Morning News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on February 8, 2022
The beginning of president’s week is also the official expiration date of the NY Schools and indoor business Mask Mandate and it hasn’t been renewed, yet. Governor Hochuls office said they would be renewing or doing away with the mandate on a week by week basis and at least on area school wants to be ready. Oakfield Alabama has set an emergency Board of Education meeting for this week to vote on whether to keep their own resolution on masking in place. There are advocates on both sides with the vast majority wanting it to be up to parents and the personal choice of the child. Batavia City Schools new Superintendent Jason Smith says the BOE’s meeting on February 17th may also be a venue for this same discussion.
County Executive Mark Poloncarz is embattled in a scandal over misuse of County funds to do with overtime paid to Dr Gail Burstein and Personnel Commissioner Timothy Hogues and now Poloncarz is facing new allegations. A process server for Empire State Process Service, Jodi Williams, said she was serving a lawsuit to the County Executive and he threatened to shoot her. She says she had attempted to serve him 3 times between January 22nd and 29th and on the 4th attempt he yelled through a closed window that she was trespassing and he would shoot her if she didn’t get off his property. Poloncarzs’ representative says he didn’t threaten to shoot her. The overtime controversy has been cited as one of the reason several towns want to leave Erie County.
Western NY Independent Living is handing out free COVID home test kits to the people they serve. They have more than 7000 kits and they will take some time to distribute. Independent Living says that those with disabilities are often forgotten or underserved and especially during the pandemic and they are trying to reverse that. Customers can pick up the kits from an Independent Living location or request delivery.
The Buffalo Bills have hired Aaron Kromer as their new Offensive Line Coach. Kromer was with the Bills for the 2015-16 season. He most recently served as the Los Angeles Rams Offensive Line coach and Run Game Coordinator from 2017 to 2020. He replaces Bobby Johnson who served as the Bills Offensive Line Coach from 2019 to 2021 but is joining Brian Daboll to serve in the same role with the New York Giants.
