The flag raising kicks off of the Eight Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. The theme of this year’s parade is "Recordando Nuestros Heroes" or "Remembering Our Heroes."

A Buffalo fair housing group is calling for a fair conservation program from National Fuel. PUSH Buffalo wants the Public Service Commission to reject a National Fuel petition that would cause a $22 dollar per month customer rate hike.

The Seneca Nation of Indians is defending its decision not to pay the state revenues from its three Western New York casinos. Earlier this week, the Seneca Nations Tribal Council announced it will withhold any future revenue sharing payments to the state.

An independent audit of New York State health insurance coverage has resulted in $20 million in savings.

Kristina Puleo, 27, is wanted for violating her probation after she was arrested for second degree burglary.

Buffalo Bandits Director of Lacrosse Operations Scott Loffler today announced the team’s 2011 National Lacrosse League schedule. Buffalo’s 16-game schedule features eight home games and eight on the road. Seven of the eight games will be played on Saturdays, with the other taking place on Friday February 4. All home games will start at 7:30 [...]

Former Niagara Falls Mayor Vince Anello will be heading to jail after pleading guilty to falsely collecting a pension.

Via BuffaloBills.com

Head coach Chan Gailey has chosen not to dress Spiller simply to rest him up for the regular season. With Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch out the past two weeks, Spiller has endured a heavy workload as the primary back in each of the last two preseason games. Gailey would like to rest his top pick for the season opener.

Investigators in the Town of Lockport are trying to figure out what sparked a fire at a home on Robinson Road Wednesday night.

A Buffalo shooting victim has died. Police say 61-year-old Joseph Washington was shot on the 1400 block of Main Street at Glenwood Avenue Saturday night.

Is that you, Atlas?!

Louisiana can’t catch a break: An offshore petroleum platform done caught fire, reports CNN.

The company said an initial flyover of the site indicated “no hydrocarbon spill.” However, Coast Guard Petty Officer Elizabeth Bordelon said there is a sheen on the water at the site of the platform, measuring about 100-feet wide and stretching for one mile

The company? Planet Houston based Mariner Energy Inc. Hmm… Where did I hear this name before? Oh yeah! A Houston rally against the proposed offshore drilling moratorium!

“I have been in the oil and gas industry for 40 years, and this administration is trying to break us,” said Barbara Dianne Hagood, senior landman for Mariner Energy, a small company. “The moratorium they imposed is going to be a financial disaster for the gulf coast, gulf coast employees and gulf coast residents.” (Source: Think Progress)

In this case, the moratorium wouldn’t have covered this particular platform and well (it’s not a DEEP water platform). So far, job losses over a drilling ban haven’t really happened (yet). How do you like those apples, LA Gov. Bobby Jindal? Oh, by the way, there are 3600 or so platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. How many would the Obama administration’s ban affect? Thirty-three, and they don’t even produce oil!

Let Rachel show you a nice map…

Time to step up safety enforcement? If the BP OIL disaster wasn’t enough, perhaps this serves as a hot cup of STFU to those who oppose increased safety requirements?! Doubtful… Their Kool-Aid is laced with sweet, sweet crude…

UPDATE! Mariner involved in 13 Gulf accidents since ’06, seven with violations. You can’t have an omelette without breaking a few eggs…

Maria Merlino spent an inordinate amount of time in the Chippewa bar district in her early twenties. She was not your typical overzealous patron; Maria spent her Buff State years running some of Buffalo's premiere party spots.  She helped to open and manage Mark Croce's first major project, the Coliseum (1996) and after 5 years decided to take a parallel leap to Delaware's Red Room to help run the show there.

Currently, well established, Maria is the number one ranked regional Growth Hormone Therapy Manager for a large global health care company and wants to reciprocate.  "I learned how to network & developed some real meaningful friendships during my years in the bar business, and feel the timing is right to start making more of a difference in Buffalo."
Maria is putting her communications degree, experience as an Events Coordinator for the Buffalo Sabres and Events Director for the American Heart Association to philanthropic use.  Last week she organized the 1st annual "Taking Back Chippewa" fundraiser.  It was great to see 20 old school Chippewa bartenders donate their time (some have not slung a shot in a looooong time).  SoHo on Chippewa and Franklin was filled with former DJs, bouncers and 90's Buffalo socialites who gathered to remember the good ole' days and share stories.  This year she donated proceeds to Carl Paladino's political campaign for Governor of New York State.  I am independent and stay clear of politics, but can't help but raise an imaginary rocks glass in Carl's honor every time I pass by the locale of an old toll booth entering or exiting the city of Buffalo.   Maria has already earmarked next year's proceeds to Roswell Park (subsequent donations will all benefit Buffalo entities) and believes the event will be exponentially better year after year.  Maria exclaimed, "This is a chance to see old faces and meet new, enjoy a beautiful night in Buffalo and sample some of the best food this city has to offer."

I wanted the message in this article to be two-fold:  Local professional creates kewl Buffalo event, gives back to the Queen City and provide some feedback from attendees regarding their thoughts concerning the recent City Grill shooting (still a hot topic around the water cooler).

I made it a point to speak with a solid cross section of bar owners, associates & patrons who all either own bar/restaurants on, work for or regularly visit the Chippewa Entertainment District.  I specifically asked a number of people if pulling the closing time ahead to approximately 2am will benefit the CED.  As you can imagine, the responses varied.  Some of the more popular viewpoints included: Increase police presence and let cops do their job, some said they would feel safer if bars closed earlier and currently stay clear of Chippewa after 11p.m., one individual took a bit of a deeper stand and stated that government should not intervene and dictate something created by the people (Chippewa). Many pointed out that the shooting occurred in Chippewa's vicinity, but not too close to the action.   I live a few blocks from Chippewa and honestly love hearing all the different views.  They all have merit.  One consistency in all the responses, regardless of different perspectives, was that everyone shared the same level of heightened passion.

Despite your political affiliation, level of attraction to the Chip Strip or opinion of the nearby shooting, it's always nice to see someone taking the time out of his/her busy life to give back to Buffalo.  I am looking forward to "Taking Back Chippewa 2011".

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer didn’t have a stellar debate last night against Democratic opponent Terry Goddard. She started her opening statement in what can be described as awkward, with several pauses, blanking out like she forgot her lines. Watch it here. Hey, no big deal, happens to everybody. But when Terry Goddard pointed out Jan’s [...]

Tonight is the final preseason game for the Buffalo Bills as they travel to Detroit to face the Lions. While the starters are expected to only get about 12-14 snaps, the game itself cannot be deemed meaningless. They are a few skilled players on the Bills squad that have to go out tonight and give it their all, because for many, there may be no tomorrow.

‘Must Perform’ players include:

On Offense:
Joique Bell – Bell has shown some explosive stuff so far this preseason, and leads the Bills with 142 rushing yards and 2 TDs. He will need to improve his special teams skills if he wants to increase his chance of making the roster. With the rumor of Marshawn Lynch seeing extended playing time tonight, Bell is going to have to make the most of his opportunities.

James Hardy – It seems that throughout Hardy’s young career, his name is showing up more on the injury report, than it is in the box scores. Although there aren’t too many ’stand-out’ wide receivers on the team, there have been plenty of impressive preseason plays made by the other WRs, including Roscoe Parrish, David Nelson and Chad Jackson. It’s going to be tough for Hardy to make his case in one game, but perhaps he will show enough to make the cut.

On Defense:
John McCargo – McCargo has had one of his strongest camps this preseason, and may have already made his case to be the seventh defensive linemen to make the roster this season, but a strong game tonight definitely wouldn’t hurt his cause.

Chris Brown of ‘Inside the Bills‘ also reports that Ryan Fitzpatrick will not suit up tonight, leaving the QB rotation to look like this: Edwards, Brohm, Brown. Seems as if the coaching staff has seen what they got in Fitz so they perhaps want to give Brohm a final rehearsal before making their cuts.

Detroit Lions

The Lions are a team that after many losing seasons, finally look like they have found the right coaching staff and players to turn this franchise around.

And much like the Bills , Lions fans are extremely excited about what they have in rookie running back Jahvid Best.

Zac Snyder of SideLionReport.com has this to say about Best:

Lions fans were excited about what Jahvid Best could bring to the offense as soon as they landed him with the 30th overall pick last April. Best’s preseason performance has done nothing to temper that enthusiasm. In fact, he has been even better than advertised.

The Lions have lacked explosiveness out of the backfield for a long time. Just a handful of carries into his NFL preseason carry Jahvid Best ran the ball wide and turned the corner against Pittsburgh’s first string offense. That just isn’t something we’ve seen in Detroit, unless it was from the opposition. One carry for 51 yards and one catch for a first down was all the Lions coaching staff needed to see in the third preseason game. The staff cited stiff legs as the reason for the light workload; it is scary to think what he is capable of when those legs get loose.

Hopefully fans will be able to see C.J Spiller and Jahvid Best try to out do one another in Week 10, when the Lions come to Ralph Wilson Stadium in a regular season match up.

Tonight’s kickoff starts a half hour earlier tonight at 6:30pm, due to the Jay-Z & Eminem concert taking place near Ford Field.

Hosted by John Kane with guest Ross John.  You can read more about the topics from the show and learn more at the Let’s Talk Native blog.

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