Morning News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on December 30, 2021
The man who barricaded himself in his garage and threatened to blow it up if firefighters approached has been charged. Christopher Say of rt 5 in Stafford has been charged with Making a Terrorist Threat, Criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, Criminal mischief in the 2nd degree, Assault in the second, Attempted Arson in the third, and Criminal mischief in the third. All Felonies. Sunday afternoon there was a 911 call saying a garage was on fire. Authorities found a man saying the garage was wired to blow. After negotiations stalled, Say allegedly drove a motor vehicle backward through a closed garage door, breaking the garage door and damaging the vehicle. He reportedly continued down the driveway, striking a fence and a marked patrol car. He was then taken into custody without further incident. During the incident, Say also allegedly burned another person’s face causing a physical injury. Say is also accused of possessing a metal knuckle knife. Investigators claim there was evidence found in the garage to support Say’s claim that the garage was equipped to explode.
Governor Hochul announced Wednesday that the GCC campus in Albion is hosting a COVID testing center. This announcement comes as the US is hitting it’s highest amount of people testing positive for COVID since the beginning of the pandemic. Over 277 thousand people are testing positive per day with the CDC estimating Wednesday that over 60 percent of new cases are Omicron. 67 thousand of those people were New Yorkers. The CDC scaled back their estimate from over 80 percent which they said on Tuesday. Some experts are saying this is good news since Omicron results in 80 percent fewer hospitalizations than COVID and produces immunity in the same way. Vaccinated people seem to be catching Omicron at the same rate as unvaccinated people but vaccines and boosters appear to lower the severity of the symptoms.
The Campaign for Greater Buffalo History Architecture and Culture has released a plan for what it would do if it could buy the Great Northern Grain Elevator on the Buffalo waterfront. After the windstorm damaged the structure earlier this month ADM petitioned for a permit to demolish the building saying it posed a safety threat to people around it. Historical conservationists sued for a stay so they could attempt to buy it and restore it. The group wants to turn the 120 year old building into a small business center and workhouse with a new outer shell that would have the word Buffalo in 3 story letters on the outside.
The Buffalo Sabres lost to the New Jersey Devils 4-3 in their first game since December 17th. Tage Thompson scored twice and Ethan Prow made a single goal. The Sabres are now 10 and 16 and 5 for the season. They play next against the New York Islanders in an away game tonight at 7:30pm.
