Afternoon News Brief

A large solar farm to be built in Byron is drawing the ire of several members of the community.  The 280 megawatt 1600 acre solar farm is meeting opposition in the form of petitions and surveys saying it will destroy the community.  Byron Resident Jim Lamkin has organized the Byron Association against solar and explained to Our new partner the Batavian that “It will change our town forever by wasting valuable farmland. Solar panels will be put adjacent to their properties and those homeowners won’t receive any tangible benefits.”  Responding to these points Former Genesee county legislator Craig Lunker says that the solar farm is a great benefit for the town and will create a revenue source where Byron has very little.

2 more people have been charged in the prostitution case involving Suzanne Corona of Osterhout ave.  28 year old Paula pierce of state st and 26 year old David Schmieder of silver rd in Bethany were arrested in connection to the case.  Pierce is charged with prostitution and Schmieder is charged with patronizing a prostitute and criminal possession of a controlled substance.  Police were alerted by a member of Corona’s household to a possible trespassing incident on August 19^th and began the investigation.

September 1^st is national poll worker recruitment day and the new York state board of elections is looking for workers.  A Poll workers job description now includes enforcing social distancing and sanitizing voting equipment.  They anticipate a shortage of workers and are asking for people to step up and help with the voting process.

The deadline is midnight for prospective students to apply for the Excelsior Scholarship to receive no-cost tuition to SUNY and CUNY colleges and universities.  State officials say that anyone with a household income under 125 thousand can be eligible for the scholarships but the pandemic may effect how much money they have to give out.  This means scholarship awards may have to be reduced and would likely not cover the full cost of tuition.