Morning News Brief

After experts were flown in from Florida and South Africa, lab techs drove from Albany and 40 years of waiting for justice for the 14 year old Wendy Jerome, the judge declared a mistrial.  Judge Thomas Moran dismissed all the jurors and said they had done exactly what he told them not to.  Throughout the course of the trial, Moran gave several instructions to jurors, including not to research or attempt to research any facts or law related to the case. Jurors were also told not to discuss the case among themselves or with anyone else.  The judge exasperatedly told the jury as they were being dismissed “nobody pays attention to rules anymore.”  The man accused of raping and murdering the 14 year old girl in 1984 on Thanksgiving day, Timothy Williams, gets a brief reprieve before a new jury will be brought in and the trial will start back at the beginning. 

A woman is alive today thanks to a good Samaritan on the I-190 in Buffalo.  According to the Erie county Sheriffs Office, just before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, there was a single-vehicle crash into the center median on the I-190 in the area of Niagara Street.  A Buffalo Public School Basketball Coach stopped and called 911 and then did CPR on the driver until a detective arrived.  The coach, James Damon, was called a good Samaritan by the Sheriffs Department.  State troopers and an EMT unit arrived on scene and continued life saving measures including the administration of Narcan.  The woman was revived and taken to ECMC.

No one was hurt in a crash Wednesday morning on Interstate 490 involving a school bus and two other vehicles.  It happened on 490 East near Penfield Road around 6:45 a.m.  New York State Police said the bus was in the middle lane when a car in the left lane lost control and spun around, doing a 180. The bus was not able to avoid it.  A third vehicle then hit the car and the bus, which had several students onboard.

Licensed cannabis retailers are now free to open new businesses once again.  On Dec. 1, the State Supreme Court lifted an injunction that paused the operations and the processing of new licenses.  On Wednesday, the Office of Cannabis Management held a town hall meeting to discuss the steps moving forward.  Following the lift of the injunction, the Office of Cannabis Management has resumed approvals for the opening of cannabis businesses. Since Monday, 11 new businesses have been approved to open.

Zookeepers announced Wednesday that Kipenzi, a female Masai giraffe at the Seneca Park Zoo who was diagnosed with cancer over the summer, gave birth to a calf early in the morning.  The zoo announced last month that Kipenzi was pregnant. Doctors discovered the pregnancy while treating Kipenzi for a cancerous tumor in her jaw, which she was diagnosed with following a high-risk procedure in August.  In Wednesday’s statement, the zoo said Kipenzi continues to eat well and behave normally as she is being monitored closely.  The calf is the third Masai giraffe born at the zoo. The gender is not yet known.

Tonight and Tomorrow night you can go back in time to a Vintage Christmas at Northgate Free Methodist Church on Bank Street Rd.  There will be a campfire, movies on an outdoor screen, cookies, crafts, a live nativity and a prayer walk.  Festivities start at 6pm and go to 8 with a tree lighting at 7.  The event and everything involved is free.