Morning News Brief

The National Guard will be headed to Buffalo and Rochester to assist with the influx of asylum seekers being moved from New York City to both cities. This comes after assault cases involving a handful of the asylum seekers. Some of the asylum seekers have returned to New York City, because they didn’t realize they were being transported to western New York, and wanted to return to New York City.

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Former Batavia Councilmember Patti Pacino was honored for her contributions, not only to the council, but to the community. Pacino was recognized during City Council’s conference session on Monday night according to our news partner, The Batavian.  Pacino represented the Second Ward for 13 years, and involved with the Zonta Club, Kiwanis Club, Girl Scouts, and the Genesee-Orleans Council on the Arts. Pacino had surgery on a brain tumor in December; she announced her retired from the Council in March.

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In response to an uptick in violence, Batavia City Council reversed its hiring freeze and unanimously agreed to an additional police officer and re-establish the Neighborhood Enforcement Team. Our news partner The Batavian says the city will use its portion of revenues from Batavia Downs’ video lottery terminals to pay for the new position, along with a current officer and equipment to re-establish the NET to assist the police department and detectives.

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One car rental company is paying New York State for turning away customers who did not provide a credit card. Attorney General Letitia James says more than 70 Avis Car Rental and Budget Rent-A-Car locations across New York told people they couldn’t rent a car without a credit card, which is illegal under state law. The AG’s office opened an investigation back into the company back in 2022 after receiving a customer complaint. Avis Budget must now pay $275,000 in penalties and update their policies and employee training.

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For the first time ever, television accounts for less than half of Americans’ viewing time. According to Nielsen, traditional cable and broadcast TV made up less than half of all TV watching at just 49.6% combined. On the other hand, streaming services including Netflix and YouTube grew to a record of nearly 40% of total TV watching. Year-over-year, broadcast TV dropped over 5% and cable dropped 12.5%. But streaming jumped over 25% year-over-year in July.

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Fall will be here before you know it, and Six Flags Darien Lake is looking to hire people who want to work at this year’s Fright Fest. Open interviews for positions are taking place on Tuesdays and Saturdays through September 2nd at the human resources building. Perks of being a Six Flags employee include in-park discounts and other benefits. For more information, call 585-599-5108 weekdays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. or go to SixFlags.com/DarienLake.

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The leader of the New York State Assembly says don’t expect state lawmakers to tweak cannabis laws to allow more retails shops to open. Currently, no new recreational cannabis shops can open up in New York state due to a lawsuit by four veterans who say they should be among the groups given priority to obtain a cannabis license. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie says the current rules which prioritizes awarding licenses to those with prior marijuana-related convictions is not meant to exclude others, but to make up for communities that were devastated by incarceration around cannabis. The lawsuit will be heard in state Supreme Court on Aug. 25.