Gies, DiNapoli get big wins in Democratic Primaries locally, and statewide...
Tuesday's Democrat Primaries found those elected getting a huge majority of the vote. Results from the New York State Board of Elections shows that Olean's Aaron Gies received nearly 72% of the vote in the 23rd Congressional District race. Buffalo-area Democrat Kevin Stocker was second with nearly 28% of the vote. In Chautauqua County... the Board of Elections reports Gies received nearly 78% of the vote... while Stocker had nearly 16%. Gies will now face two-term, incumbant Republican Nick Langworthy in November's General Election. In the Democrat Primary for State Comptroller... incumbant Tom DiNapoli won handily statewide... and, in Chautauqua County... he received just over 70% of the vote.
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In the lone Republican race locally... Jennifer Schmitt won over Sandy Volpe, Jr. in the Kiantone Clerk's race. Schmitt had nearly 69% of the vote to Volpe's nearly 29%.
Schmidt announces sentencings for two Dunkirk men...
Two men from Dunkirk have been sentenced to significant state prison time... one for attempted assault in a shooting... the other on drug-related charges. Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt says 43 year-old Juan Cruz-Corraliza was sentenced by Judge David Foley to five-years in state prison after being convicted of first-degree attempted assault in connection with a July 2022 shooting incident that injured two children. Schmidt says Cruz-Corraliza was also sentenced to 2 1/3 to 7 years after being convicted of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon for an incident in the village of Fredonia in October 2024. He says the sentences will be served concurrently... and, Cruz-Corraliza will then have to serve 5-years post-release supervision following his release. Schmidt says Cruz-Corraliza was indicted by a County Grand Jury in the 2022 case... but, there was a mistrial declared in 2024 because a unanimous verdict could not be reached. He says Cruz-Corraliza was free at the time of the second-incident in Fredonia where he pointed a gun at another person during an argument.
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In addition... Schmidt says 42 year-old Jorge Negron-Velasquez was sentenced by Judge Foley to six years in state prison with three years of post-release supervision for third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. In February 2024... he says Dunkirk police conducted a traffic stop of Negron-Velasquez and found a large quantity of cocaine following a search of the vehicle he was driving. In July 2024... Schmidt says Negron-Velasquez was indicted by a Grand Jury for second-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance because the weight was more than four-ounces... and on one count of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Borrello and Molitor address, and take questions from CHQ Chamber at Legislative Breakfast...
An ever-increasing state budget, affordability, and policies were among the topics that Chautauqua County's two state lawmakers discussed Wednesday morning at an event in the Dunkirk area. State Senator George Borrello and Assemblyman Andrew Molitor were the guests at CHQ Chamber's State of the State Legislature Breakfast at Shorewood Country Club. Regarding the $277 billion spending plan... Molitor spoke about trends, including increases in spending to the tune of about $18-billion above what Governor Kathy Hochul proposed, and more policy items in the budget. Molitor says he and Borrello were able to secure some "wins" in the budget, particularly when it came to policies affecting that are more "anti-businesses and the community. However, Borrello says many of those positives -- including the delay of climate mandates -- were "election year wins." Criticisms of this year's budget process Borrello highlighted include the fact that of more than 1,000 bills that were acted on during the final six days of this year's legislative session... more than half contained a message of necessity, which allows bills to be fast-tracked. He called that irresponsible because legislation can't be vetted properly.
Ferguson pleased to see SEQRA Reforms as part of new state budget...
A north county mayor is applauding the inclusion of reforms to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) in New York's enacted $277-billion budget. It's something Fredonia's Mike Ferguson has lobbied for during this year's budget process. Ferguson and three other municipal leaders recently traveled to Buffalo for a meeting with Governor Kathy Hochul... where she thanked them for the impact they made on her spending plan. Ferguson is pleased that the changes to the state's 50-year-old environmental law will reduce redundancies in building new housing and infrastructure. He says if you buy a new plot of land for a house, it has to have an environmental study done. Ferguson adds that if you want to buy a house that's on the property, you have to go through SEQRA again. He says there's no need for additional costs if changes to a property will not cause any environmental issues. The SEQRA reforms are part of Hochul's "Let Them Build" agenda.
Spooked horse triggers two vehicle accident in Cattaraugus County... injuring 8...
Eight people... five of them children... were hurt in a two-car crash... which also involved a rider on horseback in Cattaraugus County. First responders were called to the scene about 1 p.m. Tuesday on Route 353 in the town of Little Valley. Sheriff's officers in Little Valley say that a horse got spooked while on a riding trail... and, ran into the road, where it was struck by a car and killed. That car then struck another vehicle head-on. The horse rider was thrown... and, taken to the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo. No other information was available last night.
