Category: Western NY

Foot traffic was not heavier than usual Saturday morning at Paula’s Donuts’ original location on Sheridan Drive in Tonawanda. But signs were plentiful that a sudden crush of visitors would be arriving. “We close at noon on Monday, and we’ve already got 500 orders for eclipse doughnuts,” said Lisa Hoppel, a manager at Paula’s. “Yesterday,…

Repairs to a damaged bridge went faster than expected and traffic returned to normal Saturday morning three hours sooner than scheduled on the eastbound Thruway in Chautauqua County, the New York Thruway Authority reported. The eastbound lanes were reopened at 4 a.m., the report said, after a damaged girder on the North Road overpass was…

Cynthia Van Ness carries the official title of director of library and archives at the Buffalo History Museum, though anyone who seeks her help understands this truth: Over the years, her work has turned her into a Buffalo historian of deep knowledge and perspective. Her intuitive appreciation for a treasury of documents, images and articles…

During Monday’s total solar eclipse, a group of University at Buffalo scientists won’t just be looking as the moon’s shadow blocks out the sun. They will be photographing it. The UB team will use a specialized telescope to take rapid-fire images of the sun in polarized light as part of the Citizen Continental-America Telescope Eclipse…

If you aim to watch the total solar eclipse Monday in some regional hotspots and need a place to park, get ready to open your wallet. Advance reservations in some downtown parking lots start at $47 and climb past $100. But if you go after 11 a.m. Monday, and can find a spot, it may…

A Pennsylvania-based bank is preparing to open its first Buffalo-area branch. NexTier Bank plans to open a branch in Williamsville as part of a new development at 5877 Main St. The bank is headquartered in Butler, north of Pittsburgh. NexTier also plans to open a branch in Rochester, as the bank expands its retail banking…

The Christmas week blizzard of 2022 hit, it exposed several flaws in how emergency communication is shared on a mass scale in Western New York. For those who work with the non-English-speaking community, it was a lesson they will not soon forget. And it will come in handy when the skies go dark during Monday’s…

A day prior to a once-in-a-lifetime total eclipse in the region, a talk entitled “Spirituality and the Solar Eclipse” will be held at 10 a.m. Sunday in Unity of Buffalo nondenominational church, 1243 Delaware Ave. Mary Beth Wollenschlaeger, a former accountant who has transitioned into exploring various holistic practices, will lead the talk. Wollenschlaeger is…

Relishing Ted’s free dogs If you’ve ever heard legend tell of a magical golden keychain that gives the holder unlimited free hot dogs at Ted’s – it’s true. “We don’t give them away often but, when we do, it usually means something or is donated for charity,” said Evan Ortolani, Ted’s Hot Dogs president. “They…

Jon Harris ,  Debadrita Sur Wayne Spence, president of the New York State Public Employees Federation, on Thursday visited two Buffalo Psychiatric Center employees critically wounded during a stabbing at the facility a day earlier that also injured a third worker. “They’re lucky to be alive,” Spence said after talking with the two at Erie…