Weekend News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on February 17, 2023
Western New Yorkers are concerned that the fallout from the train derailment in East Palestine Ohio will come to New York in the water or in the air. The Erie County Water Authority says that it isn’t possible for the hazardous chemicals released by the crash to reach Lake Erie or Western New Yorkers. From their statement: “East Palestine’s watershed flows southwest toward the Mississippi River and is geographically isolated from Lake Erie’s watershed, making it impossible for chemical residuals from the derailment to enter our area’s water sources.” On the question of the air pollution the New York State DEC says they are monitoring the air for any hazards.
Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns may be investigated for using thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to pay for advertisements that feature himself, which is illegal in New York. Kearns appeared in a tv show that used taxpayer money. He also used roughly 100,000 dollars of taxpayer money to run ads that featured himself during the last election. Erie County Democratic Party Chair Jeremy Zellner said it should now be investigated by the New York State Attorney General’s Office and that there may be millions of dollars in fines.
The man on the run from US Marshals after failing to report to a Residential Recovery Program in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Luke Christopher, has been caught. He was thought to be headed to Buffalo because he has friends and family there. He was serving a sentence for a 2013 conviction for sexually exploiting minors. At around 6pm on Friday Christopher surrendered to Marshals in Boston.
The New York State Police today announced that Troopers issued more than 11,800 tickets during a special STOP DWI traffic enforcement period over Super Bowl Weekend. During the campaign which started on Friday, February 10, and ran through Monday, February 13, Troopers arrested 183 people for DWI and investigated 490 crashes, which resulted in 73 people being injured and four fatalities. State Police increased patrols and conducted sobriety checkpoints to deter, identify and arrest impaired drivers. During last year’s Super Bowl enforcement initiative, State Police issued 10,975 tickets, arrested 189 people for DWI, and investigated 688 crashes that resulted in 87 individuals being injured and four fatalities.
Elba beat out Pavilion and Batavia for the title of Scholastic Bowl Champions on Thursday evening at BOCES Batavia. High School Senior Ian Keberle Says that their strategy was to misdirect other teams by failing during the practice rounds and then correctly answering questions in the actual competition. Elba took first place with 300 points, Batavia was right behind them with 290 and Pavilion took third with 240.
