Afternoon News Brief

3 Corrections officers were injured during an incident at the Attica Correctional facility last Thursday.  While making rounds the officers found an inmate intoxicated in the bathroom having ingested an unknown substance.  While they were escorting him from the bathroom he kicked an officer in the legs and knocked them into the wall where they hit their head.  The inmate then fell unconscious and the other officer, attempting to get him up, slipped and hurt his knee on the floor.  Narcan was administered to the inmate who became alert and conscious.  The officer who was initially assaulted was transported to Erie County Medical Center and treated for swollen forehead, knee swelling, forearm abrasions and exposure to the intoxicant.  The second officer was taken to Wyoming Community Hospital for evaluation of his knee. A third officer sustained a shoulder injury loading the stretcher and inmate into the transport ambulance. He was treated at the facility and remained on duty.

Its Valentines day and love may be blind but scammers are looking for victims.  Nearly 70,000 people reported a romance scam nationwide, with reported losses of over $1 billion last year.  Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said reports of online romance scams have exploded since the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a crime he said is nearly impossible to prosecute and one that often targets senior citizens.  Romance scams start online with dating sites and love letters.  Once a person is committed to an emotional relationship they move to trying to get their target to invest in fake opportunities or send money for things.  Experts say some red flags to be on the lookout for include: the relationship moves very fast, you never meet in person, they’re too hot to be true, they tell you a “hard luck” story and of course, they ask you for money.  AARP offers a free resource that allows people to get guidance from fraud specialists if you’ve been targeted. To read it, follow the link at wbtai.com.

https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/about-fraud-watch-network/

A man convicted of killing a Rochester man is now free after his conviction was vacated.  It was May of 2015 when Johnny Washington was shot and killed in a drive-by on Sixth Street and Bay Street.  More than three years later, in December 2018, Terrence Lewis was sentenced to 22 years to life in prison. A jury convicted him of murder for his role in Washington’s death.  Now, Lewis is free because of a federal violation.  In May of 2018, while Lewis was awaiting trial in the Monroe County Jail, he was returned to a federal correctional facility in Pennsylvania where he was serving time on separate charges.  That move, according to New York’s Supreme Court, violated a provision of the federal Interstate Agreement on Detainers law.

UConnect Care has received a federal grant to provide harm reduction services, treatment, and recovery support services to those struggling with substance use disorders. The nonprofit agency has begun an Open Access program that will operate three days per week at The Recovery Station on Clinton St Rd in Batavia as well as a Harm Reduction Mobile Outreach unit that will travel to several locations in the two counties five days per week.  Amy Kabel, project director, emphasized that services will be available to residents, even if they’re not ready for agency intervention.  Walk-ins are welcome to utilize Open Access. The program’s hours of service are 3-7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays at The Recovery Station.

Some tax incentives help, some don’t pay off.  A new report released Tuesday shows that for some programs targeted toward manufacturing and scientific research development, the incentives do work.  But for others, like those for the motion picture and theater industries, the state is losing way more than it’s paying out.  New York has poured more than $4.6 billion in incentives into the film and television industry over the last decade.  However, the auditors found that while the Film Production and Post-Production Credits have supported well over 100,000 jobs, they don’t provide a positive return for the state’s investments when it comes to direct revenue. Lawmakers are considering which programs to keep and which ones to throw away.

The Community Resource Collaborative is under investigation after the original founder was terminated.  The CRC helps fund outreach groups that provide critical services, such as housing, food, and development. It’s tasked with managing funds for 13 organizations that are in partnership with the Neighborhood Collaborative Project  here in Rochester.  Monroe County Executive Adam Bello announced last week that funding from CRC was temporarily suspended after an audit into the nonprofit reportedly found financial mismanagement.  This investigation comes on the heels of the the founder of CRC being terminated. According to an attorney for CRC, the total amount of money missing is substantially under the $7 million dollar figure that has been reported, but he did not provide a specific dollar amount.