Fire investigators are looking into the cause of a house fire that broke out on the Jamestown Eastside early this morning....
Chautauqua County dispatchers say crews were called to an East 5th Street home at the corner of Lincoln Street about 5:15. Barricades were set up on East 5th between Lincoln and Church Streets. Dispatchers are asking motorists to proceed with caution at this time. We'll continue to update this story as more information becomes available.
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Additionally, dispatchers report medical crews were called to the intersection of Baker Street and Southwestern Drive in Lakewood about 7:30 a.m. for motor vehicle accident with injury. Witnesses say multiple vehicles were involved. One ambulance from Lakewood and another from Busti were en route to UPMC Chautauqua Hospital shortly before 8:00.
Nothing has been agreed to, but an area state lawmaker says that NRG has expressed a willingness to discuss the sale of it's Dunkirk power plant....
State Assemblyman Andy Goodell adds it's "an important first step" that could help open the doors to potential buyer for the facility. Goodell said Wednesday that company officials seem to be open to idea of selling the plant to another energy producer. However, he says the idea is still in the very early stages. Goodell, who is being challenged in next Tuesday's election by Westfield Democrat Judy Einach, says he believes the best use of the facility is for generating power. The Jamestown-area Republican says, nationally, NRG is in the process of getting out of the power generating business.
A Jamestown woman faces child endangerment charges following a Tuesday evening fight....
City police were called to the area of Barrett and Prather Avenues just before 7 p.m. and, allegedly found 22 year-old Claudia Portugues on top of a male subject punching and kicking him. Police say her two-year old niece was on the sidewalk and watched the incident occur. She was additionally charged with disorderly conduct and is being held in city jail pending arraignment.
The second of two League of Women Voters debates was held with two forums in northern Chautauqua County this past Tuesday night...
Candidates vying for Chautauqua County Sheriff were asked during the forum at the Dunkirk Senior Center about the most urgent problem facing the office. Republican challenger Jim Quattrone stated the drug epidemic, as did incumbent Democrat Joe Gerace. Candidates running for the 150th Assembly District also took part in the forum. The location of Tuesday night's debate had to be changed from Dunkirk City Hall to the senior center due to an incident in the courtroom where a prisoner was being arraigned and, he apparently had bedbugs. The change was made as a precaution.
One of the newest members of the Jamestown City Council is offering some suggestions on ways to reduce the city's 2019 budget proposal...
At-large member Andrew Liuzzo says he's seen some items in the past couple of budgets that should be looked at further and, suggesting cutting two-cents on each dollar in the nearly $36-million spending plan. He also requested the city look at having employees -- when not mandated -- pay their own costs for additional training.
Liuzzo says he -- and others in business -- have done that down through the years. As for the two-percent cut to department budgets, Finance Committee Chairman Tony Dolce says, you're comparing "apples and oranges" at times because some budgets -- like the Police Department -- are much larger than the Park's Department. Police Chief Harry Snellings adds that about 90-percent of his budget is for salaries and benefits. Liuzzo also suggested looking at Welfare-to-Work programs as places to find Summer laborers, who were difficult to recruit this past year due to changes in minimum wage regulations and guidelines.
Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone is firing back at a former assistant-turned-whistleblower who says the bishop should resign over his response to reports of clergy sexual misconduct...
In a statement just before midnight Tuesday, the diocese calls statements made by Siobhan O'Connor during an earlier news conference "embarrassingly contradictory." It attached emails from O'Connor praising the bishop. O'Connor secretly copied and leaked confidential files that she says show Malone allowed an accused priest to remain on the job and excluded dozens of others from a list of problematic priests released publicly earlier this year. Malone's said he made mistakes with cases involving adult victims, but never knowingly left a priest accused of child abuse in ministry. O'Connor on Wednesday calls the bishop's response to her comments a "needless deflection" from the issues.
Voters in the Brocton Central School District approved one of two propositions for a capital project on Tuesday...
Proposition-one, which involved a $6.6-million project passed 153-135. But, residents rejected proposition-two 158-129. It involved a project that totaled just over $1-million. Proposition one includes site improvements to the main building and bus garage. Work is expected to get underway in Spring of 2020.
President Donald Trump has called for the death penalty for the man accused of killing 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue, and he says capital punishment should be brought "into vogue"....
Trump has gotten his wish, with federal death penalty cases ticking up under his Justice Department after a near moratorium on such prosecutions in President Barack Obama's last term. Trump's attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has so far approved at least a dozen death penalty prosecutions over the past two years.
