Thursday News Brief

GENESEE COUNTY COMPLETES $6.6 MILLION BROADBAND EXPANSION

Genesee County officials say every address in the county now has access to high-speed internet following completion of a six-point-six-million-dollar broadband expansion.
County and Spectrum officials marked the project’s completion Tuesday at Genesee County Park and Forest. About 125 miles of new cable were installed, bringing broadband access to 711 previously unserved addresses.
Among them is L&M Specialty Fabrication in the Town of Batavia. Co-owner Sarah Geissler says the company previously relied on satellite internet, making it difficult to download large manufacturing schematics, hold video calls or reliably use phones.
The project was funded through county reserves, federal American Rescue Plan money and shared-services funding.
Legislature Chair Christian Yunker says the county specifically mapped gaps in coverage to reach every address.
Officials say the expansion will also benefit students, farms and rural businesses. A separate fixed-wireless project is being developed to provide another lower-cost internet option across the county.

 

BATAVIA BLUE DEVIL HALL OF FAME WELCOMES 2026 CLASS

Nine new members have joined the Batavia Blue Devil Athletic Hall of Fame as part of its 21st induction class.
The group was introduced during halftime of Batavia’s Homecoming football game at Van Detta Stadium, with official plaques unveiled for permanent display.
The Class of 2026 includes Alyssa Tretter Antinore, Jen Saunders-Baier, Christopher Ball, Michael Battaglia, Catherine McAllister Bichler, Michael DiBacco, Angela Jarvela Heale and Paul Spiotta.
Also inducted was longtime Batavia athletic director Michael Bromley, who led the department from 1999 through 2023.
The celebration continued Saturday with the annual Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremony at Batavia Downs.
The Hall recognizes former Blue Devil athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors for outstanding achievement and service to Batavia athletics. Athletes become eligible ten years after graduation, while coaches and other contributors are eligible following retirement.

 

GCC EDUCATOR SELECTED FOR SUNY FELLOWSHIP

Genesee Community College’s Jodi Scondras has been selected for a statewide SUNY fellowship focused on diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice.
Scondras, GCC’s Director of Human Service Careers and Education, was one of just ten fellows chosen from nearly 200 applicants across the SUNY system.
During the 2026-27 fellowship, she’ll work with faculty across New York to develop and update courses meeting SUNY’s DEISJ general education requirement.
Scondras says she looks forward to collaborating with educators and helping prepare students to work with diverse communities.

 

CORFU VETERANS MEMORIAL PROJECT CONTINUES

Work continues on the Veterans Memorial at Corfu Homestead Park, with organizers now raising money for a brick patio in front of the monument.
Project manager Dave Kruger says about 35-hundred dollars has been raised toward a five-thousand-dollar goal to purchase the first batch of bricks this spring.
The planned patio will measure 12-by-20 feet and require about 12-hundred bricks.
Supporters can purchase bricks in honor of veterans, with signup information available through the Village of Corfu website.

 

 

ZELENSKYY CALLS FOR CONTINUED ECONOMIC PRESSURE ON RUSSIA

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is urging world leaders to continue targeting Russia’s economy as the war in Ukraine stretches beyond four-and-a-half years.
Speaking Wednesday at the United Nations General Assembly, Zelenskyy argued that international trade with Russia provides Moscow with additional money to continue its military campaign. He called for further restrictions on Russian revenues and defended Ukraine’s strikes against Russian economic targets.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, meanwhile, told the U.N. Security Council that Moscow is willing to negotiate a lasting peace, but opposes simply pausing the fighting. Russia argues a temporary ceasefire would allow Ukraine and its allies to rebuild weapons supplies.
Russia is scheduled to address the General Assembly on Saturday.

 

AI EXPERTS DEBATE RISK OF BOTS ESCAPING ONTO INTERNET

New concerns are emerging over whether increasingly powerful artificial intelligence systems could eventually operate freely across the internet.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warns that networks of autonomous AI agents could become a serious threat within the next year, potentially targeting financial institutions or critical infrastructure.
Those concerns intensified after OpenAI disclosed that advanced models escaped a controlled testing environment in July, accessed the internet and used stolen credentials to break into servers belonging to AI company Hugging Face. In another test, AI agents communicated with each other through a public website.
But some computer scientists say talk of an AI takeover is premature. They argue current models still require enormous computing resources and that previous incidents involved AI systems carrying out human-assigned objectives rather than independently developing their own goals.

 

GENESEE COUNTY BOYS SOCCER ROUNDUP

In Genesee County high school boys soccer action, Le Roy/Cal-Mum picked up a 2-1 victory over Bishop Kearney.
Batavia earned a shutout win, defeating Greece Olympia 1-0.
And Pembroke and Holley battled to a 2-2 tie.