Overall crime down in Jamestown in 2021, but, shootings and gun seizures were up...
The number of number of shooting incidents and seized guns increased in 2021 over the year before in the city of Jamestown. However... overall crime numbers are down from 2020. That from City Police Chief Tim Jackson... who reported the numbers during Monday night's City Council work session. Jackson says the number of violent crimes fell from 8.6 per 1,000 people to 8.4 per 1,000 people... and, there was a drop in property crimes. He believes a lot of that was due to more community policing, and an increase in beat patrols. Jackson says they held 370 community service details, and 1,145 beat patrols... which he says is a "lot of walking the beat." However... he says they also saw the number of shooting incidents increase last year from 12 in 2020... to 19 last year... and, the number of guns seized increased from 17 to 55. He adds that the number of drug seizures were up in almost all catagories... led by cocaine seizures. Those numbers were 594.4 in 2020... to 1565.9 in 2021. Jackson adds that Fentanyl was up from 292 grams seized in 2020... to 835 last year. He says methamphetamine seizures also increased significantly... more than doubling. Jackson says all the work was accomplished by his officers, "working through a pandemic." He applauded "their excellent work."
Jamestown sees record amout of sales tax revenues in 2021...
City Council members in Jamestown received some very good news about sales tax revenues for 2021 Monday night... as the city surpassed the $7-million mark for the first time ever. That from City Comptroller Ryan Thompson... who says they had budgeted $6.7-million for the year... and, ended up with just over $7.9-million. Thompson says they had another big quarterly total for the final quarter of last year... totaling $1.89-million. That's $113,000 more than the fourth-quarter of 2020. He says two factors -- one being inflation -- drove the final numbers for the fourth-quarter. He says the city brought in just over $1.1-million more in sales tax than in 2020. During the year... Thompson and other city leaders noted that a much of the yearly jump in sales tax revenues were also driven by major increases in on-line retail shopping.
Three people from Bronx arrested following traffic stop in Dunkirk...
Three people from the Bronx have been arrested following a traffic stop on Waldorf Road in the city of Dunkirk. State Police in Fredonia say they pulled over the car, driven by 20 year-old Alsney Barry, back on Feb. 7 for a traffic violation. Troopers say they found that Barry was driving with a suspended license... and, that the vehicle was not registered or insured. While trying to have the vehicle towed... Barry and his passengers, 19 year-old Ali Cisse and 21 year-old Fahruk Babalola, refused to get out of the vehicle. They are also accused of continuing to physically interfere with the Troopers’ duties. All three were arrested for second-degree obstruction... and, were issued appearance tickets for Dunkirk City Court.
Gillibrand says she's endorsing Hochul for Governor...
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is backing Kathy Hochul in the New York governor's race. It's the highest-profile endorsement so far of Hochul's candidacy as she looks to secure her party's nomination, and win the governorship in her own right. She was initially expected to face a tough battle for the Democratic nomination. But months ahead of the June primary... Hochul has solidified her position as the front-runner, amassing campaign donations and endorsements. She's being challenged by U.S. Congressman Tom Suozzi... a Long Island Democrat. A third candidate, New York City public advocate Jumaane Williams, is the most progressive candidate in the race.
Another House Democrat from NYS to retire...
Congresswoman Kathleen Rice says she will not seek reelection this Fall. The New Yorker's decision makes her the 30th Democrat to announce they're leaving the House before November elections when Republicans are making a strong push to win the majority. So far... 13 GOP House members have said they are leaving the chamber. One of them is local Congressman Tom Reed. Rice revealed her plans on her 57th birthday. She didn't specify why she was leaving. But her two-paragraph statement says lawmakers "must give all we have, and then know when it is time to allow others to serve." Rice has represented the Long Island district for four terms.
ImmunityBio closes on "leasehold" deal for Athenex plant in Dunkirk...
Athenex has announced that it has closed on the sale of it's 'leasehold interest' in the manufacturing facility in the town of Dunkirk to ImmunityBio, Inc. for about $40-million. Local officials are excited about the announcement, including County Executive P.J. Wendel... he says the head of ImmunityBio has been vocal in his desire to get production moving, and has even talked about expansion. Not only is ImmunityBio looking to get the plant operating... but, Wendel says the California-based immunotherapy company is looking to acquire more property for expansion. He says they've brought a "lot of excitement and experience" to the table to get operations up and running. The 409,000 square-foot biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility is located near Route 5, just east of the city of Dunkirk.
