Morning News Briefing
Written by Michael Baldwin on February 16, 2021
A Genesee County man is facing multiple felony-level charges. Batavia-based State Police say they arrested 41-year-old Edwin L. Stancliff of Corfu. He is charged with felony second-degree assault, felony criminal mischief and resisting arrest. Troopers leveled the charges following a disturbance early Monday in the Town of Batavia. Stancliff was initially detained. But the story doesn’t end there…two and a half hours before that, he was pulled over in the town and charged with DWI and a felony count of having a blood alcohol content more than .08%. It’s a felony because he was convicted of the same crime within the last ten years.
Due to the wintry weather, Genesee County has canceled COVID-19 testing scheduled for today.
An adamant Andrew Cuomo insisted there was no coverup in the number of nursing homes deaths in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic when New York was the epicenter. During a Monday press conference … the Governor said he will accept the blame for allowing the “disinformation” to go on … pointing the finger at the media … and others. Cuomo insisted his administration was complying with the Department of Justice’s request … and asked the legislature to wait on their request. He also said nursing homes were never forced to accept patients with COVID.
Additional charges have been leveled against a Cheektowaga man who led police on a three-county chase, including Genesee County. 61-year-old Patrick Thomas Fuhr has been charged by Deputies with obstructing governmental administration in the second degree; aggravated unlicensed operation in the second degree and other counts. He is due in Bergen Town Court on March 3. Other charges were filed last week in Batavia.
Here are the latest COVID numbers. In the Finger Lakes Region, 325 patients are currently hospitalized, with 280 in the Western Region. 397 people occupy an ICU bed in the Finger Lakes Region with a 7-day average positive test results of 2.31%. A Connecticut resident who is a patient in a New York City hospital has tested positive for the South African variant. There is no evidence of any spread in New York State to date.
Today’s national average price for a gallon of gasoline is $2.51, up 4 cents from last week. The New York State average is $2.60 – up 4 cents from last week. A year ago, the state average was $2.62. At the pumps in Batavia, Triple A says the price is $2.52 a gallon, up 8 cents from last week, but 7 cents lower than a year ago. Increasing pump prices have been supported by higher crude oil prices and gas demand, which grew slightly last week though it remains lower than pre-pandemic levels.
