Local Congressman Tom Reed says he supports President Trump's decision to go to Texas while rescue and relief efforts are still on-going.
The president was in both Austin and the Corpus Christi area yesterday where he called Hurricane, now Tropical Storm Harvey a storm of "epic proportion."
Congressman Reed earlier Tuesday said his "thoughts, prayers, and support" go to the people of Houston and, surrounding area.
Reed says he doesn't believe it's "too early" for the president to be in Texas adding that knowing the president, "he wants to be hands-on and, on the ground." Preliminarily the recovery effort was expected to cost at least $3-billion. However, the Corning Republican says this has been an "unprecidented storm" and, he believes Congress will provide the needed emergency funding once members return from their August break.
The president received an update from Texas Governor Greg Abbott and others Tuesday. Reed made his comments for his weekly telephone conference call with Southern Tier Media.
While prices shot up across parts of the country in the wake of Hurricane Harvey blasting the southeast Texas coast the cost for a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline in the Jamestown-area is holding steady this week.
The AAA's Fuel Gauge Report says today that the average, local price was down. slightly to $2.43.9 this week.
AAA says it's the sixth-straight week that prices have held steady in the region. The Fuel Gauge reports that prices are relatively stable throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions.
Nationally the price is up to $2.37 a gallon this week which is four-cents more than last week.
Sinclairville woman being treated for injuries following head-on accident in Kiantone.
A Sinclairville woman escaped serious injury yesterday morning when she swerved to avoid a deer in the town of Kiantone and, her car went off the road and struck a utility pole head-on.
Sheriff's officers say 55 year-old Lori Swift was northbound on Peck-Settlement Road about 7:30 a.m. when her car went off the road, and hit the National Grid pole.
Deputies say Swift was treated at the scene by an Allstar Ambulance crew and, was taken to UPMC Chautauqua WCA Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. No charges were filed.
A 21.5% increase in student enrollment at the State University of New York College at Fredonia has left college officials pleased with the results of new recruitment efforts.
College Council Chair Frank Pagano says he is thrilled with the efforts and says they are picking up more students from the downstate area.
Pagano says they hired a recruiter to get more students from the New York Metro-area as well as Long Island. He says SUNY at Fredonia is also responding more quickly to student applications.
At one point he says it was nearly two-weeks before university got back to prospective students. He says that's now been cut to five-days from the time the college receives the application to the student being notified of acceptance.
A former mayor of Fredonia, Pagano says the increase in enrollment is bringing new excitement to the campus. The university is the largest employer in the Dunkirk-Fredonia and remains a key player in the region's economy.
Criticism of the city of Jamestown's plan to annex the Dow Street Substation continued during Monday night's privledge of the floor at the city council's voting session.
City resident Chris Gardner continued to ask who pushed for the annexation in the beginning and, who supported it. Gardner says the move will have a significant tax impact on the village of Falconer town of Ellicott and Falconer School District.
While the BPU voted to petition city council for the annexation he insisted that BPU staff he's talked to said they didn't "push for it." Gardner adds that he feels it's "politically motivated."
Another resident Ravin Mason of Lovell Avenue had a dozen questions she felt city council should answer in their own minds before voting one was what kind of financial straits would the loss of $7.5-milion in assessment have on these smaller municipalities?
She adds that this would add to the loss of taxable property due to the major apartment, commercial building fire in downtown Falconer late last Winter.
Members of the Jamestown City Council and Mayor Sam Teresi celebrated the more than 30-year career of retiring Director of Finance and City Clerk James Olson at the end of Monday night's Council meeting.
Teresi was joined by lawmakers in presenting a special plaque to Olson. Olson returned to city government after a short hiatus when Teresi began his tenure as Mayor in 2000.
However Teresi says their friendship dates back to when Teresi interned at City Hall with former Mayor Steven Carlson and, Olson was Carlson's Executive Assistant at the time.
The mayor says he understood that Olson had a hard decision to make in retiring because his head was telling him he needed to take his new opportunity, but, his heart wanted to be with city government.
That opportunity is the chance to work full-time with a local accounting and tax preparation firm. Olson's final day will be Thursday, Aug. 31. He'll be replaced by Jamestown-area attorney Todd Thomas who will become the city's new Director of Administrative Services and City Clerk on Sept. 1.
