News

By Tony Farina While tourism is no question the cornerstone of the Niagara Falls economy, the city possesses several advantages that make it very attractive for investment beyond tourism, and bluntly speaking, the conversation should not be about choosing tourism or technology; it should be about embracing both. We know the natural beauty and global recognition of Niagara Falls draws tourists from around the globe every year to experience one of the world’s greatest natural wonders, and that tourist trade creates jobs, supports local businesses, and generates significant economic activity. It is indeed the cornerstone of the local economy, but

By Tony Farina Some stories defy explanation, especially when law enforcement is involved, and people expect fair treatment. In the case at hand, the law enforcement involved is the Niagara Falls Police Department, and the complainant is Niagara Falls native Ken Thomas, who is currently recovering from a jeep accident in Las Vegas and has been trying to recover his ailing mother’s belongings from the police while he recovers before returning home. Despite considerable effort on his behalf by this reporter, designated as his representative, the police have not returned the belongings, including a purse and other valuables. Despite numerous

By Tony Farina The City of Niagara Falls has the most important opportunity at hand that it has had in a very long time and must–like 100 years ago– use its abundant hydroelectric power to make the city an industrial leader again. The construction of a data center as planned by Niagara Falls Redevelopment will help the city make it back in so many ways and attract investment in the digital economy for years to come. The tools are all there and the path is now clear to move forward now that the city and NFR have settled their long-standing

Musa Hilal’s Top Adviser Speaks on Sudan’s War, Hemedti, and the Road to Peace Sudan’s civil war has produced countless military analyses and diplomatic proposals. Far fewer conversations have taken place with the political figures whose relationships and rivalries helped shape the conflict long before the first shots were fired in April 2023. One of those figures is Dr. Abdulrahman Hassan Saeed, Secretary-General of the Revolutionary Awakening Council and longtime adviser to Sheikh Musa Hilal, the influential Darfur tribal leader whose falling-out with former President Omar al-Bashir and later with Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, altered the balance

Two legal developments unfolding overseas, one in Switzerland and another in Russia, are drawing attention to an unlikely but critical component of the United States’ defense industrial base: titanium. At first glance, the cases appear to involve a commercial dispute between a metals trader and a global producer. But the companies and materials involved sit deep inside the supply chain that feeds America’s aerospace and weapons industries, including manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and RTX (Raytheon). As the United States ramps up missile and interceptor production following recent conflicts and global tensions, the stability of those supply chains is

By Tony Farina There’s a simply terrific new book out on one of Buffalo’s most amazing historical figures, Harry Altman, the son of Jewish immigrants who was the amazing showman who dazzled in the 50s and 60s with the Town Casino and the Glenn Park Casino, treasures from Buffalo’s past. The book is titled “Harry Altman, Buffalo’s Master Showman,” and indeed that’s who he was and the book and author, historian Susan Fenster, have caught the attention of Liberty cab and radio entreprenuer Bill Yuhnke because of the connection between the casinos and long standing WEBR Radio, now part of

By Tony Farina It may not be another world wonder, but the idea fomenting these days about the Niagara Aerospace Museum for Niagara Falls, N. Y., is important because it is another way to connect tourism with education, workforce development, and regional identity. With long, cold winters, the reality is that indoor attractions matter, encouraging overnight stays, supporting nearby restaurants and hotels, and creating educational opportunities for local students. Western New York has a long history in aviation, engineering, and manufacturing, and an aerospace-focused attraction fits naturally with this history and is extremely worthy of serious discussion, which we heartily

As the journalist who broke the NXIVM branding story and played a role in exposing Keith Raniere’s criminal enterprise, I want to explain the role of Roger Stone and NXIVM. In 2006, NXIVM hired Stone as a political consultant. The group was entirely unknown then. It was led by Keith Raniere and funded by two sisters, Clare and Sara Bronfman, heirs of the Seagram liquor fortune. Raniere said he wanted Stone to lobby in Albany to help his company grow. What he really wanted was for Stone to use his connections to help them harm their enemies—to get Raniere’s ex-girlfriend, Toni

The City of Niagara Falls doesn’t need a one-shot miracle project to get back in the game and help the city get on the road to recovery.  It needs a clear, disciplined, and predictable plan that private investors can trust.  Until it develops that trustworthy plan, development will remain episodic, fragile, and dependent on subsidies rather than sustained private confidence. One of the best examples that Niagara Falls might look at is Kansas City, a city that decided years ago to stop chasing one-off projects and instead focus on becoming investable. So what did Kansas City do to make the

FROM NIAGARA ACTION A New York Supreme Court Judge issued a sweeping decision this morning dismissing a lawsuit brought by 27 restaurants against Buffalo Biodiesel, rejecting what the court characterized as speculative, conclusory, and legally deficient claims. The rebuke lands squarely on the shoulders of plaintiffs’ counsel, Manhattan attorney Michael Collesano.   In a detailed Memorandum Decision, Hon. Michael A. Siragusa, J.S.C., granted Buffalo Biodiesel’s motion to dismiss finding that the action should never have been filed in the first place. The court concluded that the lawsuit was barred because it duplicated more than two dozen already-pending cases, failed to

Public trust in the justice system rests on a simple expectation: prosecutions should follow evidence, not storylines. When the contemporaneous record—messages, timestamps, and immediate post-event conduct—conflicts with a later allegation, the obligation of prosecutors and the media is not to “interpret” the contradiction into coherence, but to treat it as central. That obligation is unavoidable in a Florida criminal case involving one of the Alexander brothers, where discovery materials and sworn deposition testimony reveal a stark tension between what an accuser’s communications conveyed at the time and what was later alleged. A similar pattern appears in materials that were made

By Tony Farina The City of Niagara Falls has land, location, and market potential, but unfortunately, city leadership is unpredictable, adversarial, litigious, and strategically incoherent, making it a poor city for long-term investment possibilities. Investors who might be willing to commit to Niagara Falls in effect are turned off by the city’s unwelcoming posture and preference for using lawsuits rather than collaboration to manage public policy disputes. What has happened is that the city’s developmental pipeline—a steady flow of projects in planning, construction, and financial backing stages—is deteriorating and getting worse the longer the city manages the process unprofessionally, and

For every mother who feels unseen inside a courtroom, this is for you. By: Michelle Pelletier Owner of Resolve WNY (www.resolvewny.com) Family court has a way of making mothers feel invisible. The system is busy, overworked, and often too focused on procedure to recognize the human being standing before it. If you are a mother in the thick of a custody battle, I want you to hear what no one inside that courtroom will say out loud: you are stronger than you think. I wish I could sit across from you at your kitchen table, hands wrapped around a warm

On paper, the City Court race wasn’t a contest. Two open seats for Niagara Falls City Court judge. Two candidates – only two: Chief Judge Danielle Restaino running for reelection and attorney Jason Cafarella making his transition from lawyer to the bench. Both were sure to be elected—as long as they got at least one vote, since there was no other opposition. Both were cross-endorsed by every party — Democrats, Republicans, Conservatives, and Working Families. Both were guaranteed to win. Out of roughly 9,000 voters of this small city with the famous name, Cafarella received 5,457 votes. Restaino got 3,517 — a difference

Mayor Robert M. Restaino financed a mailer for City Council candidate Bridgette V. Myles. The proof is in the corner, printed in plain type—the mayor’s name like an artist signs a canvas. Paid for by Restaino for Mayor.      The mayor is financing his very own personal pet council. The executive financing the legislature. Forget that under New York Election Law, a mayor’s campaign committee cannot directly fund or coordinate campaign materials for another candidate without reporting it as an in-kind contribution and adhering to contribution limits.   Forget about how by financing a council candidate’s mailer, Restaino blurred ethical boundaries intended

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — On Tuesday, voters will decide whether the City Council becomes an independent check on Mayor Robert M. Restaino—or continues to be an extension of his office. Five seats. Three are on the line. Mayor Robert Restaino’s slate — John Kinney, Noah Muñoz, and Bridget Myles — is running as a team. If they win, Restaino continues to run the council. The chairman, Jim Perry, is supposed to run the council, but he follows the mayor’s directives. He keeps meetings quiet, cuts people off, and leaves the room when the questions get awkward or hard. Restaino has

By Tony Farina It’s time for Niagara Falls voters to elect a council that will be more than just a rubber stamp for the mayor!  Mayor Restaino and his administration have been actively campaigning to “vote in his own slate of politically beholden candidates” and is even paying for many of their campaign mailers from his own political coffers! It is a bad idea, both legally and politically, for a sitting mayor to underwrite or fund campaign mailers! But that is a topic that can be addressed at another time. Now that Election Day is upon us, it is more important

Phil Shawe has two parallel stories running at once. One is the familiar founder arc: bootstrapping TransPerfect from an NYU dorm room into a global language-and-AI platform with roughly $1.2 billion in annual revenue and 10,000 employees. The other is a political-legal crusade: a decade of trench warfare with Delaware’s Court of Chancery that pushed him to re-domicile in Nevada, relocate to Puerto Rico, bankroll reform efforts, and press a broader case that America’s most famous business court has lost the trust of entrepreneurs. From forced sale to deal machine After a bruising cofounder breakup, a court-ordered auction in 2016,

Sean “Diddy” Combs was acquitted of the most serious charges against him—racketeering and sex trafficking—after a grueling federal trial. Yet when he appeared before Judge Arun Subramanian last week for sentencing, those very allegations determined how long he would stay behind bars. That’s not conjecture; it’s how federal sentencing works. Under current guidelines, a judge may consider uncharged, unproven, or even acquitted conduct in determining punishment, so long as the allegations are deemed “proven” by a preponderance of the evidence—a far lower standard than “beyond a reasonable doubt.” It’s one of the strangest paradoxes in modern justice: a jury says

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. This past Wednesday, Niagara Falls City Council majority voted against awarding the operating contract for the Hyde Park Ice Pavilion to Legacy Hospitality & Entertainment Group. For the past 13+ years, local vendor Mike Carella’s company Niagara Sports Tournaments (NST) has held the contract rights to operate the rink; but for the past four years, there has not been an actual operating contract for the ice pavilion due to gross incompetence exhibited by the City Administration. Christopher McKendrick, the general manager of the Sheraton Hotel on Third Street, spoke in favor of

By Frank Parlato Most U.S. cities are rolling out the red carpet for AI data centers. Niagara Falls is trying to turn one away. Across the United States, governors and mayors are courting developers and operators of data centers with incentives of land, discounted power, and tax abatements. Thirty-six states have enacted laws to attract developers, including exemptions on equipment sales taxes, construction materials, and job-creation credits. Local governments are adding abatements and fast-track permitting. So what does Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino know that these other municipalities do not? He does not want AI or data centers. He is

By Tony Farina Joe Mesi, known to all of us in Western New York as “Baby” Joe Mesi, was a heroic figure in the boxing ring, winning all 36 of his professional fights, 29 by knockout before brain injury cut short his fabulous ring career even as his boxing exploits had moved him to number one heavyweight in the world rankings, likely very close to a championship fight at the time he was injured in 2004 in a fight he still managed to win. But Joe, known by all of us as Buffalo’s third professional franchise, is still around and

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. The contested Hyde Park Ice Pavilion operator contract was not on the City Council agenda last Wednesday. According to the current operator of the pavilion, the agenda item is presumed (though not confirmed) to have been moved to the council meeting on Wednesday, September 17th. If passed, the council resolution will award the operating contract to Legacy Hospitality & Entertainment Group, Mayor Restaino’s choice for operating vendor; according to its terms therein. Local vendor Mike Carella’s company Niagara Sports Tournaments (NST) has held the contract for the past 14 years. Among

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. Parents have become increasingly frustrated that their children are unable to enjoy the parks and splash pads, which the City of Niagara Falls kept closed during a recent heat wave. The Restaino administration has now officially developed a proven track record of cutting youth services and blaming their victims. The Niagara Gazette’s Mark Scheer spoke with LaSalle resident Nancy Gullo, who told Scheer “There’s so many things the City of Niagara Falls is lacking when it comes to children… They are all good at pointing fingers, but none of them are

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino (once again) publicly embarrassed himself in the media last month after he ordered the locks changed at the Hyde Park ice pavilion, just to stop a youth hockey camp from practicing. Around 75 people (including the youth athletes, their parents and their coaches); were met by DPW Director Ken Tompkins and two police officers. Despite the fact that the athletes had already paid for hockey camp, they were told that they could not enter the facility. The news flurry sent City Administrator Anthony Restaino into damage

A Long Island construction industry whistleblower has filed a sweeping civil RICO lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court, alleging a web of public contract bribery, bid rigging, ghost payroll schemes, and union wage fraud tied to more than $27 million in awarded school construction projects. The case, filed by Vincent Bentivegna – former acting president of US Environmental Abatement Corp. (USEA) – names as defendants USEA, its leadership, and its outside counsel at Forchelli Deegan Terrana LLP, along with several associated individuals. According to the 100+ page complaint, USEA allegedly secured lucrative public contracts from the NYC School Construction

By Frank Parlato Mayor Robert Restaino will do anything to stop artificial intelligence from coming to Niagara Falls. It’s a crusade. He wants an arena — badly. But more than that, he wants to kill the competing vision: a state-of-the-art AI-powered data center campus that could put Niagara Falls on the map for 21st-century innovation. Mayor Restaino His latest complaint? Noise. Not traffic, not emissions — just the phantom menace of server hums and imagined disruption. Never mind that modern data centers operate more quietly than the arena crowds he envisions. The truth? It’s not really about noise. It’s about

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. THE (LATEST) INCIDENT The Restaino Brothers have once again shown their asses to our entire community. On Monday morning, dozens of youth hockey players ages 11 to 14 (along with their parents and coaches) arrived at the Hyde Park Ice Pavilion for the start of hockey camp. The athletes (who had already registered and paid for camp) were intercepted by DPW Director Ken Tompkins and four armed Niagara Falls police officers who would not allow them into the building. Mayor Restaino ordered Tompkins and co. to change the locks on the

By Frank Parlato A city on the edge of debt. A mayor with a vision. The feasibility report came. It said: Build it.   It did not say how. Or who would come. Or what would happen if they didn’t. So, the good people of Niagara Falls now entertain Mayor Restaino’s $200 million arena dream. Based on a report that avoids every hard question. Feeble Report The mayor dreamed of a grand arena in Niagara Falls, seven thousand seats. The report failed to explain how to pay for it. No assessment of risk. It was not a report, not really.

Niagara Falls, NY: Mayor Robert Restaino addressed the public via YouTube, promoting his Centennial Park project—a proposed $200 million arena. The vision was compelling—ice rinks and concerts, a city reborn under bright lights. A mayor. A vision. A rink in the middle of a town. He appeared on screen, earnest, poised. He talked. I listened. The Mayor said, “We continue to move forward with our efforts relative to the event center and park.” Centennial Park, he called it. A two-hundred-million-dollar ice box in the middle of a broke city? It looked like progress. But something in the back of the

By Frank Parlato The City of Niagara Falls, New York, retained the consulting firm Sports Facilities Advisory (SFA) of Clearwater, Florida, to produce a “feasibility report” for a proposed indoor arena called Centennial Park. The word “feasibility” was used, though its meaning had been altered. As admitted by SFA in its own “feasibility report,” Mayor Robert Restaino told them what success looked like. And they studied how to agree with him. A feasibility report used to mean: Can we afford this? Is it a good idea? What’s the upside—and the risk? It weighs the benefits against the costs, considering the

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. Niagara Falls native Gabriel Porto was a proud Italian-American. His book, aptly titled “Memoirs of an Italian American”, was self published in 2023 on Amazon. As one might suspect, “Memoirs of an Italian American” is Gabriel Porto’s autobiography. Porto was a first generation Italian-American whose parents migrated to the United States in the early twentieth century. Born in 1934, Porto shares with us his memories as an Italian kid growing up in Niagara Falls during a completely different era. My own Sicilian grandfather Anthony Cosentino was born in Niagara Falls in

By Nick Del Vecchio An intriguing game of chess is being played out in court between attorneys representing Niagara Falls Redevelopment and Mayor Robert Restaino. Restaino and the city are determined to capture NFR’s Queen, 10 acres of land known legally as Parcel 0, which is essential to the completion of the digital data center they hope to build downtown. NFR has re-positioned several pieces to protect their lady by filing two new documents with the City of Niagara Falls Planning Board. At stake for the taxpaying residents of Niagara Falls is an opportunity to reverse decades of decline and

By Nick Del Vecchio Niagara Falls Redevelopment’s proposed $1.5 billion data center adjacent to downtown Niagara Falls has been temporarily derailed by Mayor Robert Restaino’s administration. The mayor and his attorneys have invoked eminent domain in order to claim NFR’s property planned for its Niagara Digital Campus. Restaino has other plans for the property and is determined to prevent NFR’s project from becoming a reality. NFR’s planned 1.2 million square foot data center will house tens of thousands of servers and is a project suited to support the booming era of Artificial Intelligence. NFR anticipates 5600 construction jobs will be

The following is Part Four of an ongoing series by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. Part One, Two and Three recap: Niagara Falls Department of Public Works (DPW) invaded a privately owned home sensory garden, which occupied both public and private property; and removed just about everything. The family whose garden was destroyed were fined $2,300 by the City for expenses incurred during the clean up. Some of the sensory garden was on public property which violated Ordinance 738, but it is unclear as to whether or not any health hazards which may have been discovered on private property prompted the

The following is Part Three of an ongoing series by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. Part One recap: Niagara Falls DPW removed a sensory garden owned by a family whose 15 year old son has autism. The sensory garden occupied both public and private property. Local journalist Mark Scheer first reported the story on Friday, April 25th, three days after the incident. Scheer’s Niagara Gazette article and a social media uproar prompted a media frenzy, and the news was covered by WGRZ, WIVB and WKBW. As a direct response to the media coverage, the executive office of the City of Niagara Falls

The following is Part Two of an ongoing series written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. Part One recap: Niagara Falls DPW removed a sensory garden owned by a family whose 15 year old son has come a long way since he was originally diagnosed with low functioning, nonverbal autism. The sensory garden occupied both public property (sidewalk/easement) and private property; its removal was conducted during Autism Awareness Month. The City then slapped the family with a $2,300 fine. Local journalist Mark Scheer first reported the story on Friday, April 25th; three days after the incident occurred. The Niagara Gazette article

By Frank Parlato A Little Arena and a Lot of Pain Niagara Falls NY — The tax money of the people is not money. Not in the way a man thinks of coins in a jar or a dollar in his wallet. It’s something different. It is hours. It is sweat. It is bent backs and sighs in living rooms where a father pretends he is not tired. It is a mother doing math on the backs of envelopes to make the light bill disappear for one more month. It is old men eating beans. It is children in hand-me-down shoes.

The following is Part One of an ongoing series written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. THE INCIDENT Monday, April 21st – just one day after Easter, a Niagara Falls family’s sensory garden was confiscated and unintentionally trampled by Niagara Falls Department of Public Works (DPW) employees. The sensory garden occupied space on both public and private property. Adding insult to injury, they were then slapped with a $2,300 removal/clean up fee.  An uproar on social media led to two Niagara Gazette articles written by local investigative journalist Mark Scheer, who was then publicly dressed down by Council Chairman Jim Perry.

By Tony Farina A night of very exciting music is in store for folks looking to be entertained come Saturday night, May 31, when the creative rock band SoleTurn will be on stage at The Caz on Seneca St., in Buffalo, to perform their debut album The Soundtrack of Our Youth. It will be my pleasure, along with former world number one heavyweight boxer Joe Mesi, to co-host the program which includes a music video that features Baby Joe called The Contender. SoleTurn leaders Vik Bhargava and Zachary Michael are putting the final touches on their work and the word

This is Part 3 of our investigative series on the battle between the Town of Tonawanda Police Chief and the Union. Part 1 Chief Stauffiger vs. The Police Union: Inside Tonawanda’s Fight for Control Part 2 Chief Stauffiger vs. The Union: The Lie That Started It All There are towns where the trains run on time and people leave their doors unlocked. Tonawanda, New York, is almost one of those towns. It has trees and neighbors and a sense that nothing truly bad will happen, except it already did. James Stauffiger was the man they brought in to clean up the mess—old

By Tony Farina This may come as no surprise to local residents, but the average salary in Niagara Falls, N. Y., is roughly $41,430 per year or less than $20 per hour, placing the city in the lower half of U. S. cities when ranked by average salary. Local government workers make much more but things could change for the less fortunate if the leadership of the strong mayoral-form of government decides to move forward by embracing data center technology and all that it can bring to boost the local economy and help workers earn more. For now, with eight

This is Part 2 of our investigative series on the battle between the Town of Tonawanda Police Chief and the Union. Part 1 Chief Stauffiger vs. The Police Union: Inside Tonawanda’s Fight for Control A Broken Window on Irene Street The fight in Tonawanda between the Chief of Police and the Police Union seems to have started over the conduct of officer Bikramjit Singh and what Chief James Stauffiger did about it. It began with a call on Nov. 1, 2024 to the Town of Tonawanda police. It was a broken window on Irene Street. Criminal mischief. Officer Bikramjit ‘ Bik’

This is the first part of an investigative series about the fight between the Chief of Police in the Town of Tonawanda, and the men and women of the Police Club.  There are men who hold a title, and there are men who hold a line. In the Town of Tonawanda, a place of low houses and trimmed lawns, of flags on porches and small-town Sundays, the business of policing had, for years, been its own closed circle. The kind where secrets lived longer than truth. The kind where loyalty outranked law. And the quiet understanding, like an old marriage,

The Ten-Acre Battlefield This is a story about ten acres in Niagara Falls, New York. Ten acres of grass and trees called Parcel 0. Niagara Falls Redevelopment LLC—NFR for short—owns Parcel 0, along with 130 other acres it bought over 25 years. Billionaire brothers, Howard and Edward Milstein, own NFR. NFR has  a plan. A $1.5 billion data center called the Niagara Digital Campus. Nine buildings. All steel and fiberboard. No windows. And inside machines. Not machines like the old days — wheels, levers, and pulleys. These were new machines to store the memory of other machines. Why would anybody want

The Conflict “Parcel 0” is a 10-acre parcel of land on the south side of downtown Niagara Falls, NY. Two projects want it for development. Only one project, at best, will be developed. Because of the fight, no one might develop at all. Parcel 0 might end up as it is now – just trees, grass, and brush. The Owner Niagara Falls Redevelopment LLC (NFR), owned by billionaire brothers Howard and Edward Milstein of Manhattan, has owned Parcel 0 and 130 contiguous acres for more than 20 years. The company has plans for a $1.5 billion data center on 53

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park has always been more than just green space—it’s a cultural crossroads, a weekend escape, a playground for generations of New Yorkers. It was built for the World’s Fair, became a stage for the U.S. Open’s brightest stars, and has long served as an unofficial backyard for Queens’ immigrant communities. But the park is changing. Developers eye its edges, community groups clash over preservation, and a new class of visitors is arriving, phone cameras in hand, eager to transform the park’s faded glamour into TikTok gold. “There’s always been tension between keeping it a people’s park and turning

By Tony Farina Kevin O’Leary, also known as Mr. Wonderful, a name given to him by one of the other tv show sharks, is one of the stars of the long-running ABC business reality television series Shark Tank, and he told CNN not long ago that due to high taxes and unsustainable policies, certain states like New York are “uninvestable” and that state and local Niagara Falls politicians are killing jobs and driving away investors with a punitive business environment. And O’Leary says he has seen it time and time again. His words are there for all to see locally

By Tony Farina The trade war between the U. S. and Canada, ignited by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, is already big news as the two long-time allies and trading partners are trading verbal shots and the new Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, seeks alliances with Europe as he deals with Trump’s tariff attacks. As the new Canadian leader was sworn in last week, he said Canada is fundamentally different from America and will “never, ever, in any way, shape, or form, be part of the United States.” So there you have it. The U. S. and Canada are in a

By Tony Farina As the surge for data centers continues across the country, there is absolutely no movement in that direction by the City of Niagara Falls which is continuing to ignore the enormous benefits and economic relief a data center would bring to the city and taxpayers if only city administration would take a good look at NFR’s detailed $1.5 billion data center proposal which is there for the taking, it appears, and does not require huge taxpayer and government subsidies to build. The entire cost of the NFR digital campus on South End land NFR believes it still

By Tony Farina Supporting children’s charities is the mission of the Variety Kids Telethon and the 63rd annual event will take place Saturday night from 6 to 11 on WGRZ Channel 2 and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on WBBZ Ch. 5 where John DiSciulio puts together the magnificent fundraiser to help children living with illness and disability in Western New York. John, known to all of us as Mr.Television, just does a fantastic job putting the telethon together with hosts Paul Cambria and Darius Pridgeon beating the drums for donations. It will be my distinct pleasure

By Frank Parlato For years, the land sat empty. Now, it’s a battleground. Ten acres at Falls Street and 10th. A few blocks from the falls, just off the Niagara Scenic Parkway. He wants a stadium. Seven thousand seats. A $150 million taxpayer-funded arena. The land belongs to Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR), which has plans for the land. Nine buildings. A million square feet of data center space for tech companies – 140 megawatts of computing power. AI processing. Cloud storage. NFR, owned by billionaires Howard and Edward Milstein, partnered with Urbacon, offers the start of a digital economy: an

Opal Senior Living: Redefining Affordable Senior Care with Innovation and Heart With a focus on adaptability, individualized care, and financial accessibility, Opal Senior Living has developed a model that challenges the industry’s traditional approaches. Operating over two dozen senior living communities across multiple states and regions, the company has positioned itself as a distinct presence in the senior housing sector. Unlike many senior living providers that adhere to a fixed pricing and service structure, the organization tailors its offerings to meet the specific needs of each community. Whether a facility primarily focuses on an affordable care model catering to lower income

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. A MODERN DAY FIGHT FOR WHAT’S RIGHT “It’s been about, oh twenty or so years since they took Center Court Park from us…” said Arlene Doss as she warmly sipped her coffee during my visit to her beautiful home. In the months since I’ve known Arlene, I have come to admire her unstoppable spirit as she quests for what’s good and right in her neighborhood. Her personality is as warm as the coffee we drank, and I can’t help but think about one of my own personal historic heroes with local

By Tony Farina The City of Niagara Falls has purchased 38 properties on Main St. and nearby side streets from Blue Cardinal Capital and also the Rapids Theatre, all in foreclosure, but the question lingering over all this is what is the city going to do with all those properties now that they have acquired them? The city plan is to find legitimate developers—not just one—by working with the state, Niagara County, the Niagara Orleans Land Bank, and city officials to come up with a development path for the blighted parcels the city now has in its hands which it

By Frank Parlato NIAGARA FALLS, NY – Mayor Robert Restaino’s fight to seize private property for his unfunded arena project has taken a bizarre new turn. After spending two years—and untold taxpayer dollars—pushing to take 10 acres of land from Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR) through eminent domain, Restaino now claims that half the land was public parkland all along—although the city sold it to NFR in 2004 and admitted in court that NFR legally owns it. This last-minute maneuver has raised significant concerns about the legitimacy of the mayor’s land grab and the financial burden his legal actions are imposing

By Frank Parlato The land fight between Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino and Niagara Falls Redevelopment LLC (NFR), a privately owned corporation headed by Manhattan developer Howard Milstein, is an extraordinary matter and deserves consideration by all Americans interested in government reach or overreach, property rights, and taxation. Mayor Restaino’s Ambitions Mayor Restaino, elected mayor of a small city – some 47,000 people, down from 102,000 sixty-five years ago – wants ten acres of land owned by the aforementioned NFR. He claims he wants the land – 10 acres with a street address of 907 Falls Street, for the good

The following was written by investigative journalist Ken Cosentino. A.I. IS A-OK For a long time, many of us have held out hope that the City of Niagara Falls, NY could once again become a “City of the Future.” Niagara Falls provides power to roughly half of the East Coast, including New York City. Genius inventor and “Father of Electricity” Nikola Tesla gave the world alternating current; born from the hydropower generated by the mighty Niagara River. Once dubbed the “Power City”, Niagara Falls is positioned to become a global leader in a new era of technology… if elected officials

by John S. Szalasny Town of Amherst Recycling and Waste Committee Chair Editor’s note: This is a follow-up to Mr. Szalasny’s March, 2024 article. Sometimes I wonder why our State Government set up regulatory agencies, tasking them with planning for the future of the state within their expertise, only to allow their plans to die due to inaction within the State Legislature.   Worse still, bills are passed every year and new tasks added to agencies like the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) even though their budgets haven’t even kept with inflation compared to the lesser workloads they had in the

On Long Island, Shalom Maidenbaum has made a name for himself in the field of property tax law, leading a firm that specializes in tax certiorari services. Their work revolves around helping homeowners and businesses challenge property tax assessments, ensuring they align with fair market values. Beyond his professional endeavors, Maidenbaum himself has become a quiet but impactful force in philanthropy, contributing to causes that span health, security, and education for children with special needs. Leveling the Playing Field in Property Taxes The Maidenbaum Property Tax Reduction Group (MPTRG) has built its reputation on the belief that property tax challenges