Weekend News Brief

Governor Hochul wants to grant free school meals to nearly three-million-students across the state. It’s all part of the governor’s State of the State initiative, which she believes boasts the positive impact that universal free meals have had on students and families. The program includes free breakfast and lunch for every student at every school and it’s expected to save families an average of $165 on groceries every month for each child.

 

 

New York State is moving to fire four more employees at Marcy Correctional Facility. Those workers are accused of being involved in the beating of inmate Robert Brooks last month.   Brooks was taken to a hospital but passed away hours after being assaulted. The tragic incident was captured on video and these latest employees have been suspended without pay. Governor Hochul previously ordered that 14 other workers lose their jobs and one of them has already resigned.

 

 

Governor Hochul is proposing new initiatives aimed at making homeownership more affordable and accessible to New Yorkers. Her plan calls for supporting first-time homebuyers with down payment assistance, providing starter home innovation funding and creating an affordable homebuyer tax incentive. The governor says the cost of living is too high and these policies will put the dream of homeownership back in the hands of residents. There’s no word yet if the legislature will pass Hochul’s plans.

 

 

 

Home health services company CINQCARE is laying off around half of their Buffalo employees in April, impacting 51 out of their 117 total employees. Twenty-two out of 44 employees will be affected at their Main Street location, while 29 out of 73 workers will be affected at their Niagara Street location. CINQCARE offers support services for Medicaid patients suffering from multiple chronic conditions and mental health conditions.

 

New York Attorney General Letitia James is trying to recover more than $2 million worth of cryptocurrency in connection to a remote job scam impacting victims around the country. Authorities say scammers have been sending text messages offering fake online job opportunities in a trick to get people to purchase cryptocurrency and put it into scammers’ digital wallets. James says scammers promised victims good paying jobs if they opened a cryptocurrency account, deposited cryptocurrency, and reviewed products on fake websites to generate market data. James’s office was able to freeze the cryptocurrency accounts and is looking through a lawsuit to require scammers to pay penalties and restitutions.

 

 

 

Well, it can happen to anyone, anywhere, including entire communities:   The Town of Webster is expecting to make a full financial recovery after being victimized by a phishing scam.   Authorities say the scam cost the community more than $520,000. That incident happened a couple of months ago when scammers posed as a contractor that town officials had been in contact with. Already, over $300,000 has been seized and up to $240,000 will be covered by insurance. The scammers accessed no confidential or sensitive data.

 

 

 

Notre Dame Jr./Sr. High School at 73 Union Street will host their third annual meat raffle next Saturday, evening, January 18^th from 7 until 9pm. For more information, please call 585-343-2783, ext. #106.

 

 

 

 

Arc GLOW has recently opened their doors to the community by offering event space at the Community Center in Batavia, located at 38 Woodrow Road. For anyone looking to plan a large event, the Community Center holds up to 300 people and has a retractable room divider, allowing for a variety of different type of community events. Anyone interested in booking the Community Center or learn more about the space, fees and rental terms may call 585-343-1123, extension 1816.

 

 

The Buffalo Sabres are on a two-game winning streak after picking up a shutout victory. Jack Quinn scored twice and Dylan Cozens and Ryan McLeod also had goals for the Sabres as their team beat the Ottawa Senators four-to-nothing at the Canadian Tire Centre in Canada last night.   Buffalo’s goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen faced a total of 35 shots in the contest and stopped them all. Up next for the Sabres is a home game against the Seattle Kraken tomorrow, with face-off at 4:00.

 

The Buffalo Bills will have the support of their home crowd this weekend as they try and get one step closer to the Super Bowl. The AFC East champions are set to host the Denver Broncos in an AFC Wild Card round playoff game at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park. Josh Allen put together a tremendous campaign in 2024 after combining for over 42-hundred yards and 40 touchdowns. The Bills finished up the regular season with a record of 13 victories and four losses while the Broncos had a record of 10 wins and seven losses. Kickoff tomorrow is scheduled for 1:00.

 

NBC News Features:

A new study suggests there are health benefits to drinking coffee — but only if you drink it in the morning. Researchers led by a team from Tulane University in New Orleans found that morning coffee drinkers were more than 30 percent less likely to die from heart disease than people who don’t drink coffee. But there was no reduction in risk for people who drank coffee at all hours. The study was published in the European Heart Journal.

 

 

A group that includes billionaire entrepreneur and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and “Shark Tank”-famous investor Kevin O’Leary is looking to buy TikTok. The group made a formal offer Thursday to buy the social media platform from its China-based parent company, ByteDance. It comes the day before the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments over upholding a law that would ban TikTok in the United States in just over a week if it is not sold. ByteDance has said on multiple occasions the platform is not for sale.