Matar request for bail denied by Judge Foley...
Chautauqua County Court Judge David Foley has denied a request for bail for the New Jersey man accused of last August's vicious attack on author Salmon Rushdie at Chautauqua Institution. District Attorney Jason Schmidt says the decision was made following an omnibus hearing for 25 year-old Hadi Matar. Schmidt adds that Matar's defense attorneys also sought to have certain comments he made to police at the time of his arrest... and, certain items of physical evidence suppressed for trial. The D-A says the court will schedule pre-trial hearings to rule on the defense’s suppression applications. Schmidt says they expect holding those hearings over the next two months... which will clear the way for the case to be scheduled for trial... possibly by the end of the year.
Gillibrand again calls on IRS to clear ERC backlog...
U-S Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is again pushing for the Internal Revenue Service to address it's backlog of requests for Employee Retention Credit refunds to small businesses and nonprofits. During a Zoom teleconference Thursday... the New York Democrat pointed out that the IRS now has as many as 1-million unprocessed ERC claims. Gillibrand says that means many small New York businesses have yet to receive the money they are owed for keeping employees on the payroll during the COVID Pandemic. She says she wrote to the IRS director at the time to speed up the ERC claims processing. However... Gillibrand says the problem has actually gotten worse. She is also calling on IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel to provide updates to Congress about how it's resolving the problem. Gillibrand says, Werfel testified before a Senate committee April 19, and, he said there were two reasons for the backlong. One was that ERC refunds are processed manually, and that's time consuming. Werfel added that they were also still in midst of tax season. But... once that was finished... he believed they would be able to finish 40,000 of those a week to clear the backlog.
Comedy Center announces Lucy Festival Headliners...
The two headliners for this year's Lucille Ball Comedy Festival have been announced... and both have been breaking on-line and ticket sale records. Comedy Center Executive Director Journey Gunderson says Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias and Taylor Tomlinson will headline the 2023 festival, which runs Aug. 2-6. She says Iglesias was the top-selling comedian in the world in 2022... and, one of the most-watched comedians on YouTube with over 1.1-billion views. He'll be on stage on Thursday, August 3rd. Tomlinson, who is currently breaking ticket sale records set by the likes of Jerry Seinfeld... and, selling out venues worldwide following her two highly acclaimed Netflix stand-up specials, will perform on Fri., Aug. 4, as part of her current “The Have It All” tour. The Comedy Center says tickets for these shows... and, many other festival comedy events including the festival’s annual Stand-Up Showcase, will go on pre-sale for National Comedy Center Members only – starting Friday, May 12 at noon... through Wednesday, May 17 at www.ComedyCenter.org. Public on-sale date will begin Friday, May 19 at noon.
Whitaker says final NYS school aid pretty much be what JPS will receive...
The Jamestown school district is receiving the amount of state aid it was anticipating from the new, New York state budget adopted earlier this week. That from School Superintendent Kevin Whitaker... who says there was one minor change... that being a reduction in the amount of money they were to receive to support BOCES Services. Whitaker says that's a drop of $300,000. However... he adds the district is still getting an increase of $7-million to $8-million from the state. He says that's part of the pool of money local districts pay to BOCES for special services they provide. Dr. Whitaker says... otherwise... the district has some new reporting guidelines to deal with... and, there were also some changes to support for tutoring services. However... that was taken out in the final spending plan. He says... with the increase in state aid... the district will be receiving more than $86-million from New York state for the 2023-24 school year.
JHS PTO to host ‘Meet The Candidates’ Night next Thursday night...
Voters in the Jamestown Public School district will have the chance next Thursday night to meet and learn about the four candidates running for the school board on May 16. School Superintendent Kevin Whitaker says the "Meet the Candidates Night" will begin at 6 p.m. in the board room in the Administration Building on Martin Road. Whitaker says there are two incumbants seeking reelection this month. They are Paul Abbott and Christine Schnars. The two newcomers are John Panebianco and Melissa Paterniti. Whitaker says next Thursday's forum is free and open to the public. The forum is being hosted by the Jamestown High School Parent-Teacher Organization. Questions for the candidates can be sent to the moderators, PTO President Joanne Dean at deans@stny.rr.com... or Treasurer Melissa Rhodes at msrhodes1984@gmail.com. They should be submitted no later than May 10. Whitaker says residents will decide on the candidates... $101-million budget... and, establishing a $5-million capital reserve fund during the May 16 vote. That'll take place from Noon to 9 p.m. at Lincoln Elementary School, Jefferson Middle School and Washington Middle School.
