Weekend News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on January 6, 2023
The Buffalo Bills have announced that their radio announcer, John Murphy, has suffered a stroke. The Bills released a statement form Murphy’s family: John Murphy suffered a stroke last weekend. He is recovering at home with his family and making progress every day. John and the Murphy family are grateful for the excellent care by the staff and doctors at Buffalo General Medical Center. We appreciate everyone’s support. Murphy does play by play for WGR and has done so since 2004. He was also the color analyst on the games from 1984-89 and 1994-2003. Chris Brown will be taking over his duties while he is on the mend.
Two Weeks after the Blizzard that hit Buffalo and Western NY the death toll continues to climb. The new number is 44 in Western NY alone. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz says the County Medical Examiner’s office has confirmed two more deaths related to the blizzard that struck the region last month. According to Poloncarz, they were a woman who was found in a tent in Buffalo and a three-year-old girl who died as the result of injuries after drowning at a hotel pool. The girl and her family had gone to the hotel after losing power.
A Canadian man has pleaded guilty to smuggling illegal aliens into the States illegally. In May 2019, the defendant, 46-year-old Edwin Ramirez-Cordones launched a boat into the Niagara River with two individuals on board that known to the defendant were not U.S. citizens. The defendant was to be paid nearly $9,000 for bringing the two individuals into the United States. He stopped at a dock in Lewiston and let them out and then returned to Ontario. They were both caught as well. His sentencing is set for May 19th.
Governor Kathy Hochul announced the promotion of Denise Donnell – the first woman to command the New York Air National Guard – to the two-star rank of major general. Major General Donnell was the first woman to command one of the New York Air National Guard’s five flying wings and is one of only five women to attain the rank of major general in the New York National Guard. During a ceremony Friday afternoon at the Stratton Air National Guard Base in Scotia, Major General Donnell’s two-star general’s rank was pinned on by her father, Dr. Robert Donnell, and brother, Air National Guard Technical Sgt. John Donnell. Governor Hochul appointed Major General Donnell as commander of the 5,800 Airmen of the nation’s largest Air Guard contingent in April 2022.
Batavia doesn’t wake up till ten, says Adam Garner, a vendor who ran a table at the Saturday City Center Mall Market for Garner Farms of Le Roy. The vendors and stakeholders gathered in the City Center to talk about what worked and what didn’t in the market. The hours, 8:30-11, the cost, 40 dollars to run a table, and the amount of time the market runs were all what they considered “misses.” The group talked about resuming on February 4th with a Valentines Day focus but moving the hours to 10:30-1:30.