Morning News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on December 1, 2022
2 Teens are accused of bringing a gun into Dr. Alice Holloway Young School of Excellence on Tuesday Morning. School security “safely secured a loaded revolver from a 13-year-old male,” according to Rochester Police. The investigation found another 13-year-old boy was also involved in bringing the gun into the school. The Rochester City School District released a statement saying the students “circumvented security screening” and brought the weapon inside. The district said the gun was “immediately retrieved and turned over to the Rochester Police Department.” Both boys were referred to Monroe County Family Court on charges of criminal possession of a weapon. It is unknown how they came to be in possession of the gun or why.
Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Tonja Williams is under fire from the Buffalo Teachers Federation over a contract dispute. They are asking teachers to vote that they have no confidence in her and the school board. The district and teachers union have been negotiating a new contract, but the district’s general counsel said there’s not much negotiating getting done at meetings. He said the union is refusing to discuss bell time adjustments to resolve transportation issues, hiring coaches for sports, and health insurance. BPS said it’s increased its offer to the union twice, which includes a 20% increase in teacher pay over the course of the contract, an 8% increase in the first year, and close to a $6,000 bonus for every teacher. The district said its current proposal has a price tag of $215 million. The union’s proposal would cost the district $2 billion.
Congresswoman Claudia Tenney was unanimously elected to serve Genesee county as part of the NY 24 region on the Republican Policy Committee. The Committee was created in 1949 as a forum for debate and to develop legislative proposals that promote common sense conservative solutions. It also produces informational background materials for use by the House Republican Conference.
About 400 National Grid customers in Genesee County were without power due to the wind storm wednesday. The largest outage was in Darien with 310 customers without power. There was an outage along Beckwith Road in Batavia, one in Basom and one in East Oakfield, along with outages that affected five or fewer customers in East Bethany, and Batavia. East Pembroke fire was dispatched to Beckwith Road with wires down. Earlier, Alexander Fire was dispatched to Halstead Road for a wire down and a field on fire. National Grid reports that all power has been restored.
LeRoy’s Winterfest is set to be a big event Saturday. Starting off the day the Jinglin All The Way Festive 5k is starting at 10 am. There is a horse and carriage ride from 1 to 5pm leaving from St Mark’s Episcopal Church. Santa Claus will be visiting at The Moose Club from 1 to 3 p.m., followed by 3 to 5 p.m. at the former Sweet Betty’s location, and then leading a parade at 5 p.m. from the old Bank of America parking lot to the Christmas tree, which is scheduled for lighting at 5:30 p.m. There will be caroling around the tree with Le Roy Jr/Sr High School’s choir, s’more cones, Santa story time, hot chocolate from Dave Ehrhart and cookies from Le Roy Presbyterian Church. Maddie Masters second annual one-mile walk, begins at 3:30 p.m. at Sweet Betty’s. Other activities include a kids obstacle course by BeyonDriven, crafts from noon to 5 p.m. and face painting from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Art of Mandy, and Woodward Memorial Library, from noon to 4 p.m., and Save-a-lot from 1 to 3 p.m., will also have face painting and kids’ crafts; and a store scavenger hunt and free hot chocolate and cookies. The Hope Center is also doing a slew of activities from 11 to 3. Another new offering will be a poker run, set to run from 6 to 9 p.m. at five establishments: American Legion, The Moose, Capish! Brick Oven Pizza Ristorante, Sweet Betty’s, Smokin’ Eagle BBQ & Brew. Wristbands are $10 each, and participants will get a cocktail and poker card at each stop before turning in their final hands for a 50/50 jackpot. A three-piece acoustic band, Nate Coffey, will be performing at Smokin’ Eagle to cap off the night.
The Batavia BOCES Auto Body program has a non auto contribution they’ve been working on for the Batavia Middle School. The 2 bells that used to hang at the middle school, one bronze and one cast iron, have been restored and will be unveiled and rung at the Centennial celebration on December 8th at 7pm. One bell is 150 years old, made in McNeeley Foundry in Troy Ny in 1873. The other comes from West Seneca and is roughly 100 years old.
The two-game losing streak of the Buffalo Sabres is over after the team picks up a much-needed victory on the road. Dylan Cozens scored twice while Jeff Skinner and Mattias Samuelsson also had a goal each as the Sabres defeated the Detroit Red Wings five-to-four in a shootout last night. Sabres goaltender Craig Anderson stopped 41 of the shots that he faced. The Sabres will host the defending Stanley Cup champions the Colorado Avalanche at KeyBank Center tonight at seven p-m.
The Batavia United won their first game of the season on Tuesday against the Geneva Panthers 6 to 1. Ronin Hofmaster and Jameson Motyka scored twice each. Brady Johnson and Cooper Hamilton scored once. Goalie Thys Tanner blocked 15 shots. United plays Starpoint at the Northtowne Center in Buffalo on Friday at 5:30pm. The team faces Hamburg at home at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
