Afternoon News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on September 2, 2020
If you are voting by absentee ballot you can now ask for a ballot online through a state website. If you are a registered voter you can request a ballot by going to absenteeballot.elections.ny.gov. This is part of Governor Cuomo’s reform which had 5 sections, including changing the envelopes and election boards sending out more information about deadlines and instructions. A person is allowed to vote both in person and by absentee and the boards of elections are supposed to set aside the mail in ballot if a person votes in person.
There is a new phone scam to be on guard against. Scammers call people and claim to be covid contact tracers. They say the person was exposed and that they need to pay for a testing kit and if you don’t then you could be fined. They may also send you a text with a link to follow. Real contact tracers will only ask your name and date of birth for identification purposes and will never ask for bank information or credit card numbers or your social security number. There are no fees for tracing or testing.
A 6 year old girl, Talia Jones, has been found safe in Buffalo after being abducted from California last June by her mother who did not have legal custody and the national center for missing and exploited children say the A and E program Live PD is to thank for it. A viewer recognized the pair after an episode in may and called authorities. Live PD was canceled after protests against police in June but the show host and crew say it will be coming back perhaps on another channel. The mother was arrested and Talia is in the care of Erie county department of social services.
