After nearly a year and a half of work, the new clean coal plant at the NRG Huntley Power Station has gone up in smoke.

On the way to New York City for tonight’s red carpet premiere of the movie “The Dark Knight,” Batman’s Tumbler, the updated version of the famous Batmobile and the new Bat-Pod stopped long enough for visitors to the Falls to check them out.

Set up for this year’s Canal Fest went without a hitch, with the possible exception of rainy conditions earlier in the day.

New York state Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, has asked the man in charge of the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation to reconsider his agency’s plan to ship 75,000 tons of toxic PCB waste from a cleanup site in Warren County to a hazardous waste landfill in the Town of Porter.

LITERACY VOLUNTEERS
• SEEKING HELP: For more information about the Literacy Volunteers of Niagara County, visit their offices in the Lockport Public Library or the Trott Center in Niagara Falls.
• PHONE: Call the Lockport office at 433-7014 or the Niagara Falls office at 278-8224.
• ON THE WEB: Visit www.niagarareads.org.

A Niagara Falls man accused of a brutal murder will get a new trial in August after the state’s highest court unanimously overturned his conviction.
The New York State Court of Appeals said Anthony R. Porter should be re-tried because police failed to stop questioning him after he asked for a lawyer. The high court overruled a lower appellate that had upheld Porter’s conviction.

It’s going to be a great day for a paddle.
Canoes and kayaks will launch from Beaver Island State Park at 12:15 p.m. July 26 for the third annual Paddles Up Niagara, an event run by the Niagara River Greenway Commission to promote access to the Niagara River.

Daily walks around the Niagara Falls State Park and hikes into the Niagara Gorge — led by staffers from the parks interpretive office — will start Thursday and continue through the Labor Day weekend.

Free agent Darian Barnes tops the position's depth chart.

YOUNGSTOWN — Friday just wasn’t Jim Cummings’ day. After an hourlong battle with French and American Indian forces, a musket shot finally got the best of him.

A fire of suspicious origin forced a family of four out of their Beebe Road home and a volunteer firemen to the Newfane Inter-Community Hospital for treatment of possible heat exhaustion.

The Buffalo Bills didn’t look far for a replacement, promoting Lockport native Sean Kugler from his assistant position to offensive line coach in January.