Friday, March 20, 2009
Good Morning Buffalo: Calleri at the Movies
Loraine and Tom's weekly talk with movie critic Michael Calleri.
Hometown News: City Planner Changes Mind
Buffalo is back to the drawing board in finding a new city planner. Michael Kimelberg has decided not to take the job. The highly-touted Seattle native was introduced by Mayor Byron Brown in February, but failed to actually show up to start the new job. Rumors began circulating around City Hall, and Kimelberg finally confirmed that he had turned down the job, saying his wife's career would not allow her to leave Seattle as he had expected.
HTN: NFTA Won't Hike Metro Fares Again
Good news for mass-transit commuters. The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority will not raise fares to two dollars on July 1st. The agency has been able to fill a projected seven-million dollar budget gap. On New Year's Day, fares were bumped from a-dollar-50 to a-dollar-75. At that time the Authority warned a second fare hike might be needed this summer.
HTN: Airport Traffic Declines Again
Passenger declines at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport continue for a fifth-straight month. The NFTA says that passenger counts were down nearly seven-and-a-half percent in February compared with the same month last year. However, the Authority says passenger levels may be rebounding this month. Many schools in the region are on Spring Break and NFTA says it appears the airport has been busier.
HTN: NT Museum Has New Home
The North Tonawanda History Museum has a new address. Purchase of a building at 54-60 Webster Street closed Wednesday. The museum received a 150-thousand-dollar grant from the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation, and several smaller grants from other organizations, to help pay for the building. Parts of the date back as far as 1888.
New Show: Sports Insiders
Sports Insiders with Joe Major, Allen Wilson, and Rodney McKissic (from 3-16-09)
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Good Morning Buffalo: Flight 3407 Song
Christina Abt talks about her project: Love Knows No Boundaries.
GMB: Shelley Scratz
The Amherst council member talks about Satish Mohan's decision not to seek a second term.
GMB: Complete Heat
Tom Phillips from Complete Heat talks about springtime maintenance on your heating/cooling system.
Hometown News: Another Closed-Door Budget in Albany
With the deadline looming to approve a budget, Albany returned to politics as usual last night with three men in a room. Governor David Paterson, state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith are working to close New York's 14-billion-dollar budget gap in the next two weeks. All the powerbrokers in the state capital are all Democrats, for the first time in four decades. Republican Dean Skelos criticized Senate Democrats for campaigning on a message of transparency, but participating in closed door negotiations. The Paterson Administration defends the closed door session as the best way to strike a deal by the April 1st deadline.
HTN: Snyder Wants Off Gaming Board
Barry Snyder now says he no longer wants to serve on the Seneca Gaming Board. Cochise Redeye replaced Barry Snyder as chairman, and said Snyder should be removed completely from the board because he had no authority to appoint a committee to investigate a media leak. Now Snyder apparently does not want to be reappointed. Auditors have issued a preliminary report criticizing Seneca Gaming for a two-point-one-million-dollar land purchase in Lewiston to build a golf course. Redeye says Snyder's failure to cooperate with the auditors is a breach of fiduciary responsibility.
HTN: Shooting Suspect Unknowingly Freed
A suspect in Monday's North Buffalo shooting was freed from custody in a separate drug case, before cops had a chance to connect her to the violent crime. 21-year-old Adrienne March was arrested for marijuana possession about ten hours after the shooting, but was only kept in the jail overnight. March is called a "person of interest" in the shooting that critically injured Kiele Coleman and Frank Militello on St. Lawrence Avenue, and is still at large. The incident happened in North Buffalo.
HTN: Assault, Suicide in Wyoming County
Police in Wyoming County say a man who apparently attacked a teen earlier this week has killed himself. 39-year-old Paul Richards was found dead in his Castile home Tuesday with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Richards allegedly struck a 15-year-old boy in the head with a gun Monday night on Oatka Road in Perry. Authorities say evidence collected at the house provided the connection to Monday night's attack.
HTN: Corfu Incumbent Beats Murder Suspect
During yesterday's mayoral election in the Village of Corfu, challenger Scott Doll appeared on the ballot while he appeared in court on a murder charge. Doll has been accused of murdering business partner Joseph Benaquist last month, yet was still able to run in yesterday's election on a Republican ticket. However, incumbent mayor Todd Skeet will be serving residents for another two years. The final count was Skeet 109 votes, Doll 47.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Hometown News: Hit-and-Run Driver Pleads Guilty
An Amherst man has taken a plea deal in a December hit-and-run accident that killed a woman and injured one of her two young sons on Main Street. Twenty-one-year-old Christopher Tulumello has pleaded guilty to drunk driving, vehicular assault, and vehicular manslaughter for the death of 23-year-old Amanda Knowlton and the injury of her four-year-old son Isiah Ortiz. Tulumello now faces up to 15 years in prison. Tulumello allegedly sped through a red light at Main and LaSalle Avenue, struck the two and then sped off. He is free on 50-thousand dollars security bond, and must wear an ankle-monitor device.
HTN: Pleads Guilty in Two Violent Crimes
A Cheektowaga teenager will spend 21 years behind bars for gunning down one man and stabbing another. That was the sentence handed to 18-year-old Gerald "Na-Na" Gibson, who shot and killed 19-year-old Jermain Martin last June 7th at Bailey and Stockbridge. He also was part of a group that stabbed a rival gang member in January of 2008 on a Metro Rail train near the Utica Station. After the shooting, Gibson fled to Pittsburgh and was nabbed by authorities as he tried to board a bus to Las Vegas.
HTN: GM Chair Talks Tonawanda
The chairman of General Motors says he is optimistic about the future of the company's plant in Tonawanda. Richard Wagoner told reporters Tuesday there are no plans to shutter at the site. The Tonawanda facility employs about 13-hundred people, but 400 have been laid off because of the slowing auto industry. Wagoner says while he's confident in the Tonawanda plant, it may be run far differently in the future as the industry seeks to turn around. The GM chairman suggested a two-tier employment system where the company could hire many workers in boom times and more easily let them go as numbers decline.
HTN: Delphi Retirees Vow to Keep Fighting
Salaried retirees from Delphi Corp. will continue their legal fight despite a bankruptcy court judge's refusal to delay discontinuation of their healthcare benefits. Retirees, including former Lockport plant workers, are scheduled to lose coverage April 1st. The retirees asked the judge to delay his order up to 60 days so they have more time to get ready for the changes. The Troy, Michigan-based company has been under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since October of 2005. Company officials say they need to eliminate retired salaried workers' healthcare and life insurance benefits before the company can make it through bankruptcy.
HTN: Murder Suspect on Corfu Ballot
Voters going to the polls today in the village of Corfu in Genesee County will see a murder suspect on their ballots. Scott Doll, who's currently sitting in jail, will be on today's ballot even though he is facing charges of murdering his business partner last month. Joseph Benaquist was found bludgeoned to death outside of his Pembroke home. If Doll wins, he could still take office at this point since he has not been convicted of any crime.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Hometown News: St. Patrick's Day
Today is St. Patrick's Day and the list is out of U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of Irish ancestry. Buffalo comes in at number eight nationally, with eleven percent, or over 126-thousand Erie and Niagara County residents, calling Irish their primary ancestry. Boston came in first, with 19-percent of the population claiming roots on the Emerald Isle. Eight other cities, including Buffalo, show at least ten-percent of their residents claiming to be of Irish descent. Irish-Americans are the second-largest ancestral group in the country, coming in behind German-Americans.
HTN: North Buffalo Shooting, Car Crash
Buffalo police are trying to piece together a shooting in North Buffalo. Authorities called to Saint Lawrence Avenue yesterday about 1:30 p.m. after an apparent motor vehicle accident. When officers arrived they found a man and woman with gunshot wounds inside the vehicle. Cops are not sure if the shots were fired from outside the car or possibly by a passenger. The two victims are in critical condition at Erie County Medical Center.
HTN: Home Sales, Prices Drop
Home sales in the Buffalo-Niagara region dropped by 23-percent last month compared to February of last year. It's the second straight month of double-digit decline in the housing market. January sales were off 17-percent from 2008. Home prices are also on a downward trend. The average sale price in February dropped seven-percent, down to under 110-thousand-dollars.
HTN: Seneca Millions Cause Controversy
The Tribal Employment Rights Ordinance [[ TERO ]] program has made millionaires out of a few Senecas. An audit commissioned by the Seneca Gaming Corporation is taking a good look at the controversial program. TERO was established to pair Seneca businesses with outside contractors to help Senecas start their own companies. Instead, the program has made millionaires out a few Senecas, most connected to former Seneca Gaming Chairman and current tribe President Barry Snyder Sr. The money has come from millions of dollars in casino contracts.
NYC Man Arrested for Arson
A New York City man is accused of setting a fire in an occupied home on the West Side Sunday night. 24-year-old Adama Coulibaly was arrested yesterday morning after being found hiding in an upstairs closet in his brother's Grant Street home. The fire was started on the second floor of the home, and then spread to the attic.
HTN: West Side Job Center
A new employment center on the west side of Buffalo is making the search for a new job a bit easier. Hispanics United of Buffalo has opened a new career center for job-seekers. The center helps with interview etiquette, specialized training, and workshops to help improve math and reading skills. The organization has been serving about 14-hundred people a month.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Reason with Scott Leffler
Monday 3/16 edition, including St. Patrick's Day weekend and a visit with Matt Pearl. Full Two Hours Here.
Hometown News: Two Killed by Train in Hamburg
Police in Hamburg are trying to figure out why a couple walking on the train tracks did not get out of the train's way. Investigators say the man and woman, both in their 40s, were walking back to a nearby mobile home park after going to a convenience store on Saint Francis Drive yesterday. A spokesman for Norfolk Southern Railway says the train blew its whistle several times, but the couple did not move and the train could not stop in time. Police say the victims had come from Florida and were staying with a relative in the mobile home park.
Hometown News: Two Killed by Train in Hamburg
Police in Hamburg are trying to figure out why a couple walking on the train tracks did not get out of the train's way. Investigators say the man and woman, both in their 40s, were walking back to a nearby mobile home park after going to a convenience store on Saint Francis Drive yesterday. A spokesman for Norfolk Southern Railway says the train blew its whistle several times, but the couple did not move and the train could not stop in time. Police say the victims had come from Florida and were staying with a relative in the mobile home park.
HTN: Buffalo Firefighters Pile Up Overtime
It's not uncommon for retiring Buffalo firefighters to put in a little overtime in the last few months and weeks to boost their pension checks a little. A rotation system designed to evenly disperse overtime across the department should stand in their way, but right now it doesn't. Overtime has skyrocketed in recent months for those about to retire. Overtime for these firefighters doesn't just mean a big check at the end of the pay period, but big checks after their careers as well. Buffalo city pensions are decided on final or highest years' salaries.
HTN: Hazmat Spill Sunday
HAZMAT crews were called to a rail yard on Broadway late Sunday morning after a report of an odor of ammonia was called in. Emergency responders arrived at the scene around 11 a.m. They reported no odor at the time. Some people were evacuated from the rail yard, which is between Dick and Indian Roads. A railroad car is considered a possible source of the odor.
HTN: Cold Case Cracked
The Buffalo Police Cold Case Squad has cracked a 15-year-old murder. A 91-year-old Buffalo woman, Mabel Neuner, was bludgeoned to death in her home, just before Christmas in 1993. Now, police have arrested 32-year-old John Butler of Buffalo. Butler was just 16-years-old at the time of the killing, but detectives say they now have the evidence they need to charge him in Neuner's murder. She was found dead in the basement of her home, which had also been ransacked. Butler is currently lodged in the Oneida County correctional facility on a parole violation for an unrelated crime.
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