Morning News Briefing

Council hears rezoning proposal for City Church Property.
City Church property in Batavia is likely to be rezoned to expand its community outreach.
City Council members heard a proposal from John Roach at the city councils business meeting at city hall last night.
Roach fully endorsed rezoning the Liberty Street site from a Residential to a Commercial property and said church leaders are hoping to change in order to host a possible dance school, art school and community education classes on site.
The rezoning issue was well received according to Council President Eugene Jankowski…

Jankowski believes council will be able to come to a vote on the zoning change by their next business meeting.
The property is located at Liberty and Central Avenue.

Sheriff’s release additional details of accidental shooting death.
Investigators with the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office have released a more detailed report of the fatal self-inflicted shooting that killed 23 year old John “Jack” Carney at his Byron Holley Road home in Byron.
There were six people gathered at the barn party last Friday night when Carney allegedly shot himself in the face with his own 9mm Ruger semi-automatic.
Investigators believe the leading cause of death was careless handling of the weapon.
The death is still being examined as accidental and the matter is still under investigation.

Another meeting announced for 5th Ward residents.
Kathy Briggs the Fifth Ward Councilperson has announced she will be holding another public hearing to address concerns related to safety and traffic situations in the Watson/Thorpe Street area.
Recent talks ended with a recommendation to turn Thorpe Street between Watson and Maple Streets into a southbound One-Way street and to add permissive parking on the west side of Thorpe between Watson and Maple.
Briggs encourages residents to attend the public hearing to voice their opinions on Monday, November 26th at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Board Room at City Hall.

Absentee ballot counting continues today in more counties that make up the 27th Congressional District.
Ballots will be counted in Niagara County today followed by Orleans County tomorrow.
Erie County and Livingston County officials will count their ballots starting Monday.
At last report, Republican Congressman Chris Collins has a three-thousand vote lead over Democrat Nate McMurray.
Collins has already declared victory.

State legislators are looking into giving themselves a pay raise.
A committee met for the first time in Albany yesterday to start debating the issue.
Right now, the base pay for Senate and Assembly members is $79,500 dollars a year.
That salary was set back in 1998.
Lawmakers also get stipend money for travel or if they lead a committee.
Any agreement on a pay bump has to be approved by the end of the year.
That’s because lawmakers can’t give themselves one during their next two-year term.

The Buffalo Bills have made another change to their roster.
The team announced yesterday it has released wide receiver Terrelle Pryor. He joined the team just a couple of weeks ago.
During his brief time with the Bills, Pryor caught two passes for a total of 17 yards.
The team now has two roster spots open after releasing quarterback Nathan Peterman Monday.