Evening News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on February 18, 2021
New York’s COVID vaccine tracker website has added county data. The website provides information on the number of first and second dose vaccinations distributed and administered across the state. The site is updated daily at 11 a.m. The regional data comes from sites including: hospitals, mass vaccination sites operated by state and local governments, pharmacies and other providers registered to serve as points of distribution. The regional data does not include vaccinations reserved for the federal government’s Long Term Care Facility program.
The FBI is now investigating the handling of Nursing Home COVID deaths by Governor Cuomo. Cuomo’s office says that the department of justice has been looking into this for months and that they have been cooperating with them.
Nursing Home workers in Western NY are protesting for reform in the nursing home industry. Members of the 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East say that the system is broken and that the Attorney General’s report was an indictment of the whole industry. Nearly 800 complaints were filed with the NYS Attorney General’s office from family members of people in nursing homes since the beginning of the pandemic. The union wants nursing homes to commit 70% of revenue towards resident care and spend more hours per day providing care along with increased accountability and transparency.
Last week gas prices jumped up 8 cents in Western NY and this week, since Monday prices have risen by a further 7 cents. This, after several months of gas prices waffling up and down a penny at a time but staying roughly even. While the 8 cent jump was because of increased demand and lower supply coming from oil producing countries this weeks rise was a result of the oil refineries freezing up during the storms in the gulf coast. It is expected that prices will rise by another 5 to 15 cents over the next week and then fall slightly as things thaw out and supplies return to normal operations.
Rich Wagner almost got a 900 series by bowling three perfect games in a row at Mancuso’s Bowling Center. He got two back to back 300 score games and then missed the 6 pin in his last frame to get a total score of 899. If he had reached the 900 he would have been one of only 37 bowlers to ever get that score since reporting started in 1982.
