Morning News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on February 27, 2023
A study by the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center recently found that vaping CBD can lead to more severe lung damage than vaping nicotine. CBD, also known as cannabidiol, is an active ingredient found in cannabis, or marijuana. Roswell Park reported Monday that most research on the health effects of vaping has only focused on vaping nicotine and not CBD. The study essentially tested the effects of inhaling CBD versus nicotine. Cultures of human cells were tested and exposed to filtered air, nicotine, or CBD aerosols for two weeks. The findings were that inhaled aerosol CBD caused more tissue damage, higher inflammation, higher oxidation, and killed more white blood cells than nicotine aerosols.
The State of New York could be getting tougher on Drunk Driving, by lowering the legal limit. State legislators are calling for the lowering of the legal blood alcohol concentration from .08 to .05 to ensure safety of everyone on the roads. Drunk drivers cause more than 17,000 deaths per year in the empire state, and more than 30 percent of deadly crashes are from alcohol. If this legislation passes New York State would join Utah as the only states with a .05 BAC.
A Monday afternoon police chase that began in Batavia and ended in the village of Attica, resulted in the arrests of two men. Just before 3 p.m. Monday, Batavia Police officers were dispatched to Northside Deli due to reports of a stolen vehicle. One of the officers made contact with the vehicle on Ellicott Street and attempted to stop the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle did not comply and failed to yield. A chase soon began.. The vehicle collided with another car while in Batavia when officers attempted to spike the car to get it to a stop. There were a number of attempts to spike the vehicle, according to Sergeant Mitchell Cowen. The driver of the vehicle was able to avoid all attempts. Two male occupants, including the driver, were arrested and placed in police custody. Both men were uninjured following the pursuit.
A new Siena College Poll found Gov. Kathy Hochul’s favorability and job approval ratings both dropped in February, but still remain positive. According to the poll, Hochul has a 46-43% favorability rating, from 48-42% in January. Her job approval rating stands at 56-40%, down from 56-36% last month. Most of the survey respondents who disapprove of Hochul’s work said she is not doing enough to address crime or make New York more affordable. 92% of surveyed New Yorkers said crime continues to be a serious problem across the state and two-thirds said it’s a serious problem in their community. Though many oppose the plan, and the poll shows it’s unpopularity, Hochul says that she will continue with phasing out gas stoves and heaters.
After announcing his run and tweeting every day about how he was going to take Buffalo and fix the ills of the city, Nate McMurray announced Monday that he is dropping out of the race for Erie County Executive. He said in a long tweet that he can’t compete with Mark Poloncarz and the Erie County political machine. He also said that cronyism would have kept him from being effective if he did win. On the republican front Chrissy Casilio announced her run for the position. She said in her announcement that she is a small business owner, mother and lifelong Erie County resident.
Richmond Memorial Library will host an author and book talk on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Reading Room. Dr. Miriam Thaggert will present her 2022 book, “Riding Jane Crow: African American Women on the American Railroad.” Riding Jane Crow examines four instances of black female railroad travel: the travel narratives of black female intellectuals such as Anna Julia Cooper and Mary Church Terrell; black middle-class women who sued to ride in first class and ladies’ cars and black women railroad food vendors; and black maids on Pullman trains. Thaggert is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Buffalo. She is the author of “Riding Jane Crow and Images of Black Modernism: Verbal and Visual Strategies of the Harlem Renaissance.”
