WARMING UP TO BUFFALO

Kudos to the "Today" show for paying attention to us when we'renot buried in 45 inches of snow.

Sportscaster Bob Costas, a co-host on the NBC morning program,chatted with Channel 2 weatherman Kevin O'Connell last week during asegment on our mild weather and complete lack of snow heading intoDecember.

"Is all of this somewhat disorienting, and is there any hope thatit will change Buffalo's image as the snow capital of the world?"Costas asked O'Connell.

That's when O'Connell delivered what ought to be nominated forQuote of the Year.

"I don't think it's disorienting this year. I think it's maybereadjusting," O'Connell said. "Maybe we can pass that mantle of thesnow capital of the world to some other place. But as far as theweather guy is concerned, yeah, it's a little difficult. Instead ofgetting out the snow blower, I might have to maybe pull out a 9-iron later on this afternoon."

Trading places

Rosa Parks. Alan Shepard. Jackie Robinson. Dwight D. Eisenhower.

All heroes, no doubt.

Helen Keller. Jonas Salk. Lance Armstrong.

Absolutely.

But Eddie Murphy?

Were the "Nutty Professor" movies that funny?

The comedian's picture appears with the above-mentioned men andwomen and dozens of other heroes in the Stereo Advantage's newcatalog.

After watching the heroism of so many on Sept. 11, companyofficials scrapped a travel-guide theme and dedicated "our pages tothe many Americans who have paved the road that we travel on soboldly."

The catalog also includes the names of the firefighters andpolice officers killed in the World Trade Center terrorist attack.

So why was Eddie Murphy's mug included?

Just a dumb mistake.

Next to his smiling face in the catalog is this description: U.S.war hero and actor. He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and became themost-decorated U.S. soldier of World War II.

That would be Medal of Honor winnerAudie Murphy.

Copycat

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Kevin Gaughan andJoel Giambra must be feeling pretty good.

In case you missed it, beleaguered City Comptroller AnthonyNanula last week began his image-reupholstering campaign byproposing a regional authority to impose taxes and contract outservices.

Though Nanula talked about consolidating ECC campuses a few yearsago, he claims to have been a deep regional thinker since 1994 --virtually before founding father Neal Peirce started the movement.Did he invent the Internet also?

And Nanula somehow forgot to show up at Gaughan's landmarkChautauqua regionalism conference in 1997, and two of Gaughan'ssubsequent regionalism-related events. His current idea borrowsheavily not just from Giambra's "No Handout, No Bailout" plan butfrom Gaughan's proposal 10 months ago for a regional planningcouncil to oversee development, and from recent Gaughan speechestouting a regional body to direct suburban help for the city.

Hey, Gaughan will take all the followers he can get, even if theypretend they're not.

Just doing his job

When the smoke had cleared at the FBI's downtown Buffalo officeslast week, an individual in full firefighter turnout gear emergedinto the light of day. It was a Buffalo detective assigned to thecity's Fire Investigation Bureau. And he wasn't just any detective.It was Detective Sylvestre Acosta, searching for clues in the FBIoffice after an agent accidentally ignited a stun grenade.

If you recall, the FBI raided Buffalo Police Headquarters inAugust and searched the desks and lockers of five detectives,including Acosta's, after receiving information from anotherdetective under arrest for alleged drug dealing.

Smiling as he trudged onto the street after answering the call ofduty, Acosta apparently had gotten beyond any personal animositieshe might have harbored toward the FBI.

At an impromptu news conference, the FBI declined to release thename of the agent, who spent a night in Erie County Medical Center.Some Buffalo police officers have since asked why the agent's namewas withheld. If it had involved a local cop, they say, his or hername would be all over the news.

The FBI claimed that because it was an internal accident, therewas no need to release the name.

By Patrick Lakamp, with contributions from Donn Esmonde and LouMichel.