Monday News Brief

 

A Batavia man could be facing additional charges for a drunk driving crash that sent two people to the hospital. Sheriff’s officials say 22-year-old Owen Scouten was behind the wheel of a vehicle that crashed off Lewiston Road Sunday. Two people inside the vehicle ended up in the hospital and investigators say charges could be added against Scouten depending on injuries to the victims. Scouten has already been charged with DWI and speeding.

 

33-year-old Joseph Kostanciak of Pembroke has been arrested. He’s charged with endangering the welfare of a child. It’s alleged that Kostanciak possessed drug paraphernalia, including an uncapped needle, which was accessible to children under the age of 17. He was held for CAP Court arraignment. The same incident resulted in similar charges against 46-year-old Shannon Smith of Pembroke. She was also held for CAP Court arraignment.

 

A Buffalo City Court judge has sentenced a woman to 100 hours of community service. 33-year-old Shamika Dean pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal possession of stolen property. She was caught wearing items stolen during the Christmas blizzard last year valued at about $1000. A portion of the community service must be done in the neighborhood of the store that was looted.

 

 

Faculty members of a university in Buffalo plan to picket the school’s opening day plans over contract issues. Faculty at D’Youville University are scheduled to picket the school’s opening assembly tomorrow. They say they’ve gone over two years without a new contract. Union members say they also don’t trust President Lorrie Clemo, whose tenure has involved multiple layoffs and a vote of no confidence by the faculty. The university is dismissing the union’s comments and say it’s the union that won’t come to the bargaining table.

 

As reported by Tom Tharp this morning: The new Rochester Regional Health building across I90 is ready to receive patients. Although the official opening date is the 26th, a ribbon cutting ceremony was held on Friday and several officials received tours of the new facility. Many of the medical offices and services offered by United Memorial Medical Center and RRH at St. Jerome’s and other medical buildings are moving into the new medical campus, making it more of a one-stop shop for area residents receiving out-patient medical care. RRH invested nearly $45 million in the 95,000-square-foot facility. Hospital officials describe the facility as “centrally located right off the Thruway, in a convenient place both for local residents and those coming from around the region. There will be more than a dozen specialty services all under one roof, including primary care, pediatrics, orthopedics, otolaryngology, plastic surgery, vascular surgery, neurosciences and Sands-Constellation Heart Institute cardiologists. Also included is a 7 day Urgent care and lab services.

 

A 14-year-old teen is in the hospital after being shot in Rochester. Police say they were called to a section on St. Paul Street Sunday night and found the boy with a gunshot wound to his lower body. He was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive. No arrests have been made. What led up to the gunfire remains unclear.

 

 

Nearly four-dozen asylum seekers will be evicted from the Buffalo State University campus today. According to a statement from Jericho Road, the 44 migrants had been living at the school since May as part of a “temporary housing solution.” Jericho Road CEO Doctor Myron Glick said the decision by the university “was influenced by prejudice.” Buffalo State said they are attempting to work with Jericho Road to find more permanent housing. Meanwhile, The agency contracted by New York City to help with asylum seekers says there are no plans to send more migrants to Erie County. According to DocGo, an organization that shifted from COVID vaccines and testing to assist in the asylum seekers crisis, more than 100,000 migrants have come to New York City, and roughly 500 were sent to Erie County. DocGo is under investigation by the State of New York for not meeting the health care needs of the migrants.

 

31 counties in New York State, including the GLOW region, has been designated as a primary natural disaster area following the late May frost and freeze. This means that impacted farmers may be eligible for assistance, including emergency loans. Many of them hadn’t seen frost conditions this late in the season in decades.

 

 

The star power of Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs was not enough for a Buffalo Bills win on Saturday. The Bills fell behind 14-to-0 in the first quarter of the preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers and were out-gained 139 to 36 yards. Coach Sean McDermott says they were out-coached and out-played, ultimately losing 27-to-15. He also added that multiple penalties and flags against them did not help.

 

The Buffalo Bills’ offensive line depth is being tested. Bills backup offensive tackle Tommy Doyle suffered a season-ending injury to one of his legs in the Bills recent pre-season game against the Steelers. Doyle was in his third year with the team. His injury leaves the Bills with just one backup tackle on the roster with NFL experience. Head Coach Sean McDermott says the team may look to bring someone in to replace Doyle.

 

 

One Cheektowaga couple might just be the Buffalo Bills’ biggest fans. Jennifer and Eddie Mendez decided to remodel their basement 10 months ago, and now it’s nothing short of a shrine for all their Bills memorabilia. There are over 60 items on display from ceiling to floor, including footballs, a pylon, and signed jerseys

 

ELSEWHERE…

 

Fox News is getting rid of the doorbell sound it used to use during debates when a speaker’s time is up. This comes just before the first Republican primary debate in Milwaukee and reportedly spurred on because of complaints from dog owners who said it bothered their pets. Fox confirmed the change to The Hill last week.

 

 

The heir to the Anheuser-Busch company is offering to buy back his family’s old company from its parent company if they’re looking to sell it. Billy Busch, whose family sold Anheuser-Busch to Brazilian based InBev in 2008, declared he would be the “first in line” to buy back the company and “make that brand great again.” Busch made the comments last week while speaking with conservative show host, Tomi Lahren. The comments come almost five months after Anheuser-Busch endured a major boycott for making trans woman Dylan Mulvaney one of Bud Light’s spokespeople. In the time since Anheuser-Busch’s marketing blunder, the company has lost billions in revenue, seen its market value plummet and become a topic of mockery for many of its former consumer base.

 

Bots are apparently better at solving CAPTCHA tests than humans. The puzzles that require a person to pick certain images before accessing a website are supposedly a method to prove a user is really a human. A study out of the University of California Irvine pitted people against bots specifically programmed to solve CAPTCHA tests and it turns out, the bots came out on top.

 

Elon Musk says X users will no longer be able to block accounts except for in private messages. The owner of the social media platform formerly called Twitter posted over the weekend that he was eliminating the safety feature. He did not give a reason but did note that the “mute” function will continue to be available.

 

 

 

Today is Monday, August 21st, the 233rd day of the year.

August 21 in history…

 

…In 1831, former slave Nat Turner led an insurrection against slavery in Virginia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…In 1911, Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” was stolen from The Louvre Museum in Paris, France. It was recovered two years later.

 

 

 

 

…In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of the Union.

 

 

 

 

 

 

…In 1987, the film, “Dirty Dancing,” opened across America.

 

 

 

 

…In 1993, NASA lost contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft. The mission cost $980 million.

 

 

 

 

 

 

…In 2017, Johnson & Johnson had to pay $417 million after a woman, Eva Echevarria, claimed that the talc in the company’s baby powder caused ovarian cancer when applied regularly for feminine hygiene.