Thursday News Brief

Today Richmond Avenue between Union Street and Vernon Avenue will be closed to all through traffic. This closure is to mill and resurface damaged pavement and the work and closure will extend into the late afternoon tomorrow. If you drive through this area please seek an alternative route while the closures are in place. Residents within the area of the closure may be delayed. If you have questions, please call the Bureau of Maintenance at 345-6400, and use option #1.

 

 

 

The Batavia City School District will be providing family’s standard school supplies for the start of the 2023 school year. That means more than 2200 students will receive supplies including crayons, markers, pencils and glue sticks when they walk in the door. It’s a program that Superintendent Jason Smith says is a ‘first’ for the district. It will cost the Batavia City School District around $125 per student, but this a program he hopes will continue in the future, adding that he wants students to be successful and believes this is doing the right thing for families.

 

 

41-year-old Joshua Jones of Auburn has been charged with disorderly conduct. This followed his arrest following investigation of a disturbance at Six Flags Darien Lake. Jones was released on an appearance ticket for Darien Town Court on August 17th.

 

 

 

Nurses at Rochester General Hospital are scheduled to vote today on whether to strike over low staffing levels. Members of the Rochester Union of Nurses and Allied Professionals say they’ve been negotiating with the hospital system for the last nine months and have been unable to reach agreement on staffing shortages and wage levels. Hospital officials say they’ve recruited more than 150 nurses so far this year and another 100 are expected to be hired next year.

 

Governor Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday that the state is spending more money on electric vehicle charging infrastructure and rebates. Wednesday’s announcement is meant to help the state reach its goal of requiring all new passenger cars, pickup trucks and SUVs sold in the state to be zero emission by 2035. Twenty-nine-million-dollars is going toward the “Drive Clean Rebate” program. New York State reached 150,000 E-V’s on the road last month. The state is also aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent by 2050.

 

An eleven-year-old girl is in critical condition after she was struck by a vehicle while riding her bicycle and was then pinned underneath it. Niagara Falls Police were called to the scene around 11:00 yesterday morning. Investigation revealed the Kia ‘veered to the right, jumped the curb, hit a tree, and came to a rest on top of the child, who had been thrown from the initial impact. The girl was rushed to Oishei Children’s Hospital. The car was driven by a 24-year-old woman from Niagara Falls; she had three passengers with her who were not injured; all four are cooperating in the investigation and charges are pending.

 

 

True Bethel Baptist Church Bishop Darius Pridgen is accused of being a “sexual predator.” A woman filed the lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court on Tuesday. She claims in 2020 the Bishop engaged in un-permitted sexual conduct while she was a parishioner and volunteer. The woman says she was repeatedly abused on church premises seven times. Pridgen is the president of Buffalo’s Common Council. He’s served on the council for 12-years and announced in January that he will not run for re-election.

 

The front office of the Buffalo Bills has a few changes — with the departure of the team’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, Ron Raccuia. The team’s CEO and owner — Terry Pegula — has taken over as president of the Bills. He takes over the role previously held by his wife, Kim, who received medical treatment last year for what the team described as unexpected health issues. In a statement, the team thanked Raccuia for his years of dedication and wished him and his family the best of luck in his future endeavors. Raccuia has been instrumental in developing plans for a new stadium for the Bills. The Bills have also named a new chief operating officer, a new general counsel and a new senior vice president of finance.

 

The Muckdogs beat the Jamestown Tarp Skunks on Wednesday with a comeback in the Tenth Inning and a final score of 7 to 6. Batavia trailed the whole game until the 9th inning when it made up 4 runs sending the game into ten innings. The Muckdogs scored 1 run to win it. The Muckdogs are now 23 and 13 on the season and are ranked second in the league behind the Elmira Pioneers who have one less loss. Today is a much-deserved day off for the ‘Dogs. Batavia’s next game is against the Newark Pilots on Military Appreciation Night Friday night at Dwyer; the players take the field starting at 6:35.

 

ELSEWHERE…

A single winning ticket in the billion-dollar Powerball lottery has been sold in Los Angeles. The lucky winner, or winners, can choose between a billion dollars in annuity payments, or go for the lump-sum payment of about 516 million dollars. It’s the second time in eight months a Powerball ticket worth at least $1 billion was sold in Los Angeles County. In November, a Powerball ticket worth over $2 billion was sold at a gas station in Altadena. If you didn’t win the jackpot, don’t throw your ticket away — over 30 people matched at least five numbers to win at least $1 million. (7-10-11-13-24 Powerball: 24)

 

 

 

A South Florida jury is agreeing on an $800,000 verdict against McDonald’s and the franchise owner, Upchurch Foods. The case stems from an incident back in 2019 where a four-year-old girl was burned when she dropped a hot Chicken McNugget, which became wedged between her car seat and her thigh. Her mother who purchased it at a drive-thru handed the food to the girl. The girl suffered a second-degree burn to her leg.

 

 

Hybrid and remote workers eager to leave the house as soon as they close their laptops are fueling the shift to early bird primetime. Restaurants are now seating 10% of diners between 2 and 5 p.m., up from 5% in 2019, according to Yelp. Dinner parties are starting as early as 5:00pm; a third of the shows now running on Broadway start in the 7:00pm hour on Fridays, according to Playbill, which had been unheard of a few years ago. Uber trips to restaurants in the 4:00pm hour have increased nearly 10% since 2019, while rides to restaurants after 8:00pm are down 9%. Pandemic altered ways that we functioned in every way, including dinner times.

 

 

Air quality is slowly improving for millions as smoke from Canadian wildfires starts to thin. Despite the improvements, air quality alerts are still in place in over a dozen states in the Northeast from New Hampshire to Wyoming. This week, four states reported new wildfires, bringing the nationwide total to roughly two-dozen as a heat wave slams the Southern United States.

 

Today is Thursday, July 20th, the 201st day of the year.

July 20 in history…

…In 1937, Italian inventor and physicist Guglielmo Marconi died on this date. Marconi is credited as a pioneer in the creation of radio technology. He was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909. (Picture: Guglielmo Marconi – with typical apparatus including 10-inch induction coil spark transmitter to the right, a Morse inker and grasshopper key, in the center)

 

 

…In 1940, “Billboard” magazine published its first list of best selling singles.

 

 

 

 

 

…In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for an unprecedented fourth term of office at the Democratic convention in Chicago.

 

 

 

 

…In 1968, Jane Asher broke off her engagement with Paul McCartney on live TV.

 

 

 

 

 

 

…Also in 1968, the very first Special Olympic Games were held at Soldier Field in Chicago. About 1,000 athletes from the U.S. and Canada took part in the one-day event.

 

 

 

…In 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the surface of the moon. He famously declared, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Buzz Aldrin later joined his colleague on the moon’s surface. Astronaut Michael Collins piloted the Apollo Eleven command ship Columbia on the historic occasion.

 

 

 

…In 1983, “ABC News” anchor Frank Reynolds died at the age of 59. Reynolds in best known for scolding staff members while on air following the assassination attempt on President Reagan. He was upset after misinforming the nation that Press Secretary James Brady died in the attack.

 

 

…In 1984, Miss America Vanessa Williams was asked to resign by pageant officials because nude photos of Williams surfaced in “Penthouse.” Williams surrendered her title three days later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

…In 1994, O.J. Simpson offered a reward of $500,000 for the capture of his wife’s “real killer.” Simpson’s legal team set up a toll-free number for leads.