Wednesday News Brief

A registered sex offender is back behind bars again for the third time in less than a month. Deputies arrested the man sometimes referred to as the “Canandaigua Creeper,” 54-year-old Paul Goodrell, on Friday after they say he exposed himself on Dec. 9th to a 7-year-old child in Canandaigua. Goodrell has been charged with public lewdness and endangering the welfare of a child. Just one day earlier, Deputies say Goodrell was caught on surveillance video exposing himself in front of another child inside a Canandaigua Wegmans. He was arrested in the same store. He had been arrested over a dozen times in the past for public lewdness. Goodrell was arraigned and then released on his own recognizance.

 

 

31-year-old Ashley Drexinger and 29-year-old Emilia Santiago, both of Buffalo, have been arrested in Batavia. They’re charged with grand larceny and conspiracy. It’s alleged Drexinger and Santiago stole merchandise from ULTA Beauty on Veterans Memorial Drive last month. They were transported to the Genesee County Jail and held pending a CAP Court arraignment.

 

 

The spread of the flu virus is still surging in counties across the region. According to the New York State Flu Tracker, the county with the highest number of cases during the week ending December 16th was Monroe with 663. Erie County was second with 613. Ontario County had the third highest total during that time period with 75; Niagara County had 67 and Wayne County, 54. Statewide hospitalizations due to the flu are up 35% from the previous report and over 50,000 people have contracted the illness this season.

 

No arrests have been made after disturbances at The Mall at Greece Ridge. Authorities say a group of about two-dozen juveniles refused to leave the shopping center yesterday, and law enforcement was contacted to get them to depart. One person was detained before being released to a parent. There was no property damage done and no injuries reported. The mall did close down early as a precaution. And it seems there may have been something in the air; a similar situation brought police to the Walden Galleria, which resulted in at least one teenager being arrested. Authorities say police responded to the mall yesterday to break up fights that were happening at the shopping center. Pepper spray ended up being used to help put a stop to those brawls, and a 17-year-old was taken into custody. No one was seriously hurt and there’s no word what the teen was charged with.

 

Thousands of union members at the University of Rochester Medical Center will be taking part in an important vote today. They are going to cast their ballots on a new contract agreement between themselves and the hospital. The tentative deal was reached last week, just before workers were planning to take part in a three-day strike. Details on the new contract won’t be made public until after the vote.

 

The Buffalo Sabres will be back in action tonight as they take on one of the top teams in the National Hockey League. The Sabres are set to host the Boston Bruins at KeyBank Center. Buffalo hasn’t played since Saturday when they were beaten by the New York Rangers 4 to 3 in overtime. Face-off for this evening’s contest is scheduled for 7:30.

ELSEWHERE…

Americans spent more during the holidays than they did last year, despite fears they might cut back because of inflation. Results of a survey by Mastercard released Tuesday show retail sales were up 3.1% over last year. Online sales grew 6.3% while sales at brick-and-mortar stores rose over 2.0%.

 

A new study is suggesting there’s a direct link between COVID infections and heart attacks. A Baylor infectious disease expert says this is different from the arrhythmias that have widely been reported. Research is now showing that the virus is able to infect the blood supply to the heart. It was conducted at the NYU School of Medicine and found the risk goes up among those with pre-existing conditions, including those who’ve had a previous heart attack.

 

 

 

The top prize up for grabs for tonight’s Powerball drawing is $685 million after no one selected the lucky numbers for Monday’s drawing. If there is not a winner this evening, it is likely the next Powerball jackpot Friday will crack the top 10 in the history of the game. There have been over 30 drawings since the Powerball was last claimed in October. Please play responsibly.

 

 

 

Home prices posted their biggest gain of 2023 in October. The latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index reported a 4.8% annual increase in October. The jump in prices came despite a sharp rise in mortgage rates. Among the top 20 cities, Detroit reported the biggest annual gain with home prices up just over 8%. San Diego and New York round out the top three with increases of about 7%.

 

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 27, the 361st day of 2023 with four to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Uranus and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus.

December 27 in history…

…In 1972, Mick and Bianca Jagger distributed medical supplies and other relief material to people in Nicaragua following a deadly earthquake in the region. They also found Bianca’s mother, who had been missing following the quake.

 

 

 

 

 

In 1975, Heather O’Rourke was born; she died February 1, 1988. In early 1987, O’Rourke became ill with giardiasis (a diarrheal disease caused by the microscopic parasite Giardia duodenalis; it’s a parasite that lives in the intestines and is passed in stools. O’Rourke contracted it from well water at her family’s home in Big Bear Lake, California. She was subsequently diagnosed as having Crohn’s disease. She was prescribed cortisone injections to treat the disease during the time she was filming Poltergeist III. The steroidal injections resulted in facial swelling of the cheeks, which O’Rourke’s mother said she was very self-conscious about. On January 31, 1988, O’Rourke began exhibiting flu-like symptoms. The following morning, she collapsed in her home, and was rushed to the hospital. En route she suffered cardiac arrest but paramedics were able to restart her heart. She was subsequently flown to a nearby children’s hospital, where it was discovered she had intestinal stenosis (narrowing) and went into emergency surgery. She survived the surgery, but suffered another cardiac arrest while in the recovery room. Doctors performed CPR for over 30 minutes, but O’Rourke was pronounced dead at 2:43 that afternoon. The cause of her death was ruled congenital stenosis of the intestine complicated by septic shock.

 

…In 1980, John Lennon’s single “(Just Like) Starting Over” and album “Double Fantasy” hit number one on the charts.