A state Appellate Court Judge has dismissed the final part of a lawsuit brought by a waste company that had wanted to locate a landfill in the town of Carroll.
Town Supervisor Russ Payne says they announced the court's ruling during Wednesday night's board meeting. In the lawsuit... Payne says Sealand was challenging a 2007 local law prohibiting a landfill from being located off Dodge Road. However... the judge ruled the company has no "vested property interest" because it never owned the property.
Payne says Sealand also argued that a past board member -- who was also part of a citizen's committee -- had a conflict of interest regarding the 2007 law. Since the woman left the citizen's group before the law was acted on... he says there was no conflict involved. He says the latest action was taken on February 5th. Payne says the biggest part of the decision is that it shows that "Municipal Home Rule Law alive and well and works in New York state."
Lawmakers in Washington are looking over President Donald Trump's $4.8-trillion dollar budget for fiscal year 2021... which includes about $2-trillion dollars in cuts that would eliminate entitlements and social safety net programs.
That number includes food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security disability benefit programs... as well as the Low-Income Heating Energy Assistance Program. Local Congressman Tom Reed expressed concern over cuts to medical research and development.
Reed says he will fight to retain that funding... which includes money to help with diabetes research. That's an important program to the Corning Republican. The cuts will take place over 10 years... and, Reed says it'll again force lawmakers to defend spending they want restored, or added. At the same time... the proposed budget does not eliminate the deficit in the next 10 years... but 15 years. Reed has been concerned about ringing up the deficit... which the Congressional Budget Office has reported, will add up to one-trillion dollars annually. He made his comments during his weekly telepone conference call with area media.
A portion of North Work Street in the Village of Falconer was closed due to a motor vehicle accident early yesterday morning that knocked out power over a wide area.
Chautauqua County dispatchers say the accident occurred shortly before 7 AM... when a truck hit a utility pole and knocked out power to parts of the Village. They say thru-traffic was blocked off on North Work between Mosher and Mapleshade. Board of Public Utilities Spokeswoman Becky Robbins says BPU electric crews restored power about 8 AM.
Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist says he's hopeful that the city will get a good response to request for proposals they've sent out to private emergency ambulance service.
Sundquist's office shared the FRP's with City Council members at this week's work session. Sundquist says they received a list of potential, private EMS companies in the region before sending out those proposals. Current service provider, Alstar EMS, says they're experiencing a shortage of EMTS.
Sundquist says th city is continuing to get back-up from surrounding departments, such as Falconer and others... and, he recently thanked them during a meeting for that. The meeting also included Police Chief Harry Snellings, and Deputy Fire Chief Sam Salemme. Alstar recently told city officials that they were getting out of their agreement with the city in early April. Sundquist says the city is asking for the RFPs to be returned by Wednesday, March 11th. He made his comments for this coming weekend's "Community Spotlight" program on the six Media One Group stations.
A report of shots being fired in the backyard of a residence on Ruggles Street in Dunkirk Wednesday afternoon has led to the arrest of a 21-year-old man.
Dunkirk Police Chief David Ortolano says police quickly located the man and recovered a loaded firearm. In another development... Ortolano says Dunkirk Police have arrested a Forestville man on charges stemming from two separate crashes in the city on Wednesday. Ortolano says 25-year-old Jerry Murphy is facing several charges, including driving while under the influence of drugs.
