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Press release:

The Batavia Police Department has installed two drop boxes, one for pharmaceuticals and one for sharps, in the rear vestibule at police headquarters for the public’s use.

Citizens may deposit unwanted pharmaceuticals, and sharps, 24 hours a day, seven days a week (24/7) in the drop boxes located at 10 W. Main St.

The drop boxes allow for the public to dispose of the following items in a safe, secure, anonymous way.

Acceptable items: Sharps, in a sharps container no larger than 2 liters, prescriptions, prescription patches, ointments, medications, over-the-counter medications, vitamins, samples, and medication for pets.

Non-acceptable items: Thermometers, aerosol sprays, inhalers, illicit drugs, hydrogen peroxide, perfume, cooking oil, soaps, shampoos, conditioners, detergents, and beauty supplies.

Small sharps containers will be available for free on top of the sharps drop box.

Shawn M. Twardowski, 34, of Bank Street, Batavia, is charged with: animal cruelty; second-degree harassment; third-degree robbery; fourth-degree criminal mischief; obstruction of governmental administration; and resisting arrest. Twardowski was reportedly involved in an incident at his residence on Bank Street at 12:15 a.m., Thursday. He allegedly strangled and punched a beagle, subjected a female at the location to physical contact, stealing and attempting to disable her mobile phone and then, upon police arrival, barricaded himself in a bedroom. When police gained access, he allegedly struggled with officers. He was jailed on $50,000 bail.

Salvatore M. Schwable, 19, of Webber Avenue, Oakfield, was arrested on a warrant. Schwable allegedly violated the terms of his release-under-supervision contract. He was jailed on $2,500 bail.

Ronald J. Murray Jr., 22, of Wood Street, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Murray allegedly pushed another person during an argument, reported at 8:30 p.m., Thursday.

Alan P. Ellis, 36, of Lewis Avenue, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd, criminal obstruction of breathing, endangering the welfare of a child and cruelty to animals. During an argument reported at 5:15 a.m., Sunday, Ellis grabbed victims by their throats, with one being under age 17, and he allegedly threw and kicked a dog, causing it to limp.  

Charles J. Rodriguez Sr., 40, of North Spruce Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Rodriguez was arrested on a warrant out of Batavia City Court at Buffalo City Court when he appeared there on an unrelated matter. He was jailed on $1,000 bail or $2,000 bond.

Michael J. Antonucci, 34, of Alexander Road, Attica, is charged criminal contempt, 2nd. Antonucci was arrested on a warrant for allegedly violating an order of protection.

Jeanna M. Hattaway, 29, of West Main Street Road, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Hattaway allegedly stole two pairs of sunglasses from the 7-Eleven at 505 E. Main St., Batavia.

Diane M. Fiorentino, 67, of Grandview Terrace, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Fiorentino was arrested Nov. 13 following the report of an incident at 5:30 p.m. that day at her residence. No further details released.

Nikayla C. Jackson, 19, no permanent address, Batavia, was arrested on a warrant for alleged failure to appear on a disorderly conduct charge.

Willie A. Saab, 42, of West Main Street, Batavia, is charged with two counts of first-degree criminal contempt and two counts of aggravated family offense. Saab allegedly violated a pair of stay-away orders. He was jailed without bail.

Grayson Jordan Albert Finnin, 20, of Seven Springs Road, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd, obstructing emergency medical services, and unlawful possession of alcohol by a person under age 21. Finnin was allegedly involved at a disturbance at a local hotel at 12:12 a.m., Tuesday. He was transported to UMMC and allegedly became combative with medical staff and police officers.

Gerardo Carrera-Sanchez, 31, Oak Orchard Road, Elba, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, consumption of alcohol in a motor vehicle, unlicensed operator and moving from lane unsafely. Carrera-Sanchez was arrested by Deputy Howard Wilson following the investigation into a motor-vehicle accident reported at 7:30 a.m. Jan. 22 on Shelt Road, Byron.

Timothy Michael Weinstein, 44, of Alleghany Road, Darien, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd, and unlawful possession of marijuana. Weinstein allegedly violated the terms of an order of protection.

Yahaira Ann Marie Brown Diaz, 18, of Old Telephone Road, Bethany, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Diaz was allegedly found in possession of marijuana while at a location on West Main Street Road, Batavia, at 7:04 p.m., Sunday.

Two former Genesee County football stars have been selected for induction into the Section V Hall of Fame.

David Boyce, of Le Roy, and Mark Shardlow, of Elba, will both be inducted during the 20th-anniversary ceremony April 6.

Joining the 2017 class are:

• Mark Baniewicz, Fairport
• Trent Bridges, Irondequoit
• Mike Butler, Irondequoit
• Keith Downing, Fairport
• Danny Gilardi, East Irondequoit Eastridge
• Thomas Nacca, Jefferson

Three coaches from Section V and two others who have contributed to Section V football will be inducted: 

• Jim Haugh, Victor and Livonia
• Mike Nally, Edison
• Ron Rucker, East Rochester
• Marc Remillard, game official
• Kevin Pino, athletic trainer, in contributor category

The ceremony will be at RIT Inn and Conference Center. Tickets to the induction ceremony and dinner are $40 per person or $350 for a table of 10. They may be ordered before April 1 with checks payable to Section 5 Football by mailing to: Frank Marafino, 4 Georgetown Drive, Apt. C, Rochester, NY, 14617.

A garbage truck is reported to be on fire in the area of the country deli in Alexander.

Alexander fire responding.

UPDATE 10:12 a.m.: A tanker from Bethany requested to the scene.

UPDATE: Photos submitted by Heather Jackson.

A one-vehicle accident is reported in the area of 8557 Lewiston Road, Batavia.

Unknown injuries.

Town of Batavia fire and Mercy EMS responding.

UPDATE 8:15 a.m.: No injuries. Town assignment back in service. 

Press release:

Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27) released the following statement regarding President Trump’s nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court:

“President Trump showed America his commitment to conservative principles with tonight’s Supreme Court nomination,” Congressman Collins said. “Judge Neil Gorsuch will be a strong voice on the Court for years to come.

"I fully anticipate that he will continue interpreting laws as they are written and defend the constitutionally protected rights all Americans hold dear. I urge my Democrat colleagues in the Senate to recognize the clear message American voters sent on Election Day and quickly confirm Judge Gorsuch.”

Boys Basketball

• Pembroke 55, Attica 43 FINAL
• Byron-Bergen 58, Oakfield 50 FINAL
• Alexander 63, Holley 37 FINAL
• Elba 60, Notre Dame 42 FINAL
• Lyndonville 59, Kendall 46 FINAL
• Livonia 60, Batavia 53 FINAL

Girls Basketball

• Cal-Mum 50, Avon 41 FINAL

Hockey

• Notre Dame 13, Genesee Ice Devils 1 FINAL

A local mother is desperate to find her missing daughter and even though the daughter is missing in Miami, she's turned to local law enforcement, the local media and local residents to ask for help.

Alexis Say, 22, has been missing in Miami since Monday when she was last seen at an area emergency room.

Say lived in Indian Falls when she was 10, but mother, Jennifer, and daughter have lived in other parts of the country in the intervening years for work before moving to Miami.

When Alexis went missing, her mother, who has moved back to Indian Falls, tried to file a missing persons report in Miami and ran into some difficulty, so she turned to the Genesee County Sheriff's Office.

Deputy Chad Cummings took the report, according to Chief Deputy Gordon Dibble. Cummings then placed several phone calls to the Miami PD before finally successfully getting an investigation opened there.

Alexis Say is reportedly in poor health.  

Perhaps you know people in the Miami area or have other information that may assist in the investigation. The Sheriff's Office can be reached at (585) 343-5000.

Here is a Facebook Page with more information.

A one-vehicle, minor injury rollover accident is reported in the area of 1940 Hickox Road, Alexander.

Alexander fire and ambulance responding.

    Davon S. St. John

A 18-year-old Oak Street resident has been arrested and accused of posting explicit pictures of a person under 17 years of age to social media.

Davon S. St. John, of 72 Oak St., Batavia, is charged with promoting an obscene sexual performance by a child, promoting sexual performance of a child, endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of sexual misconduct.

Police allege that St. John posted the pictures on one of his social media accounts and then promoted them on another social media account.

He was arraigned in City Court and ordered held without bail.

Press release:

Genesee County 4-H member Emily Boldt has been selected to represent the New York State 4-H Program as a youth delegate at the 2017 National 4-H Conference. 

The National 4-H Conference is the pinnacle experience in 4-H Citizenship, providing an opportunity for young people to connect, engage, lead and learn how to impact their communities, their nation and their world.

The 2017 National 4-H Conference will be held March 25-30 in Chevy Chase, Md. Youth delegates from across the United States will explore current issues affecting youth, the role 4-H can play in addressing those issues, and tell federal decision makers if their current efforts are effective. 

Emily is a junior at Pavilion High School. She has been actively involved in the Genesee County 4-H Program for the past seven years and has taken on leadership roles within several areas. Emily is the current president of the Genesee County 4-H Rustic Riders Horse Club and also attended the 2016 4-H Career Explorations Conference at Cornell University.

The GLOW region isn't exactly a hotbed of venture capital activity, so any founder might find it hard to get that first round of funding that is so critical to the success of a startup.

For a woman founder, statistically speaking at least, the odds of getting that early-stage seed backing is even higher. About 3 percent of all venture-backed companies are headed by female founders.

That makes Batavia's Georgann Carrubba pretty unique. She now has access to $200,000 in seed funding through Launch NY and Excell Partners.

Carrubba was awarded the first $100,000 last year in a startup competition hosted by Launch NY in Rochester. Yesterday, at a press conference at the Innovation Zone in the Med-Tech Center, Carrubba was able to announce that Launch NY and Excell have each agreed to put in another $50,000 apiece.

“We strongly believe our product will be life changing for colostomy and ileostomy patients,” Carrubba said. “These types of investments demonstrate we have a viable medical device that is close to being ready for pilot production. We are extremely grateful to Excell Partners and Launch New York for this investment in our company.”

Launch NY is a state-backed incubator for tech startups in WNY and Excell is venture capital fund created by the state.

The goal of both organizations is to identify promising startups that will be based in New York and have the potential to grow into big businesses that employ lots of people.

"We all know, economic development is a team sport and Georgann has a team behind her," said Theresa B. Mazzullo, CEO of Excell Partners. "We want to be the wind at her back and we want to see her succeed so that this same team is standing up together in the future ringing the bell at NASDAQ."

That kind of growth is certainly Carrubba's goal, who intends to keep her business based in Batavia and manufacture the device she's designed for colostomy and ileostomy patients that she believes will help them enjoy the kind of active lifestyle that can be difficult with current colostomy bags.

She calls her product Choice Cap. Yesterday (pictures below), she showed off the latest design iteration, which is slimmer and more functional that earlier versions.

With the $200,000 in funding, she can begin production and marketing, but to really grow the company, she will need to find second- and third-round investors.  

The latest round of funding comes from a state grant dedicated to funding women-owned startups and Mazzullo said Tencar is the perfect business to receive the fund's support.

"Tencar and Georgann exemplify -- are the poster child for -- why this fund was created," Mazzullo said. "It’s an opportunity to invest in very promising technologies in the region that are women-owned in an area that is going to have job creation. It hits all the high-water marks for what you want in economic development in our region -- promising technology, women-owned, job creation."

Carrubba, a nurse by profession, first came up with the idea for Choice Cap in 2011 and got serious about developing a business in 2014. It's been a long process, she said, but worth the effort. She believes she will make lives better for patients and employ more people locally.  

She's been through tons of meetings, presentations and planning to get to this early-stage funding level, but that's not unusual said Marnie LaVigne, president and CEO of Launch NY. In fact, it's normal.

"A reporter asked me, ‘well, it’s been a long time,’ and, (she replied) 'well, no not really,' " she said. "This is what it is like and a lot of people don’t realize it. Entrepreneurship has become such a cool thing for people to do, but the hard work, and the 24/7, and the angst and the ‘Can I make it through the next step?’ that is something people don’t appreciate fully.”

Carrubba said she knows she's not done with the hard work, but yesterday's announcement was a milestone in the process so far.

"I'm ecstatic," she said. "There are so many strong, qualified, educated people behind me. I could not be happier. It could not have played out any better."

Theresa B. Mazzullo, CEO of Excell Partners

Marnie LaVigne, president and CEO of Launch NY

Press release:

Daemen College men's basketball player Jeff Redband has once again been named the East Coast Conference Rookie of the Week, picking up the honor for games played Jan. 23-29. It's the fourth time this season and the third straight week that Redband has earned the honor. The official announcement was made via the league's weekly men's basketball report, which was released this afternoon from conference headquarters in Central Islip.

Redband, a 6-foot-7 redshirt freshman forward, helped Daemen to a pair of victories last week by averaging 16.5 points, 2.0 assists and 1.5 blocks per game, while shooting 66.7 percent overall (12-for-18) and from three-point range (8-for-12). The Wildcats downed Long Island University Post (88-66) at home on Jan. 25, and followed up with an 82-72 come-from-behind victory at Mercy College on Jan. 28. Daemen has now won nine of its last 11 games overall, and eight of their last nine league contests dating back to mid-December to sit at 14-6 overall and 8-4 in league play this season.

Redband opened the week by scoring a career-high 22 points and snagging a career-best three steals in the blowout win over LIU Post. During a game-opening 39-9 run, Daemen knocked down nine of their first 12 three-point field goal attempts, four of which came from Redband. At one point in the spurt, he scored 14 consecutive points, helping Daemen get out to a 30-point lead just 12 minutes into the game. Redband ended the contest shooting 8-for-12 from the field and 5-for-8 from downtown. The victory moved Daemen to 11-1 this season, 67-9 since the start of the 2011-12 season and 31-5 all-time in ECC games played at Lumsden Gymnasium.

Later in the week, Redband shot 4-for-6 from the field and 3-for-4 from three-point range, totaling 11 points, two rebounds and two assists in the win at Mercy. Redband's efforts helped the Wildcats erase a 17-point deficit in the game as they held the home-standing Mavericks to just 3-for-19 shooting with seven turnovers in the final 12+ minutes of the contest. His three-pointer with 2:40 remaining pushed the Wildcats' lead back to nine points (76-67) after the Mavericks pulled within six on the previous possession.

For the season, Redband has started all 20 contests thus far, and is producing 11.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game with 15 blocked shots. His 59 three-point baskets leads the team and ranks second among the ECC leaders. Redband is shooting 49.1 percent from the field (85-for-173) and 48.8 percent from behind the arc (59-for-121), and he leads all ECC freshmen in scoring.

With four ECC Rookie of the Week selections, Redband has more than any other player in the league this season. He previously earned the accolade for games played Nov. 21-27, Jan. 9-15 and Jan. 16-22. In the last three weeks, Redband is averaging 13.2 points per game and shooting a blistering 59.5 percent from three-point range (22-for-37).

Redband and the Wildcats return home for an ECC showdown with the University of Bridgeport this Thursday, Feb. 2. The game features the second-place Purple Knights (11-8, 7-3 ECC) against the third-place Wildcats as both teams jockey for position in the hunt for an ECC Tournament berth. Tip-off Thursday is slated for 8 p.m.

Boys Basketball

• Geneseo 62, Le Roy 52 FINAL
• Wheatland-Chili 57, Holley 42 FINAL
• Cal-Mum 76, Bath-Haverling 50 FINAL

Girls Basketball

• Canandaigua 54, Batavia 30 FINAL -- no results reported
• Attica 51, Byron-Bergen 44 FINAL
• Alexander 45, Kendall 21 FINAL
• Medina 83, Holley 23 FINAL

There are as many as 897 people in Genesee County leaving as much as $8,150 on the table each year simply because they're not completing the right IRS or state forms when they file their tax returns.

The money is what's called an Earned Income Tax Credit and the program is one many economists believe has helped lift millions of people over the past couple of decades out of poverty.

The EITC rewards work and economists say that is the right incentive to get people who can work into jobs that set them on a path toward better lives.

"One of the problems with redistribution of incomes is getting the money to the right people," said Michael Wolkoff, associate chair in the Department of Economics at the University of Rochester. "You want to do it in a way that encourages people to work if you can. ... The problem with general welfare is that it takes some people who can work and provides them with an incentive not to work and that's not what you want to do with welfare policy in general."

The first EITC was enacted in 1975 and the program was revised and expanded in both the Reagan and Clinton administrations. 

The program provides a lump-sum payment to qualifying people based on their income from work, even if self-employed, and the formula is designed to encourage poor people to earn more money, growing their income enough so eventually they earn enough and are no longer eligible for the EITC. 

As Wolkoff explained, it turns the value of a job that pays $10 an hour into one that might be worth $12 an hour for the wage earner. 

If there's one flaw with the program, Wolkoff suggested, it might be the nature of the lump-sum payment, which isn't an immediate payoff for the actual extra work at the time of the work, and social science tends to show that incentives work best when rewards are given in proximity to the goal behavior. 

To the degree that's an issue is hard to determine, but a program that allocated money over the course of the work year would be much more expensive to administer, Wolkoff said.

Even so, numerous studies over the years show that program is successful in making lives better for millions of people across the nation:

• Children in families receiving the credit tend to do better in school and they are more likely to attend college;
• More single mothers have transitioned from public assistance with the help of the program and tend to earn more money later in life than single mothers who don't enter the workforce through the program;
• Recipients of all types tend to earn more money later in life;
• In one year, 2013, 9.4 million people were lifted out of poverty, including 5 million children; and 22 million people were less poor. 

The ability of people earning more money after participating in the program is a result of those people gaining work experience, new skills and on-the-job training, Wolkoff noted.

The program is designed to provide the greatest benefit to workers with children. For example, a single adult won't receive more than $506 from the federal government, but a family with three or more qualifying children will receive $6,269. The worker with no children can get another $152 from the state and for the family with three children, the state kicks in another $1,881.

Those amounts are also scaled by the individual's amount of earned income each year.

In New York, nearly 1.9 million people received the state's EITC last year, for a total payout of state and federal credits of $5.4 million.

In Genesee County, the IRS reports there were 4,350 people receiving state and federal credit. That led to an additional $11.4 million flowing into the local economy. The average payout for qualifying Genesee County residents was $2,675 in state and federal credits.

But then there are still those 897 local residents who qualify for the credit but didn't apply last year, according to IRS. For New York as a whole, there are 383,000 residents who didn't apply.  

The state put out a press release on Friday to help raise awareness of the program because the program is such a proven success for lower-income people willing and able to work.

"I think looking at that last column of figures (the 383,000 not getting the credit), there are hundreds of thousands of people across the state who are not claiming that credit and that's reason enough for us to do all we can do to boost awareness," said James Gazzale, a spokesman for NYS Taxation and Finance. "This is cash that counts for families so they can go out and pay bills, put food on the table, pay for school supplies, pay for all the necessities we sometimes take for granted. All of these families that are eligible and not claiming it, it can be a big boost for them."

For more information

• Federal Earned Income Tax Credit
• New York State Earned Income Tax Credit
• Recordkeeping suggestions for self-employed persons
• Contact a NYS Tax Department representative at (518) 457-5181

It's been five years since a site of a toxic chemical spill in Le Roy -- known as the Lehigh Train Derailment Site -- made the news as part of a media frenzy around reports of students at the high school developing strange, unexplained tics, but cleanup work has been ongoing since, according to a spokesman for the EPA.

In fact, good progress has been made and the end may be in sight for remediation, according to Michael Basile, who represents the Environmental Protection Agency in Buffalo.

There's no firm timeline for completion of the work, but there have been two significant recent developments, he said.

First, last year some 300 pounds of trichloroethene (TCE) contaminated soil was removed from the area, he said. That removal effort is ongoing and will continue until testing shows TCE has been removed from the area. (CORRECTION: This should have read 300 pounds of TCE removed from the soil).

Second, a draft document on remediation options for contaminated groundwater has been completed and the EPA will pick a plan from those options for remediation sometime this year.

The TCE spill was the result of a train crash at the site on Gulf Road in the early morning hours of Dec. 6, 1970. Approximately 2,000 pounds of cyanide crystals and 30,000 to 35,000 gallons of TCE were spilled. The cyanide was removed, but at the time Lehigh apparently didn't have an easy way to remove the TCE. Instead, it tried saturating the area with one million gallons of water. This only drove the TCE deeper into the ground and contaminated about 50 water wells.

The site became a footnote in local history until 2012 when a group of mostly girls at Le Roy High School were reported to have developed odd tics and uncontrolled movements.  As families and members of the community searched for answers, the spill site became a target for investigation.

Famed environmental crusader Erin Brockovich was contacted, and though she never personally came to Le Roy, she sent out a team of scientists led by Robert Bowcock.  

The entire event had reached a fevered pitch in the national media by that point, with news crews from nearly ever major news outlet in the country arriving in Le Roy, as well as crews from as far away as Japan.

A trip to the site on the day Bowcock arrived in town revealed a cleanup area that appeared to be largely neglected. More than 300 rusted barrels of material were being stored there, further feeding concerns about the state of contamination.

However, Bowcock's own tests and his examination the topography of the region, led the Los Angeles-based environmental scientist to conclude that contamination from the site did not and could not reach the location of the high school and there was no known connection for all those suffering from the tics to the railroad property contamination.

The ongoing concern about its status, however, brought about a visit to the site by Congresswoman Kathy Hochul. Sen. Charles Schumer also got involved.

The EPA soon closed the location to media access and brought in crews to remove the barrels, which the EPA said were filled with rock, sand and dirt and did not likely contain contaminated soil. Later testing, the EPA announced at the time, detected a trace amount of TCE in some barrels.  

In the five years since the events, there have been no new reports of strange tics among young people in Le Roy and there have been reports that the dozen or so people originally treated at the Dent Neurological Institute are all improved, confirming the earlier diagnoses of a mass psychogenic illness. 

The EPA continues to monitor the site closely, Basile said. This includes maintaining soil vapor monitors in homes near where the spill occurred. Next month, he said, it will be time for inspectors to visit those monitors and change their filters. That monitoring is expected to continue indefinitely. 

Photo: File photo from 2012.

Press release:

Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27) released the following statement addressing President Trump’s Executive Order on immigration.

“Nothing is more important than the safety and security of our communities here in Western New York,” Congressman Collins said. “Temporarily suspending the admittance of refugees and individuals from high-risk countries until we can guarantee they are properly vetted is a common-sense measure focused on protecting Americans. President Trump promised to make America safe again and his executive order aims to ensure we know who is entering our country.”

Nicholas Benjamin Wall, 26, of Dodgeson Road, Alexander, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .18 or greater and being stopped/standing or parked on a highway. At 12:09 a.m., Deputy Ryan Young and Deputy Jeremy McClellan were dispatched to 1954 Broadway, Darien, for a report of a driver slumped over the steering wheel. Deputies report finding the defendant sleeping in the vehicle with the vehicle in reverse. 

Tony Robert Hoag, 49, of Shacktown Mountain Road, New Berlin, is charged with unlawful possession of untaxed cigarettes, criminal tax fraud and obstructed plate. Hoag was allegedly found in possession of 14,400 untaxed cigarettes during a traffic stop for alleged violations at 11:25 a.m. Friday by Deputy Travis DeMuth.

Boys Basketball

• Le Roy 65, Notre Dame 48 FINAL
• Oakfield 77, Barker 61 FINAL

Girls Basketball

• Notre Dame 41, Le Roy 33 FINAL
• Oakfield 48, Barker 11 FINAL

Hockey

• Genesee Ice Devils 6, Gates-Chili/Wheatland-Chili 0 FINAL

GR Swimming Championships

• HAC wins both boys and girls team titles at GR Swim Championships – Pembroke takes 2nd