Western New York lawmakers Wednesday launched a two-pronged push for aviation safety, with Rep. Chris Lee asking his constituents for help in passing safety legislation and all the Buffalo-area House members seeking a meeting with the head of the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Bills lack of success in the win column the past several years led to the club’s most recent front office and coaching changes. Winning really is everything in the NFL. What helps build a team ...

I am days away from the halfway point in this diet and I have to say, I am starting to feel different….not better exactly….but definitely different.

My energy level is not higher, but steadier. At 6 o’clock at night I am no longer looking to jump into my jammies and snuggle down into bed and sleep.

My body is definitely changing in mass, as my clothes are fitting in February like they do in August, when I am much more active and fit.

My mind is actually sharper….I’m catching myself and remembering details without having to write myself notes or finding some memory trick.

So in trading off my lifelong friends, chocolate, ice cream and cookies, I seem to be becoming a new me….

….here’s hoping that my crows feet and laugh lines are the next to go!

I’m finding a pretty good selecion of foods to enjoy on my elimination diet. A typical day goes something like this….

Breakfast—a slice of banana nut bread (made from the approved Institute of Functional Medicine recipe file) topped with almond butter and green grapes (the healthy version of pb&j). A mug of decaf green tea.

Snack time —a mix of almonds, pistachios, raisins and cherries.

Lunch—organic turkey on a slice of rice bread, topped with home made salsa, onions and eggplant hummus. Some rice crackers for added crunch.

Snack time (again!!! yes I am eating like a horse!!) an organic “pecan pie” square and some grapes. Cup of decaf green tea.

Dinner brought a big bowl of hearty chicken with rice soup with strawberries for dessert.

Bedtime snack (hey…a girl’s gotta live ya know!) a handful of vegetable chips.

All of this was supplemented with a half gallon of water sipped throughout the day and a multi-vitamin, vit c, calcium, fish oil and flaxseed vitamins taken twice daily.

I don’t know how the above menu may read to anyone, but truly…as a woman who worships at the altar of chocolate, ice cream and red wine, I really did enjoy this food ….and I am satisfied, not craving for a thing…..who knew??????

The Buffalo Auto Show got under way Wednesday morning, with crews spending the morning shining cars and dusting trucks. For more on the show, go to thttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/live/2010/02/buffalo-auto-show-revs-up.html

Buffalo Sabres broadcaster Mike Robitaille underwent surgery Wednesday after suffering a spinal cord injury last week, Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital announced Wednesday afternoon. Watch for updates at http://blogs.buffalonews.com/live/2010/02/robitaille-in-stable-condition-after-surgery.html

Skiers and snowboarders, rejoice! There's fresh powder out on the slopes and there's nothing in the Presidents Day Weekend forecast that's going to spoil it.

The first half of a study to determine whether blockages in the veins that drain the brain cause multiple sclerosis have brought encouraging results, University at Buffalo researchers said Wednesday.

Download audio file (INTVW_3407_Gunella.mp3)

Helping the WNY community deal with the tragedy of Flight 3407 was not Gunella Kester’s purpose when she first decided to compile a book of reflections about those whose lives were lost. Yet in completing The Empty Chair, Gunella learned the greater value of the written word.

Download audio file (3407-interview-021010.mp3)

Today (Wednesday), the live interview in WECK’s Flight 3407 anniversary coverage featured Linda Weiss–a Clarence resident, business owner and co-creator of the broken heart tee shirt. Linda and her husband own a tee shirt company and following the crash of 3407, they knew that they wanted to help somehow….and so they did…aided by the WNY Community who purchased 40,000 shirts within weeks of the tragedy.

A Bailey-Kensington man told police about more than 20 guns and $100,000 in cash were stolen when his home was burglarized between Jan. 29 and today, Buffalo police said.

Vancouver (AFP) – David Murdoch and teenager Eve Muirhead are aiming for double British curling gold at the Vancouver Olympic Games and push TV cartoon stars The Simpsons off the radar.

Murdoch, who leads the British challenge in Canada, is the reigning world champion and is tipped to edge out the home team’s Kevin Martin, who took silver in Salt Lake City in 2002.

The Scot has enjoyed four consecutive wins over Martin, nicknamed ‘K-Mart’, including a skins tournament recently in Ontario where he collected 75,000 dollars prize money.

“It’s nice to beat another Olympian,” said Murdoch. “In that respect I suppose it’s a psychological boost for us.”

Britain’s women were surprise Olympic champions in 2002 with the matronly Rhona Martin sending her ’stone of destiny’ to capture gold.

Eight years on, the skipper is 19-year-old Muirhead, a striking blonde who boasts a tattoo of the Olympic rings on her back.

Muirhead and her team face stiff opposition from defending champions Sweden, who will again be led by Anette Norberg and also top-ranked Canada.

However, China’s women, skippered by Bingyu Wang, affectionately known as ‘Betty’, are the reigning world champions.

In the run-up to the competition, all curling hopefuls will face unexpected competition in the roly-poly shape of TV’s doughnut-chomping Homer Simpson and his dysfunctional family from hell.

The hugely-popular American TV cartoon series is celebrating its 20th anniversary with an episode to air during the February 12-28 Games in which Homer and long-suffering wife Marge represent the US in Olympic curling.

Far from being embarrassed by seeing their 500-year-old sport lampooned by Springfield’s most notorious residents, curling’s top officials believe the unlikely partnership can only benefit its long-term future.

“We’re ecstatic about the exposure,” Rick Patzke, chief executive of USA Curling, told reporters recently.

“The show’s writers took genuine interest. We’re pleased with the opportunity to share more information about our sport with a grander audience.”

dj/mp

Whistler (AFP) – The current king and queen of cross-country skiing – Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic and Poland’s Justyna Kowalcyzk – will be looking to add Olympic gold to this winter’s success in Vancouver.

The pair triumphed at January’s Tour de Ski in Italy, but will both face fierce competition when Olympic medals come up for grabs, starting Sunday in the women’s 10km and men’s 15km free.

The 26-year-old Kowalkcyzk is the current overall World Cup leader and has been battling Slovenia’s Petra Majdic all winter with the pair are set to resume their struggle at Whistler’s Olympic Park, high above Vancouver.

But veteran Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, who won three gold medals at the world championships last year, will be looking to add Olympic gold to her 10km Individual, Team Sprint and 4×5km relay global success with the Finland team.

Likewise in the men’s events, Bauer has silver medals in the 15km classical from both the 2006 Olympic Games and the 2009 World Championships in Liberec, but will face Petter Northug on his path to gold in Vancouver.

With three gold medals to his credit from Liberec, Norway’s Northug will be amongst the favourites.

The 24-year-old, a keen poker player, will be contesting his first Games and will be looking to add Olympic glory to his world crowns over the pursuit, 50km individual and 4×10km relay.

While the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway and Finland are traditionally strong in the region where the sport originated, Switzerland’s Dario Cologna and France’s Jean-Marc Gaillard are names to watch.

Reigning Olympic sprint champion Chandra Crawford could be set to give the Canadians something to cheer about as she looks to defend her gold on home soil.

Having switched from biathlon aged 16, in her first year on the Canadian senior team she collected five international medals in one month.

Considered an underdog in Torino in 2006, Chandra surprised herself and the experts by coming through with a gold medal performance in the women’s sprint.

In total, 12 medals will be contested in six different disciplines at the Olympic Games which include the Individual, Mass Start, Pursuit, Individual Sprint, Team Sprint and Relay.

ryj/dj10

Whistler (AFP) – Swiss veteran Didier Cuche topped the first training run for the men’s Olympic alpine skiing downhill here on Wednesday.

With the blue riband event to take place on Saturday, the racers have the opportunity to test the 3,105-metre-long Dave Murray course three times before the race.

Cuche, the reigning world super-G champion, clocked 1min 53.22sec down the picturesque tree-lined course that showed a vertical drop of 853 metres.

It was a reassuring day’s skiing for Cuche, coming just two weeks after he fractured his right thumb in a crash during a giant slalom at Kranjska Gora in Slovenia.

Sporting a helmet showing a map of Canada, the 35-year-old made the most of his early starting bib number of 16 as training was later hampered by a lack of visibility and deteriorating snow conditions.

“I had two days of training before today and during that I felt really good,” Cuche said, adding that his thumb had not affected him.

“It’s not really painful, it’s just bothering me a little bit, and today when I was really concentrating I felt nothing.”

Cuche added that given the variable weather conditions forecast for the coming days, he was glad to have notched up a satisfying run.

“The course is really nice but maybe not as hard as I like it,” he said. “I’m happy to be fast in the first training run because we don’t know what’s going to happen in the next couple of days.”

Canada’s Robbie Dixon finished with the second fastest time of 1:53.51 to offer hopes of a home skier being able to push for a podium spot.

Swiss pair Ambrosini Hoffman and Didier Defago were next in the timings, at 0.55 and 0.80sec respectively.

Italian downhill specialist Werner Heel was in fifth at 0.82sec with another Canadian medal hope, Manuel Osborne-Paradis, a further 0.14sec adrift.

Then came American Bode Miller and a fourth Swiss racer, Patrick Kueng, with Austrian Michael Walchhofer, the reigning Olympic downhill silver medallist who also claimed world downhill gold in 2003 and super-G silver in the 2005 worlds in Bormio, in ninth at 1.16sec.

“It’s my first time on this hill,” said Walchhofer. “It’s a great slope although it’s not so fast. It was nice to ski, and there are a lot of bumps.

“If there’s just one training run, maybe it’s better for them (Canadians).”

The second downhill training run is slated to take place on Thursday and the third on Friday, with the actual race scheduled for Saturday morning.

The downhill will be followed by the super-combined on February 16, the super-G (Feb 19), the giant slalom (Feb 21) and the slalom (Feb 27).

lp/dj10

A 76-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease who went missing was found dead of exposure and hypothermia just after 5 p.m. today in a wooded area along Eighteen Mile Creek off East Main Street, Village of Hamburg police said.