A Warren, Pennsylvania man was killed last weekend in a one-car crash... 

 

State Police in Warren say 22 year-old Nathan Park was traveling south on Conewango Avenue shortly after 10 p.m. on Saturday, and went to make a left turn.  However, Troopers say Park's vehicle traveled  300-feet along an embankment leading away from the roadway.  The GMC-Sierra's right wheels then dipped into a depression and came out airborne, then traveled 48-feet in a southern direction as it turned and rolled towards its side.  The Sierra then landed on it's front right wheel and corner and turned onto it's right-side.  Subsequently, the vehicle struck a tree with the roof of its cab and partially folded around the tree before coming to rest.  Police say Park was trapped inside and was freed by mechanical means.  He was pronounced dead at the scene.

 

 

A Jamestown man wanted in Buffalo for several armed robberies has been been arrested here after allegedly leading local police on a more than one-hour long car chase...  

 

City Police Captain Bob Samuelson says that the vehicle pursuit began in the city shortly before 10 p.m. last Friday night and continued through the village of Falconer and Kennedy on Interstate-86.  Samuelson says the chase continued back into the city and the suspect -- now identified as 19 year-old Jordan Alexander of Jamestown -- was finally located on Stow Street.  He says Alexander was apparently armed, and was holding a woman in the car at gun-point while she was driving.  However, police were able to arrest him without incident; no one was hurt. Alexander is being held in the county jail without bail on multiple Felony armed robbery counts from Buffalo and several local charges (including unlawful imprisonment).  State Police and other agencies assisted Jamestown Police.

 

 

An early morning house fire in the village of Cherry Creek Sunday has left a family homeless...  

 

Sheriff's Office dispatchers say a passerby called in the alarm at the home, owned by Jeff and Ivory Fishgold, at 775 Southside Avenue -- shortly before 4:00.  Officials say the house collapsed due to the fire, but they add that everyone was out of the house when the blaze began and that everyone inside was accounted for.  No injuries were reported.  The Chautauqua County Fire Investigation Team was called in, but is still investigating the cause.

 

 

The New York State Senate this week approved a measure to hold drug dealers accountable for overdose deaths...  

 

Local Senator Cathy Young co-sponsored Laree's Law, which would allow a charge of homicide if a death results from a drug sale.  Young says one of the contributing factors fueling both addiction and overdose deaths are the drug dealers who are lacing heroin with fentanyl. The Olean Republican says that was the case with a 2016 overdose death in Cattaraugus County.

 

Young says Cattaraugus County District Attorney Lori Rieman obtained a guilty plea in the case for criminally negligent homicide.  She says the new law would give D.A.'s the ability to charge a Class A-1 Felony, with a penalty of 15 to 25 years in prison.  Young says the measure is named after an Albany County teen who died of a heroin overdose in 2013.  

 

 

Advocates for New Yorkers with mental illness have delivered nearly 25,000 letters to state leaders urging them to find more funding for community housing for those with significant mental health issues...  

 

Governor Andrew Cuomo has proposed an additional $10-million to expand community housing programs for the mentally ill, but advocates say much more money is needed.  Community housing programs often link up residents with workforce training, medical care, therapy and other resources that advocates say reduces other costs related to homelessness, and incarceration.

 

 

A reminder for motorists in the city of Jamestown that West Fourth Street -- between Washington and Lafayette Streets -- will be closed starting today for a complete reconstruction of the street in that one-block area...  

 

City Public Works Director Jeff Lehman says the street will be closed until further notice to facilitate the work.  The City Council last week approved hiring a local contractor to dig up the asphalt, bricks and concrete, and put do a reconstruction to eliminate a major pothole problem. 

 

 

The promotion known as Maple Weekend is over for the year, but syrup producers hope the sap season will go on for a little longer...  

 

Big Tree Maple's David Munsee in Lakewood says for the first 20 days of March they "didn't turn a wheel."  Munsee says it was just too cold to get any sap.  He adds, things got a little better this past week with sap flows in the afternoon for a few hours. Munsee says it's weather what you would normally expect in February. 

 

Another maple syrup producer, John Wangler, of Lily Acre Farms on the Chautauqua Ridge in Stockton characterized the season as "kind of lousy". He says the latest they have ever boiled in April 11. Wangler is hoping the season extends. In addition, John Wangler says it's taken as much as 80 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup this year, about twice the usual amount.  

 

 

A Randolph man faces a handful of charges stemming from a break-in at a residence in the town... 

 

Troopers out of Jamestown say  investigation revealed 26 year-old Dustin Waite had allegedly entered the unidentified victim's home on Saturday without invitation in an intoxicated condition and refused to leave peacefully. After being locked out, Troopers say Waite broke the victim's window and urinated on his porch. Police say he physically resisted arrest on scene, but was successfully taken into custody where a search revealed beef jerky, later determined to be stolen from a 7-11 convenience store just prior to the break-in call. Wait was arraigned in Randolph Town Court and remanded to Cattaraugus County Jail. 

 

 

A city man is jailed without bail on a county court warrant after being pulled over for alleged vehicle infractions in the town of Carroll early last Friday morning...  

 

Sheriff's deputies say they pulled over 37 year-old Brian Wilson of Jamestown on Old Warren Road just after 7 a.m. after finding the Lafayette Street man's pick-up truck was unregistered and uninsured -- and had illegal Tennessee license plates.  Officers say Wilson also had a suspended driver's license.  They say Wilson initially refused to pull over for Sheriff's vehicles, and he later stopped at a Frewsburg business where he was arrested without incident.  Wilson is being held in the county jail on the Felony warrant, and several traffic violations.

 

 

A long-time member of the medical staff at UPMC Chautauqua WCA Hospital has been named it's 2018 "Physician of the Year"...  

 

The presentation was made to Dr. James Cirbus during last Friday's annual "Doctor's Day Celebration" at the hospital.  WCA President and Chief Executive Officer Betsy Wright says Cirbus was chosen by the medical staff for the award. She calls him a "wonderful recipient..." who has dedicated 35 years to the hospital and community.

 

Wright says Cirbus has also has taken on a number of leadership roles at the hospital and is involved in several local organizations.  She says the "Doctor's Day" program is very important because they are critical to their operation.  Wright says they have more than 200 doctors on staff now at UPMC Chautauqua WCA and the luncheon is a great way to say "thank-you" to them.  This year's "Doctor's Day" program was a presentation by officials with the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History.