Afternoon News Brief

In an announcement today Batavia City School Superintendent Anibal Solar Jr said that for the Monday and Tuesday of thanksgiving week Batavia city schools will go to full remote learning.  Solar said that a large percentage of teachers and staff come from orange zones which makes getting substitutes difficult, that several staff and students are already in quarantine, and that there are growing case numbers all factored into the decision.  The determination was made to have no students in any of the district buildings on the two days prior to Thanksgiving.  This does not affect those who attend in person classes at BOCES.

More charges against Michael Tomaszewski of Tomaszewski funeral home.  This time he is being charged for not burying a US Army veteran who he said he had buried in 2018.  Peter Vandetta a 20 year veteran of the Army passed away in April of 2018.  Tomaszewski took payment for handling the burial for Vandetta and instead put him in a garage for 264 days.  He also filed a death certificate showing that the body had been buried which were fraudulent.  Batavia sheriffs did note that the body of Vendetta was buried properly after that time.  Tomaszewski is currently charged with over 100 felonies including mishandling remains and taking money for services he did not perform.

Neither Chief Heubusch or Sheriff Sheron will enforce the Governor’s executive order to limit private gatherings to 10 people or less.  They both said that they will not task officers to go to peoples homes and check if they are having less than 10 people there citing the United States Constitutions prohibition of unlawful searches.  Both the chief and the Sheriff warned the public against having large gatherings and asked everyone to be safe and use good judgement especially over Thanksgiving.

Senator Chuck Schumer was in Medina today calling on the federal government to release money to put a free rapid testing standalone location in Orleans County.  Schumer said that there are 9 billion dollars in unreleased monies that could be helping fight the COVID Pandemic.  Currently Medina Memorial Hospital and the Albion Clinic are offering COVID testing for Orleans County residents but Schumer says a standalone site that offers free testing would dramatically increase access to testing.

COVID Update:  Genesee county has 17 new cases and 21 people have recovered.  Orleans county has 9 new cases and 6 people have recovered.  There are 141 active cases in Genesee county and 74 in Orleans.

The Holland Land office is showcasing their annual wonderland of trees starting Friday.  There is no kickoff event and the trees will be on display till December 31^st.  Go see them Tuesdays through Saturdays 10 to 4.  There will be a basket raffle until December 18^th and on December 4^th, 11^th and 18^th the Genesee County Symphony orchestra will play at the museum with a limited audience of 12 per performance.  Preregistration is required.  There will be a live broadcast during the concerts.

Zoombuffalo.com is selling a window sticker that they call the 11^th guest.  For about 12 bucks you can invite the Governor of New York State, Andrew Cuomo, or at least the top half of his head, to your thanksgiving celebrations as he peeks in your window to see if you have more than 10 people in your home.  You can also get 3 for 20.20.