Morning News Brief

Governor Hochul has announced her pick for the new Lt Governor, Representative Antonio Delgado.  Delgado is known for fundraising and traveling his district.  He worked for a NYC law firm before entering politics in 2018.  Delgado’s congressional district runs from the eastern part of the Capital Region south into the Hudson Valley. He lives in Rhinebeck with his wife and children.  Lt Governor Brian Benjamin resigned last month after being charged with corruption.

A group of democrats have sued for the federal courts to reinstate the democrat drawn voting map that was thrown out by the state supreme court last week.  They argue that even if the maps were drawn to favor Democrats, it is too late to draft new maps and that the judge who ordered the primaries delayed didn’t have the authority to do so.  Republicans say the lawsuit is a desperate attempt by Democrats “to preserve their unconstitutional gerrymander.”

The groundbreaking for the new Ellicott Station Apartment complex took place Tuesday.  Genesee County and Batavia leaders threw some dirt to ceremonially start the construction.  The new 55 unit apartment building  is to be built on 3.3 acres of land and investor Sam Savarino believes that Batavia is a more affordable area in this higher cost housing market.  The project is part of Batavia’s Downtown Revitalization initiative and is located within a state-designated Brownfield Opportunity Area, which requires abatements and remediation from prior use of toxic materials on the property.

Federal investigators in Rochester have charged a post office manager in Greece and Grace Lopez, a worker in Henrietta with using their positions to run a drug operation.  Ralph Minni is station manager at the Latta Road post office.  Investigators installed cameras in the homes and workplaces of both.  Minni was apparently receiving drug shipments from California and Lopez and other USPS workers would help distribute the drugs.  A spokesperson for the United States Postal Service says the agency is aware of the investigation. Both Minni and Lopez are still on the postal service payroll as of Tuesday afternoon. The spokesman said Minni is no longer engaging with the mail.  Minni is in custody and Lopez was released pending her next court appearance.

Mercy Flight is having a problem.  They can’t hire enough qualified people to meet the needs of the community.  Executive VP and Treasurer Scot Wooton says that Recruitment and retention continue to be the biggest challenge for Mercy Flight Inc., especially in its ground operations in Genesee County, Mercy EMS.  He also says that less people are going into Emergency services as a career, possibly because they don’t want to be exposed to people who might have COVID.  Mercy Flight attempts to remain competitive with benefits and a 5.9 percent pay raise across the board.  For Mercy EMS, there were more than 10,000 calls for service resulting in more than 7,000 patient contacts. Those contacts included both transports and lift assists.  Currently Western NY Flights are suspended following the accident last week.