Community Spotlight, the area's longest running local public affairs radio program, airs on all six Media One Radio Group stations each weekend and is also available to hear in our Podcast Section.  Each week we sit down with a community leader or another special guest to talk about issues within our community.  


Weather Forecasts are available across our radio stations each day and also as your fingertips! 

Connect with The National Weather Service's Buffalo Office or with WGRZ-TV for accurate weather information!

 

 

 


 

WJTN News Headlines for Jan. 16, 2019

Jamestown police are asking for the public's help in finding an unidentified man who allegedly pulled over to talk with young school student on their way to Washington Middle School yesterday morning.....  

City police say the student told them that the white male pulled up near the intersection of Hotchkiss Street and, Dearing Avenue in a navy blue Sports Utility Vehicle, with white stripes about 8 a.m. and asked if the student could help him find his lost puppy.  Officers say the student ran into the school, and reported the situation.  Police are looking over suveillance video in that area and, are asking residents who have video systems and may have captured the vehicle on video to contact them.  The number is 483-TIPS, that's 483-8477.  You can also go to their Tips 4-1-1 app.
 

Governor Andrew Cuomo has proposed a long list of liberal and progressive measures he would like to put in place with the help of the state legislature this year.... 
 
Cuomo says he wants to ban the use of single-use plastic bags at stores across New York and add a 5-cent deposit to most non-alcoholic beverages not already included in the state's bottle bill.  The Democrat also wants to legalize recreational marijuana for people 21 and over and, begin legalizing sports betting.

Cuomo laid out the initiatives as part of his $178-billion state budget proposal he presented to lawmakers on Tuesday in Albany.  His efforts to get a plastic bag ban passed last year was shot down by the then-Republican-controlled Senate.  His bottle bill expansion would include sports drinks, energy drinks, fruit and vegetable beverages, and ready-to-drink bottled tea and coffee.  Products such as dairy milk and infant formula would be exempted. 


Governor Cuomo's State of the State Address included a "very liberal, social agenda" for New York state.....  

That from local State Assemblyman Andy Goodell, who was in the audience for the address at an Albany theater.  Goodell says -- at the top -- is legalized recreational marijuana and sports betting.  He adds that Cuomo also wants abortion rights expanded and, more restrictions on guns.

Goodell says there were some initiatives from the governor that he liked, led by making the state's 2-percent property tax cap permanent.  He also likes a proposed, approximately 1.3-percent middle-income tax reduction.  Goodell adds that he also likes the fact the governor did include some additional campaign, and ethics reforms for the legislature to consider.


A few more details have been released regarding the governor's plan to legalized recreational marijuana for people 21 years of age and older....  

He also revealed prior to Tuesday's address that local governments will have the ability to "opt out."  Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello, who has opposed the move, says he has outlined his concerns to area state lawmakers.

Borrello believes the governor and state legislators need to take a hard look at what's happening in states where pot is legal and look at what the impacts have been there, both intentional, and unintentionally.  Among those states that have already legalized recreational marijuana are Colorado, California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Michigan.


Democratic U-S Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has taken a major step toward announcing a presidential bid, saying she is launching an exploratory committee for a White House run....  

The 52-year-old New York resident said Tuesday on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert": "It's an important first step and it's one I am taking because I am going to run."  Gillibrand joins what is expected to be a crowded primary field for the Democratic nomination that could include more than a dozen candidates.  Already, Gillibrand has plans to travel to the leadoff caucus state of Iowa later this week.  She also has more than $10.5 million left over from her 2018 re-election campaign that she can use toward a presidential run.


Governor Andrew Cuomo's executive budget includes measures to combat litter, reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and protect the environment.... 

On Sunday, the governor's office announced that his 2019 Executive Budget will also include a proposal to ban all single-use plastic bags.  According to Jessica Ottney Mahar with The Nature Conservancy in New York, environmentalists are excited about the governor's commitment to the environment, but the devil's in the details.

Mahar says some areas of New York already are discouraging plastic bags by charging consumers a small fee for each bag. She says imposing a ban is a good first step, followed by incentivizing people to start using reusable bags. Cuomo introduced plastic-bag-ban legislation last year but it failed to clear the state Senate. With Democrats in control of the Senate this year, the chances of a bill passing have improved.


A Jamestown man is charged with multiple felonies for unlawfully receiving over $3,000 of unemployment benefits....  

State police say they received a report from the New York State Department of Labor last Friday, claiming that 42 year-old Daniel MaGee allegedly received the benefits over a nearly five-month period while being employed.  MaGee was released with appearance tickets for third-degree insurance fraud and 10 counts of first-degree falsifying business records.


Quick action by Dunkirk firefighters prevented a fire at a church from getting out of hand last weekend....  

Officials say city fire crews were called to the Assembly of Christian Church at 316 Eagle Street just after 6 PM.  They say there was an unattended pot that caught fire on a stove in the basement kitchen.  Crews were able to quickly contain the blaze.  Nobody was inside the church at the time, and there were no injuries reported.  The building did sustain minor smoke damage.