Movie Critic Michael Calleri
BPO Conductor Brett Havens on The Music of Queen.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Hometown News: Riverside Closed by Flu
Students at Buffalo's Riverside High School are getting an unexpected long weekend. The school is closed today and again Monday because of a flu outbreak. Officials say 19 students have complained of flu-like symptoms. The school's sites on Hertel and Ontario Avenues will reopen Tuesday after a thorough cleaning. The Erie County Health Department is running tests to see if H1NI is in play.
HTN: Downsizing Passes in West Seneca, Evans
Local governing boards in Evans and West Seneca are getting smaller. Voters in those two towns have overwhelmingly approved measures to reduce their town boards from five members to three. Supporters say the move will save taxpayers a considerable amount of money. Opponents say it concentrates power in the hands of just a few residents. Similar measures are on the November ballot in Orchard Park, Hamburg and Alden.
HTN: Hassan Trial Set for January
The trial for a husband who allegedly beheaded his wife at their Orchard Park television studio will begin in January. An Erie County judge has set January 19th for jury selection to begin. Prosecutors accuse 44-year-old Muzzammil Hassan of killing his estranged wife on February 12th. Pre-trial hearings continue in August. Hassan and his wife, 37-year-old Aasiya Zubair ran a Muslim-oriented television network called Bridges TV.
HTN: Prominent Businessman Dies
Buffalo has lost a prominent business and community leader. Joseph Goodell has died at the age of 71. Goodell was most recently on the Erie County Control Board, and was the head of American Brass in the 1980's, credited with turning that company around. Goodell then went on to become executive director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
HTN: Judge Rules that Taser-Obtained DNA is OK
A ruling by a Niagara County judge is the first in the U.S. to allow TASER-aquired DNA to be used as evidence. Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza says it is legal for a police officer to use a TASER on a suspect to obtain a DNA sample, as long as it's not done, quote, "maliciously, or to an excessive extent, or with resulting injury." A DNA sample obtained last September from 21-year-old Ryan Smith is now legally valid and can be used in connection with an alleged shooting and gas station robbery.
HTN: Former Buffalo Brave Dies
A homegrown basketball star who played for both Buffalo State and the Buffalo Braves has died. Former guard Randy Smith passed away at his Norwich, Connecticut home at the age of 60, of an apparent heart attack. He was a three-sport All-American at Buffalo State College and an NBA All Star with the Buffalo Braves. Smith played basketball, soccer and ran track at Buffalo State, and was a seventh-round draft pick of the Braves in 1971. He was named MVP of the 1978 NBA All-Star game, in the last season the Braves played in Buffalo. Smith had stayed connected to the Buffalo community through his Randy Smith Summer Basketball League.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Your Money and Your Life 5/27/09
Hosted by Mark Stevens, discussing the tools used by our elders that lead to a secure stress freee retirement.
HTN: Bottle Bill Bumped
New York State's effort to add deposit fees to bottled water has been delayed until April of next year. A federal judge has put the measure on hold after bottlers argued they were not given enough time to comply. The delay means that 115-million dollars in revenues to the state will have to wait. Environmentalists blasted the decision saying the nearly one year set back will put billions of plastic bottles into the garbage system instead of recycling.
Hometown News: Business First School Report
A study by "Business First" shows that female Western New York public school students have an edge over their male counterparts. Girls outnumber boys in the ranks of "elite students," with the 100 members of the Business First 2009 All-Western New York Academic Team consisting of 62 girls and 38 boys. New York State testing also showed that girls did better than boys in all 98 Western New York school districts.
That Business First report shows that Amherst's Smallwood Drive School is the region's top-performing elementary school for the third year in a row in the total of Rounding out the top five are South Davis ES of Orchard Park, Maple East ES in Williamsville, Southern Tier Catholic School in Olean and Charlotte Avenue ES of Hamburg. Coming in last was Potters Road School in West Seneca.
That Business First report shows that Amherst's Smallwood Drive School is the region's top-performing elementary school for the third year in a row in the total of Rounding out the top five are South Davis ES of Orchard Park, Maple East ES in Williamsville, Southern Tier Catholic School in Olean and Charlotte Avenue ES of Hamburg. Coming in last was Potters Road School in West Seneca.
HTN: County Control Board Goes Soft
The Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority has gone from "hard" to "soft". The County control board has scaled back it powers to soft advisory status now that county finances are in a better position. The past four years the control board had strict oversight of the county's books. The board gave the thumbs-up to a four-year financial plan presented by Erie ounty Executive Chris Collins, meaning the control board will no longer need to approve major financial decisions by the county. Collins hopes the change will boost the county's economy. In 2004 the county was plagued with a nearly eleven-million dollar deficit. Since then, it has turned into a 46-million dollar surplus. Control board members stress that budget gaps are still looming in the near future.
Missing Off-Duty Cop Found
A missing Buffalo police officer has been found alive near his home. Inspector David Andrews was found just before 10:30 last night near in Kaisertown. Andrews had left home to walk his dogs and was last seen in the Clinton Street/Mineral Springs area around 2 p.m. Both dogs returned to the home. An Erie County Sheriff's helicopter was dispatched to help Buffalo and West Seneca police with the search, which was centered around river and creek beds were Andrews reportedly usually walked the dogs.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Good Morning Buffalo: Auto Industry
Loraine and Tom talk with NFADA President Paul Stasiak about the WNY effects of the GM bankruptcy.
HTN: Downsizing Votes Set
Voters in two Western New York towns will hit the polls tomorrow to determine if their local governments should be downsized. West Seneca and Evans will ask voters to drop their town boards from five members down to three. Supporters say the move would save on salaries and benefits. Opponents say it concentrates power in the hands of just a few people. Orchard Park, Alden and Hamburg have similar votes set for November and more could be on the way.
Hometown: More Layoffs Loom, but Engine Plant Stays Open
Workers at the GM engine plant in Tonawanda are gearing up for layoffs, a day after General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection. The plant manager in Tonawanda says 25 to 30-percent of the nearly 900 workforce at the site could face pink slips. GM is phasing out two engines built in Tonawanda, and already has 360 hourly workers on layoff. The automaker plans to close several assembly and stamping plants in the effort to reemerge as a smaller, leaner company.
HTN: Higher Scores on Math Tests
Buffalo students are scoring higher on state Math tests. Sixty-three-percent of Buffalo Public Schools third through eighth graders scored at or above the state standard. That number was just 29-percent last year. Across New York, 86-point-four-percent of students in grades three through eight achieved the passing-standard this year, compared with just 80-point-seven-percent in 2008.
HTN:Big Schools Pay Big Bucks
Western New York's biggest school districts pay their administrators and teachers big bucks. A "Business First" analysis of the eight-county region shows that ten Western New York school districts have over five-thousand students each, with an average superintendent salary of 173,680-dollars. Niagara Falls and Williamsville top the list for classroom teacher base-pay, with about 42-thousand-dollars-a-year in both districts. Williamsville's median salary is 63,918-dollars for classroom teachers. The Buffalo superintendent takes home 220-thousand a year, while the top educator in Williamsville grabs 206,500 dollars.
HTN: Local Trees Could Face Beetle Problem
Officials are warning residents about the Asian longhorned beetle. The bug is the latest threat to trees in the northeast. Forestry officials hope this early warning will help keep New York from being the next victims of the bugs which are already making their way steadily through Massachusetts. The beetles can be identified by their big black and white spotted bodies and long antennae.
HTN: Aud Artifacts Going to Hockey Hall
Memorial Auditorium is almost a memory, but twoorange seats, the original 1939 construction blueprints, and several other pieces of memorabilia will be enshrined at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Mayor Byron Brown will present the seats to Hall of Fame representatives.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Hometown News: GM Files for Bankruptcy
General Motors officially filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy this morning. The nation's largest automaker will be receiving another 30-billion dollars from the U.S. Treasury as part of its filing. The government will have over 50-billion dollars invested in the automaker. The American and Canadian governments will own 72-percent of the company. Meanwhile, a bankruptcy judge has approved the deal allowing Chrysler LLC to sell most of its assets to Italian automaker Fiat.
HTN: New Day at the Border
Beginning today, travelers will need a passport to cross the border. The new rules apply to everyone, including children, and are part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. The requirements were put into place by the Bush administration in the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, and will finally be implemented after being delayed for several years. Border officials say if you do forget you passport you won’t be held in jail. Once US citizenship is established you will be released with a warning. Border patrols are expecting things to run smoothly today as they say they have been preparing for the transition for some time.
HTN: Three Dead in Falls
Three people found dead in a Niagara Falls home Saturday afternoon have been identified. Twenty-seven-year-old William Jakobi, 25-year-old Victoria Eikenburg and 22-year-old Adam Tafelski were discovered in a Caravelle Drive home. Police believe they may have died from accidental overdoses. Autopsies are set for this morning at ECMC.
HTN: Loose Dog Causes Dismay in Alden
A loose dog and some scared kids are the reason two Village of Alden men went to jail. Police received a report of a loose German Shepherd reportedly threatening children in the Seabrook Drive neighborhood. They arrived and were able to get all the children safely indoors, but 42-year-old Kenneth Hicks allegedly drove his truck down recklessly the street to confront the dog and its owner. Timothy Bentz also came outside with a bow and arrow at one point. Hicks has been charged with reckless endangerment, while Bentz faces a menacing charge. The dog was picked up by Alden dog control.
HTN: Buffalo Convention Business Mixed So Far
The Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau says convention business is up, but visitor count is down. The organization says 108 new conventions, meetings, special events or amateur sporting events have been booked since the beginning of the year. That's a 27-percent increase for the 85 during the same time last year. Potential visitor bookings, however, are down by 24-point-three-percent from last year. The CVB is working with 180 new groups; that could bring 88-thousand-575 visitors to the area.
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