Morning News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on March 7, 2022
The high winds Sunday knocked down power lines, trees and branches all over Genesee county. First responders scurried to respond to several calls as the day went on. There were power outages in Byron, Elba, Alexander, Darien, Oakfield and Basom. Nearly 2000 people were without power and National Grid put extra crews to work getting things back online. Several hundred people were still without power this morning at 5am. National Grid says their field force is actively removing downed trees and wires and replacing some broken poles and working to restore power to those affected.
Republicans in the state assembly have been saying it for a while now and Democrats are starting to join in on suspending the state gas tax. Gas is now over 4 dollars a gallon across the state. An average of 4.20 over the weekend has now risen sharply with gas stations in Batavia hitting up to 4.50 with 4.39 being the average. Prices around the county vary wildly as stations try to keep updates with the spiking prices. State lawmakers are saying that the increase in the cost of household goods, inflation and now gas prices require some relief. Democratic Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara for Rotterdam has introduced a bill to suspend the gas tax for a year. The bill to increase the gas tax by 55 cents and increase home heating by 26 percent that was introduced by Democrats February of last year to fight climate change is still in committee.
The New York State police are looking for recruits. You must be between 20 and 29 but Military veterans can be older. Troopers can make up to 80,000 dollars a year by their second year. Since training opportunities have been cut back over the past Two years due to the pandemic, recruiters are really looking to bring in more candidates. You can apply at joinstatepolice.ny.gov
Sheridan Benefits, LLC will host a series of ‘Medicare 101 Table Chats’ at three GLOW YMCA branches the week of March 7. Biggs Johnson with Sheridan Benefits will be available to present information to those approaching Medicare age to learn about the program and to answer questions from current Medicare beneficiaries. They will be at the Genesee County YMCA on Wednesday March 9th from 9am to 11am. This is an opportunity to get information about the Medicare program. These chats are open to the public.
After a 2 game winning streak beating the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday and the Minnesota Wild on Friday the Sabres were blown out 3 to zip by the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday. Tokarski made 29 saves and only let 1 goal get past him. The other 2 were empty netters. The Keybank Arena was packed Sunday for Kids Takeover day where kids sang the national anthem, did the PA announcements and even gave the locker room speech. The Sabres will be hosting the Florida Panthers tonight at 7pm.
