Weekend News Brief

The Genesee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fatal, multi-vehicle accident in Batavia.  Deputies said at around 6:30 p.m. Friday, a Hyundai crossed the median on West Main Street and hit a Jeep and a pick-up truck.  According to deputies, the driver of the Hyundai, 68 year old Maryellen Wilbur, was thrown from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. Another driver was taken to ECMC for lower body injuries.  The Sheriff’s office says the cause of the crash is still under investigation.

Oddey the overdosed French Bulldog has been adopted.  Cassandra Elmore, who ran the court ragged missing court appointment after court appointment and then failing to show up for rehab when jailed and then released, had entered a guilty plea back in February on the charges that were keeping the dog locked up.  With that part of the case resolved, Oddey could be taken out of captivity and found a new home.  Elmore was granted a conditional discharge which meant that she was free and her records would be sealed if she complied with court orders and avoided further arrests.  She is currently being sought by the police for a warrant because she failed to obey the court order to show up for rehab services, as well as criminal weapon possession, criminal use of drug paraphernalia, aggravated unlicensed operation, and obstruction of governmental administration.

State lawmakers have just over two weeks to submit their budget for next year and part of it is planned to be a 9 billion dollar investment into transportation and infrastructure mostly centered around New York City.  How are they planning to pay for this?  Taxes on streaming services like Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max and others.  Assemblyman Steve Hawley is against the raise in taxes saying that “To attack every single individual that has this type of device on their television or on their computer just is not sensible and really goes after the working men and women of our state.”  The state is also looking at adding a 25 cent fee for delivery transactions.

Standardized test scores and proficiency in things like math and English have fallen since the Pandemic.  In order to make it so fewer kids failed their tests, the New York State Education Department lowered the minimum passing score needed on those assessments.  Now they want to make the change permanent.  They say that judging a student’s proficiency by just one test a year isn’t fair to the student.  Critics say that lowering the passing grade just lowers expectations when students are already struggling to graduate with what they need to succeed in college or a trade.

The Buffalo Sabres lost their St Patricks Day match up against the Philadelphia Flyers 5 to 2.  Victor Olofsson scored both of Buffalo’s goals.  The loss keeps the Sabres at 72 points and six points back of the Islanders and Penguins for the second wild card spot.  They’ll look to rebound back at home Sunday when they square off with the Boston Bruins. Puck drop is at 1 p.m. at the KeyBank Center.