1. First there was the presidential primary in April. Then a congressional primary in June. Today New Yorkers go to the polls again for a third primary election, this time for state and local offices. Big races here include the 60th State Senate District, scene of a bitterly fought contest between Republican incumbent Mark Grisanti and challenger Kevin Stocker; the 58th State Senate District, where County Legislator Betty Jean Grant wants to unseat Democratic incumbent Tim Kennedy; and the 149th Assembly District, where downsizing advocate Kevin Gaughan and Housing Authority official Joseph Mascia are taking on Democratic incumbent Sean Ryan.
2. First responders will be on street corners throughout Buffalo until 10 a.m. today, not for an emergency, but to collect donations from motorists in the annual Fill the Boot Drive. Firefighters from Buffalo Fire Department Local 282 collected more than $18,000 last year for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. This year, they hope to take in $30,000. The local's parent organization, the International Association of Firefighters, is the largest national sponsor of the MDA.

3. Hundreds of the area's homeless people will get one-stop help from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today in the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center at the fourth annual Project Homeless Connect Buffalo. More than 70 human service agencies throughout the area will offer assistance in finding jobs, a place to live, health care and fulfilling other needs. Free shuttle buses will bring people in from local soup kitchens and shelters.

4. Sailors here for Navy Week will join with veterans groups and public officials at 11 a.m. for a memorial service and wreath-laying ceremony at the War of 1812 cemetery on Aero Drive in Cheektowaga. The cemetery is believed to be the largest repository in Western New York of bodies of soldiers killed during the war. Elsewhere, the U.S. Navy Band will give two performances today - at noon in the Central Library on Lafayette Square in downtown Buffalo and from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Central Wharf in Erie Canal Harbor. Both concerts are free and open to the public.

5. New developments in downtown Niagara Falls will be the focus of the fourth annual Niagara USA Business Familiarization Tour from 3 to 6:30 p.m. Organized by the Niagara County Economic Development Alliance, the county Industrial Development Agency and the county Center for Economic Development, it will include stops at the Giacamo boutique hotel and lofts, the Hamister hotel site, the Niagara Falls Conference and Event Center, the Power City Building and the recently opened Niagara County Community College Culinary Institute in the former Rainbow Center Mall.

6. Buffalo's theater season officially opens with Curtain Up! on Friday night, but a couple of Theater District showplaces are turning up the spotlights early with premieres tonight. The Irish Classical Theatre, 625 Main St., opens Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's hit 2008 musical, "Next to Normal," which runs through Oct. 7, while the Alleyway Theatre, 1 Curtain Up Alley, presents Karen JP Howes' "Roadkill," latest winner of the theater's new play competition. It continues to Oct. 6.

7. Lockport author Marc Pietrzykowski, who teaches English at Niagara County Community College and has three books of poetry to his credit, has just published his first novel, a bizarre tale of revenge gone wrong titled "Music Box Dancer." He reads from it, answers questions and signs copies when he appears at 7 p.m. in Talking Leaves Books, 3158 Main St. It's free and open to the public.