Morning News Brief
Written by Michael Baldwin on June 17, 2021
Batavia has a new town operations manager. Andrew Maguire has been tapped for the position. Maguire has served as director of economic development for the Batavia Development Corp. since November 2019. Batavia Town Supervisor Gregory Post said Maguire will begin his new duties next month. Maguire says he’s excited for the new opportunity adding that the “the town has a ton of potential.” His salary will be just shy of $75,000.
NY Governor Andrew Cuomo says “we cannot get cocky” with COVID successes. He says the best way to honor frontline and essential workers for all they have done for us is to stay vigilant and get everyone vaccinated. New York’s statewide positivity rate has dropped to 0.35%…it has declined for 72 consecutive days. Sadly, nine more virus-related deaths have been reported in New York.
State Police have taken two Orleans County men into custody stemming from a burglary complaint last December. Troopers arrested 27-year-old John Cecchini and 37-year-old Terry Holloway, both of Medina. Each was charged with two felony counts each of burglary and grand larceny of a firearm. The pair was also charged with felony third-degree grand larceny. The men face similar felony counts in a second case as well.
Here’s a report from WETM in Elmira and the Associated Press…President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin held diplomatic talks in Geneva on Tuesday that included a gift with connection to the Southern Tier. According to the White House, President Biden gifted President Putin a crystal sculpture of an American Bison by Steuben Glass of New York. In 1918, Steuben became part of Corning Glass Works, now Corning Incorporated. President Biden also gifted President Putin a pair of custom Aviators made by Randolph USA.
The harvest season for largemouth and smallmouth bass opens Saturday in the Empire State. These two species, also known as black bass, are New York’s most popular freshwater sportfish, and account for 31 percent of total freshwater angling effort in the state. New York’s traditional bass season opens on the third Saturday in June each year and runs until Nov. 30.
Local sales tax collections in New York in May increased by 57 percent over the same month in 2020, the highest one month increase in recent history…that’s according to State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Collections totaled $1.4 billion, up $530 million from May of last year.
From Orleans County…A man was arrested by police in the village of Holley after officers said he lunged at and tried to stab an officer with a knife. The man, according to witnesses, was “walking around with a knife antagonizing people.” police said the man lunged at the officer and tried to stab him with a knife. Other people nearby jumped in to try to help the officer, at which point police said the officer was able to get the knife away from the man and use his Taser. The man, who hasn’t yet been identified, was charged with attempted murder. Court action is pending.
A Lyndonville man remains in critical condition in a Rochester hospital more than a week after he was found unconscious inside a tanker truck. 35-year-old Chase Johnson and 19-year-old Keegan Bayne were clean the inside of the tank when they were overcome. Bayne died. The incident happened at Millennium Roads company, where Johnson is the operations manager. His family owns the company. A Go Fund Me page has raised more than $9,300 for the family.
A New York City man accused of illegally accessing others’ social media accounts has pleaded guilty to a federal charge. Among his victims were SUNY Geneseo students. 29-year-old David Mondore pleaded guilty to accessing a protected computer without authorization. Between July 2018 and August 2020, Mondore accessed others’ Snapchat accounts, in some cases accessing explicit photos users had saved in personal “my eyes only” folders and saving them to his phone. Prosecutors say Mondore accessed Snapchat accounts of 14 people in the Western District of New York – and that he admitted to accessing at least 300 accounts in all.
