Current News

Zonta International was founded in Buffalo in 1919. It is a leading global organization of professionals empowering women worldwide through service and advocacy. Celebrate the centennial event with the Niagara Falls Zonta Club at its "Dance the Decades Party." The event is set for 7 p.m. March 8 (International Women's Day), at the Four Points by Sheraton ballroom, 7001 Buffalo Ave., Niagara Falls.

The Festival of Praise Tour will make its way to Shea's Buffalo Theatre on Friday, March 22.

People have said, "Defense wins championships." Monday night, it didn't win a championship, but it helped the Niagara-Wheatfield girls basketball team secure a 45-20 victory over the Kenmore West Blue Devils.

Artpark & Company will kickoff the 2019 "Tuesdays in the Park presented by M&T Bank" concert series on June 4 with a mega show: Sammy Hagar's "Full Circle Jam Tour" featuring Michael Anthony, Vic Johnson and Jason Bonham. Special guest Night Ranger will open.

Arts Services Initiative of Western New York, in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts, has announced the recipients of the 2019 decentralization grant program. Forty-eight organizations and artists in Erie and Niagara counties will receive a portion of $120,000 for community and school-based arts and cultural programs and artworks taking place in 2019.

Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announced the New York State Department of Labor's Office of Special Investigations named Erie County second in New York for recovering the highest in total restitution from unemployment insurance benefits fraud cases last year.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Environmental Conservation Committee Chairman Steve Englebright on Monday announced the Assembly will pass legislation (A.2572, Englebright) to prohibit oil and natural gas drilling in New York's coastal areas.

The Niagara Falls Community Development Department is competing for a grant to fund a citywide 311 system and is are asking residents for input. 311 is a nonemergency phone number that people can call in many cities to find information about services, make complaints, or report problems.

Rock Burger quickly became a cult smash. This was the place where one could get a giant burger, juicy and oozing from the inside out, dripping with head-scratching foodstuffs straight from Lizardo's imagination.

Last week, the Small Business Council presented Assemblyman Angelo J. Morinello the Guardian of Small Business Award "for his consistent advocacy for small businesses in New York state," a press release stated. This prestigious award is presented to legislators who vote in support of small businesses and "who champion issues affecting businesses in New York state."

The nation's fight against cancer has new champions on the House of Representatives Cancer Caucus. Leading the caucus in the new Congress are co-chairs Congressmen Brian Higgins (D-NY-26), Peter King (R-NY-3), Derek Kilmer (D-WA-6) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-1).

As part of the American Heart Association's "Little Hats, Big Hearts" campaign, babies born in the month of February at Mount St. Mary's are being given special little red baby hats. The goal of the effort is to raise awareness about congenital heart defects.

Oscar producer Donna Gigliotti, and co-producer and director Glenn Weiss announced the first round of presenters for the Academy Awards. The show will honor a slate of nominees - from blockbusters to independent films - and embrace the diversity of the global movie-going audience.

Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz appointed Timothy Hogues to the office of commissioner of personnel for Erie County. Hogues, who has served as commissioner of senior services since 2016, begins in his new role today.

The University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine will host its 18th annual "Give Kids A Smile Day," a national program dedicated to raising awareness about the prevalence of untreated dental disease and teaching children good dental health habits.

Foreigner will return to the Artpark Outdoor Amphitheater stage on Aug. 27 as part of the "Tuesdays in the Park presented by M&T Bank 2019" concert series.

Mount St. Mary's Hospital President and CEO Gary C. Tucker announced the appointment of Tom Greico to director of operations.

The Buffalo Sabres announced the team recalled forward C.J. Smith from the Rochester Americans (AHL).

Today's national average price for a gallon of gasoline is $2.26, no change from last week. One year ago, the price was $2.60. The New York average is $2.49, down 1 cent from last week. A year ago, the state average was $2.77.

The Buffalo Beauts skated to a 3-2 win over the Metropolitan Riveters Saturday in their first visit to Barnabas Health Hockey House this season. The team improved to 9-4-0.

On Friday, St. Peter's R.C. School will host its annual "Valentines for Veterans" event. The students will share their thanks and support to veterans by creating valentine cards, which will be delivered to the Buffalo VA Medical Center.

EPIC - Every Person Influences Children - received $5,000 from the Rite Aid Foundation KidCents program.

U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Linda E. McMahon released the following statement in response to the U.S. Labor Department's January 2019 jobs report that the economy added 304,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate is at 4.0 percent:

Grab your guy, gal, or best friends and head out to the Niagara Wine Trail USA for the annual "Be Mine with Wine" event, Feb. 9-10 and 16-17.

Saturday night, the Niagara-Wheatfield Falcons hockey team celebrated senior night prior to the team's tilt versus Frontier.

Hallmark Channel hosts the nation's most beloved rescue pet adoption event of the year when "Kitten Bowl VI" premieres exclusively on, Sunday, Feb. 3 (2 p.m. ET/PT). "Kitten Bowl" returns after a successful run at Super Bowl Live in Minneapolis in 2018 and will feature kittens rescued from across the country, all of whom will be vying for the National Championship of Feline Football trophy.

Hallmark Channel will present the first "Cat Bowl" tonight, as part of the network's core philanthropic effort "Adoption Ever After." The initiative uses entertainment programming to showcase animals available for adoption in neighborhoods all across America. "Cat Bowl" will premiere exclusively on the network at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

In celebration of Black History month, the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center, in partnership with the WNY Urban Arts Collective, will host the 10th annual "Freedom: Artists of Color Exhibition." It will run Feb. 9 through March 4 in the Townsend Gallery, 1201 Pine Ave, Niagara Falls.

Though northern Niagara County certainly escaped the brunt of this week's blizzards that paralyzed much of Buffalo and Erie County, that's not to say the area didn't have its share of problems, too. The area dodged the snow bullet, but it certainly didn't escape unscathed.

With town operations slowly moving into 2019, January's Lewiston Town Board regular meeting Monday was lower-key, but newsworthy, nonetheless, with a number of procedural matters addressed.

Architect Jim Fittante and his fiancé, Cheryl Krouse, are taking over the property at 700 Center St., which was recently the 700 Café & Bistro. They are converting the three-room first floor into Samana Salt Spa.

The Village of Lewiston Board of Trustees will go through Lewiston Landing rehabilitation bids at the Feb. 4 work session.

Brutal cold, white-outs and snow caused Grand Island school and government closures this week.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation announced Wednesday that Montana International LLC has been selected through the New York state procurement process to operate concessions at Beaver Island State Park and the Big Six Marina on Grand Island.

The Niagara Footprint Festival defied the cold and snow Saturday at Beaver Island State Park and drew hundreds of visitors to a winter festival in its first showing.

Overcharges from the new cashless tolling at Grand Island bridges is on the agenda for Monday's Grand Island Town Board work session meeting.

James Murphy "Jake" Shapiro chose his angel's wings Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019, at his home in Tucker, Georgia, at the age of 13.

The Grand Island Democratic Party is seeking candidates to fill town positions of supervisor, Town Council (two), town clerk, and town justice for this fall.

The usually scheduled Grand Island Town Board meeting for the third Monday of the month is canceled for February as members of the town government attend the annual Association of Towns conference.

It had been 14 days since the Niagara Falls Wolverines played its most recent ballgame, but the team got back on track Friday night with a 78-37 victory over Kenmore West.