Category: Western NY

I was there, where no one wanted to be in 2020. Right about this time four years ago, my colleague Sharon Cantillon, a longtime Buffalo News photographer, reached out to ask if I would accompany her into hospital intensive care units, which would soon be overrun with people suffering and dying from the then-“novel coronavirus,”…

Someone who bought a Mega Millions ticket at a convenience store in Lancaster is $1 million richer. That is the payoff for a second-prize winning ticket in Friday night’s drawing that was sold at the 7-Eleven store at 5821 Broadway, New York Lottery officials announced. It matched the five winning numbers, 13, 25, 50, 51…

Six projects have been approved for more than $1 million in grants from the Buffalo and Erie County Greenway Fund, the fund’s Standing Committee announced. The largest award for beautification and improvements along the Buffalo and Erie County portion of the Greenway – $420,000 – will go to Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy for the second phase…

The City of Buffalo moved closer Friday to taking possession of two 19th-century Cobblestone District properties that have been in and out of Housing Court for years. The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court, on a vote of 4 to 1, denied Darryl Carr and Park Avenue Estates’ request to overturn the Common Council’s rarely…

Dennis Sun Rhodes was almost 1,000 miles away earlier this month, when the Niagara Falls City Council voted 3-1 against giving formal landmark status to the Turtle, a building Sun Rhodes – an internationally celebrated architect – envisioned and designed, a short walk from the upper rapids and the falls. Though Sun Rhodes hopes to…

Cheektowaga voters will decide in November if the town should adopt a ward system for elections as a response to a resident’s complaint that voting in the town is unfair for minority residents.  In a complaint submitted to the town under the new John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York, Cheektowaga resident Ken Young, who…

Felony charges alleging Dana John stole $3 million by failing to complete construction projects were just the latest in a series of legal troubles for the contractor who had built many luxury homes in Cattaraugus County. In July 2021, Frank and Leah Ewing of Buffalo hired John to build a $1.3 million home in Ellicottville…

Gov. Kathy Hochul directed flags on all state buildings be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Saturday in honor of a Genesee County Sheriff’s deputy who died after a struggle broke out during an arrest at Batavia Downs Gaming and Hotel. Sgt. Thomas A. Sanfratello, 54, who died Sunday, was a 32-year veteran…

Debadrita Sur ,  Aaron Besecker Laura Lautner heard about having an alligator for a neighbor when she moved into her Hamburg home 15 months ago. “I first saw Albert through the window when I heard that there was an alligator living next door and I didn’t believe it,” she said. She befriended Tony Cavallaro who…

State Attorney General Letitia James was in Buffalo Friday to deliver an unusual settlement payment in her price-gouging case against Walgreens – 4,668 cans of baby formula to be distributed to families in Western New York. James sued Walgreens for unlawfully raising the price of baby formula at its stores during the 2022 shortage at…