Tuesday Afternoon News Brief
Written by WBTA STAFF on January 21, 2025
29-year-old Julie Dutton of Batavia has been arrested by Genesee County Sheriffs. She’s charged with petit larceny and criminal mischief. It’s alleged Dutton stole property and then damaged it at an address on Park Road. She was transported to the Genesee County Jail and held pending charges from the City of Batavia.
Governor Kathy Hochul announced that she has declared a State of Emergency in the counties of Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Erie, Niagara, Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming, Allegany, Jefferson, Lewis, Oswego, Oneida and contiguous counties, that will allow the State to coordinate and share resources with local governments affected by the current Lake Effect snowstorm. This includes the State Department of Transportation, which will provide assistance to municipalities impacted by the State of Emergency in excess of existing shared service agreements.
A lake effect snow warning remains in effect in our region through 4:00am tomorrow morning. Additional snow accumulations ranging from 5 to 10 inches are predicted across far southwestern Genesee County and far western Wyoming County. If you’ll be driving into either of these areas or into Buffalo, exercise extreme caution. Leave plenty of room between you and the motorist ahead of you, and allow extra time to reach your destination. Avoid sudden braking or acceleration, and be especially cautious on hills or when making turns. If you must go outside, dress in several layers of clothing to keep warm. Cover exposed skin to reduce risks of frostbite or hypothermia.
The New York State Thruway Authority is warning motorists about an ongoing scam. The agency says drivers have reported getting text messages from what appears to be E-ZPass NY or Tolls By Mail NY. The messages tell the recipient that they have an overdue balance that needs to be paid and directs them to a website where they have to put in personal information. E-ZPass and Tolls by Mail will never ask for data like your credit card number, social security number or username. Anyone who gets this text should delete it.
Dominic Pezzola
Four men from the Rochester area are included in President Donald Trump’s massive pardon of more than 1,000 January 6, 2021 Capitol rioters. Dominic Pezzola of Rochester is one of 14 people to have his sentence commuted, which means his conviction still stands, but he will be released immediately. Pezzola, a former member of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group who broke into the Capitol building by smashing a window with a police riot shield, was sentenced in 2023 to serve 10 years in prison. Three others, Cody Mattice of Greece, James Mault of Brockport and James Weeks of Sodus, were all pardoned. Mattice and Mault previously admitted to participating in the insurrection. Weeks allegedly assaulted a Metropolitan Police Department officer and later incited a group of rioters to break into the Capitol through a window. The “full, complete and unconditional” pardons extend to people who were convicted of some of the worst crimes committed the day of the Capitol attack.
Governor Kathy Hochul will unveil her budget proposal that calls for $10 billion more in spending. What’s expected to be a $252 billion plan for fiscal year 2026-2027 will include money for what Hochul calls her affordability agenda. Despite new funding from congestion pricing, it’s unknown how Governor Hochul and the state legislature plan to fill a multi-billion dollar hole for the MTA capital plan. Hochul is expected to introduce legislation in her budget that will restrict cell phone use in K-12 schools across the state.
The post-holiday season rise in the number of flu cases across the Western New York region is continuing. During the week ending January 11th, Monroe County had by far the highest infection total with 692. That was followed by Wayne County with 109 and Ontario County with 91. Since flu season began back in October, there have been over 128,000 confirmed cases in New York State.
Tops Friendly Markets has announced the launch of its annual Check Out Hunger campaign. The supermarket chain says customers can tell cashiers how much they’d like to donate when it comes time to check out. All proceeds will go to several food banks including FeedMore WNY, Foodlink of Rochester and others. During its history, this campaign has raised more than $6 million. Donations this year are being accepted through February 8th.
Kansas City, Missouri
Triple A is recommending that Bills fans making the last minute decision to attend Sunday’s AFC championship game travel to Kansas City by car. Triple A of Western New York says landing an affordable last minute flight from Buffalo to Kansas City will be challenging. The drive between the two cities is around a thousand miles, which Triple A estimates would take around 15 hours. Hotels near the stadium in Kansas City are expensive and rooms are few, but better deals are reported downtown and near the airport.
