Weekend News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on March 2, 2024
The 19 year old who threatened a professor with a knife over bad grades at St John Fisher University is also being charged with stalking someone in Brighton. Shalom Mathews of Brighton was arrested Friday on two counts of third-degree stalking. Brighton police say he sent unwanted, sexually explicit messages to multiple victims’ social media accounts over an extended period of time. Mathews is charged with attempted kidnapping and attempted sex abuse in connection with the incident at Fisher.
Sam’s Diner at 55 Public Square in Holley partially collapsed Friday morning. Fire investigators say around 9:30 the back wall of the building started to fall apart, leaving a large hole with exposed woodwork in the late 1800s structure. There were patrons inside at the time, everyone was evacuated and no one was injured. There is also a dentist’s office and a Community Action Office on the site which were evacuated. Roads nearby and the public square were blocked off to avoid vibrations causing more of the building to fall apart.
The Albion Police Department is warning people about another phone scam making the rounds in the area. This scam involves someone pretending to be a police officer who tells the victim that there is a warrant out for their arrest or that they have pending criminal charges. During the phone call the scammer will usually ask the victim for money or some type of monetary gift card such as an Apple, Sephora, Razer Gold or other kind of card. The scammer will state that the victim can purchase these cards and provide them with the information on the card to avoid being arrested. Scammers can be very convincing. They’ll provide you with a badge number, names of law enforcement officials and judges and courthouse addresses. They will spoof the phone number so it appears on caller ID as if it is coming from a government agency or the court. Police want you to know they will never call asking for personal information, banking information or gift cards over the phone. If you get one of these calls, hang up and call the police to report it.
There is just about five weeks to go until we see history in the skies over Western New York. The region sits in the “path of totality” for the total solar eclipse set to take place on April 8. More than one million people are expected to visit this area to watch. Amid the “solar craze”, comes the question: Where are all the tourists going to stay? According to AirBnB, the Empire State is the “most booked” for the 2024 solar eclipse. The vacation rental property company said there is nearly a 900% surge in searches on the platform for New York during the solar eclipse weekend. However, as of Friday, more than 20% of listings on the path of totality are still available to book in the state.
