Morning News Brief
Written by Michael Baldwin on August 23, 2021
Batavia Police responded to the Super 8 Motel in an attempt to locate 30-year-old Jeremiah Williams of Oak Street in Batavia on multiple warrants. He was located and taken into custody on a Batavia City Court Warrant for failing to verify his address as a registered sex offender.
Although many states are experiencing a drop in unemployment rates, New York is having a harder time bouncing back from the effect the pandemic has had on employment. According to the personal-finance website WalletHub, the U.S. unemployment rate currently sits at 5.4%, a vast improvement from the nearly historic high of 14.8% in April 2020. New York currently has a rate of 7.6%.
Four people were transported to Strong Memorial Hospital early Sunday after a one-car rollover accident on Assemblyman R Stephen Hawley Drive in the Town of Batavia. Entrapment was reported in the initial call. Mercy Flight transported one patient to Strong. State Police are conducting the accident investigation.
During a traffic stop on Alexander Road in Alexander, sheriff’s deputies arrested 38-year-old Michael Kaney of Batavia. He was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated with a blood alcohol level above .18% and DWI. He was taken into custody after deputies observed his stopped vehicle on the shoulder of State Route 98. He’ll appear in court September 7th.
* An Erie County woman faces a felony count following an incident at a jail in Albion. State Police arrested 50-year-old Tammy Kozub of Akron. State Police charged with felony criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell and a lesser count of introducing contraband at a prison. Court action is pending.
New York’s COVID positivity rate is now 3.01%. The 7-day statewide average positivity rate is 3.14% Nearly 5,000 new cases have been confirmed. 21 more virus-related deaths have been reported. Health officials say there has also been 275 new hospitalizations.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo spent his second-to-last day in office projecting an image that he is still in control, and still fully engaged as the state dealt with heavy rain from Tropical Storm Henri. Cuomo, who is set to resign at the end of the day, appeared at a televised briefing Sunday surrounded by top state officials involved in the state’s storm response. Absent from the briefing was Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is set to become governor in the first seconds of Tuesday morning. Cuomo said “The lieutenant governor has been briefed on all of this and we’re in constant communication.”
