Category: Western NY

In his annual State of the City address, Mayor Byron W. Brown on Wednesday said he is setting the stage for the city to grow and make progress. That progress will happen with a proposed 9% property tax increase. The mayor delivered his speech before an audience of more than 600 packed inside Shea’s 710…

Volunteers are being sought for the 24th annual Fruit Belt Clean-A-Thon, which begins at 8:30 a.m. on May 24. Organizers of the event include the University at Buffalo Center for Urban Studies, Futures Academy Buffalo Public School No. 37, the Fruit Belt Coalition and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.  Volunteers will engage in a neighborhood…

Sandra Tan ,  Deidre Williams If you live in Buffalo, expect to soon pay more for your property taxes and garbage collection. Mayor Byron Brown’s proposed budget for 2024-25 would increase the city’s property tax levy by 9%, the highest property tax increase ever under the Brown administration. That equates to an additional $14 million…

Oct. 17, 1942 – April 15, 2024 Thomas J. Semanchin, retired managing partner of an Amherst certified public accounting firm, died April 15 at the Brothers of Mercy Wellness Campus, Clarence, after a yearlong battle with bladder cancer. He was 81. Born in Buffalo, Thomas John Semanchin was the son of John and Helen Kuc…

The search for a Concord man missing since Friday continues with the help of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office Air 1 special missions helicopter. Keith Little has been missing since Friday morning and his last known whereabouts are in the area between West Valley and Ellicottville. He is operating a 2014 Silver Dodge Ram 2500…

Stephen T. Watson ,  Michael Petro Charles Killian’s Facebook profile says it all. It reads: “19 year suffering season ticket holder for the Buffalo Sabres.” That’s how long he’s stuck with his hometown hockey team as a season ticket member, despite the past 13 years without a single NHL playoff game in Buffalo. Hard as…

Despite warnings against removing eclipse glasses until the sun was completely occluded by the moon during the total eclipse Monday, staff at a Buffalo eye center anticipated some viewers throwing caution to the wind. It’s why Dr. Andrew Reynolds, chair of ophthalmology at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and…

“It’s nice and sunny … in Ohio.” That was the first sentence in Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz’s post Monday morning on X and Instagram. His tweet and video went on to say, essentially, that it’s too bad everyone else in Erie County got stuck with cloudy skies, but he wasn’t missing out. “Looks like…

The wildest estimates for eclipse visitors predicted up to 1 million people would stream into Buffalo and Niagara Falls for the big event Monday. While there wasn’t an update the day afterward about how many people came into the region, it was clear the final visitor tally was nowhere near the anticipated totals of hundreds…

I didn’t watch the local television coverage in its totality. My game plan Monday for watching the eclipse was as simple as all the reminders to put the proper glasses on to look at the sky. I was going to experience the “once-in-a-lifetime” event as it was meant to be experienced, with family and friends…