Community Spotlight, the area's longest running local public affairs radio program, airs on all six Media One Radio Group stations each weekend and is also available to hear in our Podcast Section.  Each week we sit down with a community leader or another special guest to talk about issues within our community.  


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WJTN News Headlines

Officials with the National Weather Service confirm a small tornado did roar through North Warren, Pennsylvania late Sunday afternoon.  That from Warren County Public Safety Director Todd Lake... who requested that forecasters from State College come up and investigate wind damage that went from west to east... across Route 62.  Lake says some of the downed trees were "criss-crossed...." Lake says the funnel cloud apparently formed in an area on the hill behind the Dairy Queen on Route 62... just north of the city of Warren... and, knocked down some trees.  He says it then moved into a cemetery across the road, and knocked down several more trees.  Lake says the EF-1 twister... with sustained winds of 90 miles an hour... then moved along Conewango Creek... to Conewango Avenue... where several more trees were taken down.  He says a lot of clean-up work has been done so far... but, adds one intersection remained after high-power lines were pulled down.  Lake says PENELEC crews still had part of Conewango Avenue in Glade Township closed while repairs are made.  No one was hurt in the twister. 

 

Chautauqua County Sheriff Joe Gerace calls a car-pedestrian accident that severely injured a 4-year-old boy on Route 20 in the town of Ripley a "horrific" crash.  It was the first of two car-pedestrian accidents that occurred just a few hours apart in the county this past Sunday.  Gerace says the accident in Ripley happened near the New York-Pennsylvania line. The driver who was operating the vehicle... 51-year-old Keith Potter of Ripley... was not charged.  The second crash occurred on Routes 5 and 20 in the town of Hanover about six hours later.  Gerace says 71-year-old Thomas Victor of Olean was driving the vehicle when he did not see 19-year-old Daniel Barker-the-third who was walking in the eastbound lane of the highway.  Barker was seriously injured... and, was rushed to the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo for treatment.  The driver was not charged.  Gerace says its "rare" to have two such crashes happen during the same day.

 

There's been plenty of information put out... but, it's nearly time for Jamestown residents to decide on how to fund the Prendergast Library.  An 850-thousand dollar Community Funding Initiative will be voted on today from Noon to 9 PM at the library.  Officials have been holding community meetings the past several weeks about what the vote entails.  Library Director Tina Scott says this would provide stable funding for the library... which has been running deficit budgets in recent years... and, adds the future isn't looking good either. Scott says the 850-thousand dollars makes up about 65-percent of the library's budget.  She adds that most of the other 35-percent comes from the library's endowment... while a small portion comes from fund-raising.  Library Board President Tom Rankin says -- unlike the vote on a Special Library District 11 years ago -- this vote would allow them to need to raise less money... and, have more ability to use their endowment.  Rankin says the library doesn't have the authority to hold the vote... which is why the Jamestown School District is running it.

 

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has issued the first executive order in the country forcing state entities to drop investments linked to boycotts of Israel.  Cuomo signed the order Sunday before marching in Manhattan's Celebrate Israel parade.  The Democratic governor expects state agencies to divest all public funds from any ties to the movement known as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.  BDS was founded in 2005 to protest Israel's actions toward Palestinians by boycotting Israeli products and companies.  State officials must compile a list of businesses and groups engaged in activities targeting Israel.  Baher Azmy, of the nonprofit Center for Constitutional Rights, says Cuomo's action violates free speech and is a form of "21st century McCarthyism."  The United Jewish Appeal in New York praised the governor for standing with Israel.

 

Presumptive GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump's comments regarding the ethnicity of a federal judge involved in one of the court cases against Trump University is "concerning."  However... Congressman Tom Reed would not condemn Trump's remarks about Judge Gonzalo Curiel... which have be widely-criticized by Republicans nationally.  During his weekly conference call with Southern Tier Media Monday... Reed said he has been concerned with Trump's rhetoric early on... and, still is. Reed maintains that Trump is his own candidate... and, is responsible for what he himself says.  Asked if Trump should apologize to the judge... Reed said it was up to Trump himself to do that.  However... he did question if the whole Trump University controversy was a "red herring" because there are so many other issues lawmakers need to be focusing on.  Reed Monday touted several Anti-Poverty bills in the House of Representatives that he supports, and will begin moving people out of public assistance, and on the path to self-sustainability.  He says a key on would allow people to move in that direction without losing benefits until they are self-sustaining.

 

Several New York City elected officials have rallied outside Trump Tower to denounce Donald Trump's comments about a federal judge's Mexican heritage.  City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito claimed Monday that any Republican who has backed Trump shares in the blame for his divisive rhetoric.  Mark-Viverito is a Democrat and is supporting Hillary Clinton.  She criticized Trump's unwillingness to apologize.  Trump has come under fire for suggesting that Judge Gonzalo Curiel ``should have recused himself'' from the fraud case against the presumptive Republican nominee's now-defunct Trump University.  Curiel is from Indiana.  His parents emigrated from Mexico.  Trump claims the jurist can't be impartial in the case since Curial is of Mexican heritage and Trump plans to build a wall along the southern border.

 

U-S Senator Charles Schumer is introducing legislation that would require phone companies to offer a free service that would block robocalls from bill collectors, politicians and other sources.  The New York Democrat says that the legislation would require both mobile and landline service providers to offer the blocking technology.  A companion bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Jackie Speier, a California Democrat.  Schumer says robocalls are technologically identifiable and that the blocking services work much like email spam filters.  Some phone companies already offer the service.  According to statistics from voicemail provider YouMail Inc., there were nearly 50 million robocalls made to two New York City area codes in April.  The company tallies which cities send and receive the most robocalls.