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WJTN News Headlines for Sept. 21, 2018

The head of the Chautauqua County Legislature's main financial panel says he's looking forward to County Executive George Borrello presenting his first budget next week...  
 
Audit and Control Committee Chairman Pierre Chagnon says there are a number of challenges facing the county, including a signficant, $4-million deficit.  However, Chagnon says he believes Borrello is up to the task of developing a workable spending plan.
 
Chagnon says, though, that Borrello's goal of a "no tax increase" budget without using any reserve funds, will be a "tall mountain" to climb.  However, having worked with the executive on the Audit and Control Committee before on the budget, and he knows Borrello's approach to finances.  Chagnon says he has already scheduled budget hearings for the first week in October with department heads-- the 1st through 5th.  Borrello is to present his tentative, 2019 budget, at the legislature's voting session next Wednesday, September 26 at 6:30 p.m. in Mayville.
 
Jamestown fire investigators are still looking into the cause of this week's fire that destroyed an apartment house on the city's southside.....  
 
However, investigators say they know where the blaze began.  City Fire Battalion Chief Matt Coon says they have determined the flames started in a couch on an exterior porch next to the basement apartment at 202 McKinley Avenue.  Coon says investigators determined the fire then went up, through the house, into the attic.  No one was inside the house when flames erupted shortly before 4 a.m. Monday.  No one was hurt, but the house was heavily damaged, and later torn down.
 
A Lakewood man has been arrested in Florida for allegedly breaking into a local dealership and, stealing a car, cash, and New York dealer plates...  
 
Lakewood-Busti Police say the break-in at Jamestown Honda on Fairmount Avenue occured earlier this year and, say 22 year-old Collin Slack was taken into custody in Orange County after the dealer plate pass through a Sun Pass toll booth.  Officers say police in Florida located the car -- and Slack -- leading to a vehicle pursuit.  Police say he then crashed the car and, was arrested.  Slack has been returned to Chautauqua County on several charges, including two counts of third-degree burglary and third-degree grand larceny.  He was arraigned in Busti Town Court, and sent to the county jail on $25,000 bail.  Slack is also accused in a separate case of trying to pass phony $100-bills at the Lakewood Wal-Mart Supercenter after he had been banned from the store.
 
 
The Jamestown City Council will be taking it's voting session on the road next Monday night for the first time in many years...  
 
Lawmakers will meet in the pavillion at Chadakoin Park on the northside at 6:30 PM.  The idea came up during a work session where improvements to the park -- namely the new playground area -- were discussed.  Mayor Sam Teresi says it's a great idea and, thanked Council President Marie Carrubba for making it happen.
 
Teresi says Carrubba has wanted to hold more meetings elsewhere in the community -- outside of City Hall.  He says they welcome residents of the northside area to the meeting, which will also spotlight improvements to the park.  Again, the meeting will begin at 6:30 next Monday night.  Teresi made his comments for last weekend's "Community Spotlight" program on the five Media One Radio Group stations.
 
 
The Department's of Development in the cities of Jamestown and Dunkirk officially have another tool that they can use to lure new development to the north and south counties...  
 
Governor Andrew Cuomo's announcement of the designation of two new Brownfield Opportunity Areas in those cities is considered "good news."  That from Dunkirk Mayor Willie Rosas, who says the latest designation will include more sites for future development in the city.  Among the locations, says Rosas, is the NRG plant.
 
Also among the sites included in the designation, property on Lake Shore Drive where a new waterfront hotel is being sought.  The designation in Jamestown involves 11 total sites that have a combined 710 acres in a mixed residential-industrial area along the Chadakoin River.  Jamestown's Principle Planner, Bill Rice, says the city received it's initial approval of the sites about a year-and-a half ago.  He says they are looking at bringing in business developers for some of the property, and some land will be used for green space. 
 
 
A former top aide to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been sentenced to six years in prison for fraud and accepting bribes....  
 
Joseph Percoco was sentenced yesterday by a federal judge in New York City.  U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni said she hoped the sentence would be heard in the state capital.  Percoco was convicted in March of accepting more than $300,000 from companies that wanted influence with the Cuomo administration.  The governor wasn't charged in the case and denied any knowledge of Percoco's influence peddling.  However, trial testimony presented an unflattering picture of the inner workings of his office.  Percoco's conviction also gave ammunition to Cuomo's opponents in this year's election.  They say it proves the two-term Democrat hasn't done enough to address chronic corruption in state government.
 
 
There will be an official ribbon cutting for the new traffic light at the intersection of Route 394 and East Avenu in Falconer this  morning...  
 
State Senator Cathy Young, who helped push the state Department of Transporation for the new traffic signal, will be there along with local officials.  Following an accident in 2016 that involved two Falconer Middle–High School students being struck by a car as they walked near the school, Senator Young helped lead the effort to get a traffic signal installed at the accident plagued intersection.  The three-color signal was installed and operational for the start of the school year on September 4.
 
 
The New York State Comptroller's office says farms in the Empire State produced 15 agricultural products that ranked in the top five nationwide last year.... 
 
A report released Thursday by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says the state's more than 35,000 farms generated $4.8 billion dollars in revenue in 2017.  The New York crops that landed in the top rankings nationally include cottage cheese, sour cream, yogurt, apples and grapes.  DiNapoli's report found New York's production of milk, snap beans and maple syrup also rose in national rankings.