Afternoon News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on March 6, 2024
Buffalo police say a man was arrested on Tuesday afternoon for alleged indecent exposure at Delaware Park. According to police, 50-year-old Chester Culverhouse of Buffalo has been charged with one count of public lewdness. Officers responded to a call for indecent exposure in the park near Nottingham Terrace and Meadow Road around 3 p.m. Tuesday. Police say they were able to locate Culverhouse based on the caller’s description. Culverhouse has been released on an appearance ticket.
The release from custody of a St. John Fisher University student charged following an incident that prompted a campus lockdown has led to new calls for changes to New York state’s bail reform law. 19 year old Shalom Mathews who allegedly tried to kidnap and sexually abuse a Fisher staff member at knifepoint in her office last week, is due back in court next month after being arrested twice and then released first on bail and then the second time on his own recognizance. Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter released an apology to the professor who was attacked, saying that the release of Matthews within 24 hours of the crime and especially when he has a history of stalking was a failure of justice. Baxter says he hopes this case will get lawmakers to change the bail laws.
A woman faces charges after she allegedly stole tens of thousands of dollars worth of fragrances from an Ulta Beauty store. 30 year old Raven Walton of Rochester, allegedly stole assorted fragrances totaling over $34k from the Victor location between Dec. 8 and Feb. 7. Investigators from the Ontario County Sheriff’s Office arrested Walton on Tuesday, charging her with five counts of grand larceny and two counts of burglary. Police said Walton had previously been banned from all Ulta locations. Walton is being held in the Ontario County Jail prior to arraignment.
Some local school superintendents are calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to give districts a financial plan so they can follow a state mandate that all school buses must be electric by 2035. In 2022, Gates Chili became the first school district in Upstate New York to add electric buses to its fleet. The district currently has five of the buses, which are touted as producing lower greenhouse gas emissions than diesel buses. The buses come with a hefty price tag of up to $400,000 each. Traditional buses cost anywhere from $125,000 to $150,000. Gananda Superintendent Shawn Van Scoy said while he’s not opposed to the concept of electric school buses, he worries about how smaller districts like his will pay for them. Hochul announced Tuesday that funding is available for electric bus charging infrastructure on a first-come, first-serve basis. Critics say the money being offered is a tiny amount compared to the billions changing to electric school buses will cost.
At the GCEDC meeting tomorrow a 120 million dollar expansion to the HP Hood facility will get the yay or nay. Announced by New York State Governor Kathy Hochul last fall, HP Hood plans to expand its footprint at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park. The project includes the construction of a 32,500 sq ft expansion to accommodate its automatic storage and retrieval system refrigerated warehouse. The project will also include new batching and processing systems and other upgrades which will allow the company to increase capacity and begin a new production line. The company is seeking sales tax exemptions estimated at $4.52 million, a property tax abatement estimated at $549,705 based on an incremental increase in assessed value, and a mortgage tax exemption estimated at $536,000. They estimate that the return will be 16 times what the county gives in incentives and the project will create over 45 new jobs.
A woman in Buffalo feels like she was taken for a ride, and not on the new mobility scooter she ordered. Linda Lindell who is physically disabled ordered a mobility scooter from the site, Upright Cane, for 600 dollars. In the mail she received a 40 dollar cane. She contacted local news who investigated and found the company had no physical offices, no business address, and phone calls and emails went unanswered. Since then the website has been taken down. Also the charity that was listed on the site and the site collected donations for, Friends of Disabled Adults and Children, said they had never had any donations from or done business with Upright Cane. The Better Business Bureau says when shopping online, make sure you can verify who you are doing business with, and use a payment with some kind of protections just in case.
