Afternoon News Briefing
Written by Tom Tharp on August 18, 2020
Gov. Andrew Cuomo
Governor Cuomo announced in today’s press briefing that Alaska and Delaware are back on the list of states requiring a travel quarantine in New York State. There are now 35 states on the list. Travelers from these states must provide a travel plan to state officials and quarantine for 2 weeks when entering New York State.
Gyms may be reopening in a week but there is confusion as to exactly how that will work. Governor Cuomo did not give details about exactly how county health officials will inspect gyms before they reopen. Large gyms such as Planet Fitness in Batavia say nothing about the reopening on their website and did not answer the phone when called. Questions about classes and people doing cardio with masks on have not been answered. 13 wham talked to the owner of MBody on university ave molly Flaherty who said that if spin class members have to wear masks then they will be outside till December.
The city of Batavia is adding four more community members to its Police Advisory Stakeholder Group. City Hall says that, where possible, these additional citizen members will be persons of color. According to Interim City Manager Rachel Tabelski the advisory group will open dialogue and add value to the relationships between city employees, the police department and community residents. The committee was formed under an executive order from Governor Andrew Cuomo. It originally consisted of 15 members, now it will have 19.
Construction work has started to finish a major water line project to the Western New York Science & Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park known as STAMP. The job will make the South Campus of STAMP 100 percent ready for development. This latest project will cost 2-million dollars and should be done by the end of the year. The project is funded mostly by federal and state tax dollars.
