Morning News Briefing

Primary Elections today with a heated race for Batavia City Court Judge.
Voters across the region will be heading to the polls today, and the choices they make will impact Election Day in November.
Locally the most contested race for candidacy is that of Part Time City Court Judge Durin Rogers and Attorney Ben Bonarigo who are both vying for the full time City Court Justice seat in Batavia.
The Judges seat is open this election season as the honorable Robert Balbick heads into retirement.
There are three primaries for the Batavia City Court judge candidates who are running in the Republican, Conservative and Independence Party lines.
Polls will be open from noon until 9 tonight.

Western New York native David Bellavia is being honored in Washington, DC today.
He’ll be receiving the Medal of Honor during a ceremony at the White House.
Bellavia is being rewarded for his heroism during the Iraq War.
The military says Bellavia helped save his platoon by providing cover for his fellow soldiers to escape.
The men had become trapped while clearing buildings in Fallujah back in 2004.
Bellavia is also credited with killing insurgents.
WBTA News partner Howard Owens is the only Genesee County reporter in Washington for the ceremony.
You can read Howards’ up-close dispatches from Washington, only, on TheBatavian.com.

Proposal for Batavia City School Resource Officer to be considered by City Council.
The Batavia City Council agreed to consider a proposed five-year agreement to provide School Resource Officer services to the Batavia City School District at their Monday night meeting.
Establishing the post is something that Police Chief Shawn Heubusch believes is long overdue saying that he was a bit puzzled as to why the largest district in Genesee County was the only school not to have a designated officer.
In order to move the proposal forward the School board will have to give approval at their next business meeting on July 8th.

The Batavia City Council presented proclamations to the family of Michael Paladino Jr. and to Ralph Bush for their heroic acts earlier this month.
Mr. Paladino, was killed when he went to the aid of a woman who was being assaulted by a man in the City on June 1st.
Mr. Bush, a former Military Police, was cited for his “quick action that saved the life” of Officer Darryle Streeter when he managed to free a gun from a would-be assailant during a traffic stop early in the morning on June 5th.

Outflows from Lake Ontario will be remaining at record-tying levels.
Yesterday, officials announced the amount of water allowed to flow past the Massena power dam into the Saint Lawrence River will stay at more than two-point-seven-million gallons a second.
That level was put in place back on June 13th due to concerns over increasing water levels.
Outflows haven’t been this high since 2017 when devastating flooding happened along the lake shore.