Current News

It was a fundraiser of the unique as retro clothier Hip Gypsy and a number of North Tonawanda-area fashion boutiques, art designers and local merchants staged the second annual "Uniting the Gateway and Beyond" production to benefit The Historic Riviera Theatre.

Adding to the previously announced, star-studded roster of talent performing at The 2013 Billboard Music Awards, Pitbull, Christina Aguilera, Selena Gomez, The Band Perry, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Kacey Musgraves are also slated to grace the stage. The awards show airs live from Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena Sunday, May 19, on ABC.

ABC News' "Good Morning America" has announced its 2013 summer concert series lineup, featuring an eclectic mix of hot names in music.

Congressman Chris Collins, NY-27, issued the following statement Friday following the passage of legislation ending sequester furloughs for air traffic controllers:

A potential new treatment strategy for patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is on the horizon, thanks to research by neuroscientists now at the University at Buffalo's Hunter James Kelly Research Institute and their colleagues in Italy and England.

After intense discussion on program and personnel cuts, the Lewiston Porter Board of Education passed a $40,001,368 proposed budget for 2013-14 in a 5-2 vote. Board members Jerome Andres and Mollie Lucas voted against the plan.

The Grand Island Board of Education will announce its selection of a new superintendent of schools during Monday's joint meeting with the Grand Island Town Board.

The Board of Education and the Town Board will meet at 6:30 p.m. at Grand Island Town Hall, 2255 Baseline Road.

The Board of Education has identified its two finalists for the position:

The Niagara County Builders Association's annual Parade of Homes Show will kick off on Saturday, May 4. The event is free and open to the public. Five builders will present seven houses in the Niagara County and Grand Island areas over the course of three weekends.

The following incidents occurred from April 8 to 14, as reported by the Grand Island Fire Co. A total of 32 calls were answered during this period. The GIFC has now responded to 381 calls so far this year. For further information, visit the GIFC website at www.grandislandfire.us.

The Erie County Sheriff's Office responded to 184 calls from April 6 to 12. Below is a sampling of the noteworthy incidents on Grand Island.

Erie County Legislator Kevin Hardwick reminds residents that the annual Prescription Drug Take-Back Day is on Saturday, April 27, and several sites across Erie County will accept medications from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The next Paddles Up Niagara will promote Grand Island at the eighth annual edition of the signature event of the Niagara River Greenway Commission.

Ty Gallagher of Grand Island played defense for the Buffalo Senior All-Stars in the 2013 Bowman Cup at First Niagara Center.

Members of the Grand Island Riverside-Salem congregation joined 30 environmental activists at the Buffalo waterfront on April 16. The church was one of the sponsors of the Sierra Club's "Turn, Not Burn" campaign press conference.

The Father's Day Classic Car Show and Lawn Mower Race, benefiting the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life of Grand Island, will be held again this year on West River Parkway at Long Road, Sunday, June 16, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Grand Island is making progress on what is called a prescription drug problem on the Island.

The Grand Island Town Board spent more than an hour in a work session April 15 discussing the fine print on a proposed local law governing special events. During a subsequent public hearing on the law, they heard the proposal called "over-reaching" by interested residents.

Gertrude Schilke Reimann, 103, of Grand Island, died Dec. 8, 2012.

Ruth M. (Hodson) Stahl, entered into rest April 13, 2013. She was a resident of Grand Island.

Charles I. Livingston, born April 28, 1926, entered into rest April 9, 2013. He is survived by his wife Annette (Sabella) Livingston, his daughter Cynthia (Nicholas) Petito, granddaughters Colleen, Victoria, Theresa and Christina, and a great-grandson Scott. He was brother of Joan Bidell Fred, Ronald Livingston and Jerry Livingston. He was predeceased by his son, Charles A. Livingston, and brother, Martin Livingston Jr.

Yolanda (DiBartolomeo) Ortenzi of Grand Island passed away at 95 on Thursday, April 11, 2013, at Niagara Hospice House in Lockport.

No contestant eliminated; "American Idol" ladies have one more week to battle it out as votes from April 24 and May 1 will be combined to determine top three finalists

Immanuel returns to The Lighthouse Cafe in Lockport this Saturday, April 27, at 7 p.m. Immanuel will be "unplugged" and bringing their own style of original contemporary Christian music to event.

Assemblyman John Ceretto is teaming up with the Firemen's Association of the State of New York to help promote this year's statewide volunteer firefighter recruitment drive, Recruit NY, which will take place at firehouses across the state on April 27-28.

State Sen. Mark Grisanti, R-I-60, will receive the 2013 Liberty Bell Award, the highest award that is bestowed at the Annual Law Day Luncheon of the Bar Association of Erie County.

Earlier this week, U.S. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter congratulated Sunnking, a local e-recycling business, on winning the Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Quality Award for work in dismantling, refurbishing and recycling electronic waste.

NBC has ordered "The Million Second Quiz," a state-of-the-art, new live competition where contestants test the limits of their knowledge, endurance and will to win as they battle each other in intense bouts of trivia for 12 consecutive days and nights.

As part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the nationally recognized Clothesline Project exhibit will be on display through Friday, April 26, at the Niagara County Community College, Sanborn campus, Student Center, Room G201.

National talk radio host and Lockport native Stephanie Miller will deliver the keynote address at the Niagara County Community College commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 11, in the main gym on the Sanborn campus.

Holy Ghost Lutheran Church "Helping Hands" and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans are sponsoring two events to benefit Judi Jagow, a resident of Bergholz, who has cancer.

With spring finally seeming to warm up, plans are in the works to reopen Wheatfield's Farmers Market.

At Monday's Town Board meeting, the board approved moving the market to the front of Town Hall, instead of the rear parking area between the Community Center and Youth Center. Town Attorney Bob O'Toole said the market's vendors expressed strong preference for the new location that will be immediately visible to those approaching Town Hall at 2800 Church Road. Parking will remain in the rear of Town Hall. The change, for safety reasons, must be approved by the St. Johnsburg Volunteer Fire Co.

O'Toole said an opening day for the market has yet to be set.

Three candidates submitted petitions by Monday's deadline to run for the two open seats on the Niagara-Wheatfield Board of Education.

Dr. Lynn Marie Fusco will assume the duties of superintendent of the Niagara-Wheatfield Central School District on July 1.

Fusco is currently serving the Alden Central School District in the same capacity. She has been with Alden since 2006 and prior to that served for 10 years as the director of curriculum, instruction and personnel for the East Aurora Union Free School District.

She has also been employed as a principal at Pembroke Intermediate School and taught special education at Pembroke and at Royalton-Hartland Central School.

The five Town of Wheatfield volunteer fire companies will open their doors to area residents this weekend as part of a statewide program called RecruitNY. Special events for kids and adults, as well as information on how to become a volunteer firefighter, will be offered.

Like most volunteer fire departments, the Town of Wheatfield fire companies need to bolster their emergency responder numbers, so they can continue to provide the optimum level of protection for their residents.

On Saturday, April 27, and Sunday, April 28, the five fire companies that serve Wheatfield will hold open houses for a unified recruitment drive, as part of National Volunteer Week 2013.

The Niagara Tourism & Convention Corp. will welcome the seventh annual I Love New York Empire State Tourism Conference, titled "Building Our Empire," from May 1-3. This is the first time the annual conference will be held outside of the Albany region in many years.

We have the most comprehensive list of Artpark events and pictures around -- plus a video presentation of the "Tuesday in the Park" and "Coors Light Wednesdays" schedule.

CBSSports.com will offer an extensive second screen experience for the 2013 NFL Draft with "Draft Show Live," featuring live programming online and on the CBS Sports mobile app throughout all three days of the event.

Assemblyman John Ceretto, R-I-C-Lewiston, joined his Republican Assembly colleagues Wednesday at the State Capitol to advocate for legislation that would establish "recall" to help clean up Albany by removing unfit and corrupt elected officials from office.

Assemblyman John Ceretto participated in West Point Day by welcoming Cadet Lt. John Charles Asbach of Grand Island to the Assembly.