Gusty winds early yesterday morning in the Jamestown-area Sunday triggered a number of power outages in both the Board of Public Utilities and National Grid territories.
BPU Spokeswoman Becky Robbins says their outages occured sometime around 5:30 AM Sunday... and, the biggest was in the village of Celoron. Robbins says a tall Pine tree was brought down on Jones and Gifford Avenue... knocking down power lines... affecting most of the village. Power was restored about 8:30 AM. Robbins says crews also responded to some isolated areas of the city and one in West Ellicott... and, the Fluvanna Avenue area between Fluvanna and Old Fluvanna Road.
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The main part of downtown Lakewood was in the dark about 4 hours early Sunday. The intial outage in the area of West Summit Avenue occured just before 2:30 AM. Power was restored about 6:30 AM. By late afternoon... National Grid was still reporting about 40 outages in Chautauqua County.
Education officials in New York are calling for a general increase of about two-billion dollars to the already record levels of funding for public schools.
However... they also realize the state is facing about a $6-billion dollar shortfall. State School Boards Association Communications Director David Albert says that's why they are calling on lawmakers to phase-in the increase over the next three years.
Albert says there are a number of areas where additional funding is needed... including mental health services for students, along with school safety measures. In his State of the State Address... Governor Andrew Cuomo called for some state aid to be taken away from wealthier districts... and, put that money towards the poorest ones. Albert says needier districts get about 70-percent of the state's education funding already. During his address... Cuomo noted that some wealthier districts are able to spend about $33,000 -- per student. However... the poorer ones only spend just over $13,000. The governor's budget plan will be released later this month.
The State Assembly's top leader says he will oppose making any changes to New York's bail reform law.
Media reports from Albany indicate that Speaker Carl Heastie wants to let the law continue the way it is. While there's a push to amend the criminal justice reforms that went into effect on January 1st... State Senator George Borrello says he still wants to see the reforms repealed.
Borrello says he doesn't think there's a fix to the new laws. He believes there are "so many holes in this plan that are so dangerous" that trying to fix parts of it isn't worth it. Governor Andrew Cuomo was criticized by local state lawmakers for not addressing the reforms during his State of the State address.
Two people from Jamestown have been arrested -- one for allegedly violating Leandra's Law -- following a traffic stop on Route 60 in the town of Kiantone late last week.
Sheriff's Deputies say they stopped a vehicle... driven by 45 year-old Selena Santiago... for only having one working headlight about 12:30 AM Friday. Officers say they could smell marijuana coming from inside the car... and, the passenger -- 21 year-old Dakota Raymond -- produced a marijuana cigar. Deputies say Santiago was failed sobriety tests, and was arrested for driving while under the influence of drugs. There was also a 2-year-old child in the vehicle... and, so the charge became a Felony. Raymond was also charged with unlawful possession of marijuana.
