Father and son arrested during drug raid in Stockton...
A Stockton man and his son were arrested during a drug raid late last week in the town of Stockton after police found drugs and an illegal gun inside their home.  Sheriff's officers say they, and members of the Southern Tier Regional, and Jamestown Metro Drug Task Forces executed a search warrant at 6444 Bowers Rd. about 5:30 p.m. last Friday.  Inside... they found the gun, narcotics, and drug paraphernalia.  Police also arrested the resident, 59 year-old Scott Steinhoff, and his 22 year-old son, Nathaniel.  Both men face charges including... third and fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance... and, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.  Both were taken to the county jail pending arraignment.  If you see or know of suspicious or narcotics related activity in your neighborhood... call the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force Tipline at 1-800-344-8702 or the Jamestown Metro Drug Task Force tips line at 483-8477.

City woman arrested on drug charges after vehicle stop...
A traffic stop in Brooklyn Square late last week led to the arrest of a Jamestown woman who was found in possession of various narcotic drugs.  City police say a patrol spotted a vehicle just after 5 p.m. last Friday operating without a valid State inspection sticker.  Officers stopped the car in the Big Lots parking lot... and, found that the driver, 35 year-old Aimee Hogg... was also driving with a suspended license.  Futher investigation led to discovery of quantities of Fentanyl, methamphetamine, and vicodin inside the vehicle.  Police arrested Hogg on charges of third... fifth and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.  Two of the charges are Felonies.  She was jailed pending arraignment.

Wendel says CDC now listing all of WNY -- and Chautauqua County -- as being at low-risk for COVID is great news...
The latest COVID-19 'community levels by county' map from the Centers for Disease Control shows that all of Western New York's counties are in the CDC's "Low" community risk for COVID category.  That includes Chautauqua County.  County Executive P.J. Wendel says he's pleased by the news, and he said officials knew they were in the low rate late last week, but, it took a while for the CDC to catch up with that.  None of the 62 counties in New York State are now listed in the "High" category.  The county's most recent numbers from the week ending Feb. 26, showed 139 new cases of COVID-19... and, a "Medium" transmission rate.

Wendel hopes COVID-19 is being put into "rear-view" mirror...
As COVID-19 case numbers plummet across the U-S... and, Chautauqua County... officials are hoping that the pandemic is in the rear-view mirror.  However... the county's top-elected official says local leaders are trying to work on dealing with the virus going forward... and, what the next public health emergency may be.  County Executive P.J. Wendel is pleased to see the COVID case numbers fall to 139 for the week ending Feb. 26.  While testing and vaccination availability remains high... Wendel says theraputics are not.  Wendel says this allows the county's Department of Health and Human Services to put more focus on other matters, including the opioid epidemic, which got worse during the pandemic. 

New 23rd Congressional District race appears to come down to Tenney vs. Della Pia...
It appears the two likely major party candidates for the race in the newly re-drawn 23rd Congressional District this Fall have emerged.  Chautauqua County Republicans have now endorsed current 22nd District Representative Claudia Tenney of Utica to run for the seat... which will be vacated by Tom Reed next year.  Reed is not seeking re-election to another term.  Reed has endorsed one of his key staff people... but, believes Tenney will be the likely candidate.  The Corning Republican has backed his Chief of Staff, Joe Sempelinski.  Tenney has been making the rounds in the 23rd District to garner support to her candidacy.  With the redrawn lines... Tenney is able to run for the seat now held by Reed.  It appears that she'll face a Democrat who sought the nomination to run against Reed in 2018.  Max Della Pia of the Ithaca area has received the endorsement of some Democratic County Committees already.  Della Pia was a strong contender for the 2018 nomination, but, lost out to Ithaca's Tracy Mitrano.

City man arrested for Fentanyl possession...
A Jamestown man has been arrested for allegedly being found in possession of a quantity of Fentanyl during a street check on the city's northside late last week.  City police say they spotted 43 year-old Roberto Lopez-Cruz at the corner of North Main and East Seventh Streets last Thursday afternoon.  During the check... Cruz was found with the narcotic drug... and, arrested.  Cruz was arraigned on one count of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.  He was later released with appearance tickets in accordance with state Bail Reform requirements.

Ethics Commission still feeling affects from Feb. cyberattack...
A cyberattack on New York's ethics commission last month is expected to keep lobbying and financial disclosure systems offline for about another week.  The Joint Commission on Public Ethics said Saturday it is continuing its investigation into the attack on its web application server, but that it expects electronic lobbying reporting and financial disclosure statement systems to be back online by Friday.  The attack was discovered by a suspicious activity alert on Feb. 21... and, all systems were taken offline as a precaution.