LOCKPORT, N.Y. -- Sheriff James R. Voutour announces the Sheriff’s Community Police Academy, to be held at the Niagara County Public Safety Building, 5574 Niagara Street Extension, Lockport, New York commencing January 6, 2011 and every Thursday through April 7, 2011 at no cost. Instruction starts at 6:00 p.m. and generally lasts 3 – 4 hours.

Applications can be obtained at www.niagarasheriff.com . If you have questions or need an application mailed to you, please contact Sgt. Smith at the Niagara County Law Enforcement Academy at 716 614-6496 or Deputy Pat Williams at 716 523-0098. You will be notified by mail once you are accepted into the program. You must be at least 20 years of age, reside or work within Niagara County and have no prior felony convictions or outstanding warrants.

Due to a limit in class size, it is possible that not all applicants will be accepted. Further details will be provided with your acceptance letter.

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. -- The Aquarium of Niagara is still in the running for a $50,000.00 grant from Pepsi to fund a new coral reef exhibit. The grant is awarded via an online voting system in which the public can vote for the ideas they think are the best.

The planned exhibit will include an 800-gallon living coral reef, complete with an array of colorful corals and marine fish. The primary focus of the exhibit will be to educate the public about the importance of coral reefs, why they need protection and what can be done to help ensure their survival. A large screen LCD TV, two smaller digital screens, along with other interesting graphics, will bring this message across.

Hauptman Woodward Medical Research Institute is known throughout the World for discovering medical breakthroughs in genetic research, making it the ideal venue for the 2010 A Night to Shine, Come Out and See the Stars charity gala. 

The event will be hosted by Suneel’s Light, a local non-profit foundation with the sole mission of raising funds for genetic research that will lead to the cure of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), while increasing public awareness of the genetic disease. A Night to Shine, formerly known as Tailgate for a Cure, is the Foundation’s major fundraiser of the year and will “shine brightly upon” the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus on Thursday, October 14th from 5:30 pm – 9 pm at the Hauptman Woodward Life Science Building 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo NY.