The lighter side of The News: Political theater; A bone to pick with a Yankee; Health insurers have mascots?

Electing to act

Erie County Legislator Frank Todaro is a collision shop owner who also happens to be a card-carrying member of the Screen Actors Guild. And the Lancaster Republican recently spent an hour and a half pretending to be a lawyer, now that the Buffalo area is such a flurry of moviemaking activity.

Frank and Giovanni Todaro in Cabrini movie

Frank Todaro, right, and his 9-year-old son, Giovanni, in the Cabrini film.

Todaro said he has never taken an acting class but managed to make his way into a half-dozen scenes in last year's big-screen movie "Cabrini," about Catholic missionary Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini and her work establishing an order in New York City.

His son Giovanni fared even better as an extra and stand-in for the movie's child star, Federico Ielapi, who played Paulo. After that, Todaro had enough face time to apply to the actors' union.

With multiple Christmas movies being filmed in and around Erie County, Todaro was once again called on as an extra a couple of weekends ago. This time he appeared as one of many lawyers for the legal firm "Lega Tech," where he sat at a conference table, listening to a pitch being made by actor Mario Lopez.

Frank and Giovanni Todaro in Cabrini

Frank Todaro and son Giovanni as background characters in the movie "Cabrini."

Did he have a speaking part? Not quite.

"I chuckled," Todaro said. "That's as much as we were allowed to do."

He was impressed with Lopez's acting chops though.

"It's a lot harder than it looks."

-- Sandra Tan

Wing nut

New York Yankee Cody Bellinger is compounding two big culinary gaffes he made this week with another mistake that's even harder to swallow.

Bellinger drew widespread attention this week when he explained why he missed the team's game Tuesday.

He said he got food poisoning after ordering room service chicken wings from his Detroit hotel.

"I woke up at 4 a.m., sweating, and just started throwing up for a few hours," Bellinger told reporters later.

Now, that's mistake No. 1. Ordering wings in Detroit is like ordering Kansas City-style barbecue in Hartford.

Brewers Yankees Baseball (copy)

New York Yankees' Cody Bellinger (35) celebrates in the dugout after hitting a home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Worse, Bellinger said he ordered the wings plain: no sauce, no spice rub, no flavor at all.

That was his second mistake. From traditional medium to peanut butter and jelly, there's a million ways to dress your wings and Bellinger skipped them all.

Finally, Bellinger raised eyebrows after he vowed to give up wings for the next five years because of his bad dining experience this week.

That's mistake No. 3. Why deprive yourself of the joy of eating wings for five years?

The whole situation is, as Josh Silverstein wrote on the ClutchPoints site, "to put it mildly, a buffalo faux pas - or buffalaux pas, if you will."

Silverstein correctly points out Bellinger's Yankees play in New York, the state that's home to the wing.

Bellinger has no reason to order room service wings, Silverstein wrote, because he can have the best wings in the world shipped to him from Buffalo whenever he wants.

That's worth chewing on.

- Stephen T. Watson

He's no fossil

On March 24, students in one classroom at Lindbergh Elementary in Kenmore received a surprise visit from a prehistoric creature: the fabled Fidelisaurus.

What's a Fidelisaurus, you ask?

The green dinosaur is the mascot of Fidelis Care, a statewide health insurer with a significant local presence.

According to Fidelis Care, Fidelisaurus has been the health plan's mascot since 2003 and is known as an "enthusiastic promoter of healthy habits, primarily for kids of all ages in New York State."

He likes to snack on apple slices and peanut butter and counts Fidelis' teal as his favorite color.

More than anything, Fidelisaurus likes to read books and go on new adventures. Often, that means he attends hundreds of community events around the state each year, from parades to health fairs to sports games.

What brought him to visit Alessondra Chimera's classroom last month?

He and three student-athletes from University at Buffalo - basketball player Bryson Wilson and wrestlers Rafael Knapp and Brady Unger - brought each student a new book, "I Promise" by NBA star LeBron James, as part of the Bulls Reading Stampede.

The group then read the book together before students took pictures with Fidelisaurus.

How can you tricera-top that?

-- Jon Harris

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