The city of Jamestown will undertake a record 140 public works improvement projects this Summer, most of them dealing with local streets and highways.....
Mayor Sam Teresi says the projects are broken down into six catagories, with 18 "major construction projects." Teresi says those include East Third Street between Main and Pine Streets, and Baker Street from Norwood Avenue to the state Arterial. He says the projects total several million dollars total and, will involve the city's Public Works, Parks and other departments.
Teresi says the largest number of projects, 50, will be in the repair and chip seal catagory. There will be about 28 mill and overlay projects to improve local streets and roads. Teresi says funding for the projects come from a few different sources. The main one is the state's Consolidated Highway Improvement Program -- or CHIPS funding. He adds the East Third Street project is being funded through the state's Downtown Revitalization Initiative program. Major projects are also slated for Allen Street, Broadhead Avenue, and North Main Street.
More than 180 establishments holding New York state liquor licenses have been charged with serving minors during last month's statewide crackdown on underage drinking....
State officials say April's monthlong enforcement effort resulted in charges being filed against 186 out of the 851 bars, restaurants, liquor stores and grocery stores in 46 counties that were visited by underage decoys working with investigators. Three of those were in Chautauqua County. They were the Allen Street Grocery on Allen Street, and Robo on North Main Street in Jamestown and, Don's Car Wash in Lakewood. The compliance checks were conducted by the State Liquor Authority, the state Department of Motor Vehicles and local law enforcement agencies. Democratic Govenor Andrew Cuomo announced the start of the statewide sweeps in early April.
The city of Dunkirk's top cop says the investigation is continuing into a stabbing that occurred on the 100 block of Lincoln Avenue late Wednesday afternoon....
Police Chief David Ortolano says officers responded to a report of a fight around 4 PM.
Ortolano says investigators continue to work on the case and they have a person of interest after lengthy investigation late into Wednesday night, and re-starting early yesterday morning. He says they are looking for her now. Ortolano says the victim, whose name has not been released, remains in the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo.
Upwards of 500 people are expected to take part in Jamestown's annual Spring clean-up, also known as "Hands on Jamestown..." this Saturday morning....
"Hands on" started many years ago to help get the downtown area cleaned up before Summer activites get underway and, is now headed up by the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation. JRC Marketing and Events Manager Zach Agett says the clean-up runs from 8 AM to Noon.
Agett says volunteers can get some light refreshments, garbage bags and gloves at the Winter Garden Plaza on Main Street at the beginning. You are urged to bring your own shovels, rakes, and brooms for the clean-up. So far, Agett says they have just over 300 people signed up... and, they could use more. Agett says some new areas will be part of this year's clean-up... especially the Greater Jamestown Riverwalk, and it's new pedestrian bridges. For more information, go to the JRC website at Jamestownrenaissance.org or call Zach Agett at 489-3496.
Well known author and researcher Dr. Allida Black is in Jamestown today for the Robert H. Jackson Center's Young Readers Program...
She'll be talking to students about what she calls 'the real magic of Harry Potter.' She says it has nothing to do with wands or flying. Instead, it's never letting fear erase joy, and never letting terror control your future. Just like in Harry Potter, Dr. Black believes it's young people in the 'real world' who do that work, because grownups are 'too comfortable.' As Black sees it, the activists students who emerged after the Parkland school shooting in Florida are 'the heirs' to Harry Potter. Allida Black is a leading scholar on the life and work of Eleanor Roosevelt. She'll speak to young readers this morning at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts, and this afternoon at the Jackson Center.
New employment data shows New York state added nearly 25-thousand jobs last month....
Preliminary jobs numbers released by the state Department of Labor on Thursday show there were more than 8.3 million private-sector jobs in New York, an increase of 24,600 or 0.3% compared to the previous month. That's the highest number of private-sector jobs in the state since current record keeping began in the 1970s. New York state's unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.9% in April, slightly behind the national rate of 3.6-percent. The numbers come from federal surveys of 18,000 employers in the state. Jobs in health care and private educational services experienced the biggest job gains in the past year. Kingston saw the largest jobs gains of any state metropolitan area in April with a 2.9% increase.
The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities began flushing the water mains in the village of Falconer last night and, may continue through Noon today....
BPU Communications Coordinator Becky Robbins says customers are reminded that the process may cause discolored water in Falconer and the northside of Jamestown. BPU Water Customers can contact the flushing hotline with questions at 661-1688 or Communications at 661-1680.
