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Three of the top "MasterChef" home cooks of all time will compete Monday for a shot at the title, a trophy, a book deal and $250,000.

"I think you have a divergent group of people from different walks of life," judge Joe Bastianich said.

Fellow judge Graham Elliot said, "It comes down to simply cooking and also how you play the game."

A Town of Niagara mother has filed a grievance with the Niagara-Wheatfield School District over alleged discrimination against her son, a child with a disability.

With protests by residents near the proposed Cobblestone Creek development off Errick Road growing, the developer Rosal Homes has asked for a public information meeting.

Acting Town of Lewiston Clerk Donna Garfinkel defeated challenger Regina Cecconi in Tuesday's Republican Party primary election. Garfinkel was the top vote-getter at all five polling places en route to a 435-275 victory.

Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula are set to become the next owners of the Buffalo Bills.

Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula and his wife, Kim, are set to become the new owner of the Buffalo Bills, per reports issued today by WGRZ and EPSN.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the Pegulas have a tentative agreement to buy the Bills. WGRZ Sports Director Adam Benigni said he has two sources indicating the Bills reached an agreement with the Pegulas.

Though the Town of Lewiston Council rejected his request for a permissive referendum on the future of the Lewiston Police Department, village resident Ron Craft is intent on bringing the issue to the masses for a vote.

The Niagara County Peach Festival is now underway at Academy Park.

Festival organizers from the Kiwanis Club of Lewiston are once again hard at work to raise money to benefit numerous Kiwanis programs for the Niagara and Western New York community. While this festival is its biggest event, it is by no means the only activity Kiwanis is involved in.

The Niagara County Peach Festival, the largest midway in Niagara County, combines delicious local food and fair treats, more than 40 classic carnival rides and games, as well as musical entertainment and competitions.

Village of Lewiston Mayor Terry Collesano's Frontier House citizens committee met this week and is working on a plan to save the historic Center Street building.

He called the private meeting "informative," and said, "I think we're making some progress."

According an earlier announcement by Bill Ross, chairman of the Niagara County Legislature who serves as 2nd District legislator for Lewiston and Wheatfield, construction of the tower was done as a result of a federal radio narrow banding mandate.

The Wheatfield Family Picnic on Sunday started out with a few tears.

After the flag-raising ceremony, the signs that will be placed at the Niagara Falls Boulevard and Lockport Road ends of Walmore Road naming that section of the road the Spec. Alan N. Dikcis Memorial Highway were unveiled.

The Wheatfield Town Board, already besieged by Quasar opponents, faced a new group in Town Hall on Monday as residents who live near the proposed Cobblestone Creek development came to voice their flooding concerns.

A Wheatfield veteran promoted the Alternative Veterans' Tax Exemption at the Aug. 20 Niagara-Wheatfield Board of Education meeting at Niagara-Wheatfield High School.

Kids needing a haircut before going back to school have a new old-school option.

The Real Barbers II has opened in the Grand Island Plaza, next door to M&T Bank and across from Adrian's Custard and Beef.

On a warm summer's afternoon, three young women and their families sat on folding chairs amidst the gardens of the Huth Road Elementary School courtyard. They were there Friday to receive their high school diplomas after spending hours working on academic areas of difficulty in summer school.

The Miracle League of Grand Island and WNY celebrated another high-water mark in the organization's brief history with Saturday's ribbon-cutting for a new playground in Veterans Park.

Nic Bishop has done a wonderful job of bringing his "Covert Affairs" character, Ryan McQuaid, to life this season. It was only fitting, then, when the actor emulated McQuaid and snuck onto a conference call series star Piper Perabo was having with television reporters Thursday.

Celebrities. Athletes. Politicians. Your friends and family members.

Just about everybody, it seems, has taken part in the "ALS Ice Bucket Challenge" to raise awareness - and funds - for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS, or "Lou Gehrig's Disease." To date, more than $40 million has been donated.

Artpark fans got a taste of Steve "Luke" Lukather's style of music when he performed June 24 with Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band. The singer returns with his own band, Toto, to close out the 2014 "Tuesdays in the Park" concert series Aug. 26.

The Wheatfield Family Picnic is back again on Sunday, Aug. 24, at the town's Fairmount Park with its usual abundance of food, activities, animals, cars, community services and music.

The State Environmental Quality Review for the proposed Cobblestone Creek development is expected to be on the agenda for the Wheatfield Town Board at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 25.

Changes in Benderson Development's plans for Military Place brought a crowd of concerned residents to the Town of Niagara Town Board meeting on Tuesday.

Merrell A. Lane, 67, of Wheatfield, died Saturday, Aug. 16, 2014, after a lengthy illness in Strong Memorial Hospital Palliative Care, Rochester.

Jazz buffs will again flock to Lewiston this weekend for the 13th annual Lewiston Jazz Festival, where more than 150 musicians will gather in a celebration of jazz music and culture.

Patrons driving to Artpark Tuesday for the Styx concert may have noticed more cars parked off South Fourth Street. Vehicles were on residential lawns - parked both parallel and perpendicular - on the road and in driveways. Some homes had more than a half-dozen parked on site.

If this appeared in contrast to previous Village of Lewiston Board rulings, it was - and it wasn't.

Michael McDonald will co-headline the final "Tuesdays in the Park" concert on Aug. 26. The singer with the distinctive baritone voice was the top draw in 2005 - the first year Artpark & Company went all-out to bring top talent to Lewiston - and drew more than 12,000 for a second appearance in 2008.

Center and North Fourth streets is quickly becoming the Village of Lewiston's coolest corner.

Grand Island High School students took home the People's Choice award and a third-place yellow ribbon from the Chalk Walk competition at the Lewiston Art Festival Saturday.

During the Monday evening meeting of the Grand Island Board of Education, trustees heard reports on a variety of topics, including some important staffing changes. Dr. Andrés Arroyo is leaving his position as assistant principal of Grand Island High School to become principal at Newfane High School. Arroyo has served Grand Island for the past seven years and earned his Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

His resignation comes close behind that of Assistant Principal Michael Lauria, who left his job earlier this summer to become principal at Springville High School. Administrators acted quickly to search for and to hire replacements for Arroyo and Lauria, and high school Principal Dan Quartley introduced the new staff to the Board of Education at Monday's meeting. They are T. Michael Carter and Corey Gray.

Island contractors showed up at Town Hall Monday to criticize a proposed local law that one called "blue collar vs. white collar."

A public hearing at the monthly Town Board meeting was attended by many of Grand Island's contractors, who gave input on Local Law Intro No. 13 of 2014 that would amend chapter 407 of the town code to allow contractor maintenance yards as a special use in certain residential districts, subject to certain conditions.

Just before taking public comments, Town Supervisor Mary Cooke said, "What's currently going on in town right now may not all be legal, and we're trying to figure out a way to allow someone who has a small operation to be able to work in their property that they have without disrupting their entire neighborhood so that we don't get complaints from people who say, 'I live in a residential neighborhood. I didn't sign up for this.' "

The Grand Island Town Board has called the results of the first month of use with the new 95-gallon wheeled recycling carts "fantastic."

In a press release to the media this week, the board said the amount of recycling by Grand Islanders in the first month of using the carts that were delivered in May by Republic Services has increased.

Buffalo Division Manager Terry Schweitzer and Municipal Services Manager Terry Grady of Republic Services met recently with the Town Board to review the recycling numbers and the overall program, the statement said. According to the town, when compared to the same time period last year, the Grand Island recycling rate has increased by more than 30 percent.

The new disability-friendly playground in Veterans Park, part of the Miracle League complex, is now complete and open for play "for the whole Western New York community," said R.J. Wynne, president of the Miracle League of Grand Island and Western New York.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation Facility Siting Board and DEC Commissioner Joe Martens announced this week the DEC would extend, yet again, the public commentary period on the CWM Chemical Services expansion/new hazardous waste proposal application before the agency.

The Lewiston Council on the Arts has revealed its 2014 Lewiston Art Festival winners.

The Skin Cancer Foundation encourages people to enjoy the outdoors while still protecting themselves from the sun. One way to protect yourself is with clothing, which is the single most effective form of sun protection for the body. It's a great way to shield your skin from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays, which account for 86 percent of melanomas and about 90 percent of nonmelanoma skin cancers.

"Summer vacation" and "teacher" - when used in the same sentence these words typically produce responses varying from eye-rolling and head-shaking to exclamations of "Boy, it would be nice to have a job that gave me summers off."

The mayor recently met with business leaders and members of the Niagara River Region Chamber of Commerce and revealed plans to bolster Lewiston's waterfront. Collesano envisions additional parking, a recreation area, and a museum highlighting the village's transportation history.

A petition to dissolve the Lewiston Police Department into the Niagara County Sheriff's Office has received mixed reactions from residents, police and town officials.

The first-ever Great Contraption Race, held to benefit the It Happened to Alexa Foundation of Lewiston, went off without a hitch last Saturday morning in the lower Niagara River waters between Lewiston and Youngstown.