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WJTN News Headlines

 

A former Jamestown Police officer accused of threatening other law enforcement officers on-line has been sentenced to a year in federal prison.  U-S Attorney William Hochul, Junior announced late Thursday that 45 year-old Michael Bush received the sentence after being convicted of transmitting communications containing threats to injure the person of another.  Hochul says Bush was also sentenced to three-years of supervised release by U-S District Court Judge Frank Geraci.  He says the former officer was found to have posted the threats on January 2nd of last year... and, again on February 26th of 2016... on Topix.com.  Jamestown police and the FBI were both involved in the investigation.

 

Achieving even a small tax decrease in his proposed 2017 budget was not easy for Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan... given some recent drains on county finances.  One is the moth-balling of the NRG Power Plant in Dunkirk.  With that... NRG officials put local leaders on notice earlier this year that their payment in lieu of tax payment would be cut by 85-percent next year.  Horrigan says state transitional aid will help cover 80-percent of those costs. However... Horrigan does admit more of a problem in the out-years as the transitional aid is phased-out.  He says the biggest concern is for the city of Dunkirk... and, the Dunkirk School District.  Horrigan says the losses to them -- even with transitional aid -- is significant.  He adds that both the cities of Dunkirk and Jamestown have major issues facing them this year.  Jamestown is nearly at it's constitutional taxing limit.

 

The Heroin and Opioid Addiction Crisis in Chautauqua County is being specifically addressed by a couple of the moves being made in the County Executive's budget proposal for next year.  Vince Horrigan says the nine additional, part-time corrections officers will help provide what's called "Constant Watch" for addicts and others who have mental health issues in the county jail.  Most recent estimates are that at least 15-percent of the jail's population has such a problem. With the jail's recent overcrowding issues... Horrigan says overtime had become a problem.  He says he's also proposing three more social workers, a substance abuse counselor and a receptionist to the county's Mental Hygiene Clinics to deal with the growing heroin and drug epidemic.  Horrigan says he wants "to make sure that any citizen of Chautauqua County -- regardless of ability to pay -- can get into one of our outpatient clinics without waiting."  He says waiting could be fatal.   Horrigan acknowledges this won't be enough, because the county is still a-ways off from having a long-term rehabilitation program in place.  But, he says emergency out-patient help is important. 

 

A Cattaraugus County man faces 17 counts of burglary for allegedly stealing items from garages an buildings in several towns.  Sheriff's officers in Little Valley say they've arrested 26 year-old Codie Capron of Little Valley for allegedly taking tools, and other property during the rash of break-ins.  The break-ins allegedly occured in several towns... including Salamanca and Olean.  Deputies say Capron was arraigned in Cattaraugus County Court... and, released on his own recognizance pending further court proceedings.

 

Resolution of two major issues... one regarding funding to combat the Zika virus... led to agreement on a bill to fund the federal government another 10-weeks.  That from local Congressman Tom Reed... who was among the majority of House members who approved a stop-gap bill after a weeks-long struggle.  Reed says the bill passed in both the House and the Senate late last night.  He recently said it will not only avert a government shutdown but provides funding for critical programs, including 1.1-billion dollars for Zika. Reed says the Zika funding will also receive about 700-million dollars in re-programmed money that had been designated to fight the Ebola Virus.  He says there was also $82.5-billion dollars set aside for veterans services -- including $52.4 billion for their medical care -- and roughly $37 million funding to implement programs in the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act.  Reed says he wanted to "make sure the government is able to operate for the sake of our taxpayers, veterans, senior citizens and national security.  The Corning Republican adds that "it was only right that we came together to support this bill as it prevents a lapse in critical programs."

 

New York's attorney general has announced an agreement with an herbal supplement maker to implement new quality control measures to confirm the authenticity of its products.  The settlement with Long Island-based NBTY follows earlier agreements by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman with GNC and Nature's Way.  His office last year wrote to several makers of herbal products, demanding detailed ingredient and quality control information on products they sell in the state.  The new agreement calls for NBTY to phase in DNA barcoding on herbal ingredients within two years and implement annual testing to detect allergens like peanuts, milk, soy, eggs and wheat in products.  NBTY said there was no evidence it failed to comply with FDA requirements and that they are committed to promoting reliable testing for herbal dietary supplements.