HTN: Passport Office in Buffalo

The federal government is giving Western New York 700-thousand-dollars to help build a passport office in Buffalo. Area representatives requested the office be located here, given the location of the Peace Bridge. There are currently 14 passport agencies in the continental U.S. Travelers to Canada will need a passport or other certified document of citizenship, starting June 1st.

HTN: New Nests for Terns

A newly-created nesting area on the harbor near the Peace Bridge is designed to help protect tern eggs and chicks. The new habitats rest on a barge next to the inner breakwater across from the Erie Basin Marina and on top of an existing nesting area on an outer sea wall. Terns moved in quickly after the platforms were finished April 17th.

HTN: Alien Nabbed at Bridge with Underaged Girl

A kidnapping suspect from Delaware has been nabbed at the Peace Bridge. Customs agents arrested 24-year-old Jose Reyes-Quezada Sunday with a 13-year-old runaway. Police say a check found that Reyes-Quezada was wanted on kidnapping charges in Delaware. He also faces deportation, because agents say he is an illegal alien from Nicaragua.

HTN: Jamaican Arrested at Peace Bridge

A Jamaican national and convicted felon who had been deported from the U.S. a decade ago was arrested Monday when he tried to reenter the country at the Peace Bridge. Forty-six-year-old Winston Anthony Cargill presented a passport baring the name Alfonso Dickerson. Cargill has been charged with making a false citizenship claim, attempting to illegally reenter after deportation and misuse of a passport. He was deported back in March of 1999 after authorities arrested him in a Virginia drug case in 1996. He is being held at the Buffalo Federal Detention Center in Batavia.

New Lights for Peace Bridge

The Peace Bridge is in for a total relighting, with about 300 new fixtures planned to be in place by Christmas. The new lights are designed to save money, provide better security, and a fresh, color-coordinated look for the 60-year-old bridge.

Schumer Speaks Up on Bridge Design

Last week an environmental review said that the design for a new Peace Bridge would have to be changed because the cables that would hold up the sections of roadway would be detrimental to some birds. Now, Senator Chuck Schumer says he has been talking with federal officials and the design may not be dead after all. Schumer says that a decision hasn't been made yet at the top and that he feels the bridge would not have that big of an impact on wildlife.

Bridge Design for the Birds

Officials say that the latest design for a new Peace Bridge in Buffalo is going to have to be changed. Apparently there are environmental concerns that the design could be harmful to birds, the common tern and to fish, the silvery emerald shiner. The bridge is located on a "bird travel corridor" and federal and state officials say it needs to be lower. The current design is 567-feet-high.