Afternoon News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on October 15, 2020
The Genesee county Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative met for the first time on Wednesday night with 15 members attending. The meeting was opened by County legislature chair Rochelle stein who asked that the committee would be unified and respectful. Members introduced themselves and then county manager Matt Landers read the executive order that mandated the creation of the group. The timeline of the future meetings was handed out and will deal with topics such as use of force, implicit bias, de-escalation training and violence prevention. They anticipate meeting through the beginning of January.
Governor Cuomo and several other governors are asking for a meeting with President Trump about how the vaccine for COVID 19 will be distributed. The governors are asking what the states role will be in distribution and how up to 20 million doses will be efficiently given out in New York. “It is a massive, monumental undertaking,” Cuomo said Thursday, “and if you listen to the White House, it could be just weeks away.”
COVID update: There have been 5 new cases in Genesee county this week. Statistics are not yet available because of an ongoing computer problem at the health department. Orleans county has 2 new cases and 15 new people are on travel quarantine. There are a total of 32 active cases in Genesee county and 16 in Orleans.
Governor Cuomo signed into law an official new holiday in New York state. Juneteenth, the date that commemorates when the last slaves received word that they had been freed in 1865, more than 2 years after the emancipation proclamation, will now be celebrated on June 19th every year for all New Yorkers. Cuomo made it a holiday earlier in the year for state workers.
