Afternoon News Brief

33-year-old Jason Hall of Medina and 34-year-old Terry Depoty of Albion are both charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property. State Police arrested them in connection with an incident reported in the Town of Batavia Wednesday morning. Hall was released on an appearance ticket; Depoty was ordered held in jail. No additional information is available at this time.

 

 

From the National Weather Service, there is a wind advisory in place for the entire GLOW region starting tomorrow morning, Saturday, 4/1 at 5:00am. It will be in place until 7:00pm tomorrow evening.  Wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour are predicted.

 

 

FROM CITY of BATAVIA POLICE: 23-year-old Haley Larnder of Batavia is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance. While officers arrested Larnder on a bench warrant, they allegedly found her in possession of a narcotic. Larnder was issued an appearance ticket and turned over to the Sheriff’s Office on the warrant. ALSO: 41-year-old Jason Freeman of Batavia has been charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance. He’s accused of possessing narcotics when taken into custody on an unrelated charge. Freeman was issued an appearance ticket.

 

 

FROM THE GENESEE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE: 31-year-old Weldon Ervin is charged with assault and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. He’s accused of recklessly causing an injury to another person during a disturbance last Sunday in Pembroke. Ervin also allegedly took the vehicle of another person without permission. He was ordered to appear at a later date in the Town of Pembroke Court. ALSO: 30-year-old Michael Mess of Alexander has been charged with grand larceny and insurance fraud. State Police arrested him in connection with an incident reported earlier this month. Mess was released on his own recognizance.

 

The Board of Trustees of Notre Dame High School announced that their principal, Wade Bianco, would be retiring from the school this summer. Mr. Bianco worked in education for over 40 years and joined Notre Dame in 2015. Among his many accomplishments over the years include overseeing the addition of 7th and 8th grades, which has been a driving force in the recent increases observed in enrollment. Mr. Bianco also guided Notre Dame through the COVID pandemic, as a school that remained open for in-person instruction each day as allowed by New York State. (File photo by Doug Thompson, WBTA News)

 

 

The Hilton Central School District will be forming a committee that’ll be responsible for discussing a book named in a recent bomb threat. The book, which is titled “This Book Is Gay” is owned by the district and was mentioned in a threat that was sent by email last week claiming there were bombs placed in several buildings. The committee will look into whether its appropriate for the book to be in the high school library. Anyone who wants to volunteer to be on the committee can sign up online on the school district’s website.

 

 

 

The City of Buffalo has filed a lawsuit against Kia and Hyundai following a high number of vehicle thefts in the city. The lawsuit claims the automakers intentionally manufactured and marketed cars that did not have anti-theft technology installed in them. Kias and Hyundais are being targeted by thieves after a video on social media showed how easy it was for them to be stolen. Several other cities nationwide are also involved in this lawsuit.

 

 

The person who was convicted of committing a brutal rape and murder more than two decades ago is now out of prison. Yesterday, Edward Kindt was released from the Elmira Correctional Facility and relocated to Dutchess County. Kindt was a teenager when he killed 39-year-old Penny Brown in Salamanca back in 1999. After being found guilty, he was sentenced to nine years to life in prison.

 

 

After a video of him went viral a 65-year-old man has been charged with disorderly conduct and harassment over racist comments he made in an Aldi parking lot in Cheektowaga. Police say an argument started over a minor dent in a car door and escalated into a racist tirade where Richard Stasiak made several racist comments. Stasiak is scheduled to return to court in July for further proceedings and was released on his own recognizance as the charges are non-qualifying offenses for bail. The district attorney’s office said if convicted of the highest charge, he faces a maximum sentence of one year in jail. A temporary order of protection was issued on behalf of the victim.

 

 

The Rochester bar manager who pulled the trigger in a deadly shooting has been sentenced for his crime. Yesterday, a judge ordered 44-year-old Jackie Ray Robinson to spend 40 years to life in prison. Prosecutors say Robinson, who worked at Jackie Ray’s Tavern, shot both Chad Wilson and Jerome Mason at the establishment last year. Wilson died of his injuries but Mason survived. The business is now permanently closed. (Provided photo)

 

Lawmakers will be back to work at the State Capitol today as time continues to tick down towards the state budget deadline. They have until midnight to reach an agreement, but that’s unlikely to happen. The main issues that still need to be worked out involve affordable housing, changes to the state’s bail reform law, and a minimum wage increase. Last year’s budget ended up being nine days late. If the deadline is missed, an emergency spending measure has to be passed by the end of Monday to ensure state workers can get paid.

 

 

Buffalo Bills Safety Damar Hamlin and his family met with President Biden yesterday. Biden said that Hamlin represented courage, resilience and spirit and was an inspiration to the American people. He applauded Hamlin turning recovery into action and said he was honored to meet him and his family. Hamlin responded that it was a pleasure and honor to meet the president.

 

 

The Buffalo Sabres will return to home ice tonight as they look to keep their hopes of reaching the postseason alive. The Sabres are hosting the New York Rangers at KeyBank Center. The game is going to mark the professional debut of Buffalo’s new goaltender Devon Levi, who signed with the team March 17th after playing the last two seasons at Northeastern University. Face-off this evening is at 7:00.

 

 

No one has won either the Mega Millions or Powerball in a while, and now the combined jackpots of the games has reached $502,000,000 (million). The prize up for grabs for Mega Millions tonight is $355,000,000 (million). And whoever is lucky enough to win Powerball tomorrow night will get at least $147,000,000 (million). Both drawings will be streamed live online. Please play responsibly.

 

 

OF NATIONAL INTEREST…

A funeral is being held today for one of the victims of the Nashville school shooting. The service for nine-year-old Evelyn Dieckhaus will be held this afternoon at a Nashville church. Two other children were also killed in Monday’s mass shooting, as well as three adults. Funeral services for nine-year-old Hallie Scruggs will be held on Saturday. Services for nine-year-old William Kinney will be on Sunday.

 

 

 

The White House says President Biden wasn’t given advance notice former President Trump would be indicted by a Manhattan grand jury. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the President found out about the news through news reports “just like every other American.” Biden on Friday declined to comment on the indictment. Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury investigating payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. The former President has denied any wrongdoing.