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WJTN News Headlines for Feb. 28, 2019

Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello outlined a number of initiatives during his State of the County message, initiatives that will involve the use of collaboration....  

Among the initiatives, developing a Chautauqua Lake consensus strategy that will attempt to involve all lake stakeholder groups.

Borrello expects to wrap up work on the consensus strategy by the end of March.  The top county official also spoke about another initiative: developing plans for a Ripley Gateway Center.

Borrello says the entryway into New York State has been a "blackeye" for too long and the county needs to change it. Other initiatives outlined by the county executive included improvements to CARTS and a Grow Chautauqua hops and grains cooperative.


South Korea's presidential office says it was "unfortunate" that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un failed to produce an agreement in their high-stakes nuclear summit in Vietnam.... 

But it says it expects "active dialogue" to continue between Washington and Pyongyang. The Blue House said Thursday, it believes Washington and Pyongyang deepened their understandings of each other during their "long and deep discussions" in Hanoi.  Meanwhile, The Kremlin says that talks at the U.S.-North Korean nuclear summit in Vietnam appear to have failed because the parties proved unwilling to compromise and make concessions.  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, Moscow is encouraged by the fact the negotiations did not break down completely.  But Peskov laments the lack of ``small steps'' and flexibility that could have helped to achieve some progress.  Peskov says the North Korean nuclear program is a complicated issue that is ``impossible to solve in one go.''


A Frewsburg man is jailed for allegedly threatening to kill another person with a hand-gun early Wednesday morning in the town of Carrol.... 

Sheriff's deputies were called to the undisclosed location... and, their investigation showed that 49 year-old Mark Boardman had threatened to the other person while displaying the gun.  Officers took Boardman into custody and, charged him with second-degree menacing, unlawful imprisonment, and, fourth degree criminal possession of weapon -- among others.  He was taken to the county jail pending arraignment.


"All systems" are now go for the Jamestown School Board to appeal the most recent ruling in the Maisto versus New York State legal case....  

The board voted Tuesday night, 5-2, to continue support of the "Small City Schools" lawsuit, a school funding case brought by eight small city districts across the state -- including Jamestown.  School Superintendent Bret Apthorpe says they are using the 1993 "Campaign for Fiscal Equity" involving New York City schools as a precedent in their argument.

Apthorpe says 50-percent of students in Jamestown's elementary schools are not proficient in reading, writing or math.  He says the district has spent a little over $300,000 of taxpayer money to continue the fight and, he says the process of taking on the state in this matter has been "frustrating."  From here, Apthorpe says the Court of Appeals will make a decision, either remand the ruling back to Justice Kimberly O'Connor or de novo review, citing a "hostile judge."  Apthorpe encourages any parents or students who want to get involved in supporting Jamestown, to contact the governor's office. 


President Trump is expected to sign a bill once he returns from Vietnam designating the National Comedy Center in Jamestown as the nation's official "Center of Comedy."  

That from local Congressman Tom Reed, as the center was approved for the National Heritage Area designation in a vote of the House of Representatives Tuesday night.  The vote comes after the U-S Senate approved the designation.  The bill now head's to the president's desk to be signed.

Reed says the move means that Jamestown is "now to comedy what Cooperstown is to baseball and Cleveland is to rock and roll."  He says it's the nation's first state-of-the-art museum and cultural institution dedicated to presenting, preserving and celebrating the art form of comedy.  Project Chairman Tom Benson thanked Reed for his support, including being able to help the center obtain Federal New Market Tax Credits in 2017 to help the project get the financing it needed to open last year.


A city man has been accused of creating fake social media accounts to harass and annoy people in the town of Ellicott....  

Town Police say their investigation found that 18 year-old Tyler Goodwill of Lovall Avenue in Jamestown, created the account, and assumed the identities of the victims.  Goodwill was arrested on a warrant for second-degree aggraveated harassment, and criminal impersonation and, taken to the county jail pending arraignment.   


The scheduled surrender date for a former aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo to begin serving his six year prison sentence on federal corruption charges has been delayed..... 

A Manhattan federal appeals court on Friday ruled that Joseph Percoco can remain free pending his appeal.  Percoco was scheduled to surrender March 1st after being convicted last year of accepting more than $300,000 from companies that wanted to gain influence with the Cuomo administration.  Percoco's lawyer, Barry Bohrer, declined to comment.  The court also stayed the surrender of Percoco's co-defendant, real estate executive Steven Aiello, who was convicted of conspiracy and wire fraud and sentenced to three years in prison.  Cuomo, a Democrat, wasn't accused of wrongdoing, but testimony presented an unflattering picture of the inner workings of his office.