Afternoon News Brief
Written by WBTA STAFF on March 8, 2024
Get paid or at least reimbursed to be a volunteer firefighter. New volunteer firefighters in New York are now eligible to receive stipends for completed introductory training courses after September 2023, in an attempt to combat the declining numbers of people signing up. In order to try and help with the years of recruitment struggles, Governor Kathy Hochul launched a program that will pay new volunteers to be trained as firefighters. There are three courses that volunteers can receive stipends for completing for between 750 and 1250 dollars per course. President of the Firefighters Association of the State of New York Edward Tase shared how excited he is for this change, because setting aside time for a mandatory class, while still working another job, can be tough. He’s hoping this change will open the door to new volunteers as soon as possible.
No serious injuries are reported after a Greece Central School District bus turned over during a crash involving three other vehicles Thursday afternoon. The incident happened around 2:40 p.m. at the intersection of North Greece and Peck roads. Police said a westbound vehicle on Peck Road failed to stop at a stop sign and struck the southbound bus, which turned over on its side, slid down North Greece Road and struck two northbound vehicles. Three adults on the bus — ages 60, 38 & 21 — two students, both age 16, had minor injuries, according to police. Firefighters helped get the two students and two attendants off the bus. They said the driver was able to get out before they arrived. All five were taken to Strong Memorial Hospital for evaluation. Police said the 82-year-old driver of the striking vehicle had minor injuries, while the two other drivers were not injured.
A man from Alabama was arrested by Genesee County Sheriffs after a complaint led to finding two severely undernourished and uncared for dogs at his property. 66 year old Bryan Colopy of Knowlesville Rd was found to be keeping two dogs in deplorable conditions without food or water. He was charged with 2 counts of overdriving, torturing and injuring animals, and failing to provide proper sustenance.
A State Supreme Court justice on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit and temporary injunction against the construction of a nearly 10-mile-long sewer main from the STAMP manufacturing site in the town of Alabama along Route 63 to Oak Orchard Creek in the town of Shelby. Judge Frank Caruso ruled in favor of the Genesee County Economic Development Center. GCEDC argued that Orleans County had 23 chances to state its objection to the sewer main since 2016 but waited until construction started to voice its opposition. The water main will allow the STAMP Site to pump out over 6 million gallons of treated and sanitary wastewater a day into Oak Orchard Creek according to the GCEDC. The sewer main underwent a rigorous environmental review of 9,200-plus pages and was ultimately approved by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, Army Corps of Engineers, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and was found to pose no threat to the creek or community.
The GLOW YMCA Riptide Swim Team out of Batavia had a very successful regular season. 26 members met the age group qualification standards for the NYS YMCA State Swimming Championship. The meet will be held from March 15 – 17 at the Nassau Aquatic Center on Long Island. The ages of the swimmers range from 7 to 17 and attend local school districts including Batavia, Byron-Bergen, Le Roy, Oakfield-Alabama, St. Joseph’s School, and Pembroke. The team will compete in 58 individual events and 10 relays. The team is coached by Jen Pritchett, Andrew Fisher, and Emily Hirsch.
Maple Weekends are back and the warm weather is wreaking havoc on New York Maple producers. The official maple weekends are the last two weekends in March the 16th and 17th and 23rd and 24th. Over the course of two weekends, visitors can explore maple farms throughout Genesee and Wyoming Counties and the rest of Western NY, see how syrup is made, taste samples, buy plenty of maple products like syrup, sugar, candy, BBQ sauce, mustard, maple slushies, mapleccinos, cotton candy, maple cream, hot sauce, maple tea and much more. But the maple sugar producers are having trouble this season since the warmth is slowing the production of sap from the Maple trees. Producers need warm during the day and freezing at night to make the most sap flow and this season is terrible for them. What this means for customers is get your maple products early before they run out.
