Friday news Brief

29-year-old Ronald Murray of Batavia has been arrested for multiple active warrants. He’s charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and obstructing governmental administration. It’s alleged Murray tried to prevent deputies from apprehending him while attempting to execute the warrants.

 

 

 

 

No charges are going to be filed against the driver who struck and killed a woman in Cheektowaga. The victim, 53-year-old Rebecca McPhail, wasn’t in the crosswalk on Walden Avenue when she was hit Wednesday. McPhail was taken to Erie County Medical Center but could not be saved. Anyone who saw the incident is still asked to contact police at 716-686-3527.

 

 

Buffalo police say that an arrest has been made following a reported sexual assault in their city earlier this month. A woman says 28-year-old Rickey Roberts approached her on Hertel Avenue December 9th and claimed he had a gun before forcing himself on her. The woman was able to get away from Roberts and ran for help but she needed treatment for minor injuries. She also told officers that she had no prior contact with Roberts.

 

The New York State Attorney General’s Office has opened up a probe into a fatal officer-involved shooting in Rochester. The AG’s office will be trying to determine if the officer who opened fire towards 46-year-old Todd Novick on Murray Street last Sunday acted appropriately. Novick reportedly ran away from the officer and showed what was thought to be a real gun before being shot. However, it turned out the weapon was just a replica.

 

The death of a worker in a business park located off Perinton Parkway is being called a tragic accident by the Monroe County’s Sheriff’s Office. Deputies say the employee was on the job yesterday while a maintenance company was filling salt buckets. The individual tripped and ended up being run over by a truck. The man, whose name hasn’t been released, passed away at the scene.

 

NFL player Damar Hamlin was the most-Googled athlete and overall person in 2023 after the Buffalo Bills defensive back collapsed on the field back in January. He has made a full recovery from his cardiac arrest. The number two most Googled athlete was also a football player, but his spike in interest had to do with his moves both on and off the field. Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce took the spot after helping bring the Chiefs a Super Bowl win before going on to date pop-megastar Taylor Swift.

Buffalo Bills edge rusher Von Miller on Thursday disputed the allegations of him assaulting the mother of his children, who is pregnant, by calling them “100% false” and “blown out of proportion.” In addressing the media for the first time since turning himself into police in suburban Dallas on November 30, Miller acknowledged he and his girlfriend “have problems just like any couple does.” But he then stressed they have not involved “any of those things that was alleged against me.” The 34-year-old Miller faces a charge of third-degree felony assault of a pregnant woman, which is punishable by 2 to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He is free after posting a $5,000 bond. The woman and Miller have been in a relationship for seven years.

 

The Buffalo Bills will be back on their home field this weekend as they look to get closer to securing a spot in the playoffs. The Bills are hosting their AFC East rivals the New England Patriots at Highmark Stadium. Buffalo is coming off a 24 to 22 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers last Saturday that boosted their record to nine wins and six losses. The Patriots, who have already been eliminated from playoff contention, are last in the AFC at 4-and-11. Kickoff Sunday afternoon is set for 1:00.

 

Starting next week, the cost of traveling on the New York State Thruway will be going up for Empire State drivers. As of January 1st, E-ZPass rates will increase by five-percent and that will followed by a similar bump in 2027. This new rate marks the first time in 14 years that tolls have risen on the Thruway. Officials say they need the additional funds to help maintain the 570-mile highway.

 

ELSEWHERE…

The Powerball jackpot keeps growing and has now risen to the sixth-largest prize in the history of the game. Whoever is lucky enough to pick all six winning numbers for tomorrow night’s drawing will get at least $760 million. The last time the top prize was claimed was back in October, which is a span of 33 drawings. The odds of hitting the jackpot are one in 292 million. The drawing will be streamed live at powerball.com. Please play responsibly.

 

 

 

Social media companies are cashing in big on youth ad revenue. A new study from the Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health found Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X and YouTube collectively made nearly 11-billion dollars in ad revenue from U.S. kids under 18 in 2022. While these social media platforms claim they can self-regulate their practices to reduce harms to young people, researchers say the study suggests the companies earn so much money from kids they continue to delay meaningful steps to protect children. Researchers add the findings show a need for government regulation of social media.

 

 

 

Former President Trump is denying claims he “bullied his way” into appearing in the 1992 film “Home Alone 2.” Trump in a post on Truth Social said the director of the film, Chris Columbus, begged him to make a cameo in the movie. The scene takes place in New York’s Plaza Hotel, which Trump owned at the time. This comes after Columbus in an interview said he was only allowed to film in the Plaza if Trump was given a scene in the movie, saying he bullied his way into the film. Trump this week said “nothing could be further from the truth.”  In case you missed it: Macaulay Culkin has endorsed social media comments demanding Donald Trump’s cameo in the film’s sequel be digitally removed and replaced with one of an older version of Culkin himself. Culkin replied to a tweet that asked “petition to digitally replace trump in ‘home alone 2’ with 40-year-old macaulay culkin” with the single word: “Sold.” Culkin then followed up by responding “Bravo” to another tweet that contained a comic edit of Trump replaced by empty space. Trump appears briefly in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York when Culkin, as its hero Kevin, asks him for directions to the lobby of the Plaza hotel, which Trump owned at the time. In December 2020, the film’s director Chris Columbus said that Trump “did bully his way into the movie” by insisting he get a role in the film in return for allowing shooting to take place in the hotel. Columbus added that Trump’s cameo was a popular move: “When we screened it for the first time the oddest thing happened – people cheered when Trump showed up on screen. So I said to my editor, ‘Leave him in the movie. It’s a moment for the audience.’”
And another advocacy has started: A petition on change.org to replace Trump with Joe Biden had accrued several hundred signatures at time of this post.

 

And speaking of the former president…Another state is removing Donald Trump from its GOP primary ballot. On Thursday, Maine’s top election official released a statement saying Trump was “aware of the likelihood for violence” on January 6, 2021 and “encouraged it.” Colorado was the first state to take Trump off its primary ballot, though the state Supreme Court ruling has been stayed following an appeal.

 

Google reportedly has agreed to settle a $5,000,000,000 (billion) consumer privacy lawsuit. Reuters reported on Thursday that the tech giant agreed to settle the suit that claimed Google secretly tracked millions of people who thought they were browsing the Internet privately. The suit argued that Google’s analytics, cookies, and apps tracked their activity even when they set the company’s Chrome browser to “Incognito” mode and other browsers to “private” browsing status.

 

Today is Friday, Dec. 29, the 363rd day of 2023 with two to follow. Happy New Year! Wishing you all the best 2024 has to offer!

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Uranus and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus.

December 29 in history…

 

…In 1947, Ted Danson was born; happy 76th birthday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…In 1973 Jim Croce’s “Time In A Bottle” hit number one on the pop singles chart.  He died on September 20, 1973 in a plane crash, eight days before his son’s (A.J. Croce) second birthday. According to officials, the plane did not gain enough altitude and was unable to clear a small grove of pecan trees about 250 feet from the end of the runway, NOLA.com reported. The official report of the crash stated that the 57-year-old pilot, Robert Elliott, had suffered a heart attack during takeoff. Croce had decided that his current tour would be his last so that he could be at home with his wife and young son.

 

 

…In 2007, Tom Brady sets a then-NFL record by throwing his 50th touchdown pass, and the New England Patriots become the fist NFL team to finish the regular season 16-and-0. (GO BILLS!)