Morning News Brief

It’s off to Kansas City! After defeating the Ravens Saturday night, the Buffalo Bills will now travel to Kansas City to square off against the Chiefs Sunday night for the AFC championship game.

New York State tax receipts through the first nine months of the state fiscal year were $2.5 billion lower than last year, but…were $1.8 billion higher than anticipated by the state Division of the Budget, according to the monthly State Cash Report released by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Tax receipts in the month of December totaled $8.4 billion.

Genesee County is hiring for several open positions, including Assistant District Attorney. New York State Bar admission is required and preference will be given to candidates with significant criminal litigation experience. More information is available on the county website and its Facebook page.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced a proposal to require companies to prominently disclose information about devices that can record and retain and transmit recordings, such as smartphones, smart speakers and smart TVs. The Governor will propose legislation requiring the disclosure so that New Yorkers can make informed decisions when they choose to buy an internet-connected device that is capable of recording, and so that written warnings about recording are not hidden or written in small print. Over 80 percent of Americans own a smartphone or other digital assistant device, the vast majority of which are equipped with internal microphones or other audio recording capabilities. 54 percent of smart speaker owners express worry about how much of their personal audio information is collected and 66 percent reject better personalization of smart speaker recommendations if it means more of their personal data is collected.

The National Weather Service has issued a Lake Effect Snow Warning for Wyoming County. 10-18 inches of snow could pile up in the most persistent bands. The Warning is in effect until Tuesday morning.

Assemblyman Steve Hawley has joined his colleagues in the Assembly Minority in writing a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker, calling on them to include local home rule authorities in the process of developing coronavirus vaccine distribution plans in order to make them more effective. The letter was drafted in response to reports that vaccine distribution has been slow and ineffective in New York State, with some vaccine doses reportedly being wastefully disposed of due to improper storage. The state rep. says…”getting these vaccines out effectively and promptly will save lives, and we cannot afford to let even a single dose of the vaccine go to waste during this unprecedented public health crisis.”