City firefighters snuff out flames that started in the kitchen area at southside restaurant overnight...
Fire has damaged the back kitchen-area of a well-known restaurant on Jamestown's southside.  City Fire Chief Ryan Rousch says crews were called to Jeremy's Bellview at 763 Foote Ave. shortly after 10:30 p.m. Wednesday... and found smoke and some fire coming from the back area of the building.  Rousch says a crew was able to force entry to the kitchen-area... and, was able to get the flames out quickly.  He adds that the fire appears to have not burned through the roof... and, the exterior appears untouched.  Rousch says investigators have determined a malfunctioning or overheated compressor for a storage refrigerator caused the blaze.  An off-duty shift was called in.  No injuries were reported.  The restaurant was closed at the time.

City man arrested on drug-related charges after leading police on e-bike pursuit...
A man from Jamestown is accused of leading city police on a chase with his e-bike... and, throwing bags of drugs out of his pockets during the pursuit.  Jamestown police say a patrol tried to stop the bike... operated by 47 year-old Watkine Watkins in the area of Forest and Columbia Avenues just after 1:30 a.m. Thursday for observed violations.  However... Watkins failed to comply... and, officers pursued.  They say they saw Watkins throwing what were later found to be individual bags of Fentanyl from his pockets.  Police finally stopped Watkins n the area of Prospect Street and Prather Avenue, where he was taken in to custody without further incident.  Watkins was charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance... second-degree criminally using drug paraphernalia... resisting arrest... tampering with physical evidence and multiple traffic infractions.  He was held pending arraignment.

Legislature refers resolution declaring job creation the county's number-one economic developemnt to committee...
Job losses happen and will continue to happen.  However... new jobs need to be brought in to sustain and build the local population.  That was the argument by a Chautauqua County Legislator from Jamestown for his resolution declaring that job creation is the Number One Economic Development Goal in the county.  Democrat Fred Larson read off a list of job losses in recent years... but, argued not enough are being brought in to replace them.  Larson says Wells and Cummins have both taken on major expansion projects... but, the numbers won't even replace the jobs lost when Carriage House closed in Fredonia several years ago... leading to the loss of 500 jobs.  Larson also read off several others totaling more than 800 jobs.  However... Silver Creek Republican Tom Harmon recalled an amended resolution from last August stated that job creation was a "top priority..." and he took "some offense" to the measure.  The legislature voted along party-lines, 12-7 to refer the proposal to committee for the July meeting.

Borrello and Molitor say there were "some wins" in state legislative session that saw and ever-increasing budget approved...
An ever-increasing state budget, affordability, and policies were among the topics that Chautauqua County's two state lawmakers discussed Wednesday morning at an event in the Dunkirk area.  State Senator George Borrello and Assemblyman Andrew Molitor were the guests at CHQ Chamber's State of the State Legislature Breakfast at Shorewood Country Club.  Regarding the $277-billion spending plan... Molitor spoke about trends, including increases in spending and policy items.  He says the final budget exceeds what Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed last January by $18-billion... and, there was more policy as well.  However... Molitor says he and Borrello were able to secure some "wins" in the budget, particularly when it came to policies that are more "anti-businesses and the community."  However, Borrello says many of those positives -- including the delay of climate mandates -- were just "election year wins."  As for criticisms of this year's budget process that Borrello highlighted include the fact that of more than 1,000 bills that were acted on during the final six days of this year's legislative session... more than half contained a message of necessity, which allows bills to be fast-tracked for approval.

Wdowiasz begins holding dept. head meetings outside of Common Council...
Dunkirk Mayor Kate Wdowiasz has begun holding her own meetings due to frustration over what she feels is a lack of action by the Common Council on "relevant matters" for the city.  This past week... the public got the chance to see what one of those meetings looks like.  That's when Wdowiasz held the city's first-ever open meeting of city department heads.  She says she has asked them to provide a list of projects they are working on... something she says has been missing the past two-and-a-half years.  Wdowiasz says she would like to hold these meetings at least once a month... between council meetings so each can know what the other is doing, and needs.  Wdowiasz says there is a need to "reopen the lines of communication" between the administration and the council. 

"Fire Flow" testing being done at West Ellicott business today...
A business in a West Ellicott shopping plaza is performing "fire flow" testing today... and, there may be discolored water in the area today.  The Board of Public Utilities says the other businesses in the plaza and Southwestern Central School were notified.  A BPU Spokesperson says residents in the areas of West Ellicott, Celoron, Lakewood and westward may experience discolored water from the testing for 12-to-24 hours.