Morning News Briefing
Written by Dan Fischer on July 1, 2020
Joshua Blessed
58 year old Joshua Blessed of Virginia may have had bigger and more sinister plans on his mind when he plowed his tractor trailer along a multi-county police pursuit.
That chase began on May 27th in LeRoy and ended in a hail of gunfire in Geneseo, and ended with police eventually shooting Blessed to death in the cab of his truck.
As part of the investigation, police searched Blessed’s home in Virginia where they found 14 improvised explosive devices or IED’s, two AK-47’s, thousands of rounds of ammunition and over $100,000 in cash.
Livingston County Sheriff Tom Dougherty says with that arsenal, he had bigger plans but it all started with a scheduled delivery in Batavia…
In all police said Blessed fired at least 24 rounds at them from a 9mm Glock striking several police vehicles and ramming others with his truck.
Law enforcement fired over 120 rounds to stop him.
A new poll shows New Yorkers are in support of recent policing reforms passed by the state Legislature.
Eighty percent of people surveyed by Siena College said they agreed with the new laws which include a ban on the use of chokeholds and making the disciplinary records of officer’s public.
Seventy percent of New York State residents also said they have a favorable view of their local police department.
There will be no minor league baseball played this year. The word is now official.
No Buffalo Bisons, Rochester Red Wings and no Batavia Muckdogs baseball.
While baseball will be back in Buffalo and Rochester, not so for Batavia. The NYP League which owned the Muckdogs has all but disbanded.
The last 24 hours has been good on the coronavirus front locally.
There were no new positive cases of COVID-19 reported in Genesee or Orleans counties.
A food distribution is planned for today.
City Church is holding the distribution at its St. Anthony’s site on Sumner Street from am 9 until 11am this morning and again on Wednesday, July 8 at the same time.
