Weekend News Brief
Written by WBTA STAFF on June 4, 2022
A student in Kendall found out the cost of making a threat online. A 14 year old student and their parents have been charged in relation to a threat made against Kendall Central School district. The student made the threat on social media Friday and within minutes police were at the school and the student was searched, their locker and bag were searched. The student’s residence was searched and the parents lied about what was in the house. No weapons were found at school but weapons and ammunition were found at the home. The student was taken to Strong for mental health evaluations. The student is being charged with Felony Making a Terroristic Threat. The Parents are charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
You may have noticed that gas is a little bit cheaper since June 1st. The state wide gas sales tax has been suspended till December 31st and is saving drivers an average of 16 cents per gallon. Counties have jumped on the bandwagon as well, capping their taxes for additional savings. In the GLOW region, Livingston County has capped theirs to only collect taxes on the first 3 dollars per gallon saving drivers an additional 7 cents at the rate gas is right now. County Executive Matt Landers of Genesee county says that, while a gas tax holiday has been discussed for Genesee the legislature has opted not to suspend taxes. Landers says losing the tax revenue from Thruway travelers would take bites out of infrastructure spending and keeping property taxes down.
The New York State Agriculture department announced that the ban on Poultry Shows, auctions, meets, swaps and exhibitions is over. Poultry were restricted because of Avian Influenza, 8 flocks in New York tested positive and thousands of birds had to be destroyed to stop the contagion. The last positive case was nearly 2 months ago with the last detection being in Fulton County April 6th. The bans were put into place on March 25th and April 14th. No word yet on if there will be poultry show at the New York State Faire.
New York has ended its legislative session with a flurry of legislations. One that is the first in the nation is a targeted move to place a moratorium on cryptocurrency mining, specifically that which is housed in Fossil Fuel Burning Power plants. This move is aimed at a company on Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes which has had activists accusing the company of increasing the temperature of the lake for the past several years.
The State Senate and Assembly both passed a package of bills cracking down on gun violence. The bills include banning the sale and possession of semi-automatic rifles for anyone under the age of 21, requiring anyone wanting to buy one of those rifles receive a permit, restricting civilian purchases of bullet-resistant body armor, and require new guns be equipped with microstamping technology which would help law enforcement investigators trace bullets to specific firearms. The bills passed on party lines with Republicans saying these laws would not prevent any shootings and that Democrats should put aside politics and work on actual solutions.
Representative Jacobs has announced he will not run for reelection. He came under fire after saying he would support gun control legislation, including a federal assault weapons ban. He serves the 27th district which was changed in the new election map.
