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All schools in Genesee County are on lockout (not lockdown), according to one district superintendent.

The Batavian has received multiple calls and messages asking for more information.

We are attempting to get more information.

Batavia Chief Shawn Heubusch said he is working on providing more information but doesn't have anything to release at the moment.

The lockout seems to have begun about 1:45 p.m., according to a source, who also said GCC is on lockout as well.

UPDATE 2:27 p.m.: Heubusch said the lockout is over.  It was determined there was no credible threat.

GO ART! hosted a steel drum band concert in the City Centre concourse on Saturday.

The featured bands were: 

• Ithaca College, “I C Steel” 
• Steel Alchemy Community Steelband from Geneseo
• Rochester Institute of Technology’s “Tiger Steel” 
• Lancaster High School, “Carnival Kids Steel Orchestra”  

Photos by Howard Owens

Notre Dame snagged a come-from-behind victory with a six-run seventh inning to beat Lyndonville on Monday in Girls Softball, 9-8.

Loretta Sorochty, Kaydence Stehlar, Mia Treleaven, and Emma Sisson all had multiple hits in the game.  Starting pitcher Mia Treleaven struck out seven batters, and Loretta Sorochty struck out 3 in relief.  

Photos by Pete Welker.

Deputies Andrew Mullen, with partner K-9 Frankie, and Deputy James Stack, with partner K-9 Rayzor, visited the Elba Volunteer Fire Department Chicken BBQ on Sunday to provide a demonstration of how K-9s work with officers.

The Elba Boy Scouts were also on hand to help with the BBQ at the Elba Fire Rec Hall on Route 98.

The fundraiser was sold out.

Submitted photos and information.

Tylee D. "Love" Gaines, 44, of Summerville Drive, Rochester, is charged with two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance 3rd, three counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance 3rd, and one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance 7th.  Gaines was arrested on a warrant stemming from a sealed Grand Jury indictment. The charges were sought by members of the Local Drug Task Force following an investigation into the sale of crack cocaine in the City of Batavia. Gaines is accused of selling crack cocaine to agents of the task force while in the City of Batavia. He was allegedly found in possession of 14 bags of crack cocaine, leading to additional charges not contained in the original indictment. Gaines was arraigned in County Court and released under supervision.

Raymond Amaro, 36, of East Main Street, Batavia, is charged with robbery 3rd, assault 2nd, grand larceny 4th, reckless endangerment 2nd, and leaving the scene of a personal injury accident. Amaro is accused of stealing car keys from a victim by force at a location on East Avenue and then striking that person with the vehicle while fleeing the scene on April 4 at an unspecified time. Amaro was arraigned in City Court and held on bail.

Andrew William Taylor, 35, of West Main Street, Batavia, is charged with arson 4th, reckless endangerment 2nd, and criminal mischief 4th.  Taylor was arrested by Deputy Jenna Ferrando. The Sheriff's Office released no information on the incident that led to the arrest of Taylor other than the incident was reported at 7:34 a.m., April 2, at a location on West Main Street, Batavia. Taylor was released on an appearance ticket.

Anthony Freeman Armstrong, Jr., 34, of Calmlake Circle, Rochester, is charged with possession of prison contraband.  Armstrong is accused of possessing contraband inside the Genesee County Jail at 10:35 p.m. on April 7. The Sheriff's Office did not release further information about the circumstances of Armstrong's arrest.  Armstrong was issued an appearance ticket.  Armstrong is also charged with criminal mischief 4th. Armstong is accused of ripping a hot/cold compress rendering it useless while inside the Genesee County Jail on April 12 and 8:30 a.m.

David Edward Brege, 36, of West Center Street, Ridgeway, is charged with promoting prison contraband 2nd and petit larceny. Brege is accused of stealing a $10 bill from another inmate at 4 p.m. on April 5 while in the temporary hold cell/booking area of the Genesee County Jail. He was allegedly found in possession of a $10 bill inside a secure holding area of the jail.  Brege was issued an appearance ticket.

Robert L. Drennen Sr., 41, of Holley Street, Brockport, is charged with grand larceny 4th. Drennen is accused of stealing a debit card on March 30 and withdrawing money from the victim's bank account without permission. Drennen was arraigned in City Court and released on his own recognizance.

Leonard E. Aguayo, 36, of Cross Street, Rochester, is charged with criminal trespass 2nd and resisting arrest.  Officer Sam Freeman reportedly tried to arrest Aguayo on a warrant on March 30. Aguayo allegedly resisted arrest. The warrant was the result of an investigation into a prior incident on South Main Street, Batavia. He was arraigned in City Court. Release status not reported.

Cody J. Nichols, 38, of North Street, Caledonia, is charged with petit larceny. Nichols is accused of stealing $300 in merchandise from a supermarket (the name of the market was not released). Nichols was issued an appearance ticket.

Samantha L. Tate, 30, of Federal Drive, Batavia, is charged with improper turn and DWI/drugs. Tate was stopped at an unspecified time on March 31 on Ellicott Avenue by Officer Sam Freeman. Tate was issued an appearance ticket.

Rickie L. Pitts, 56, of Prospect Avenue, Medina, is charged with DWI, aggravated unlicensed operation 1st, and no/inadequate headlamps. Pitts was stopped at an unspecified time on April 2 on Main Street at Jefferson Avenue by Officer Adam Tucker. His release status was not provided.

Joshua Edward Szumigala, 27, of Orchard Park Road, Oakfield, is charged with DWI, drinking alcohol or using cannabis in a motor vehicle, driving left of pavement markings, and moving from lane unsafely. Szumigala was stopped at 5:42 p.m. on April 1 on Batavia Oakfield Townline Road by Deputy Jacob Kipler. Szumigala was arraigned in Centralized Arraignment Court. His release status was not provided.

Rosemary Renee Waters, 37, no permanent address, is charged with petit larceny.  Waters is accused of stealing merchandise from an undisclosed store on Veterans Memorial Drive at 9:28 on April 7.

Justin Ryan Nadrowski, 31, of Pratt Road, Batavia, is charged with unlawful surveillance 2nd.  Pratt is accused of hiding a camera inside the bedroom of another person at a location on Pratt Road.  Nadrowski was jailed pending his arraignment.

Joshua M. Ruffin, 27, of Burrows Street, Rochester, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance 7th.  Ruffin was arrested by Deputy Trevor Sherwood.  The Sheriff's Office did not release details on the circumstances of his arrest. He was arrested on Main Street, Batavia, at 10:19 p.m. on March 19. He was arraigned in City Court and released. 

Ivette Amanda Dejesus, 21, of West Colvin Street, Syracuse, is charged with petit larceny. Dejesus is accused of stealing merchandise, along with two other women, from the Old Navy store in Batavia. Dejesus was processed at the Genesee County Jail and released on an appearance ticket.

Jennifer Sandra Lee, 39, of Therston Road, Rochester, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance 7th and promoting prison contraband 1st. Lee is accused of possessing a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia while inside the Genesee County Jail on April 11 at 4:54 p.m.  Lee was held pending arraignment.

Allison Ann Forsha, 31, of Nunda, is charged with two counts of petit larceny. Forsha is accused of shoplifting on April 11 from Dick's Sporting Goods and Target in Batavia. Forsha was issued an appearance ticket.

Chase P. Ackerson, 24, of Henrietta, is charged with DWI and driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Ackerson was stopped by State Police at 9:29 p.m. on April 15 in the Town of Le Roy. He was issued an appearance ticket.

Palen Cordell, 19, of Le Roy, is charged with grand larceny 3rd. Cordell was arrested by State Police in connection with an incident reported at 11:15 a.m. on April 11 in the Town of Batavia. Cordell was also charged with criminal possession of stolen property 5th  for an incident reported at 6:10 p.m. on April 14 in the Village of Le Roy. The State Police did not release details on either incident. Cordell was released on his own recognizance. 

An unintended burn in a hedgerow on Read Road in Corfu.

Corfu Fire dispatched.

There is an open burn ban in place until May 14.

Oakfield-Alabama remains undefeated in baseball after beating Akron on Saturday, 10-7.

The 4-0 Hornets were led by Kyle Porter and Aiden Warner, who each went 3-4, scoring twice and driving in two runs apiece.

Colton Yasses was 2-4 with a run scored. Davi Schnaufer was 2-4 with a run scored and an RBI.  Shaun Alexander was 2-3 with a run scored and two RBI.

Brodie Hyde picked up the win, taking over in the first inning after Yasses faced only one batter, giving up a hit.  Hyde went six innings, giving up 10 hits and seven runs. Porter pitched an inning and struck out two while not letting a man reach base.

Photos by Kristin Smith.

A mourning dove in a backyard in Batavia.

Photo by Jason Smith.

Yesterday's sunset in Indian Falls.

Photo by JoAnne Meiser.

A fire is reported in the back yard of a residence on Hutchins Street in Batavia.

City Fire dispatch as well as Batavia PD.

City Fire is responding non-emergency.

There is a burn ban in effect until May 14.

UPDATE 2:02 p.m.: Fire is out. City Fire back in service.

Oakfield-Alabama improved to 3-0 to start the baseball season with a 10-1 win over Pembroke (2-2) on Friday.

David Schnaufer collected three hits for the Hornets and drove in three runs. Kyle Porter had two hits and an RBI.

Colton Yasses got the win going 5 2/3 an inning, giving up three hits, three walks, and striking out nine. Schnaufer finished the game, pitching 1 1/3 innings of hitless ball.

Photos by Kristin Smith.

It's going to be warm outside this weekend so if you need a break from the unseasonable heat, Chamber of Commerce President Brian Cousins has a suggestion -- come on down to the David M. McCarthy Memorial Ice Arena for the 2023 Home Show.

"I know it's a great weekend," Cousins said. "The weather this weekend is awesome, which is unheard of in April -- you get 80-degree weather. But you know, the inside of the Ice Arena is a little bit cooler than outside. It's like natural air conditioning in here. So it's very comfortable for people. I'm looking forward to seeing as many people can come out do so to work on their to-do lists."

This is the first home show for Cousins as chamber president, and he's excited to see it off to a good start.  All of the vendor booths are full, and the chamber even had potential vendors trying to sign up for booths on Friday morning.

Admission is $3 for adults, and hours Saturday are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.

"Make a list," Cousins said, "check it twice when you're out sitting on your deck or something this weekend, then make a quick trip out, spend an hour to get some different ideas and things that you wanted to do over the course of the last two, three years, especially over the COVID time period when you couldn't get somebody to help you out with things."

Photos by Howard Owens

An open fire is reported in the backyard at a residence on Edwards Street, Batavia.

It's the second open burn City Fire is responding to tonight.

There's a burn ban in effect until May 14.

UPDATE 10:31 p.m.: Fire is out. The Resident advised the fire was not permitted. City Fire is back in service.

Sheriff's Deputies and Oakfield-Alabama teachers faced off in a charity fundraiser game in the high school gym on Thursday night.

The event was held to help raise money to support the family of Andy Merkel, who died unexpectedly on March 21 at age 38.

Photos by Philip Casper.

The name of the victim of a fatal crash on the Thruway yesterday afternoon has not yet been released by State Police.

Troopers have confirmed one person died in the crash reported at 12:13 p.m. in the area of mile marker 396.6 in the westbound lane.

Two passenger vehicles and a tractor-trailer were involved. According to initial reports, a vehicle rolled over, and a person was ejected.

No other injuries were reported by troopers.

The proposed budget for the Le Roy Central School District for 2023/24 is $30,227,508 in expenditures, and if the district receives the amount of state aid it anticipates, there will be no need to increase the tax levy, according to Superintendent Merritt Holly.

The Board of Education approved the spending plan on Tuesday.   The final levy tally and tax rate will become available after state aid is approved and the district knows exactly how much property values have changed, which will be some time before voters are asked to approve the budget in May.

The district expects to spend nearly $10 million on professional and teacher salaries. That's an increase of $324,906 dollars.  The increase is mostly driven by negotiated salary increases.  Six teachers are being replaced. There will be two new positions in special education, a new half position in elementary literacy, and a half position less in music.

Salaries for K-3 teachers will increase by $61,478, up $27,576 for grades 4-8, and up by $50,266 for grades 7-12.

The superintendent's salary will increase by $6,000, to $179,542.

Salaries for principals and assistants are going down by $33,117 to a total of $387,206.

Fees paid to BOCES are based on prior year charges and the district will pay BOCES $2,612,766, which is $240,930 more than the prior year.

Support staff salaries are up $194,462 to a total of $3,203,908.

The cost of health care is increasing by $53,544 to more than $2.9 million.

Retirement costs are up $53,544 to more than $1.3 million.

Contributions to the capital fund will increase by $563,369 to $663,369.  Contributions to the capital fund pay for small building projects that are eligible for NYS building aid.

Upstate opposition to downstate policies is showing some small signs of success, State Sen. George Borrello told a group of residents at Batavia City Hall on Tuesday.

The residents gathered in Council Chambers for a 'Town Hall Meeting' hosted by Borrello, who represents the reconstituted 57th Senate District, which now includes Genesee County.

On the progress front, Borrello pointed to bail reform.  Gov. Kathy Hochul is backing some changes to the current bail laws in the current proposed budget, Borrello said.

"I can tell you that it's broken, and we're fighting an uphill battle," Borrello said. "We're into the wind every day, but we are making progress. The bottom line is it's up to the people of New York when the majority of people -- three out of four people in New York state, including New York City -- feel that bail reform needs to change. The governor right now she's backpedaling like crazy. She's trying to back herself out of all the promises she made when she was running, when she was down in New York City, abandoning her Western New York values to get re-elected or to get elected for the first time. But when she won by only 1,000 votes, she realized that something's got to change. So I don't have a whole lot of faith in her in many ways, but I think she's at least realizing that she's gonna have to figure out a way to right this ship. Otherwise, she's not going to be around much longer as our governor."

There's also growing opposition to proposals for solar panels and windmills all over the state, Borrello said.

He called the push for solar in the state "nothing but crony capitalism" that is doing more to enrich China than fight climate change.

"Let me tell you something, the proliferation of solar and wind in Upstate New York, this is not about climate change," Borrello said. "This is not about clean energy. It's about money. This is about a bunch of former used car salesmen inundating everybody with these contracts."

Borrello said he is also fighting to protect farms on other fronts, such as opposing changes to the overtime threshold for farm workers.

It's another area where upstate interests are making small progress.  Hochul, he said, is proposing a tax credit for farmers who do wind up paying overtime under the rule changes.

He also said a program that helps direct food from local farms to food banks has been made permanent.

"(Now) farmers can plan for it, and food banks can budget for it," Borrello said.

Upstate opposition to Hochul's housing plans, which reportedly could have forced municipalities to abandon their own zoning ordinance, has led to small changes.  The goal of building more affordable housing will be achieved through incentives rather than penalties, he said.

"I'm still not convinced," Borrello said. "There's still a backdoor way for the state to, essentially, bypass local zoning, local control. It's a bad idea. If you want to make housing more affordable in New York State, make New York State more affordable. That's the best way to do it."

Borrello said most of his colleagues in Albany lack the business experience (he and his wife own multiple small businesses, employing more than 200 people) necessary to help them understand the impact of their decisions on the people of New York.  They're insulated from the effects of those decisions, he said.  And while he's aware of reports of people fleeing the state because of high taxes and overregulation, he plans to stick around and try to make things better for New Yorkers.

"I'm here to stay and fight," he said. "Because this is a great place to be. It's a great place to live. I don't want to leave here. I don't want anyone else to leave here any more. So we're going to continue to fight back. We're gonna continue to push back and be that voice of common sense in Albany."

Photos by Nicholas Serrata.

The Le Roy football program is a program with a lot of wins, a lot of history, a lot of tradition, and Mike Humphrey has been a part of it.

This week, the Board of Education approved Humphrey's appointment to head coach of the Oatkan Knights, making him the first former player to be named head coach in the program's history.

Humphrey was a wide receiver and defensive back with the Knights through three championship seasons -- 2006, 2007, and 2008.  He's been part of the coaching staff, including head JV coach, for a decade, and has worked for the past five years at the elementary school as a physical education instructor.

"I'm excited," Humphrey said. "This is something I've been a part of for a long time, as a player and as a coach.

"This is something that has always kind of been on my mind, and so here we are," he added. "I'm excited to get the process going."

One of his assistants, Jim Bonaquisti, who was also once his coach at Le Roy, said Humphrey clearly has a plan and is already moving forward to get the team ready for the 2023 season. 

"He knows what he needs to do," Bonaquisti said.  "He knows what it's supposed to look like.  He's going to do a great job."

With Humphrey and assistants Pete Green and John Whiting, Bonaquisti will be working alongside three coaches he coached when they were high school players.

"Either I've been here a long time or I'm getting old," Bonaquisti quipped.

But that's all part of the tradition, said Bonaquisti, who serves as the team's historian.  

"He was a hell of a player," Bonaquisti said. "He was an all-state player.  He was a really good college player at Cortland. He's in the Top 10 among receivers in several categories at Cortland. He's young, and hopefully, he's going to stay a while."

Humphrey replaces Brian Herdlein, who has been head coach since 2015.  Herdlein, who previously served as an assistant under Brian Moran, lives in Batavia, and Bonquisti said Herdein's sons are coming of age in Batavia's football program, and he wants to be around to be part of their football careers.

"We all get it," Bonaquisti said. "When I was JV coach, I had to miss one of my son's Little League games, and I said, 'Never again.'  We love him.  I loved coaching with him, and I understand."

It's been a few years, however, since the Oatkan Knights claimed a sectional title.  There was even talk earlier this year, because of declining participation numbers in football, of merging the Le Roy program with Cal-Mum.  That isn't going to happen, and Bonaquisti thinks Humphrey has the experience, knowledge, and commitment to return Le Roy to championship football.

"It's time for another title," he said.

Humphrey said he feels good about the program.  He coached winning teams at the JV level for five years and said there are players coming up who can help the team win.

"We have a lot of skill position players coming back at the varsity level, and while we lost some on the lines, we've got great players coming," Humphrey said. "I'm confident in their skill and their ability.  I've got nothing but confidence and enthusiasm for our kids."

Photo: Mike Humphrey on left.  Photo by Ed Henry.

A grass fire is reported behind the residence at 1262 Herkimer Road, Darien.

Darien Fire dispatched.

UPDATE 1:38 p.m.: Fire is under control.