Evening News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on March 5, 2021
Genesee Orleans County Health Director Paul Pettit put out a press release this morning about who signed up for a vaccination at the GCC 5 day mass vaccination clinic and Genesee Orleans and Wyoming Counties are getting less than a quarter of the vaccines. Out of the 3500 doses expected residents from Genesee county got appointments for less than 600, Orleans county residents signed up for 169 and Wyoming County residents only got 99 spots for shots. Erie County residents signed up for 1666 appointments. Petit Says that “With only 864 of the 3,500 doses of vaccine remaining in our three counties, we are still well below the current state-wide vaccination rate.” He also says that “For those who live in our GOW region and were shut-out of this clinic, we will continue to advocate for vaccines for our residents.” Residents from 23 counties and some out of staters have appointments for the vaccine at GCC.
More allegations are coming out about Governor Cuomo’s role in the cover up of nursing home deaths to COVID 19. The Wall Street Journal and New York Times are reporting that top advisors to the governor pushed the state health department to remove data from a public report on those deaths. The revised data lowered the number of COVID deaths in nursing homes. According to the newspapers, state officials knew the number of residents who had died from COVID, but the health department did not release the data, despite calls to do so, for several months. The governor’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa, previously admitted withholding in fear of a federal investigation.
The GCEDC board has approved Plug Power’s incentives for the proposed 232.7 million dollar green energy plant at the STAMP park in Alabama. Under the terms of a proposed 20-year PILOT (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) agreement, Plug Power would pay approximately $2.3 million annually to support local municipalities and infrastructure, including Genesee County, the Town of Alabama, and the Oakfield-Alabama Central School District. Plug Power is also investing 55 million dollars into a substation for the STAMP park as well as over 100 million in investments into site infrastructure and municipal partners. The county expects a 4 times return on investment for the project. The Board also accepted applications for several new solar farms and approved incentives for a John Deere facility.