Morning News Brief

With the high winds last night and through today National Grid says it is upping its workforce hours by increasing evening and overnight shifts.  According to National Grid, staffing has been increased to include more than 2,300 line, service, tree, damage assessment and public safety workers statewide.  The power company says it is staging trucks and workers in areas it anticipated will have need, calling in outside resources, and reaching out to customers and elected officials to keep the public updated on safety information and preparedness.  High winds are expected to continue through 10pm tonight with winds blowing southwest at 30 to 40 miles per hour and gusts of up to 50 mile per hour.

75 towns across New York state have decided to opt out of allowing marijuana dispensaries and use sites in their areas.  Opting out means a dispensary or on-site smoking location would be prohibited from setting up shop in that town. A person could still legally consume marijuana in a municipality even if it opted out.  In Genesee county, Oakfield, Alabama and Bethany have said no while Leroy, Batavia and Alexander have held public hearings on the subject but not made a decision yet.  Most Orleans county towns and villages have said no with a couple being undecided.  The only exceptions are Albion village and Medina which voted yes.  In Wyoming County only Arcade has said yes while most towns and villages are undecided.  If a municipality does nothing by the end of the year, it will be automatically opted into the state’s recreational marijuana program.

Senator Charles Schumer is calling for a rapid surge of at home testing kits for COVID 19 in order to control the Omicron Variant’s spread in New York.  Schumer joined Governor Hochul in saying that they are concerned as now there are 8 confirmed cases of the new variant in the state.  The federal government has restricted travel from 8 African countries and changed their rule making it so flyers coming into the US have to have a negative covid test within 24 hours of boarding.  Schumer says he wants all tests to be free and have no fine print.  The omicron variant has been circulating in South Africa for several months, it is now in 17 States and at least 40 countries, there have not been any cases requiring hospitalization as of yet and researchers are suggesting that it may be more contagious than COVID 19’s other variants but have much milder symptoms.

The Buffalo Sabres lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 6 to 2 at PNC Arena on Saturday night.  Their season record now stands at 8 and 13 and 3.  Buffalo’s losing streak is up to four games. The Sabres return home to KeyBank Center on Tuesday to face the Anaheim Ducks at 7:30pm.