Press release:

The Batavia Muckdogs have announced their manager and coaching staff for the 2014 season. For the second season in a row, this year’s squad will be lead by manager Angel Espada, pitching coach Brendan Sagara and hitting coach Rigoberto Silverio.

The 2014 campaign marks Angel Espada’s third year as the manager for the Marlins’ short-season Single-A affiliate, second as manager of the Batavia Muckdogs. Espada led the Muckdogs to a 39-36 record in 2013, finishing in third place in the Pinckney Division. Espada spent the 2012 season as the manager of the Jamestown Jammers and the year prior as the hitting coach for the Jammers. Prior to his time with Jamestown, he spent two years working as the hitting coach for the Gulf Coast League Marlins.

Espada was a 42nd-round pick of the Atlanta Braves in the 1994 First-Year Player Draft. In addition to the Braves, he also played in the Mets’ and Yankees’ systems. His playing career spanned 14 years and he finished with a .305 career batting average over 940 games played.

Brendan Sagara begins his third season as pitching coach for the Marlins’ short-season Single-A affiliate. Sagara has served as a pitching coach for 12 seasons with various teams. He broke into the coaching profession with the Dubois County Dragons of the Frontier League in 2001 as the Club’s pitching coach. He has also worked for the Braves as a part-time scout (2010-11) and the Mets as an associate scout (2006-09). In 2007, he was named Coach of the Year in Windy City of the Frontier League, while boasting the league’s top pitching staff.

Rigoberto Silverio returns for his second campaign as Batavia’s hitting coach and his sixth year in the Marlins organization. Prior to 2013, he spent two seasons as a coach for Jupiter. He spent his first three seasons with organization as a coach for the Jamestown Jammers. In his five seasons in the Marlins farm system, the former infielder was a career .243 hitter in 225 games.

Michael Bibbo will serve as the trainer for the 2014 season, his second year with the both the Muckdogs’ and Marlins’ organizations. Bibbo previously was the interim Head Athletic Trainer at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia. Prior to that, he spent four years (August 2007-September ‘10, September 2011-June ‘12) as the Assistant Athletic Trainer at Malvern Preparatory School. He spent seven months (February-August 2011) as the Rehabilitation Intern with the Philadelphia Phillies. Bibbo received his Master of Science in Rehabilitation Science from California University of Pennsylvania in 2012 and his bachelor’s degree in Athletic Training from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., in 2007.

The Muckdogs home opener is set for Saturday, June 14th vs. Auburn at 7:05. Season tickets, coupon books and ticket packages are all on sale now. They can be purchased at Dwyer Stadium or by calling (585) 343-5454.

Smoke is reportedly coming from the roof of a house at 12 Davis Ave. The residence is being evacuated. City Fire Deparartment is responding.

UPDATE 12:49 p.m.: City fire reports nothing showing. Investigating. It's a two-and-a-half story house.

UPDATE 12:55 p.m.: They searched the building. The smoke is actually steam coming off the roof. City fire is picking up and preparing to leave the scene.

A one-vehicle rollover accident with injuries is reported at 922 Genesee St., Corfu. Corfu Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE 10:59 p.m.: A responder on scene says the driver is out of the vehicle, alert and walking around. "He appears to be fine."

UPDATE 11:07 a.m.: Fire command cancelled the medics. A State Trooper is handling the scene.

Cale David Fryer, 19, of Chase Park, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Fryer is accused of stealing $24.79 in merchandise from Kmart.

Sharonda R. Brown, 40, of Lockwood Avenue, Buffalo, turned herself in on a warrant for alleged failure to appear on a parking ticket in the City of Batavia. Brown was reportedly issued a ticket on a 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. parking violation. She posted $100 bail and was released.

New York Times: Arizona Bill Allowing Refusal of Service to Gays Stirred Alarm in the G.O.P.

Here are a few pictures from my travels today.

Above, taken from Black Street Road, Le Roy.

A pony on Bernd Road, Le Roy.

Route 5 coming into Batavia from the East. It was not long after sunset so there was a bit of color, but I decided I liked the mood better as a black and white.

From this afternoon on Ellicott Street.

Genesee County's only hospital will become a fully integrated affiliate of Rochester General Hospital, according to an announcement issued today.

RGH said it has reached an agreement to formalize "a comprehensive partnership."

“Even given our sound financial position today, changes in health care will continue to negatively impact independent rural health care providers,” stated Mark Schoell, CEO, United Memorial Medical Center. “The leadership of United Memorial remains committed to providing the best for our patients, and this expanded relationship will strengthen the future of health care in Genesee County.”

Here's the rest of the press release:

The hospital’s affiliation with RGHS will lead to a continued expansion of health care services in Batavia and on-site at United Memorial, and over time will result in fewer Genesee County residents needing to leave their community for vital health care. United Memorial will maintain its name and a local board, and will continue its longstanding tradition of providing a full range of medical and acute care services in Batavia after the affiliation is formalized.

The announcement today mirrors a trend among successful hospitals and health care systems nationwide. Community hospitals continue to be impacted by changes in the business of health care, and few have the size and scale necessary to support wide breadth of specialized services and technology required today. System affiliations address the economic realities that community hospitals face with health care reform, while ensuring patients have immediate and convenient access to a full range of primary and secondary services locally and a gateway to the best clinical care available when more highly specialized care and technology – like cardiac surgery, stroke services, neurosurgery, and other complex services – are required.

“Progressive and forward-thinking rural hospital management teams and boards like United Memorial’s continue to recognize the value in partnering with larger systems, to ensure their patients have access to a full range of highly specialized technology and physician expertise,” said Mark C. Clement, president and CEO of RGHS. “This partnership will enable the residents of Genesee County to continue to have access to and receive world-class care, right at home here at United Memorial.”

The two health care institutions are no strangers to each other, having collaborated in the areas of Cardiology, Pathology, Surgery, Urology and Gastroenterology since 2008, and most recently partnered to open a Cancer & Infusion Center at United Memorial. Rochester General and United Memorial have served residents in their respective communities for more than a century.

In making its decision to affiliate with RGHS, the United Memorial board cited the system’s longstanding focus on high-quality patient care and safety, its expertise in clinical integration, its comprehensive medical and surgical specialties that will enhance existing services available in the Batavia community, and its successful track record of collaboration with smaller acute care hospitals and physicians.

“We are creating a health care system that will serve as the future model that helps communities get healthy and stay healthy” Clement said. “We’re creating true alignment of processes and providing full access to life-saving services and exceptional patient care, no matter where you live or through which system-wide door you enter. We are committed to expanding services at United Memorial, which will serve as the western hub for all of Rochester General Health System’s services.”

RGHS operates the Sands-Constellation Heart Institute, recognized as the best in cardiac care in New York for four consecutive years by Delta CareChex quality rating group, and is the only area health system to be nationally rated by SDI – a premier health care analytics firm – as a TOP 100 Integrated Health Network each year since 2007. Integrated care networks are consistently recognized for delivering higher levels of quality, service, patient safety and efficiency. These are important factors, made even more so, as the government and insurers increasingly tie reimbursement to quality, safety, efficiency and the health of a defined patient population.

Leadership teams from both organizations will work closely together to create a formal affiliation and integration plan and to complete the required regulatory approval process, which is expected to take three to six months.

This affiliation with United Memorial aligns with and is complementary to RGHS’ current merger plans with Unity Health System. United Memorial would bring another high-quality, integrated hospital into the planned new system, enabling it to offer convenient access to exceptional, high-value care to more than a million patients throughout Monroe, Genesee, Ontario and Wayne counties.

It's probably the outcome Section V officials predicted when they moved Notre Dame girls up three classes and Bishop Kearney up one to put both teams in Class B2.

The two private Catholic schools will face each other Saturday in the B2 Section V Championship. One team will eliminate the other and Section V officials can rest assured only one private-school squad gets to advance toward a possible State Championship.

The Fighting Irish enter the Section V Championship game with a 19-1 record after a close-call, overtime win against Bath-Haverling, 50-49. Bishop Kearney is 17-2 after having a much easier time of it against Le Roy last night, winning 75-47.

For ND last night, the Lady Rams, who entered the game with five losses, proved to be a handful.

"We knew they were a very good team," said ND Head Coach Dave Pero. "The thing we didn't know coming into the game is how quick they were. We had trouble defensively getting stops. We missed a few easy baskets underneath, but I think the thing that helped is that they (the ND girls) had the will to finish."

Bath's Mackenzie Smith proved a challenging opponent. She's tall, fast and can shoot. It was Laurie Call's job to defend her.

"Laurie had a tough time of it in her match-up with number three," Pero said. "Number three probably had six inches on Laurie and I think we finally found a girl that is almost as quick as Laurie and that's dangerous."

It turned out, the Lady Rams were a lot harder to play than they looked on film, said senior guard Mel Taylor.

"We knew three was going to be athletic, but I didn't think she was going to be jumping three foot higher than what we were playing defense on," Taylor said. "It was intimidating, it was adjusting to what we're not used to playing in regular season, but we did pretty well."

Smith scored 20 points, snagged 10 rebounds and had five assists.

Call, who typically doesn't get into foul trouble, was tagged with four.

"It was physical game," Call said. "It was really physical at both ends of the court. I caught myself reaching and so did the refs."

Taylor scored 14 points to lead the Irish. Emma Francis, nine, Rebecca Krenzer, eight, Shea Norton, seven, and Call, six.

Helping Smith out on offense for the Rams was Angelo Binkowski with 15 points, including two threes.

One of the side stories of the game was how quickly the refs, particularly one of them, were to call jump balls. A jump ball is supposed to be called when two players share possession of the ball, but often it looked like a player had possession while an opponent was merely reaching.

One such called came in the final 15 seconds of regulation when Norton grabbed an offensive rebound and Bath's Brooke Buckley was reaching in while Norton was trying to shoot. Rather than a shooting foul, it was called a jump ball.

A shooting foul there, with the scored knotted at 41, could have ended the game in regulation.

The Section V refs have reportedly been instructed to be quicker on the jump ball calls to cut down on foul calls.

Pero said them are the breaks of game.

"It did seem a little quick, but they see what they see and they're not going to change their minds," Pero said. "You've got to live with it. I learned a long time ago if you want to argue with them (the refs), you're going to lose. They've got the final say and overall the officials do a great job. They're the officials and the coaches are the coaches and we're supposed to coach and they're supposed to officiate. Sometimes you do get those calls."

In the night cap at Honeoye Falls-Lima, Bishop Kearney dominated Le Roy, but with a 10-8 record.

Kearney and Notre Dame could match up well. Both teams have five players who scored at least 100 points on the season and could match up on height.

Both teams are coming off State Championship seasons so they both have big game experience.

"All of our big games in past, all of our big elba games, this game today, it gets you ready for the big stage," Call said.

Before we knew for sure Kearney would be Saturday's opponent, Call said she was ready to face whoever came out on top of the semi-final game.

"Saturday's another basketball game," Call said. "It's senior year, so it's pretty emotional., but we're just going to play. it's a faceless opponent. Hopefully we come out with a patch."

To purchase prints, click here.

A two-car accident with injuries is reported on westbound Thruway at mile marker 380.7. Le Roy fire and ambulance are responding. A crew from Pavilion is staging in Le Roy's fire hall.

UPDATE 1:27 p.m.: The Thruway Authority says there is reportedly another accident along the same stretch of roadway at mile marker 388.7 and the Town of Batavia was called to respond. "It may be one and the same accident. ... It is unfounded at this point," says the dispatcher.

UPDATE 1:40 p.m.: Le Roy and Pavilion are back in service.

A house is reportedly filling with smoke at 6912 Macomber Road, Alabama. The location is between Judge and Ham roads. Alabama Fire Department is responding. Dispatch says it is possibly a chimney or wood stove problem.

A two-car head-on collision with minor injuries is reported at 1630 Lewiston Road, east of Route 77. Alabama Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE: Photo submitted by Bruce Webber, who said he was in the area working on his truck and saw the crash. The silver car, he said, went off the north side of the road and the driver appeared to over correct and hit a Honda almost head on. "I was a couple of feet away," Webber said. "Parts and pieces everywhere."

At about 10 a.m., the snow was coming down pretty heavy in the Village of Oakfield.

A short, but heavy snow storm is expected this morning, with visibility reduced to a quarter mile or less.

As much as an inch to an inch-and-a-half of snow fall per hour is possible. A total of three inches of snow is possible.

Strong winds will create blowing snow, contributing to the low visibility.

Colder temperatures, in the single digits, will follow the snowstorm, and combined with winds, will create a dangerously low wind-chill factor. The temperature could be as low as 20 degrees below zero.

New York Times: The Mammoth Cometh

A structure fire CO detector is activated at 9259 Route 19, in the area of Robbins Road, Le Roy. Le Roy Fire Department and Ambulance Service responding, with mutual aid from Pavilion standing by in quarters.

UPDATE 9:54 p.m.: This was a CO detector call, not a structure fire.

UPDATE 9:56 p.m.: Pavilion standing down.

Former County Legislator Richard M. Rudolph of District #3 was seriously injured in a two-vehicle accident this afternoon in Warsaw which left another person dead.

State Police responded to the accident, which occurred on Route 98 just south of the intersection with Lindsey Road in the Town of Attica, at about 2:30. They determined a vehicle operated by Terry J. O'Neill, 54, of Varysburg, was southbound, rounding a curve in the highway. The roadway was partially covered with windblown snow.

She lost control of her 1998 Buick LeSabre and went broadside, crossing into the northbound lane. A second vehicle operated by 88-year-old Rudolph, now of Akron, was northbound and could not take evasive action in time before striking O'Neill's vehicle directly broadside on the passenger side.

Both vehicles continued off the highway and came to rest in a field on the east shoulder.

Rudolph was transported by Mercy Flight to Erie County Medical Center for treatment of chest abrasions and pain, but his injuries appear do not appear life threatening. O'Neill was transported to Wyoming County Community Hospital in Warsaw by Attica Ambulance, suffering from severe head trauma and she succumbed to her injuries at approximately 4 p.m.

Troop A Collision Reconstruction Unit responded to assist with the investigation, which is continuing. Troopers were assisted by Attica and Varysburg Fire and Rescue personnel, Wyoming County Medic 80 and the Wyoming County Sheriff’s Office.

A trial date has been set for Craig Malcolm Lawson, the 34-year-old Canadian citizen accused of throwing a single punch following a Kid Rock concert at Darien Lake and seriously injuring a former WNY man.

Jury selection is set to begin at 10 a.m., June 23 for an anticipated four-day trial.

Lawson is accused of punching Jason McNeil, of Tuscaloosa, Ala. McNeil reportedly hit his head on the pavement. He was in a coma following the incident and sources say he will never fully recover.

He is charged with assault in the second degree.

It remains possible Lawson will accept a plea offer. He has until April 24 to decide, Judge Robert C. Noonan said.

Lawson did not appear in court today and the last time he appeared -- for an evidence hearing -- he was 45 minutes late.

Noonan asked his attorney today why Lawson had a hard time crossing the border that day and the attorney said INS agents would not initially let him cross because of the pending felony charge. The attorney said he will provide his client with a letter to present at the border before his April 24 appearance.

It may not have gone off without a hitch -- some users had a learning curve -- but the new emergency communication system in Genesee County is fully functional.

There were rumors of technical problems with the new system, including problems with the Pavilion tower, but trusted sources along with Sheriff Gary Maha said the Harris system has performed as it should since the switch over shortly after 7 a.m.

The $10.8 million system -- paid for largely with federal grants and a local bond -- is technically identical to the communication system all police and fire units across the United States are converting to, which will help improve inter-agency communications in regional and national emergencies.

"We've been using the system all day and handled a number of calls -- accidents, shoplifters, calls for service -- and so far so good," Maha said. "It's gone as smooth as could be expected."

Owners of the new Uniden P-25-compatiable scanners locally are reporting spotty success in picking up fire and police transmission. The scanners do work, but reception is not always reliable.

Here at The Batavian, we don't have our new scanner fully programmed yet, so can't report on how it's working out for us.

The Sheriff's Office also switched to a new digital phone system. That transition didn't go as smoothly, Maha admitted, but the phones appear to be working properly now.

Batavia Downs Gaming invites you to watch the Oscars this Sunday night in style! Grandstands Bar & Grille will be hosting a Movie Awards Viewing Party from 5:30 p.m. until the show ends.

• $25 in Free Play
• Dinner including carving station with tenderloin, pasta station, shrimp cocktails
• Hand Passed hors d'oeuvres
• Rent One/Get One coupon from Family Video
• Chocolate from Oliver's
• Vodka tasting from Grey Goose
• Access to our dessert station with a chocolate fountain!