Thursday News Brief

From the Genesee County Sheriff: A homeless man, 46-year-old Warren Cotton, was arrested in Stafford and is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance. He was allegedly in possession of methamphetamine. Sheriff Deputies and State Police located a disabled vehicle on Route 33 in relation to a separate complaint where Cotton was a passenger, and found they had active warrants for his arrest. Cotton is now held at the Genesee County Jail pending arraignment. ALSO: 44-year-old Tony Graber of Marilla, New York has been charged with burglary and criminal contempt. He was arrested following a domestic incident in the Town of Batavia. Graber allegedly violated a full stay away order of protection. He’s being held without bail and is due back in Town Court at a later date.

 

24-year-old Michael Alan Jones of Charlotte, North Carolina and previously of LeRoy has been convicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. In February 2019, Jones was convicted in North Carolina of two felony crimes. An investigation revealed that when he was in LeRoy on March 19, 2022, Jones possessed a semiautomatic rifle and ammunition. He was sentenced to time served (10 months).

 

 

 

The New York State Board of Education has issued a ban on the use of facial recognition technology in schools. Commissioner Dr. Betty Rosa says this decision was made after a report raised some concerns about the use of this technology. Districts can still use things like fingerprint identification so long as parental input and impact on civil rights are considered. Facial recognition technology use has been under a moratorium since 2020.

 

 

 

The man who attacked former Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin has now pleaded guilty to committing that crime. Yesterday, David Jakubonis admitted to approaching Zeldin with a key chain that had two sharp points and pulling him down in Perinton during a campaign stop last year. The Republican Zeldin, who was running for governor at the time, wasn’t injured. Jakubonis could be ordered to spend up to a year in jail and pay a $100,000 fine when he’s sentenced in December.

 

One person is dead and two others are hurt following a fiery crash in Monroe County that involved a Wayne school bus. Police say the collision between the Webster Central School District bus and a vehicle occurred yesterday near Lake Road and Route 250 in Webster. The bus had 22 students and three adults on board and was returning from a field trip. The bus driver and one student were taken to a hospital with minor injuries and are expected to survive, but the driver of the car died at the scene. The cause of the accident is under investigation; the adults on the bus were praised for their fast action that saved all of the student’s lives.

 

The numbers are in, and a new report shows last year was a very profitable one for Buffalo’s tourism industry. According to Visit Buffalo Niagara, over $2 billion was spent in the city in 2022. That is an increase of almost 16-percent from the time period before the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the things people spent their money on included attending sporting events, checking out shows and eating at restaurants.

 

 

Police agencies across the Empire State can now apply for a portion of $50 million in funding. The money can be used by law enforcement outside of New York City to buy new equipment and modernize operations to help them prevent and solve crimes. It will be up to the Division of Criminal Justice Services to split up these funds. The application deadline is November 8th.

 

Wegmans has issued a recall for a bone broth product due to safety concerns. The supermarket chain says its 32-ounce Imagine Chicken Bone Broth might have been affected by contamination. The broth has an expiration date of November 6th, and so far, no illnesses have been reported. Anyone who bought the broth can return it to their closest store for a full refund.

 

 

 

 

Mental health was a focus of a recent announcement made by Governor Hochul. She is advocating an initiative that gives educators resources and access to a free online toolkit to talk to students on five key topics — suicide prevention, stress and anxiety, self-harm, adverse childhood experiences, and social media. 70,000 educators can now access videos and learning resources to help their students better talk about the many issues that affect being a kid in modern America.

 

ELSEWHERE…

Twenty-five years ago yesterday, Google was born. Today’s dominant search engine was started as a PhD project at Stanford University in 1998. Now the parent company, Alphabet, is one of the most influential in the world with a market cap of more than $1.6 trillion.

 

The winner of a record Mega Millions jackpot in Northeast Florida has come forward. The ticket worth $1.6 billion was sold at a Publix in Duval County’s Neptune Beach. The name of the ticket-holder from the August drawing has not been made public because of a new law that allows big lottery winners to remain anonymous for 90 days. According to News Channel 8, WFLA (Tampa) the winner claimed a cash option of more than $783 million.

 

 

Scientists are reporting a rare sighting of a deep-sea creature northwest of Hawaii. A Dumbo Octopus was recently spotted on a seamount about a mile below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The crew of researchers, on an expedition funded by NOAA, actually saw five of them in one night. The Dumbo Octopus propels itself using large ear-shaped fins.

 

Cher is being accused of kidnapping her son, according to court documents. Marie Angela King, who is the estranged wife of Cher’s son, Elijah Blue Allman, made the allegations. King claims four men “removed” Allman from their New York City hotel room on their wedding anniversary last November while they were “working” on their marriage.

Today is Thursday, September 28th, the 271st day of the year.

September 28 in history…

 

…In 1891, novelist Herman Melville died at the age of 72. He is best known for writing “Moby Dick.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…In 1920, eight Chicago White Sox members are charged in relation to the Black Sox scandal, where players were accused to fix the 1919 World Series.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…In 1928, Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

…In 1953, astronomer Edwin Hubble died at the age of 63. Hubble discovered that there were other galaxies outside of the Milky Way.

 

 

 

 

…In 1955, NBC Television broadcast the World Series in color for the first time.