th season with a special two-hour premiere, Wednesday, Feb. 13 (8 p.m.) on the CBS Television Network.

Ben Affleck is Best Director; Daniel Day-Lewis takes home Best Actor; Jessica Chastain wins Best Actress

Temporary overnight lane closures are scheduled on the Niagara Thruway for both the northbound and southbound South Grand Island Bridge through Friday, Jan. 14, the New York State Thruway Authority announced.

Warner Bros. Television's hit science-fiction thriller "Fringe" unites these two universes with an "in-world" book that is also part of the entire five-season storyline ... and now released for fans to own.

A car fire broke out on Friday, Jan. 11, by the Buckhorn Island onramp ahead of the northbound Grand Island bridge.

Artpark & Company hosts "An Evening with the Avett Brothers" on Friday, May 24, inside the Mainstage Theater. It's a 7 p.m. gate for the general admission, reserved seating show.

The Buffalo Sabres have announced plans for the sale of individual game tickets and mini-pack tickets for the upcoming 2012-13 season. Procedures for the different ticket options are below and will reflect the official 2012-13 regular-season schedule, which will be released by the NHL in the coming days.

The Buffalo Sabres have announced the team will hold a "Fan Appreciation Sale" to mark the beginning of training camp and the opening of the 2012-13 season. The sale, which runs for the duration of training camp and ends after the team's first home game, will offer fans a 50 percent discount on all merchandise in the Sabres Store at First Niagara Center.

The Us TOO Prostate Cancer Support Group will hear from Philip J. Aliotta, MD, MSHA, FACS, CPI, a urologist at Western New York Urology Associates, at its meeting on Thursday, Jan. 17, at Mount St. Mary's Hospital.

On Feb. 16, corrections officers and deputies of the Niagara County Sheriff's Office will participate in the annual Red Brick Bench Press competition to be held at the Connecticut Street Armory, 184 Connecticut St., Buffalo, beginning at 10 a.m.

The Wheatfield Picnic Committee is preparing for the 35th annual Wheatfield Family Picnic, to be held at Fairmount Park on Sunday, Aug. 25.

A gull watch is set for 10 a.m. Jan 26 at Artpark in Lewiston. Join Buffalo Audubon Society's Naturalist Tom Kerr for a hike along the gorge to view the different species of gulls that spend their winters on the Niagara River. Learn about what attracts them to the river and how they survive while they are here.

The Friends of Local History will present a lecture by noted DeVeaux historian Lewis F. Buttery, Jr. The lecture, a PowerPoint presentation, will take place Tuesday, Jan. 15, in the auditorium of the Niagara Falls Public Library, 1425 Main St. The program runs from 6 to 8 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

New York Air National Guard Col. John Higgins, a master navigator with more than 3,500 hours flying in the F-4 Phantom fighter, the F-111 bomber and the C-130 Hercules, will replace Col. Jim McCready as commander of the 107th Airlift Wing at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station on Saturday, Jan. 12.

Wheatfield held its annual reorganization meeting Jan. 2. The Town of Niagara held its reorganization Wednesday.

The Niagara Aerospace Museum has hit some turbulence in recent years, bouncing to several different locations as it attempted to showcase some 100 years of local aviation history.

To help consumers get in better financial shape in the new year, Citizens Bank is encouraging people to take time to identify their financial goals and to consider some simple, but effective budgeting and savings strategies as part of an annual financial tune-up. Small changes made now can add up over time and help consumers to take control of their finances.