Morning News Briefing

GOP party chairs set up process to replace Congressman Collins in the upcoming election.
Local Chairs of the Grand Old Party move forward with plans to pick a new Congressional candidate.
Republican leaders from across Western New York gathered at Batavia Downs last night to discuss the process of selecting a candidate for the 27th Congressional District.

Erie County Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy summed up the focus of the meeting…

According to Langworthy there are no front runners being tapped and party leaders are currently working in collaboration with Election lawyers and Congressman Collins to have his name taken off the ballot.
Niagara County GOP Chair Rich Andres said the next step is to hold interviews with potential candidates to narrow the field…

Andres said they will be meeting sometime again next week and put a loose timeframe of 10 days for the party members to make their final pick.
There are more than a dozen people who have expressed interest in running for the seat, but none of them were invited to last night’s meeting.
Interviews provided by our news partner The Batavian.

Victims fight off attacker in a Wyoming County home invasion.
Two brothers were attacked by an intruder in their Wyoming County home.
A 28 year old resident on West Middlebury Road reported yesterday afternoon that he and his 13 year old brother had both been cut several times by an unknown intruder.
Wyoming County Sheriff Gregory Rudolph…

The two victims were taken to Strong Hospital.
Police searched the area and located 39 year old Michael Finch of Parrish Florida who was taken into custody.
Finch was charged with two counts each of Attempted Murder, Attempted Robbery, Assault and single counts of Burglary and Criminal Possession of a Weapon.
Sheriff Rodolph said they recovered multiple weapons and at last report the brothers were both recovering from surgeries at Strong.

Governor Cuomo has finally agreed to debate Cynthia Nixon ahead of next month’s New York Democratic primary.
The activist and Sex and the City actress has been pushing for a face-off with the two-term governor for months.
Cuomo and Nixon will meet at Hofstra University in Nassau County on August 29th.
Recent polls show the governor with a solid lead in the race.

Milling on Tracy Avenue in the city planned to start tomorrow.
Tracy Avenue in the City of Batavia will have construction delays and lane reductions for cold milling of pavement. The work will be done between Washington Avenue and North Street tomorrow from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
All motorists that regularly use this road are asked to seek alternative routes during the operation. Residents within the area of the closure should anticipate delays, but we will do our best to accommodate getting you to and from your residence or place of business.
This work is weather dependent and subject to rescheduling if it rains.