Thursday News Brief

The suspect in a shooting that killed a three-year-old boy and left three other people hurt has found out the punishment for his crime. A judge has sentenced 24-year-old Dequan Richardson to 25 years to life behind bars. Richardson opened fire towards a crowd on Donavan Drive in Buffalo in July 2021, and a bullet struck Shaquelle Walker Junior in the head. The boy later died at Oishei Children’s Hospital. Richardson pleaded guilty to multiple charges this past March.

 

GENESEE COUNTY SHERIFF’S REPORT: 41-year-old Robert Lee Drennen of Sweden, New York, has been arrested in Batavia for harassment. It’s alleged he struck another individual in the face. Drennen is scheduled to appear in Batavia City Court later this month. ALSO: Michelle Marcucci and Dodie Keller were arrested for conspiracy, petit larceny and endangering the welfare of a child. Earlier this week, they were investigated; it’s alleged they stole merchandise from Walmart while in the presence of a juvenile. No additional information is available at this time.

 

 

A Cheektowaga man is facing several charges after being accused of trying to drown a family member’s dog. According to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office, 18-year-old Zachary Jackson attempted to kill the animal in the bathtub of a home in Cheektowaga. The dog needed to be brought to an emergency vet after the incident. Jackson is being held without bail and is due back in court again June 8th.

 

 

 

Genesee and Orleans Counties have each declared a state of emergency over New York City’s plan to bus undocumented migrants and asylum seekers to other counties. Genesee County Manager Matthew Landers expressed concern that the county is not equipped to support a rapid increase of people in need of services and more would increase the difficulties. The state of emergency bans county organizations, hotels and motels from accepting migrants from outside the county; under the order in Orleans, neither migrants nor asylum seekers can be transported or housed without permission from the head of the Orleans County Legislature. The states of emergencies are in place for 5 days and can be extended in 5-day increments. Meanwhile, Governor Hochul is looking to SUNY colleges to potentially house migrants.

 

51-year-old Thomas Loewke pleaded guilty on Wednesday to tipping off the man running a gambling ring in Rochester and Upstate New York that he was being investigated. An unnamed state trooper saw a document on a computer in an investigators office with Louis Ferrari’s name on it. Ferrari was being investigated for running an illegal sports betting ring. The trooper then called Loewke and Loewke went to Ferrari and told him about the investigation, causing Ferrari to change passwords and the appearance of his website and hide the betting histories in order to obstruct the investigation. Loewke pleaded guilty to obstruction, he faces 12-18 months in prison and will be sentenced in September.

 

 

Some brand-new data from the New York State Flu Tracker shows the spread of the virus is holding steady in our region. During the week ending May 6th, the area with the highest number of infections was Monroe County with 29; Erie County reported 26. Wayne County had 10 new cases while Chautauqua County had 3. There were no flu cases reported across the GLOW region. Since the start of flu season, more than 334,000 New Yorkers have contracted the virus.

 

An investigation is still underway into what caused a crash that took the life of a Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority worker. A NFTA-Metro Paratransit vehicle overturned yesterday in the area of the Interstate 190 and Interstate 290 split in Tonawanda. The victim has now been identified as Chequita Smith, who was a Metro-Link employee and had worked as an NFTA operator and instructor. Two other people in the vehicle were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

 

 

Buffalo Bills officials say the groundbreaking for the team’s new stadium in Orchard Park is expected to happen soon. A ceremony to mark the beginning of construction of the more than $1,000,000,000 (billion) facility could happen as early as June. Crews have already started clearing the land where the stadium is going to be located, and because the weather has cooperated, work has been able to take place essentially uninterrupted. The hope is the stadium will be ready for play for the 2026 NFL season.

 

Some of the biggest names in golf will be teeing off at Oak Hill Country Club today for the PGA Championship tournament. Among the stars who will be hitting the links include Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, and Jordan Spieth. The tournament is scheduled to wrap up on Sunday. Tickets are already sold out, and over 200,000 spectators are expected to attend.

 

 

ELSEWHERE…

 

Archie Comics is introducing its first transgender character. Danni Malloy — a longstanding female in the Archie universe — will be re-introduced as a male who has transitioned to a woman in a spin-off comic. This is not the first time that the Archie Comics has gone progressive. In 2010, the first gay character was introduced. Last year, a pansexual character was also added.

 

An Ohio plastic surgeon who livestreamed her surgeries on TikTok could soon learn whether she’ll lose her medical license. Dr. Katherine Roxanne Grawe, known as “Doctor Roxy” to her 800,000 followers, is accused of botched surgeries and privacy violations.

 

 

 

 

 

A Minnesota man is being charged for stealing the famous ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz.” A Minnesota grand jury indicted 76-year-old Terry J. Martin in the 2005 theft of the slippers from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Police recovered the slippers during a sting operation in Minneapolis in 2018. They are one of just four known surviving pairs from the 1939 movie and are currently valued at $3,500,000 ($3.5 million).

 

 

A 12-year-old boy is about to become the youngest ever graduate in the history of California’s Fullerton College. Clovis Hung is graduating with five associate degrees this weekend, and is planning to go for a sixth next year. He began studying at Fullerton College as a special-admit student in 2019 when he was nine years old.

 

May 18 in history…

 

 

… In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was nominated for President of the United States by Republican Party leaders.

 

 

 

 

 

…In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court endorsed racial separation with its ruling in the Plessy versus Ferguson case. The decision sanctioned separate but equal public facilities for blacks and whites. The ruling was overturned 58 years later with the historic Brown vs. Board of Education ruling.

 

 

 

 

…In 1917, U.S. Congress passed the Selective Services Act. The act called up soldiers to fight in World War I.

 

 

 

 

 

…In 1979, an Oklahoma City jury awarded more than $10,000,000 (million) to the estate of Karen Silkwood. She was a laboratory technician who was contaminated by radiation at a Kerr-McGee plutonium plant and then killed in a hit-and-run accident while on her way to pass information about the plant to a newspaper reporter. Her story was the basis for the film “Silkwood.”

 

 

…In 1980, Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state erupted after lying dormant for more than 100 years. The explosion killed more than 55 people and destroyed 160-thousand acres of forest. Geologists say the eruption was 500 times as powerful as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II..

 

 

 

…In 1995, “Bewitched” actress Elizabeth Montgomery died at the age of 62 (although her exact age has never really been confirmed, because she was not always forthcoming about how old she was).

 

 

…In 2012, the Facebook social networking website made its debut as a publicly traded company. The company began trading at 38-dollars a share on Nasdaq. The initial public offering made founder Mark Zuckerberg the 29th richest person in the world.

 

 

 

 

…In 2018, a shooting at Santa Fe High School in the Houston, Texas metropolitan area left 10 people dead and thirteen more injured. Police identified the shooter as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis. The case dragged on for years due to Dimitrios being deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial. Since November 2019, Dimitrios Pagourtzis is committed to a state-run mental health institution. In February 2023, a judge determined him to be mentally incompetent to stand trial.