john ceretto

Angelo Morinello, who defeated three-term incumbent John Ceretto, took his oath of office Tuesday as the new representative of the New York State Assembly's 145th District. He was joined by another new Niagara County Assemblymember, Mike Norris of Lockport.

A Niagara County state assemblyman announced Tuesday he is changing his party affiliation. John Ceretto is switching from the Republican to the Democratic conference.

Six area Assembly members have banded together to call for the resignation of Speaker Sheldon Silver, following his arrest on Thursday on corruption charges. They say the business of the people is at stake.

Assemblyman Michael Kearns now has the support of nearly two dozen fellow elected officials in calling for an emergency meeting of the New Stadium Working Group.

Local members of the state delegation will be hosting a tourism forum in Niagara Falls Monday. The lawmakers want to hear what ideas residents and business owners have for improving the Niagara County economy.

A movement is underway in Albany for a constitutional amendment to allow for recall elections of disgraced politicians.

Albany's latest sex scandal is chipping away at the position of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, one of the legendary "three men in a room."

The speaker is now saying it was a mistake to pay $103,000 secretly to settle sexual harassment claims against Assemblyman Vito Lopez.

"It's public money," said Republican Assemblyman Raymond Walter  of Clarence. 

"These payoffs shouldn't have been made and they certainly shouldn't have been made in secret without anybody knowing it.